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Hi Jack- are the autos of these a CVT transmission? How would a NZ New 2001 Civic compare with a NZ New 2004 Pulsar Euro, similar kms and same price $7k? Is there anything wrong with the Pulsar Euro- their prices on trademe are much lower than comparable Mazda 3s, Corolla/RunX and Civics. Just wondering if this is because they were built in the UK?

The majority of the NZ new Civics of this age will have the more traditional hydraulic automatic transmission.

There were some fitted with the CVT which are best avoided if you had to choose between the two.

Overall there’s nothing wrong with the Nissan Pulsar Euro and they do represent good value for money. They can suffer a little from engine management issues (cam and crankshaft sensors) but almost every other make/model can also have similar problems.

Ongoing reliability can depend on any vehicles past service history to be honest.

The Mazda3 and the Toyota Corolla are both excellent choices although you tend to pay more for the ZOOM ZOOM appeal of the Mazda and the reliability record of the Toyota.

Toyota’s reliability record has been tarnished in recent times however with the influx of used imports fitted with their D4 engine. It is a lean burn engine and tends to suffer from low speed surge problems and rough running that even the Toyota Service network struggle to sort out.