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I am in the early stages of research for buying a vehicle which will be used primarily for day trips and weekends away. It will probably remain parked most of the week. I want a vehicle that is reliable and 4wd/AWD for going up the ski field roads. Ideally it will be a wagon since I am short and struggle to reach to put boats on the roof of a SUV. It also needs to be an automatic.

I don’t know much about cars so what is a reasonable amount of mileage and year for me to be considering? I would rather pay a bit more to buy it and then not have the stress too of many maintenance issues. Bearing your age and mileage suggestions in mind, what is a reasonable budget for me to set for myself? Ideally I would spend upto $10,000, but $15,000 would be okay and could stretch to more if it results in better value.

I also have a couple of other question. Any significant advantages/disavantages of used NZ New cars versus imported?

I’ve noticed in other posts that you generally steer people away from CVT’s. What is the reasoning behind this? I might have a friend selling a 2009 or 2010 Nissan X-Trail with CVT. Does your general dislike of CVTs include this vehicle?

Some Subaru’s would meet my needs quite well but my sense is that subarus are petrol hungry and expensive to maintain and therefore I am looking to avoid them. Do you think this is reasonable or do you think I should be open to considering a Subaru?

Thank you in advance for reading my rather long series of questions.

Generally, you get what you pay for so I would suggest you look for a vehicle around the $15,000 mark. Mileage is one of the most important things to consider when buying a used car. A mileage around 100,000km is still acceptable but when you go past the 160,000km range then you could be in for some nasty repairs. There isn't anything wrong with looking at buying a Japanese import but you need to be prepared to get a good service carried out on the vehicle when you buy it. Japanese vehicles are generally not serviced well and there is no way of confirming the service history. A NZ new vehicle should have traceable service history, if it has been maintained, which is why some buyers prefer NZ new. Vehicle specifications can vary between the NZ and Japanese models.

The CVT transmissions aren't all bad. Earlier versions were prone to failures but things have improved over time. Nissan's CVTs don't have a good reputation but we like to think that this won't be the case with the newer models. Mitsubishi have been using these gearboxes for some time with success and Toyota and Subaru use them as well.

Subaru’s were known for their not so good fuel economy and high maintenance costs but they have been using AWD for some time which is one of the main reasons for this. An AWD system has more mechanical items to maintain and when you are driving a vehicle with a permanent AWD system you can expect to use more fuel than a 2wd vehicle.

You won't have many option for an AWD wagon but you can consider, in this price range, Toyota's Caldina (non D4 engines) and Subaru's Legacy or Outback models but in 2.0L or 2.5L normally aspirated engines.

AWD SUV vehicles to consider in this price range are Toyota's RAV4, Mitsubishi's Outlander (some have a CVT but they have a good reputation), non-CVT Nissan X-Trail (before 2007 they normally had the conventional automatic g/box fitted), and the Hyundai Tucson.