We go in search of a vehicle with enough ground clearance for a retiree. SUVs from Germany, France and Japan go head-to-head and we find out if an Audi S8 is a suitable upgrade from a Volkswagen Amarok.
In this week’s episode here a luxury German Coupe from the 1980s is sound used by and we help reviewer choose a suitable vehicle for occasional dirt road driving and we find out if an Audi S8 is a sensible upgrade from a Volkswagen amarok hello and welcome to
Buyers gu the show that is dedicated to providing you with invaluable guidance when it comes to buying selling or maintaining a vehicle joining us in studio this week to help answer some of those tricky Automotive questions are fana Shamu from Redline motoring and poesia dakan from poiso Electronics
How’s it guys hi good thanks good to have you back in studio with us again thanks for having us okay nice to have all you guys if you have a question for the team you can send it to buyers guide at ignition tv.co Za or you can pop plus
A DM on Instagram @ ignition TV and please give us as much information as possible including a pretty picture of yourself all right guys let’s just get into our first question it comes from Mark a 43-year-old with a budget of 150,000 R he’s always loved a mid 1980s
Mercedes-Benz SEC wow Mika since he was young and is now considering buying himself the vehicle on the other hand he’s considering saving up the money to buy a more modern vehicle in a few years time like a cherry Tigo once they come down to the 200,000 Rand Mark what would we
Recommend ladies first for me this is um it’s a bit tricky so I don’t know a lot about that model firstly right aw awesome to yes before you were born exactly but also he doesn’t is it he just wants to keep it is he going to use
Because this is the two models is like choke and cheese yes um and then also he’s he the the mky he’ll buy now but then the Cherry he’ll wait for a few years so I’m I’m struggling to understand his reasoning there but he can find a 1984 Mark for 190,000 with um
100,000 kilm on it and then chero he’s I don’t know he’ll have to wait for a while but see that’s it we don’t know what he wants it for I don’t know he wants this is like a collector’s piece yeah Cho is not a collector collect it’s
Not a collector spece and it’ll it’ll in time will appreciate well that’s what I would do if I had that kind of money I I I wouldn’t spend 150k if I didn’t know the car and what could go wrong with the car because if anything goes wrong on a 380 SEC it’s
Definitely going to start costing you money what do you think well look um I I I I was also stuck a bit not knowing whether does he wanted to use it for weekends because for me this is a classic and anything from the 1980s we know that it’s going to break and this
Particular model if it breaks you’re going to have problems so there’s still a bit of information that it’s a bit missing but I would say um look for a 1980s if you’re going to use it for a weekend Sundays uh just relax and go on the highway and feel bit of the
Wind breakfast run and enjoy the the vehicle I would say okay go ahead because yes it will appreciate in time uh but it’s not an a cheap car to maintain that’s what I would say for for that I think what um Mark must understand here on this is that
Unfortunately I mean it was a great car in its day and those are the days when Mercedes built cars you know they knew how to build cars properly the problem is now parts are so expensive for them and so difficult to find if you’re a mechanically minded and you want to fix
It yourself fair enough go and buy something but from the sound of your your mail here it’s like you want that like as your daily driver kind of thing we would certainly not recommend that it’s fine if you’re like somebody who understands what you’re getting into and you’re going to buy yourself a
Secondhand car like that you’re going to use it once in a while and you know go to piston ring club or one of these classic car days park the car there there and back but understand these cars are horrendously expensive for parts you know sure um because of the ‘ 80s
Mercedes if you do find them you got to get them from Mercedes there’s very little in terms of aftermarket stuff I mean 150,000 Rand budget you’ll find something but you’re going to spend a fortune on keeping it going it’s the kind of thing that you you don’t want to
Do more than 500ks a month in the car yeah so if you’re thinking of buying it for like a daily R don’t even think about it because you’re going to have to you know buy a Shell Petrol Station just to cuz they’re heavy on shoes yeah but
