Advice sought re cars

[watt price tully]

Mrs WPT & I have two cars:

1. Ford G6, 2009 model & 90,000km's in excellent condition
2. (late Father in Laws car) - Ford Fairmont on gas. 505,000km's. Great nick for it's age, some oil leaks but serviced regularly & drives really well. Great to drive (like an old sofa), was going to be for daughter number 2. Great car & I can take the dog in it & not be too fussed

A friend is offering her Toyota Echo, 2000, 1 owner, 1.3 ltr engine, 98,000 km's. Excellent condition, no prangs, always serviced at Toyota, books, lightly driven, 2 dr. She is kind enough to accept $2,500 from us subject to a RWC. This would be for daughter number 2.

We would have to give up one car if we took the Echo.

Should we get the Echo?
Does any one have an Echo or has anyone previously driven an echo?

(we are used to driving bigger cars)

[1061]

What year is the Fairmont?

[watt price tully]

[stui magpie]

You should be able to sell the fairmont for more than $2500.

Check out here for used car prices as a guide. http://www.redbook.com.au/

That price for the Echo is a fair price. I've never driven one but young chicks tend to prefer smaller cars.

[think positive]

Anything Toyota is good, hard to go wrong mechanically.but echo is tiny. Hubby the expert says it's an absolute bargain almost to good to be true. Get it checked out first. ( seriously when it comes to car buying he's the maestro)

I'm not keen on tiny cars like a bit of metal around me and the kids.

How much do you use the second car? I'd lean to keeping the newer one personally.

[1061]

A couple of points.

If heaven forbid she gets into an accident I'd rather be in the Ford!

But if she keeps the Fairmont will she end up being the taxi for her friends?

Is the Echo Manual or Auto a 1.3 auto will be a slush box if it's a manual of course once you learn how to drive a manual you never forget. It always comes in handy.

[Tannin]

Never owned an Echo, but I put a hundred thousand-odd kilometres on the Holden equivalent and have nothing but praise for it. Super easy to drive, park, wash (you can wash an Echo in half the time it takes to do a Falcon) and very easy on the pocket. I used to get 42 MPG without fail. Gas or no gas, that will cream the Ford every day of the week. You want a manual, of course; small automatics are dreadful things.

Safety-wise, the bigger car has two advantages: (a) you have more metal around you, and (b) in a collision, while the force varies with the square of the closing velocity, the distribution of the impact varies with the relative weight of the two vehicles. In other words, a heavy car gets less of the impact. Both of those factors favour the Ford. But, on the other hand, the Echo will have better brakes and tyres (relative to the weight of the vehicle, of course) and almost certainly have better visibility too, so you are less likely to have an accident in the first place. Also, modern small cars are incredibly good at absorbing impacts without killing people - these ain't your granny's Mini Minor: in a bingle the car gets very crumpled but the occupants tend to be safe.

Conclusion: if the Echo checks out, it's a no-brainer, but only if it's manual.

[Tannin]

dp

[HAL]

Give me a dozen.

[HAL]

[3.14159]

An echo.

[3.14159]

and another

[partypie]

I have a 2000 Corolla which has been looked after properly and runs like a dream. Echo is smaller, but sounds like a good deal.

[watt price tully]

Thanks for all your advice.

The echo is an automatic.

It is tiny but is well looked after.

We're still not sure.

If it was a wee bit bigger I wouldn't be asking - just the tiny size does my head in & daughter no 2 is very tall - about 5'11.

I drove it with 4 adults & drives well.

But so too does the 2001 fairmont.

It is a steal so to speak but the size of it makes me uncomfortable.

[HAL]

What kind of car do you have?