Hello Scotty,
Hope you are doing well 🙂 /p>
I am married & I live in Sweden. Two years ago, my wife and I decided to buy our first car. After listening to you carefully, I convinced my wife that we buy a used Toyota Corolla. We luckily found a used Toyota Corolla Hatchback - Automatic-2005 - Made in Japan - 75,000 US Miles- Single Owner. The car was in top shape & has continued to be in, till date.
But now, my wife wants me to sell the TOYOTA and buy a AUDI,BMW or MERCEDES like most of our neighbors. I get nightmares thinking, how these cars can end up being ENDLESS MONEY PITS. Its hard to convince my wife, but she badly wants to -Keep up the Joneses.
What do you suggest? How do I strike a balancing act?
Looking forward to your support and guidance.
Regards,
Sharath
I’m assuming you mean brand new as opposed to used?
No matter which one of the three you end up buying, keep the Corolla as your daily driver.
You never know when you may end up needing it, when the moneypit is in the shop..
Also if able, get a diesel. They are relatively more reliable.
Or you can buy a Lexus and live happily ever after.
Yup, I was about to say buy a Lexus if they really want Luxury.
Convince your wife she needs therapy.
Tell your wife that the money that is saved by driving a Toyota can be spent on Gucci, Prada and other useless show-off crap - which don't require expensive upkeep after the initial outlay.
Or, if she is financial math-conversant, show her a spreadsheet on how the the kroner saved now can be invested and turned into 10x more in a few years.
The problem with keeping up with the Joneses is that one Jones spends their free cash on cars, another on vacations, another on furniture, and so on. If you tried to keep up with all of them, you would so go broke - and many people do.
Older ones are somehow reliable. If she wants new one ...
Well, usually I’d try to convince people to must get a really good car from Honda or Toyota instead.
If she wants a status symbol, why not a LandCruiser, a 4Runner, maybe even just a maxed out trim level Camry - why not something well built yet fancy.
But if you must have the badge - Your safest bet would be a Lexus (just not the turbo engines, not hybrid and not CVTs), or a Volvo (not hybrid, watch out for fuel injection and oil burn issues on petrols)
something like the current Lexus RX350 (V6 petrol with the Toyota 8 speed), or almost any current generation Lexus ES (expect the 300h - the hybrid technology on those falls apart) can be as reliable as a Corolla or even better (I highly suggest you consider those cars)
But if it must be german (a “Merc”, “Bimmer” or an Audi) - go for the diesels and avoid most dual clutch transmissions or any hybrid technology - basically avoid any additional over engineered features that can brake.
What I’d recommend is to go for a car that shares a lot of it’s parts with well known models, like a Mercedes CLA - it’s, in a way, just a Renault Meganè in a fancy suit.
It’s offered (or at least used to be) with an OM607 (pretty much identical to the Renault K9K 1.5L dCi) turbo Diesel engine, and those are decent little engines.
If you pair it with a manual it can actually last quite a long time (remember to change the oil using OEM spec oil every 10,000km and not forget to perform the timing belt)
If you must have an automatic, it also can be paired with a “7G-DCT” (Renault EDC7) automatic dual clutch gearbox. Those are usually fine for the first 200,000km (change the gearbox fluid every 60,000km or more frequently) - and then they fall apart and require very expensive repairs.
Neither can I recommend any petrol engines - they all are pretty much trash (but if I had a gun pointed to me head and the bullet wouldn’t be an option - some Mercedes CLA models have the M282 engine (heavily based on the Renault H5Ft 1.3L))
Sidenote: the CLA has a bad reputation for being put together like crap, and it deserves it. Cheap plastics and just very questionable design. Maybe this will make her regret and just go for a well built car
https://youtu.be/ciMY_MKKGpM
(Renualt tech = Renault interior build quality.)
Also, almost forgot - if you’re looking for an older car (~2014 era) - a diesel Volvo V40 can be a decent choice but have it checked out by a Volvo specialist! (And avoid the MPS6/7 automatics like wildfire)
Also their older bigger XC60, XC70 can be decent but just avoid 5 speed automatics, dual clutches and any Ford built turbocharged engines. Your safest bet is probably also a diesel manual (or conventional auto) if a specialist checks it out and tells you it’s in perfect shape.
-
As you’re in Sweden - you should have plenty of those. In the rest of the world it’s hard to find a person who knows anything about Volvos
I like the LandCruiser Idea, I know a lot of people are impressed by them.
They are very reliable, but they sure are heavy drinkers.
@nlord I’m unsure if it’s sold in Sweden, but if fuel consumption is an issue you can get a Land Cruiser Prado J150, They have a 2.8L diesel it does like ~8.5L/100KM combined.
That’s very low consumption for a luxury car, not to mention for an SUV of that size…
All luxury cars are heavy drinkers, my petrol 2.0L (Ford DuraTec HE engine) Volvo does 10.5L/100KM where my Ford 1.6L (Ford DuraTec Ti-VCT) does 6.5L/100KM 😵💫
They shift later, downshift faster, have better pedal response… they just don’t make effort on saving fuel…
Between those cars, Mercedes can be a decent one in Europe. Do your own research to find out which model works the best.
This is an easy one.
Tell Wife that Mercedes just came out with a Toyota -like car.
Remove all Toyota badging from Corolla.
Replace with Mercedes .
Women being what they are will either immediately see through you or,
love having a Toyo-Cedes!
If you must buy a luxury car, how about a Lexus? https://www.lexus.se/
It’s a luxury car on par with Audi, BMW, Mercedes. And it’s basically a Toyota.
If it’s going to be brand new, just lease whichever one she wants & return it when the time is up..
my ex didn't want to keep up with the joneses
SHE WANTED TO BE THE JONESES! {pear}:exhausted:
Maybe consider keeping the Corolla and buy a Tesla to one up the neighbors.