You know ad I wouldn’t recommend it unless of course it’s like you know a collector car for yourself if it’s at 15K he’s not going to buy a piece of crap he definitely not it’s going to be in pretty good Nick if it isn’t then you
Don’t spend the 150k but do you know that the automatic gearboxes on those particular yes I know them them they’re not bad they they’re not bad at all because they still the older automatic gear boxes they’re not the new ones with all thison I mean it’s not only it’s not
Only the automatic gearbox there’s so many so many other things that can it’s got that uh suspension that can get expensive with those bellows in the back and things like that simple little things like body parts and stuff like very difficult so understand what you’re getting into I certainly wouldn’t
Recommend it unless you understand exactly what you’re going in for I’d rather take the 150,000 and go and buy yourself a run run of the mle car that you can get parts for anyway we’re going to move on for Hugo is in the market for a retirement vehicle for his mom
Preferably a hatchback with sufficient ground clearance the vehicle will be used during the weekend for trips to the Village she has a budget of 170 to 250,000 Rand and they’re open to any suggestion so fana 150 170 250,000 Rand so I got a few options but I didn’t pull
Out hatchbacks I was like okay because of the ground clearance let’s look towards crossovers yes so on my list year I have the Suzuki espresso Renault tribal the Renault Kea kiga Kaa Kea Kea uh Toyota stylet and the bike x25 and that’s all well for brand new 2023
Models well within his budget I I would say um you know uh the staright makes sense uh especially from um a weekend and also for maintenance and value uh because it’s a Toyota and it’s for a mom not Toyota it has a Toyota badge it’s a Suzuki when you guys going realize this
Okay Suzuki but I mean from a maintenance point of view and also to have the vehicle to run longer because it’s for a retired person retired retirement budget also um and looking at um you know keeping the car longer it’s it’s it’s going to be um a very very
Good car to keep there um another vehicle budget car I would say a used jimney if you’re going to go to rural areas to that will be a perfect vehicle to use but for his mom jimy and a mom I yeah but Mom is retired I’m with you P
JY is a great car but I I think but if you’re going to take it to vendor you going to need some good ground there so many others to choose from yeah listen to my list I’ve got a nice long list here so in this sort of budget there’s
There’s a lot of good cars one I’d stay away from turbocharge cars because turbocharge cars you know somebody who’s pensioner or or retiree he’s not bothered about performance you want bulletproof reliability if you’re going on um you know out into the countryside kind of thing you want something that’s
Not going to break down Hyundai venue great little car you can get you can get a little 1.6 1.4 really good car Honda WRV little 1.2 L engine it’s got the ride clearance very reliable not the most powerful but for this application somebody’s not looking for a rocket
Then you got the the Toyota Urban Cruiser or the you going to tell me that’s a Suzuki yes Suzuki or or the Suzuki equivalent so that’ll give you the ride heart clearance it’s a little 1.5 L very reliable but what about the the insurance on the Toyota well that’s
Another issue to look at in terms of insurance and then you’ve got the Suzuki IGN they they use them as taxes in the locations that particular model oh really do they yeah okay well that’s something new so you’re not thinking about the uh tigga no yeah no so then of
Course you’ve got the Suzuki ignas as well which is a small little car that has has more than enough ground clearance all simple easy very good very reliable cars to go for low fuel efficiency easy to drive definitely the kind of thing I see you win for more
Modern than older yeah because she’s retiring and all that but I would still consider a slightly older r four for her it’s also a great option it’s a good option in that definitely consider slightly older in that in that uh price price bracket 250 grand grand yeah bu
Your high mileage buy your high mile but you know or a um Mitsubishi ASX yeah there is another one but the problem with those ones is you’re going to get something with 1 152,000 kilm I’d rather go for something with the Toyota R 4 if it’s got half a million kilometers on it
It’s only just running so you know I’d put in something like that okay so we’re going to move on to the next question stay tuned because after the break SUVs from Germany France and Japan go head tohe and we choose a vehicle that suited occasional dirt road driving under the 350,000 R Mark welcome back to basard our next question comes from ciso who house from the free state and he’s in search of a compact SUV has a budget of 340,000 R excluding insurance and is considering the following options 2020 or 21 opal grandland X opal Persia 38 Suzuki Grand Victoria Suzuki
