Dec 31, 2005
XA or yaris ---Toyota - Brilliant little car, well built, holds it's resale price, good value! - The new Yaris has been brought in to replace the Echo - thank god!!! Nice little car, but prefer the XA.
Tiida -----------Nissan - Hmm not sure about this one, looks pretty nice though.
Jazz ------------Honda - Again good little car, a bit boxy for my liking though.
Getz ------------Hyundai - Another good little runner, very comparable to the XA in size.
Focus -----------Ford - Forget European cars here, parts are expensive and they're built for coping with wet, muddy environments, great for Europe, rust out like hell in the heat! Steer clear!
The Mazda 3 is good, you get a lot of car for your money. My boyfriend has just bought the S version which was 51,500 Dhs. You can get the fully loaded for about 55,000.
Basically anything Japanese will be a pretty good deal, parts are cheap, they're well built, good safety features and last forever.
The second hand car dealer ship at Al Aweer is pretty good - BUT be very very careful! There are some right cowboys, and about 30% of the dealers there I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! You need to take someone with you who knows about cars, warranties, servicing, resale and what the current list price should be. Many of the cars are not a good deal, they're over priced and if there's a problem some of the dealers refuse to fix it - beware!!!
The guys at the Al Futtaim second hand show room are very good, or you can tell them what you're looking for and they'll keep and eye out. But you have to remember second hand dealers need to make money on the cars so there is a mark up. Buying private here is very dodgy business, if there's a problem there's no come back and I wouldn't recommend it.
Hope this helps
Choco