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Hi ABayliss,

I'm looking to buy a car for my parents- both aged in their 60s who are returning to NZ after some time abroad. They will basically use it to drive to church on Sundays and to the supermarket and back so very low mileage. Unfortunately, my budget is $3-$4k. I've been looking at Pulsars mainly because Corolla's seem to be above the $4k mark and I'm a bit worried about purchasing a car which runs a cambelt with no evidence of the belt being changed (somehow the receipts are always lost :)

I'm looking at Daihatsu Pyzaars. They are a bit ugly so it seems that the market price for them is pretty low. I do however like the extra legroom at the front and the high seating position which will make it easy for them to get in and out of the car. How are the Pyzaar's reliability wise and what will securing parts be like- I understand that not many of these were imported into NZ

Thanks

The Daihatsu Pyzar has a good reputation for reliability. It's nothing exciting, but tends to be very dependable. Parts supply should not be a problem.

Does the Nissan Wingroad 1997 run a CVT transmission or is it a conventional auto? I test drove one yesterday and it felt like an auto (ie did not flare when revved hard). Is there anyway you can confirm this. The owner did not seem to know

The information I have shows the 1997 Nissan Wingroad is fitted with a four-speed conventional automatic transmission.

Besides the flare normally associated with CVT transmissions you can also look out for emblems on the vehicle. If it says Hyper CVT-M6 anywhere on the vehicle then it's fitted with a CVT- these can normally be found on Primera models.