want to buy a car below 10million im unable decide between non hybrids and hybrids

shenal23 · November 9, 2023

hi everyone

iv been recently looking to buy a car below 10million.i have looked at a couple of hybrid axio's(2015,16) which fit the budget but have heard about battery and ABS related issues.not only with a axio but with most hybrid cars and my first question was if its not advisable to go for one?

secondly i have looked at premio's as well but only 2013 ones fit the budget anything above that year goes for over 11 million. is it worth paying 10million for a 2013 premio and not having to worry about any hybrid issues or are the hybrid issues not that big of a deal?

any other car recommendations would be appreciated

thank you

Edited November 9, 2023 by shenal23

iRage · November 9, 2023

The Axio is overpriced for what it is (its an entry level sedan based on the Vitz). The Premio/Allion is unreasonably over priced.

Look...every car has things that can go wrong. There is nothing wrong with the Axio. Any Hybrid car will have battery issues if not used enough (for the battery to go through proper charge-discharge cycles) and the subsequent components are not properly maintained. As for the ABS issue...the module had a tendency to prematurely fail. It was something that was there with pretty much all Toyotas of the period.

If you look at everything else you will find issues. So you should not walk away from a car model just because of the rumor mills in SL (most of them are over exaggerated by makabaases, brokers and your neighbor's uncle's daughter-in-law's co-worker). I mean everything from the Vezel to Axelas to Lancers to Civics will be put down. The only thing these people will not ut down in the Premio/Allion which has an engine from two decades ago.

You might also want to look at cars like the Lancer EX, Mazda 3, Civic from the same era as the Axio. They should be around the same price range but you will get much more car. In terms of refinement the Mazda 3 and Civic will be higher than the Lancer EX but all of them will be miles ahead of the Axio (okay...Lancer EX feels a bit plasticy but feels pretty good).

If you are willing to go abit older you might be able to find a Mazda 6 as well..but finding one is quite hard as people seem to hold on to them (the good ones at least). There are crossover options ans well as sedans from Kia.

Hybrid or non-Hybrid..depends on how much you use the car for. If you just use it a few days a week or few kms on a daily basis (short drives) then a Hybrid might not be the best option for you. If your driving patterns are like this or do a lot of high-intense driving (up mountain roads etc...) then again, Hybrid might not be best as it wont be that efficient (gasoline engine runs most of the time). Especially the older Hybrid variants. Lot of driving/usage...long drives on the highway, etc...would suit a hybrid best. Do the math and see which makes more sense for you

shenal23 · November 10, 2023

thank you for the detailed explanation.by civic do you mean the new 2017,18 models or the older ones. and i don't think hybrids would work out for me as i would be doing only short drives.i looked into the mazda 6 as you said people don't tend to sell them so i found only few.and overall all premio/allions are way overpriced at the moment except like 2013 ones

matroska · November 11, 2023

On 11/9/2023 at 10:40 PM, shenal23 said:

hi everyone

iv been recently looking to buy a car below 10million.i have looked at a couple of hybrid axio's(2015,16) which fit the budget but have heard about battery and ABS related issues.not only with a axio but with most hybrid cars and my first question was if its not advisable to go for one?

secondly i have looked at premio's as well but only 2013 ones fit the budget anything above that year goes for over 11 million. is it worth paying 10million for a 2013 premio and not having to worry about any hybrid issues or are the hybrid issues not that big of a deal?

any other car recommendations would be appreciated

thank you

Well you will not be able to find 'zero-issue' cars. Of course the inherrent ABS issue is there for the axio and same with the hybrid battery. I personally find 10M too much for a econ-hybrid like the axio. and same goes for a 10 YO premio which is again a basic car. Also it will be a bit challenging to find honest specimens of both cars. So if you by any chance go for one make sure to get a proper inspection done. I will explain why. WRT Axio - very popular among rentals and taxi services. There are loads of these that have run to the moon (distance to moon 384,000 km) and mileage rolled back. Same goes for Premio. Circa 2018 - there was a car sale in mount that had premios that all had the exact mileage - 69,000 km 😛 so you get my drift...while Premio would not have the hybrid battery worries nor the ABS worries it might turn out to be a lemon on how it's been maintained.

Then coming to other options - Mazda 6 is a great car but at 1M you're looking at probably 2014 max. Still a decent choice. Then Mazda Axela - you can get something in the same vintage of the axio. Both these cars are solid cars with a lot of bells and whistles, comfort, handling and basically a lot more car for what you pay.

Then a glaringly obvious choice is the 2017 onwards Honda Civics - the 1.5 L variants are beyond your budget. But the turbocharged 1L ones are well within budget. While the 3 pot engine is nothing to write home about, it packs a little more power than a premio and the overall ride quality is country miles ahead of a premio/allion/axio - the downer being that based on how it's maintained the model may throw up a few gremlins (read the dedicated thread on the model)

If Crossovers are your cup of tea - you have stuff like Suzuki Vitara's and SX4's from around 2018. Then we have several Korean options in the same category.