Just joined the forum. I am in the market for a new car. Been reading and researching a lot of cars over the last month. I want to buy a new car by end of August at the latest.
In the course of my search i came across some topics that scared me off most new cars. Whether its a sky is falling thing or something to it i am not sure. What am i talking about? Most new cars now have GDI (Gas Direct Injection) that are reported to have major carbon build up on the back side of the intake valves. This happens in cars with not many KM on them. The solution Ford says is they have to replace the head. So i am narrowing my search to cars that use port injection or better multi point port injection.
most of the cars i am looking at are everything from the Honda Fit and Civic. To Mazda 3. to Chevy Spark / Sonic / Cruze.
Toyota Yaris and Corolla.
Most of those are disqualified due to either CVT or GDI. I also am considering the NIssan Versa Note and Micra thus why i am here. The Micra was one of the first cars i looked at.
The Spark was a cool car i had strongly considered. It is MPFI but is a CVT. The main reason for hesitation for this car is the long term reliability. I want to keep the car for a long time but i have doubts this car will last 10yrs and 100k km.
but i turned away from the Micra idea and thought i would go with Mazda 3 or Civic. But after reading some of the threads here i am back to the Micra. The other cars would be nice for sure but i think they are too much car for me. It would just be me most of the times and just for shopping and driving on rainy days or cold days (no commuting) over winter. I have a Honda NC750X motorcycle i ride on warm weekend days.
For the last month or so i have been using some of the car share services. (Car2Go and EVO) and the power of those cars are ok for what i do so is why i am back to the Micra. Would probably go with the SR trim.
My main concern originally with the Micra (and the Yaris) was the 4 speed auto. For a city car i want auto. shifting sux in traffic.
But from reading here the auto does not see as bad. Next month i will take the std and auto out on a test drive. My main concern with the auto was what the hwy RPM would have been. I am no speed demon and it looks like the Micra auto can do my normal cruise speed ok. 120ish KPH.
The other quandary i have now is if i should wait for a restyled 2017. The new ones sure look cool. But if they went to GDI i would stay with a 2016.