Few months ago I traveled with my Fiat Punto (very small car) from Northern Bosnia to Croatia (Adriatic Sea) for my vacation. During the trip I had only one idea in mind: how my car is inappropriate for this kind of trips. Small and underpowered.
First thing when I came back was to replace my car with something larger, something which is not expensive and yet that is safe and comfy on bigger distances… I considered many aspects of getting new car but eventually decided to buy used one. Salaries in Bosnia are very small, buying a new car for cash was simply not in option and getting a credit deal would mean being in debt for next 10-15 years.
Buying used car is always a some sort of gambling, you never know what you will get, but that’s a reality in my country anyway I was quite lucky.
My main candidates were Audi A4, Audi A6, Honda Accord, Alfa Romeo 159. Most of people around me were for a Volkswagen, either Golf or Pasat. It’s a kind of Bosnia thing. Volkswagen here is a “car above all cars” and most of the people want it. For me it was too much mainstream and I wanted to avoid it. Beside, being mainstream, I really did not liked reliability issues with VW which some of my friends experienced (though those might be related to quality of service for used cars). I also considered some Civics too, especially when I saw prices for used civic cars on the linked site. Unfortunately those have steering wheel on the wrong side and importing used cars from England or Germany would probably be a hassle for me…
Anyway, after checking all official car sites from Honda till Audi, forum discussions of my favorite models, reviews for given years, reliability indexes, I dropped following cars…
First dropped was Audi A6. Being premium executive car it was simply expensive and service costs were outrageous. However I really liked interior and space available.
Second was Audi A4 – I did not liked car being much mainstream like VW in my country. Newer model (facelift from 2009) was especially attractive but that one like A6 was way too expensive. Eventually I dropped idea of Audi A4, not to mention quite high risk of your Audi getting stolen. Over 150 Audi cars gets stolen in Bosnia each year.
Third was Alfa 159. Man, I loved look and feel of that car. Had opportunity to drive all wheel drive Alfa 159 for a week. It was like going on rails. Everybody were turning heads after it. However I was thinking I will hold car for at least 3-4 year and what after, I could only sell this car for peanut. Another problem was not so much space on back seat and models with leader being very expensive.
So you can guess my choice…
It was Honda Accord. I never had Japanese car before and I must say that I like it. Enough space, and especially nice prices for used models. I got mine for 12k Euros and after having 7 000 km I still didn’t had single problems with it.
I like quality of build. On a four years old car, nothing looks worn up and there is no strange sounds of interior. I got model with 2.4 petrol engine. I like petrol engines and never really considered diesel related engines. Guy before me was the first owner, so I guess he took care of it. It has 89000 km on the kilometer stand.
After driving to south Serbia recently I figured this is excellent travel car. Cruising on highway is exceptionally comfy… 2.4 motor is quite powerful, and best of all it has large trunk… I even got one of those Thule bicycle racks and looking forward to try them this summer for mine and my wife bikes.
Here is how my new car looks like:
