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Good people, looking to buy another vehicle but spoiled for choice really, so if anyone can help me narrow it down a bit based on their own experience I’d appreciate it very much.

Specific usage: Welly to Auckland several times a year.
Looking for: Comfortable seats and not too noisy on SH1 coarse chip for the long haul. Good side and rear visibility for safe lane changing on the Ak motorways and arterials once there. Reasonable handling and usual goodies. Currently looking at less than 5 years old.

In the last couple of days test drove:

2014 Mitsubishi Lancer
Size: about right
Comfort: Ok
Coarse chip noise: acceptable - just
Visibility: acceptable
Drivability: CVT and electric assist steering so all a bit ho-hum.
Goodies: Cruise control (essential), rear camera (good to have), Bluetooth (nice to have).
Other: I could probably live with this car but could be easily talked into something else.

2012 Suzuki Grand Vitara
Size: upper limit
Comfort: Ok, possibly a bit bouncy
Coarse chip noise: acceptable
Visibility: very good
Drivability: better than expected (thankfully conventional automatic and hydraulic power steering) but suspect open road cruising might reveal some wandering.
Other: Quite liked vehicle but 4WD not essential.

Any opinions on these two?
What should I test drive next?
Cheers!

Hi there, how about a Mazda 3/ Axela?. Toyota Corolla Runx, Allex?.
Honda Accord Euro?..

Thanks Cade. If you had to pick one of those based solely on road noise, which one would it be? (I'm trying to narrow the search down - too much choice!)

Hi there, there are too many variables that cause road noise to pick specific car alone on this requirement. Tyre type, age, and pressure would be a large influence. So you may drive two of the same type of vehicle and get a different result.