Petrol Price Rises Ahead

by Stuart Livesey

In case you haven’t noticed it there has been some increased sabre rattling going on in the Middle East. Little George who couldn’t win a fight anywhere has now decided to get tough with Iran and that’s going to push the price of oil up in the weeks ahead.

While economists are expecting a modest rice at the bowser of around three or four cents recent history shows that the greed factor will possibly make it go higher.

Petrol Price Rises Ahead

3 thoughts on “Petrol Price Rises Ahead

  1. I am curious what you bouhgt. I am looking for a new smaller car to save on petrol cost and have been impressed by the Honda Jazz (5 door). What do you think?

  2. Hello Grace

    First let me apologise for not responding back on Friday but the question you asked got me thinking and I didn’t want to rush into the answer.

    While I’m not in the market for a smaller car at the moment my daughter certainly is and she’s had me out looking at cars in this class for her so I’ve seen most of them and sat in most of the ones in this class.

    For me, and my daughter, the first important test was to actually sit in them. You see, I’m over 190cm (6′ 3″) tall and my daughter is even taller and small cars are not always built with us in mind. So being able to get into and out of the car without banging my head on the top of the door, cracking my knees on the steering wheel and having plenty of leg-room were important factors.

    The five door versions usually have less leg-room for drivers than the three door versions. I guess if most of your driving is going to be around the city or suburbs then leg-room may not be such a big concern but my daughter lives and works in the country and often travels to Sydney.

    The Mitsubishi Colt (a very nice little car but a bit expensive) and the Mazda 2 were crossed off the list as soon as I cracked my head on the Colt and banged the most painful part of my knee on the steering wheel of the Mazda.

    The Barina was never on the list to begin with. It’s a rebadged Daewoo and we’ve had a very bad experience with a Daewoo in the past. Reports that I’d read about the new Barina had done nothing to improve my opinion so it didn’t make the list.

    The Hyundai Getz was one I suggested to my daughter. It was certainly comfortable and had all the creature comforts you might want. The five door version starts at $14,990/$16990 so the price is quite attractive too.

    Hyundai have a habit of selling their cars to car rental companies and that tends to flush the resale value down the toilet. Even the dealer told me not to expect much when it came time to trade it in. However we have owned a small Hyundai in the past and it was a great car that just kept on going and going.

    The Kia Rio seems to be quite popular – so popular that the local dealer didn’t have one in stock so I didn’t get to even sit in one. The price seems quite reasonable too but this is another one that might not do so well if you’re thinking about resale value.

    The Toyota Yaris was certainly very comfortable but it was also more expensive that most in its class. However, Toyota’s have a well-deserved reputation for sound engineering and toughness and they do hold their value when it comes time to sell it.

    The dashboard may take a little getting used to but that was off-set by a great view of the road.

    The Honda Jazz was on my list but the dealer had none in stock and really wasn’t interested in even giving me a brochure. However, Honda has a reputation for producing great vehicles and they seem to have a better resale value than most.

    The Jazz is also at the upper end of the price range but, from what I’ve seen of them, they certainly seem to be worth the money.

    And the bottom line to all that was that I suggested to Bronwyn that she look seriously at the Toyota Yaris and Hyundai Getz in that order.

    I hope that helps you in your decision-making Grace:)

  3. Hi All,

    I’ve just bought another car due to my other one being smashed into. I went with what I had before which was a six and now I’m thing I may have made the wrong decision. (of course)

    The probelm was that I couldn’t afford a smaller car for the year model I wanted so only had a few chosices… earlier model car, small car with heaps of miles or similar to the one I had before (6).

    Anyways, after the fact and as you say with gas prices going up, I have laern’t my lesson. Time to save up properly and get a small car… maybe even a hydro.

    Cheers, Chris.

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