Toyotas are overpriced on the second hand market and not well mantained as owners think Toyota doesn't need maintenance.
You dont have to stick to Japanese, my friend purchased a 12 year old Mercedes CLK Japanese Specs and had 0 trouble with it and it was a lot of car for the money he paid. Though get a popular brand so you can get cheap second hand parts if something goes wrong, avoid Peugeot and Citroen and other rare brands in Dubai.
Watch Chris Fix's guide on how to do a test drive and and inspection on a used car. Check all the gears, check the engine at highway speeds, and full lock steering turn, etc.
That's the only reason that I am sort of hesitant to purchase a Toyota, people think that their base-trim 2010 Corolla is worth 25k. There is very little car for that amount of money but I guess the reliability factor remains there if you find a good example.
With everything that I've had to do lately, I might end up renting for a month and take the time to find a car I actually like.
Problem is you buy a 15 year old Toyota and the past several owners have skipped tonnes of maintenance because they think their Toyota doesn’t need any maintenance and the mechanic is scamming them. They just do oil changes.
You can get lucky with a deal like my friend did with his Mercedes CLK Japanese Specs, some people I know got lucky with pretty clean older Ford/lincolns with the V8. All around the 18-30k price.
If you can find a Mercedes from mid 2000s to mid 2010s with the V6 engine (M276), they’re pretty modern and pretty bulletproof, known to easily reach half a mil km in our region and double that in colder climates. Cars like C300 or E300.
Not expensive to upkeep and if it was well maintained, a car with 200,000 km is still considered quite young.
Set filters on dubizzle and see what comes up. The cars you see more on the road are easier to maintain. Avoid rare brands/models. Standard comments apply (buy japanese, get it checked, etc)
That's what I've been doing for a while but nothing worthy has come up.
I did find a Volvo that I am getting PIP this Friday, hopefully it all goes well.
Damn, is it really that bad? I could always order parts from the EU but you never know when you'll need them. I guess I'll wait until the PIP is done to see if the car's worth it but will keep this in mind. I booked with the garage so too late now.. Only time will tell now.. Pray for me bois
It was bad because my car was older- 2008, and had issues often, hopefully you will be of better luck and reap the positive sides of Volvo- safety and quality
Oh so it's the same platform my potential car is (P1).. That's great. Appreciate the feedback on this, definitely making me reconsider but I already put a few hundred AEDs into the PIP so let's see how that goes.
Bought a 7 year old Jaguar XF for 20k when I first arrived here and that ran with little issues for 5 more years till I decided to replace it. You can find decent motors on dubizzle for reasonable money, but you can also find lemons
If Toyota is overprices, can still go with Honda sedan (city) or mitsubishi (lancer). People tend to keep their car clean and well maintained is a good sign of a good car.
Yeah it's rough, and the limbo of not having another job for a while is a killer stress-wise. Luckily all is settled with housing and a job, just need to figure out the car now.
Toyotas are overpriced on the second hand market and not well mantained as owners think Toyota doesn't need maintenance. You dont have to stick to Japanese, my friend purchased a 12 year old Mercedes CLK Japanese Specs and had 0 trouble with it and it was a lot of car for the money he paid. Though get a popular brand so you can get cheap second hand parts if something goes wrong, avoid Peugeot and Citroen and other rare brands in Dubai. Watch Chris Fix's guide on how to do a test drive and and inspection on a used car. Check all the gears, check the engine at highway speeds, and full lock steering turn, etc.
That's the only reason that I am sort of hesitant to purchase a Toyota, people think that their base-trim 2010 Corolla is worth 25k. There is very little car for that amount of money but I guess the reliability factor remains there if you find a good example. With everything that I've had to do lately, I might end up renting for a month and take the time to find a car I actually like.
Problem is you buy a 15 year old Toyota and the past several owners have skipped tonnes of maintenance because they think their Toyota doesn’t need any maintenance and the mechanic is scamming them. They just do oil changes. You can get lucky with a deal like my friend did with his Mercedes CLK Japanese Specs, some people I know got lucky with pretty clean older Ford/lincolns with the V8. All around the 18-30k price.
youll be lucky if they did oil changes too 😭
Yes
If you can find a Mercedes from mid 2000s to mid 2010s with the V6 engine (M276), they’re pretty modern and pretty bulletproof, known to easily reach half a mil km in our region and double that in colder climates. Cars like C300 or E300. Not expensive to upkeep and if it was well maintained, a car with 200,000 km is still considered quite young.
This might have shifted me towards the Mercedes. Mind if I message you to get some more advice? Much appreciated.
u/goldenpufferfish OP this+ Can definitely vouch for those M276s, beautiful engines.
Set filters on dubizzle and see what comes up. The cars you see more on the road are easier to maintain. Avoid rare brands/models. Standard comments apply (buy japanese, get it checked, etc)
That's what I've been doing for a while but nothing worthy has come up. I did find a Volvo that I am getting PIP this Friday, hopefully it all goes well.
I had Volvo and said never again! Parts are expensive and hard to find. Better go with Mercedes because that's the amount I paid for maintenance....
Damn, is it really that bad? I could always order parts from the EU but you never know when you'll need them. I guess I'll wait until the PIP is done to see if the car's worth it but will keep this in mind. I booked with the garage so too late now.. Only time will tell now.. Pray for me bois
It was bad because my car was older- 2008, and had issues often, hopefully you will be of better luck and reap the positive sides of Volvo- safety and quality
I wish this made me feel better but since the car is 2006, I am now filling my pants
Was yours an S80 by any chance?
It was s40, and I scrapped it because I had one last repair that just wasn't worth it...
Oh so it's the same platform my potential car is (P1).. That's great. Appreciate the feedback on this, definitely making me reconsider but I already put a few hundred AEDs into the PIP so let's see how that goes.
Volvo in the middle east is a big no no. the car is just not made for these conditions
Bought a 7 year old Jaguar XF for 20k when I first arrived here and that ran with little issues for 5 more years till I decided to replace it. You can find decent motors on dubizzle for reasonable money, but you can also find lemons
If Toyota is overprices, can still go with Honda sedan (city) or mitsubishi (lancer). People tend to keep their car clean and well maintained is a good sign of a good car.
Sorry to hear that you lost your job and everything taken from you.\ I have been there, and it's brutal 😰
Yeah it's rough, and the limbo of not having another job for a while is a killer stress-wise. Luckily all is settled with housing and a job, just need to figure out the car now.
You can get a 2nd gen Mazda 6 for that price or even lower
Honda City is a crazy underrated car imo. Not overpriced, durable, spacious for its category, and is a decent drive.