Franx and the VW trck which is the best buying terms of space running cost features fuel efficiency and he wants decent performance now fana I know you’re a performance Guru he want something nothing less than 110 Kow so that’s none of those cars for me I was
Thinking these are good options but for me I was thinking go with the newest in Suzuki Franks brand new doesn’t have to worry about service maintenance and but now I’m seeing also the power is very low on the Suzuki 85 77 77 from its 1.5 L yeah so it’s not
The most powerful car so this is the problem it’s 350,000 R is a reasonable budget M but if you want something with a bit of performance I would you know I would go with something like a Suzuki franx because you’re going to get everything you’re going to want in with
In your budget and you’re going to have um a really nice car the other options are things like which hasn’t listed here yeah would be the haval jolon and the Cherry too 4 what do you think P well look from the list I will go for the
T-rock um I think I struggle with uh with Opel and uh Pedro car in terms of dealer Network you know dealer network service maintenance Parts service maintenance Parts it it it can come a bit tedious uh from the list I would go with the t-rock I think it’s uh
Spacewise comparing it with the other vehicles uh not really sure about the mock but I think it’s it’s a perfect car to go onto the list you know the modern car even though it may have 77 or 85 KW they really perform optimally yeah they’re not like the older cars like a
Maybe a what you say toy T 66 Kow and he travels like a 66 kilow Car you know like if you put it in R he probably go faster but the modern car he needs to remember he he may not it may not say 110 k
But the performance will be there so for me if he’s looking at these cars it would be the Suzuki FRS what poisa said as well is quite correct in terms of things like the Persia opal future resale value parts availability things like that I mean Network yeah they’re
Not bad cars but I mean like the opal I find opal Parts ridiculously expensive very difficult to find there’s generic parts for it where for the for his budget of 340 you can buy yourself a brand new Cherry tiger you can buy yourself a brand new haval Jolan you’re
Going to get more space than those other cars get going off you um you’re going to buy a brand new or maybe one that’s a couple of months old they come with good warranties there’s a lot of them on the road now they’re very very good value
For money the Suzuki Fran is also a really good car and it’ll fit in that sort of price range but if he wants a bit more performance I would recommend go and drive the Suzuki franx and go and drive the cherry and haval they’re both really good cars I believe and make your
Choice from there the others uh I would discard the others and I would just look at those three that I mentioned you know in saying that right in discarding the others I’d like him to look at the pers 38 it’s a very very nice car but when it
Gets from a design point of view it’s a very nice car it has all the extra when it gets all on and it starts to you know what he can sell it and buy another one oh then you you can sell it and move on to something else but otherwise he
Shouldn’t just discard it 35y old shaying HS from lantin and currently drives a fully paid 2018 Hyundai i20 she wants to upgrade into an SUV and she has the following options in mind a 2016 Mazda cx3 2 L Dynamic a 2011 BMW X1 s Drive 2 L Diesel and a 2018 Hyundai
Creta 1.6 the vehicle will be used for the daily commute and occasional dirt road driving she can spend up to 350,000 rent I know I’m going to spend my 350,000 rent it sounds like everybody’s got the same budget looking for the same cost yeah so
What do you think there well look I got my money on the BMW um the diesel engines are the perfect engines from BMW to to drive and these it’s cheaper to maintain actually these engines and you can drive this until to 500,000 K I mean um maintenance uh Parts availability
Even generic generic parts are available me the only thing I found on the German cars is you got to follow their m shedule well look like the Japanese cars I can drive my Toyota 95,000 km oh I forgot to change the oil at no and they’ll last oil oil will lose viscosity
I understand but Toyota no Toyota’s last no I mean I mean the BMW must be serviced on time as per manufacturer SP at at 20 uh I mean uh basically a 2 L diesel is a 5 L 5W30 good I agree with you for that one it’s an excellent
