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The Good Oil - Issue 8 June 2010
• The cold truth – winter buying
• Head 2 head – Ford Territory vs. Mitsubishi Outlander
• Spend it like Beckham – Footballer’s cars
The cold truth – winter buying
Winter is often seen as a time to batten down the hatches, light a fire, lie on the couch with a duvet and explore the outer limits of Sky TV’s channels. But it’s also a very good time to buy a used car, even if you don’t feel like leaving the house.
Maybe winter has frozen your bank account to let it recover from the summer excesses, maybe there’s an impending tax bill or increased power bills due to long showers and excessive use of the bathroom fan heater. What could possibly make this a good time to buy a car?
Well, for the same reasons it’s not a good time for you to buy, it’s also not a good time for others either which means that demand for cars drops and so do prices. So, if you were thinking that it’s time to replace your car but holding off until summer to do it, maybe you should think again?
Let’s take a popular car as an example. In February you would have paid around $27000 at auction for a 2007 Holden Commodore VE SV6 with 75000km on the clock. In May (only the start of winter), that same car would sell for around $24500. So by purchasing this car in winter over summer you could save around $2500. That’s a good saving; so good that if your power bill was around $200 a month you could’ve paid for a whole year’s worth with the saving. Those long hot showers would feel even better.
Now it may be that you just don’t want to go outside and look at cars in the cold and wet. Fair enough too. The thing is, you don’t have to. Just jump on the Turners website, browse the listings and when you spot the car you like just call the consultant for a description. When you’re satisfied it’s the one you’d like, watch the auction on your computer using Turners Live and bid as if you were there in person. When you’ve successfully bought the car, pay for it online and, using Turners preferential rates, get Toll NZ to transport the car to your door. There, you didn’t even have to leave the house. You’ll have to unbatten the hatches to go out and drive it though.
 Head 2 head – Ford Territory vs. Mitsubishi Outlander
Sticking to the winter theme, this month’s head to head is between two popular 4WD, ski friendly wagons - The Territory and the Outlander.
06/07 Ford Territory SY TX AWD
Engine size: 4.0L –190kw
Transmission: 6 Speed auto
Fuel economy: 2.5 /6*
Co2 emissions: 2.5/6*
Safety rating: 4/5
Features
4x Airbags
ABS
Traction/ stability control
Cruise control
6 stack CD/Radio player
Air conditioning
Service intervals: 15000km
Price when new: $56490
Est. auction price
70000-90000km: $23000-$25000 (5 seat)
*From www.rightcar.govt.nz |
06/07 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS
Engine size: 2.4L –127kw
Transmission: 6 Speed CVT auto
Fuel economy: 3.5 /6*
Co2 emissions: 3.5/6*
Safety rating: 5/5
Features
4x Airbags
ABS
Traction/stability control
6 stack CD/Radio player
Air conditioning – Climate control
Service intervals: 15000km/6 months
Price when new: $38990
Est. auction price
70000-90000km: $19000-$21000 (5 seat)
*From www.rightcar.govt.nz |
Verdict
These two cars, while both being SUV’s, are quite different beasts. The big difference is the engine size; the Ford with its big four litre, six cylinder thumper as opposed to the Mitsubishi’s much smaller, four cylinder unit. This means the Ford is smoother and more powerful for the drive to the ski fields but that extra power and weight (nearly 500kg more the Outlander!) means higher fuel consumption – around 34% higher!
Both cars have good levels of standard equipment but the lack of cruise control in the 2006/07 Outlander is unfortunate, especially in a big car like this. On the plus side, it has a clever switchable AWD and 2WD system. Use 2WD around town and save even more petrol.
So, if you want power and comfort, pick the Ford, but if you want better economy, the Outlander makes more sense. And the sales success of the Outlander suggests that many buyers see it as a sensible SUV choice.
Both of these cars come in various levels of trim. The Territory we looked at here is the base model AWD and the Outlander is the mid spec model. You can get a more powerful, thirstier, three litre Outlander.
Spend it like Beckham –
Footballer’s cars
The rugby world cup may be just around the corner but the big daddy of world cups - the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa – is here now.
To keep to the automotive theme, we thought we’d look at the top 5 footballer cars. With many players earning several times more than the New Zealand average annual wage (IN A WEEK!!!) you know it’s going to be a flash list.
At #5: Aston Martin DB9 5.9
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#4: Porsche 911 Turbo
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#3: Bentley Continental GT
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#2: BMW X5 4.81 SE
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And at #1: Range Rover Sport 4.4 V8 HSE
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..And the #1 best football star driver? Christiano Ronaldo of course. (That’s a $500,000 Ferrari – or about 1.5 weeks wages) | If you fancy your own flash set of wheels, check out our prestige auction at Penrose on 12th June. You may have seen Mark Sainsbury take a couple of the entries to this auction for a spin around the block on Close Up – namely the ’99 Ferrari 360 Modena F1 and the ’09 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadstar. With the Aston Martin estimated to sell at half the price it fetched last year this could be your chance to put your hand up and drive away in a rather luxurious bargain!
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If you need to move a car from A-Z then give the team at Toll a call...
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Fancy a camper?
If cars with excessive bling value aren’t really your thing, how about a great get-away vehicle instead? In late June and early July Turners will be auctioning off 60 of Jucy Rentals’ custom-built campers, with 30 going under the hammer at our Auckland and Christchurch branches respectively.
These babies may have reached the end of their lives as rental vehicles, but they've been fully serviced and maintained and still have plenty of miles left in them!
Now winter may not seem the obvious time to buy a camper and start cruising the highways and by-ways of New Zealand, but if you refer back to our feature story it might give you an inkling that there are some bargains to be had... And with the Rugby World Cup only a year away, this might be a great opportunity to lock in some temporary accommodation while you rent your house out at an extortionate rate!
Check out Turners website for more information...
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How about a Unimog?
If you're keen on some really rugged touring, then forget about trendy SUVs and fancy campers, get along to Turners' National Truck Auction on Thursday the 17th of June and put your hand up for one of two 1987 Mercedes Benz Unimogs...
These certainly don’t come along everyday, and with an estimated sell price of between $28,000 and $32,000 we’re picking they won’t take long to find new homes!
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Future car – HumanCar
Ok, it looks a bit like a kids pedal car but the HumanCar is quite an impressive piece of engineering. It’s also a really radical approach to creating the transportation of the future.
The HumanCar, as the name suggests, is powered by human effort in the form of a rowing action and has a potential top speed of around 100kph. Now this may sound a bit like an alternative to a bicycle (albeit a fast one) but there’s more to it than that.
The HumanCar works as a mode of transport and a mini power station. The rowing action, along with regenerative braking, generates electricity which is stored and can then be used to help power the vehicle. But what makes it even cooler is that it can then be plugged into the grid or your home power supply to run lights, computers etc.
It may have a way to go yet in the styling department but as a concept that keeps you fit, generates power and gets you from A to B, there’s a lot of potential here. See a video here.
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