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Hi there,

I'm shopping for a little runabout car to get me to and from work (a 20 minute drive through suburbs) while my wife drives our main family vehicle, a Toyota Wish.

As you can see I've become a loyal Toyota customer and want affordable reliability.

I'm looking at two cars:
Toyota Ist 2005 1.5L automatic 99,000k 5-door for $7,200
Toyota Vitz 2002 1.3L automatic 62,000k 3-door for $5,500

The Ist is with a dealer who I have had good past dealings with, and the Vitz is a private sale.

I've been reading about CVT transmissions and wish to stay clear of them for vehicles of these ages. I know the Ist is a conventional automatic, and I'm hoping the Vitz is too. I believe from about 2004 or later, the Vitz is CVT, and only the later models have a reliable transmission, which prices me out of them.

So, I'm exploring an older Vitz with a conventional automatic transmission and reasonably low mileage, hoping this will give me better reliability.

I know the Vitz is only a 3-door, which can be a pain, but I really am only planning to use this to get me to and from work.

The Ist at $7200 is really at the upper end of what I want to pay. I would be much happier driving the slightly older Vitz with a lesser spend now if it meant a lower overall cost of ownership over, say, 5 years.

I would definitely get both vehicles inspected inspected before purchasing.

I have also looked at Corolla RunX and Allex, but I feel like these are heavier vehicles and start to need a larger engine to move them around efficiently with a corresponding increase in price.

As it is, I'm only reluctantly looking at the 1.5L Ist instead of the more common 1.3L version of it because I've heard that the 1.3L are a bit underpowered.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Michael

Hi Michael,
I think you've pretty much got it nailed, and I agree with all that you're saying. If you're sure the Ist that you're looking at is the conventional automatic, it would probably be my preference, although perhaps you'll need to dismiss it if it's stretching your budget.
Personally, I'd prefer a 5 door Vitz to a 3 door one, and resale will generally be better on the 5 door version too.
The Allex/Runx/Corolla would also be a good choice, but is better with the 1.8 engine, and is likely to be beyond the budget.

Thank you.

So, assuming the Vitz is a conventional automatic transmission, which would you favour for pure reliability? Still the newer Ist with higher kms on the clock (99,000) or the older Vitz with fewer kms (62,000)?

Cheers,

Michael

It's really personal preference. Yes, the ks are lower on the Vitz, so it has an advantage there, but the Ist is probably the better one in all other respects, and 99,000km isn't overly high. That would probably be my own personal preference, but each of us have different requirements and preferences.