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I have recently moved to Auckland and looking to purchase a car which suits my need. We are young family of 4 who likes to explore new places.
The car I am looking for should serve good for driving within city as well as occasional outstation trips (once a year).
We do not intend to buy another car, so this car will be shared with me and my wife.
City travel will be around 800-900 Km/ month, which I think its reasonable.
I checked few cars under 9K and liked Nissan Wingroad 2005 Model, 1.5 CC and Toyota Opa 2004,1.8 CC.
I am not sure which one to go for, considering the hilly terrain of New Zealand, dont want to considered underpowered during my travel, within city or on motorway. Can you please suggest the car which should be best for our lifestyle.
Alternately if there is any other make/model which you can suggest, I am all ears.
Thanks

The Mazda Atenza/6 2.0L or 2.3L wagon is the favourite and should be considered as performance is adequate and it has a good reputation for reliability.

But, the Nissan Wingroad with the conventional automatic transmissions are ok but avoid the CVT transmission models - test drive it to see whether the 1.8L will work for you. The 1.8L Toyota Opa with the conventional automatic is ok but avoid the 2.0L models as they tend to have the CVT transmissions as well - the CVTs are known to be problematic in this era.

MPV style vehicles you could consider the Honda Edix 2.0L/2.4L, Toyota Wish 2.0L, Toyota Ipsum 2.0L/2.4L.