Grandis - to buy or not to buy? :-)

[Federspanner29068]

Dear All,

I apologize for my English but I haven't an other choice - I don't speak German.

I tried to search the forum for the similar question but... it is in German and I gave up.

If you could be so kind and spend a bit of your time to help me in English please...

I work and live in the Netherlands (sorry, there is no point to talk to me in Dutch as well ) and plan to change my Honda Shuttle to a newer van.

The main candidate is the Grandis.

It is too expensive in the Netherlands and I think to import it from Germany (yes, I know about BTW).

I plan to buy a van with the automatic transmission, 2-3 years old (2004-2005).

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of Grandis cars in the Netherlands and it is relatively new so I did not find in the Internet any report on its reliability - at least in English.

As I see there are enough Grandis cars in Germany - so could you please share your experience with me: what kind of problems can I expect from 2-3yo Grandis, what do you know about the reliability of this car?

Thanks

[Federspanner29068]

P.S. You may answer in German, I'll try to use an online translator to understand your answers .

Thanks.

[Federspanner29068]

.......

[Achsmanschette8072]

Hallo,

my Grandis is in April 3 years old and it runs without any problems.

I have a littel nois in the dashboard, but only when its cold.

The engine needs 9-14 liter fuel on 100Km, its ok for a car with 165PS and 1700Kg weight.

The seats are very good for longer trips and you have a lot of place for your children and toys.

I hope that my statements can help you.

 

Doug

[Federspanner29068]

Dear Douglas4,

Thank You very much for sharing your experience

[Rostlöser7827]

Hi,

my grandis is about 1,5 y.o., it runs to date without any problems (35 000 km). In general it's a very good car allthoug it has small things. For example metallic (mine is black) - I think you should avoid automatic washing places and wash it by hand and use wax before and after winter.

Secondly, I can tell you that in my grandis there are also small noises from the left side of the dashboard coming, especially if it's cold outside. The problem is nobody knows what's the problem because the noises come only at some times. You go to your service and it's everything fine, nobody can find anything. You go then home and on the next morning noises are back. Some little dwarfs in it... but it's never really disturbing.

Third: the car is relatively high and comfortable - this means that on the motorway by 140 km/h - if it's windy outside and you have a box on your roof - you should drive a little bit more concentrated because its stability is a little bit lower as the one from BMW M5.

Four: the original winter tires from yokohama (ats winter) - they simply suck...forget it, buy another product.

Five: the consumption - if you want to buy a car with AT, I think you should realise that its gasoline consumption will not be modest... I think that 12 - 12,5 litre in the city are realistic on the motorway by 140 km/h - 10 litres. My car needs (manual transmission) to date generally 11,5 litre/100 km. And the automatic transmission is really a lot slower (accelerates slower: manual - 10 s to 100 km/h, automatic - almoast 12 s)

Six: over 150 - 160 km/h the car starts to be a little bit noisy...

But...it has a lot of place, the quality is good, the car is rare - means nobody steals it or wants it for parts, the insurance is very cheap (by me - german insurance class SF16 - 35 - 40 % - 42 Euro monthly for full insurance option).

My tip would be to by an Invite (ESP!!! by Mitsubishi called MASC) modell with manual transmission and cruise control or Diesel with AT or MT.

Nice buying...

nestem

[Federspanner29068]

Wow!

nestem, thanks a lot for your story.

It tells me that I made a right choice .

I drive Honda Shuttle now and I know all these things: fuel consumption, side-wind influence etc., but that's the price for a van... and I'm willing to pay it .

Thanks again

[Rostlöser7827]

No problem

I Think you should consider buying a diesel (2005 and up) especially in Holland (strongly recommended). With 7 litres diesel pro 100 km (VW diesel 140 hp) you will have the more money that you have to spend for the car in a year back in your pocket and diesel - grandis are also more silent (sic!!!). Plus VW spare parts are a bit cheaper and sometimes more accessible, at least in Germany.

Have a nice day

Bye

nestem

[Rostlöser7827]

Look also here

http://www.motor-talk.de/t1083462/f193/s/thread.html

[Federspanner29068]

nestem

> I Think you should consider buying a diesel (2005 and up) especially in Holland

I did not see Grandis vans with diesel and automatic transmisson at mobile.de etc. Unfortunately my wife doesn't drive cars with a manual gear box.

Regarding the problem with brakes... sounds interesting. So according that topic there are at least a few cars with such a vibrations (?) from brakes?

[Rostlöser7827]

You are right

my lapsus linguae, there are no Grandis with diesel and AT. VW didn't want to sell a DSG-gearbox to other parties.

see ya

nestem

[Federspanner29068]

nestem,

No problem, thanks .

[Federspanner29068]

Dear All,

May I ask you, what does the phrase "Privatverkauf: Preis zzgl " mean? I assume that the meaning is "the dealer is just a middleman"?

Does it mean that the dealer doesn't have any responsibility for the car data: regarding the mileage, incidents, hand # etc.? Or I can trust to his answers?

Actually I'm choosing mostly between 2 cars:

1. http://mobile.de/.../da.pl?...

2. http://mobile.de/.../da.pl?...

The 1st car is a bit more expensive but younger, the 2nd one is close and cheaper.

I would appreciate any advice regarding the pro's and contra's for these cars.

I already discussed both cars with dealers, they clame that cars are in a very good shape, incident-free etc.

Thank you .

[Multimeter560]

Hmm, I think this phrase is a bit out of the context but I'll try it:

Privatverkauf - private sale:

The dealer isn't responsible for any warranty. If you are a commercial dealer the law says that you have to give at least 24 month of warranty no matter how old the car is. So a lot of commercial dealers do it "undercover" and tell that they are private persons to avoid warranty services. But surely, this can also be a private person who just wants to sell its old car to buy another one and everything is ok.

zzgl - short form of "zuzüglich" meaning "plus":

An example: "Stückpreis zzgl. Versandkosten" could be translated as "unit price plus shipping". I hope you know what I'm talking about So it's important what is standing beofre and/or after "zzgl."

I also like the Grandis, but for me it's out of reach and I didn't thought that this car needs at least 10 Litres ...

[Federspanner29068]

ThunderFlash,

Thank You for the explanation.

I see the point with a warranty but can I trust to the car's data like mileage, history etc.? Is a dealer responsible for this information?

Regarding the fuel consumption... well, it is so. My current Honda Shuttle does the same but I compared me feeling of driving with Golf, Avensis and some other smaller (than vans ;-) cars.

It is VERY different :-).