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Hi,

What is your opinion on the following Holden Vectras as a first car? The reason I selected these cars is that the price seems reasonable for a 4 star ANCAP rating, and these cars will only require yearly WOFs with the new rules.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=697040774
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/holden/vectra/auction-696355947.htm

The second one has more kilometres, but seems to have a good history, and is apparently AA appraised.

Thanks in advance for your help.

One advantage of this model is that you get a late model car at a low price. However, they don't have a great reputation for reliability, hence, the low price due to low damand.
If you're still keen on one, I'd much rather have the lower mileage one. 181,000km is too high in my opinion.

Thanks for the reply.

I have found this vehicle which I think is better.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=696950662

What is your opinion on this vehicle? Is there anything I should be looking out for, such as CV joints, reliability issues and the number of kilometres?

CarJam says that the vehicle was 'NZ Assembled/Built' but the country of origin is Japan. What does this mean?

Thanks again.

Yes, this would be a much better option with a much better reputation for reliability. No real known major issues.
NZ Assembly finished in 1998, so it's possible that this car was assembled here, although also possible that NZTA took a while to change the category records on the database and some Japanese assembled cars were still assumed to be assembled in NZ if they were sold new here, hence perhaps their data is wrong.
Regardless of where it was assembled, this car was sold new in New Zealand.

Hi,

Do you have any comments regarding this car (e.g. CVT, reliability etc)?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=722606192

I realise that the car is Holden, so may not meet the reliability of Japanese makes, but it looks like a good opportunity to obtain (according to my research) a 4 star ANCAP car and good fuel economy (4/6 stars) for a reasonable price.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sorry to say, but the same applies to this vehicle as the Vecta. These cars are not "real" Holdens, they are re-badged Vauxhall/Opel product and have reputations for reliability issues.
However, they do not have CVT transmissions.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=726603241

I realise that this Astra is rebadged. However, the price and kms seem good and would help mitigate future costs. Would you have any other comments on this vehicle? (would the same advice regarding CVT apply?)

Also, the car is based at U-Sell. If I purchase a car from U-Sell, would it be considered purchasing the car from a RMVT, or would it be considered a private sale?

Thanks again for all your help so far!

As you seem to be set on one of these, there's nothing further I can add to what I've already said. They don't have a CVT.
Generally speaking, these cars are private sales, so no consumer protection under the CGA.