Option I agree with you I’m just saying yeah if you someone like me who likes to forget things regularly okay I can’t even remember something I can’t even remember my name yeah so no no it’s just an option for I’m not saying that it it’s to write it off I understand why
You’d say that and you quite right in saying the 2 L diesel is a is the best engine I think BMW have in the lineup right now what do you think for what do you think for so I did a search for blueprinting specific specifically right
It’s in the middle of the freest sty that’s where it is you have to search for it it’s very easy to find no I meant in terms of cars AV to her because a lot of our Avail like chober cars dban cars so I just wanted to see what say I
Couldn’t find any BMWs and that spec available in bloom there any accxes there in bloom 15 anyway and then also um the creta is in her budget but for me she she had listed um 2016 mesda cx3 yeah yeah but on I as a alternate option
A 2019 mesda CX5 yeah yeah that would be my choice I for me I would definitely go with the Mazda I’ll tell you why 2011 X1 although it’s it’s not a bad car you’re talking about a 12y old car it’s dated now the early versions of the X1 it was
Really it’s ugly I me let’s face it it’s ugly the inside of it is boring it must probably be very badly worn because those cars just did didn’t wear well yes it’s damn fuckly where you can get a 2016 cx3 or also like your idea of in
That budget of 350,000 you’ll get a CX5 slightly bigger a 2 L it will be modern inside really well put together Ultra reliable maintenance free po cheap maintenance fre no way you know the turbos on these vehicles there no turbo on that yeah just normally aspirated the
2 L and then the Hyundai CR is also a really good car I would rather go for something newer with less mileage than so that’s my decision take my advice don’t listen unfortunately have to agree with Adam take take his advice and remember I’ll you won’t cry yeah well those are the
Options you see this is why we have other people come in with different opinions but I you know the thing also about the BMW on the Free State you’re driving around with run flat tires done have a spare wheel go for the Mazda go for the Mazda always go for the Mazda
That was the debate you make your choice drive them all and make a choice but uh all three are actually reasonable cars all right we’re going to be taking a short break when we get back we examine the long-term ownership prospects of a 2013 BMW 320i and we consider whether an
Audi S8 would make a suitable upgrade for VW Amarok welcome back to buyer guide Tommy hailes from Peter Marburg and he’s the owner of a fully paid 2013 BMW 320i with 220,000 km on the clock he had the engine timing chain kit done oil and water pump done and thermostat replaced who would like to know how reliable the
Car will be in the next few years and if there are any foreseeable expensive maintenance issues I’m so sorry Tommy so sorry to laugh at you like that but hey Mr BMW tell us unfortunately uh this is a disclaimer right the n2s are not reliable engines
I’m sorry um sell this thing Let it go I think I bet I mean at 220,000 K he has but you just spend 60k on that that’s about how much he’s never going to get it back how did he even get that far in that engine
Yes this this this vehicle I call it uh use and enjoy he has used it and he has enjoyed it Let It Go it’s time for it to go because the next thing that’s going to go uh it’s crank failure you’re going to get here you’re going to get bearing
Failure because his because his oil pump failed but he says he’s repage been done but the damage damage is already been done yes the crank uh the bearings has already taken a bit of War because I I don’t see why would he change the pump without you know the engine like the
Most probably what happened is as we all know the timing chains on those vehicle they have two chains one the the cam shops and some workshops they’ll change the the the chain for the oil pump and say oh you need a new oil pump and maybe you don’t because the change is broken
Maybe that’s why I think those give trouble the oil pumps the N20 engines when you when once you get to 100,000 Cas just do all everything can you get 200,000 K in there yeah you can get 200,000 yes you can with much difficulty no so here’s here’s a tip for anybody
Who drives around in a BMW 320i we all know one of the common problem is the timing chains and I honestly believe one of the main causes for that besides the poor design is stop start technology on them yes because it works on oil pressure so it’s the minute you switch
