Thursday, October 19, 2006
Test Drive - Subaru R1/ R2, Getz 1.6, Nissan March
Test Drove a few cars over the last few weekends.
Subaru R1, a 3 door hatch-back, and R2, a 5-door hatch-back, both 658cc cars. The R2 first, because it had 5 doors, but i couldnt get away from the cheapness of the bare metal of the brake handle; even though the rest of the car is reasonably well constructed, but let there be no illusion of space in this car. While the car handled well, the body roll was too obvious for my liking.
We were persuaded to try the 自私车 R1, and it was an improvement from the sporty 2-tone interiors and plusher interiors which were mostly Japan-fitted, including the FM stereo which required a local adaptor to receive local FM signals, resulting in a $2k price increment over the R2. The handling was much better, perhaps due to the lower CG and exterior styling, there was much less body roll. E was quite taken with the car and would have agreed on it. I didnt mind it cos it gave me a fleeting glimpse of me as girl racer in the 3 door coupe-wannabe. :D
Tried out the Hyundai Getz, and was surprised that only the 1.6l motor had ABS, no airbags, and the lower 1.4l and 1.1l neither, not even as options. The Getz was alright, but it was oh-so-common on the road already, and it really didnt make sense to buy the 1.6l version cos it was neither cost-effective nor had the neccessary features. The other thing that caught my eye was the FUGLY fabric seats, which MUST be changed to leather, necessitating another increase in price...
The Nissan March caught my eye, the styling just about approximate to what i had liked in a mazda 121 or 232 in my uni days. The price was just a few k more than the smaller Subaru R1 and Mitsubishi i, and had way more features than the Getz. Unfortunately, it was the most expensive of all the cars that i had seen.
Didnt want to rush into any decisions and decided till the prices for the COE bid of 4-Oct-06 is available.
and it turned out that
- Subaru R1/ R2 went UP by $1k each to $44k/ $42k
- Mitsubishi i no change at $46k
- Hyundai Getz .... i cant remember since i had ruled it out early
- Nissan March came DOWN by $2 to $47k
i think the choice is clear, just have to go get the best deal.
Subaru R1, a 3 door hatch-back, and R2, a 5-door hatch-back, both 658cc cars. The R2 first, because it had 5 doors, but i couldnt get away from the cheapness of the bare metal of the brake handle; even though the rest of the car is reasonably well constructed, but let there be no illusion of space in this car. While the car handled well, the body roll was too obvious for my liking.
We were persuaded to try the 自私车 R1, and it was an improvement from the sporty 2-tone interiors and plusher interiors which were mostly Japan-fitted, including the FM stereo which required a local adaptor to receive local FM signals, resulting in a $2k price increment over the R2. The handling was much better, perhaps due to the lower CG and exterior styling, there was much less body roll. E was quite taken with the car and would have agreed on it. I didnt mind it cos it gave me a fleeting glimpse of me as girl racer in the 3 door coupe-wannabe. :D
Tried out the Hyundai Getz, and was surprised that only the 1.6l motor had ABS, no airbags, and the lower 1.4l and 1.1l neither, not even as options. The Getz was alright, but it was oh-so-common on the road already, and it really didnt make sense to buy the 1.6l version cos it was neither cost-effective nor had the neccessary features. The other thing that caught my eye was the FUGLY fabric seats, which MUST be changed to leather, necessitating another increase in price...
The Nissan March caught my eye, the styling just about approximate to what i had liked in a mazda 121 or 232 in my uni days. The price was just a few k more than the smaller Subaru R1 and Mitsubishi i, and had way more features than the Getz. Unfortunately, it was the most expensive of all the cars that i had seen.
Didnt want to rush into any decisions and decided till the prices for the COE bid of 4-Oct-06 is available.
and it turned out that
- Subaru R1/ R2 went UP by $1k each to $44k/ $42k
- Mitsubishi i no change at $46k
- Hyundai Getz .... i cant remember since i had ruled it out early
- Nissan March came DOWN by $2 to $47k
i think the choice is clear, just have to go get the best deal.
Labels: to Drive
# posted by yojanjan : 10/19/2006 05:43:00 PM
