New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[Wayne Potgieter]

11 minutes ago, davetapson said:

There's also, if you're brave, the option of just buying and then selling.  In theory, over a month or two, you should lose little value.

Yep. 
 

that’s what I ended up doing. 
 

I was offered an insanely good trade in price on my RAV4. Ended up buying a new Kia Carnival. I am now officially a van driver. 

[davetapson]

1 hour ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Yep. 
 

that’s what I ended up doing. 
 

I was offered an insanely good trade in price on my RAV4. Ended up buying a new Kia Carnival. I am now officially a van driver. 

Ha, vans are seriously under-rated.

Edit:
A year or two before we left SA I was rear-ended in my Polo by some dolt in a Kia Rio.  He was doing 120 (according to him, so lets say 130), I was stationary in backed up traffic turning onto the N12 off the R21.

Given the circumstances, the Polo (and I) suffered remarkably little damage (yep, it was written off) but what surprised me was that the Kia looked surprisingly intact afterwards too, and the driver seemed somewhat ok as well.  I gained real respect for Kias, maybe not so much their drivers.

Edited August 15, 2022 by davetapson

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

1 hour ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Yep. 
 

that’s what I ended up doing. 
 

I was offered an insanely good trade in price on my RAV4. Ended up buying a new Kia Carnival. I am now officially a van driver. 

I responded by laughing but I saw one of the new Carnivals and it looks nice.
I have a very strange attraction to the new Hyundai Staria, hated it initially but really growing on me......

[Wayne Potgieter]

8 minutes ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

I responded by laughing but I saw one of the new Carnivals and it looks nice.
I have a very strange attraction to the new Hyundai Staria, hated it initially but really growing on me......

yeah, I find the new Carnival looks a lot more like an SUV, drives like a car and has the space of a van. It really surprised me. So much so, I ordered one.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

2 minutes ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

yeah, I find the new Carnival looks a lot more like an SUV, drives like a car and has the space of a van. It really surprised me. So much so, I ordered one.

I would probably be getting a similar van when we get on-shore next year. At least we are hoping that when we will be getting over a more than 2yr Covid delay.
Would want something maybe not as neat and pretty seeing as it will be used for carting bicycles, camping gear, etc.......

[davetapson]

Toyota Estima's are popular here - ugly as sin, but often converted to campers.

Buddy bought one with one of his mates for $2k, took out the back seats to fit bikes (I think they can stand upright) and it's their 'go to places and ride' machine.

[patches]

4 hours ago, davetapson said:

Toyota Estima's are popular here - ugly as sin, but often converted to campers.

Buddy bought one with one of his mates for $2k, took out the back seats to fit bikes (I think they can stand upright) and it's their 'go to places and ride' machine.

Toyota Alphards are also pretty ugly and popular. But hell are they pricey! If I recall correctly they were over $70k new.

 

Kia Carnival is way better looking in my opinion.

[davetapson]

4 minutes ago, patches said:

Toyota Alphards are also pretty ugly

When I first got to NZ, it seemed to me that there were a bunch of REALLY ugly Toyotas driving around.

Then I heard that in Japan, they try out all sorts of models, and if they don't work, they can them straight off.  Sort of using the Jap car buying market as a consumer group poll. 

Maybe only the successful ones, or pretty to the Western eye models make it to SA. and the ugly, discontinued ones make to to the NZ second-hand Jap car market...

[Wayne Potgieter]

15 minutes ago, patches said:

Toyota Alphards are also pretty ugly and popular. But hell are they pricey! If I recall correctly they were over $70k new.

 

Kia Carnival is way better looking in my opinion.

Totally agree that the Alphard is an ugly duckling. 

 

Are you sitting down? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/toyota/alphard/listing/3727764952

[patches]

5 minutes ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Totally agree that the Alphard is an ugly duckling. 

 

Are you sitting down? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/toyota/alphard/listing/3727764952

That should be criminal! For over $100k I'd expect way better finishes than those. Yes it has some reclining seats, but the centre console looks cheap & nasty.

Definitely not how I'd spend $100k (not that I have it) to get 7 seats.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Just now, patches said:

That should be criminal! For over $100k I'd expect way better finishes than those. Yes it has some reclining seats, but the centre console looks cheap & nasty.

Definitely not how I'd spend $100k (not that I have it) to get 7 seats.

I agree completely. I was talking with a sales guy at Toyota recently and he mentioned it is quite the status symbol to have amongst the Asian immigrants in our community, in particular Chinese people. Kinda like BMWx6's for people from Benoni.

I guess (like most things) people can attribute value based on status, but for $100k you can do a lot better if you lose that sort of thinking.

[patches]

2 hours ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

I agree completely. I was talking with a sales guy at Toyota recently and he mentioned it is quite the status symbol to have amongst the Asian immigrants in our community, in particular Chinese people. Kinda like BMWx6's for people from Benoni.

I guess (like most things) people can attribute value based on status, but for $100k you can do a lot better if you lose that sort of thinking.

Was going to say, big Filipino families are also massive fans of the Alphard.

The status thing is always amuses me. In Auckland it almost seems to be postcode based. In Grey Lynn and Ponsonby it's all about the Audi RS4 and RS6 wagons. On the south side of the Shore it's about the BMW's and Merc SUV's.

[Wayne Potgieter]

My Mrs is travelling on a conference at the moment. She has gone to Hayman Island in Australia. Really close to Hamilton Island. 

If any of you are looking for a great white sand, blue water kind of holiday - she recommends.

[davetapson]

Got weather from the NE which is apparently unusual.

Got a corner of the lounge/outside courtyard that is perfectly positioned to catch that, and lo and behold, the roof is leaking.

Sometimes I'm glad to be in a rental.

[hayleyearth]

Anyone here looking for a new job and in the engineering field? We have multiple of jobs available and desperatly looking of people all across the reporting structure... Here's one position...

https://www.lioncareers.com/job/923672000/

 

They are basically looking for people, so anyone looking for a change, now is your time

 

[Wayne Potgieter]

Gosh, I could see myself living here....

https://mtcardronastation.co.nz/