A New Car

[SSVPom]

Well, the time has come to upgrade my daily driver to something better on juice, and basically 'new'.... I've got a car allowance to justify you see.

The good news is that the Fairmont is staying!! The wife will take the helm during the week, which means she'll rack up a "huge" 40kms per week on the car instead of my 400kms, which hopefully means less wear-and-tear, retain more value etc etc...

Which brings me to my dilemma, I'm currently split between a top spec medium car (Mazda 3 SP23 lux pack, not the MPS turbo) or a low spec larger car, such as the Subaru Liberty 2.0R (slowish, but with free satnav at the mo). I cannot justify the depreciation on a BF2 Falcon or indeed running two 4.0L cars, can't find an XR5T and it doesn't have an auto option, and also want to reduce weekly fuel bills and own a car that will be worth something after 3/4years.

I have my finances sorted and just need to hear some feedback (good and bad), has anyone got any thoughts on either of these two cars ?

My allegiance to the blue oval is still there - I just want to wear out some other car, not my Fairmont !

Cheers.