The car off at the traffic lights on the stop start technology your oil pump stops delivering oil pressure your timing chain becomes loose like a bicycle then it jerks every time it starts and eventually doing that you know a couple hundred times eventually the chain breaks or fails so anybody if
You’ve got a stop start technology in your car switch it off because that’s the worst designed garbage that anybody ever put on a car is stop start Tey and it doesn’t save any fuel no not at it does it saves like 0 3% Fuel and it stops put thanks Adam but I think
Another thing Adam is um you know how uh the prolong of the the service interval it’s it’s it’s too high for 20,000 km service your car every 10,000 km every 10,000 after 100,000 every 10,000 K just for that but the dealers won’t do that because under motor plan and they
Tell you no why do they give you 25,000 km service intervals so they can give you three services if they did it every 10,000 they have to give you 10 so we know anyway so as piso says sell it move on buy a Japanese car all right our last
Question comes from Navin who’s wondering what the resale value of his 2015 VW Amaro 4.2 Highline with 90,000 km on clock will be he’s worried that deep might just be ripping him off he’s considering upgrading to a 2015 Audi S8 S8 with 14,000 K on the clock the
Vehicle has maintenance plan up until 100,000 km would this be a good upgrade it won’t be any grade what do you think buy a would you CH change your amarok for an S8 but don’t forget it’s only got 14,000 km hey yeah ooh it’s almost new almost new
Almost new I don’t know he’s fuel consumption on there is 14 8.8 to 14.2 8.8 on Highway 14.2 in the city he’s asking what’s the fuel consumption yeah on his Audi a s that’s lies more like 20 yeah these are the this more like 20 L driving Urban
Driving that S8 4.2 L V8 he asked what is Amo is worth as well because he’s worried about getting ripped off so the Amaro is worth about 250 to 280,000 R that’s really what it’s worth yeah would we recommend somebody buy an S8 they say it’s got 100,000 km maintenance plan
It’s a 2015 model is expired it would have expired unless they’ve extended ited unless they’ve extended and they may have extended to 100,000 km or 2 years so the mix you got to look at that in terms of years so maybe they say two years or 100,000 kilometers and you
Think well that’s cool but what do you do after those two years because that car is going to be worth nothing how many S8 when loss did you see an S8 on I will not buy a 2015 model vehicle with 14,000 km on the clock cuz been parking
8 years it’s done 14,000 km no first right there I’m suspicious right right there it’s oh okay guys but let’s have a relook at this it comes from kdn where you used to go and turn mileage back on car do you have to let everybody
Know yeah so I I don’t know you guys would would you recommend somebody buy an S8 no no I I wouldn’t um there’s a lot of things that doesn’t make sense I mean 14,000 Cas since 2015 until now something is not maybe it is one of
Those unicorn cars maybe it is a Unicorn it’s a unicorn car but you know where that Horn’s going to go when he buys this car M yeah no right there we would not recommend you buy something like that if you have bought it now we’re sorry the problems is the parts on those
Cars are only available from dealers which is fine fine because you got 100,000 warranty but the dealers won’t even keep stock of it they have to order in from manufacturer it almost probably every time it goes in for service needs to sit for a couple of days while they
Find parts for it if you have any issues with it and there’s no deal in there you got big problems if you want to sell this car later on in a LIF set let’s say 2 three years down the down the road whatever you paid for it now it’s worth
10% that’s what even you’re going to have to pay someone to take it off your hands unless you find some you know other victim who who’s going to it it’s it’s not there’s so many other cars to choose from I know it must probably looks like a cool car there’s no backup
For it even even if you took it to Audi I don’t think even the technicians at Audi would have experience with that vehicle cuz there was probably only 10 of them in the country 10 I think more like three I think maybe if you want to
Make money take it go sell it to the guys on the highway yeah you know those guys on the highway yeah yeah sell it to them yeah those guys in the highway okay it’s all right and with that we’ve come to the end of this week’s show thank you for s andisa for
Joining us and all the helpful advice except on that Beamer I’m a bit worried about you there I’m very worried about you okay until next time please buckle up and stay safe on the Roads
1 Comment
Thanks for the great show