If you folks are living in DR or planning on living in DR then consider buying a toyota as these cars just won't quit on you when you are on the road.
Just yesterday we were in jarabacoa in a late model KIA SUV, owned by a girlfriend of my friend. My friend was driving and I was BSing in the back, chewing on food and drinking coke. Then he noticed the engine was losing power and making rattling noise. The power seem to have been deminishing every second. the temperature needle was within normal range. So we ruled out the high temperature (over heating of the motor). then the sound really became loud and the engine quit.
It turn outs there was no water in the radiator and the motor was burning red hot. Since there was no water in the radiator, we didn't see any overheating signs in the temp meter. Temperature of the motor is measured by the circulating water in the radiator from the engine, so no water, no temp reading. Needless to say, the motor is history and siezed.
Now I have a piece of Sh*t toyota tercel (1990) and believe me, I put it through rough abuse. The reason being, I simply hate this car because its so ugly. But I need this car because where I work, I have to park on a tight street and often the motorcycles and trucks bump into it. I have about 5 dents on it from people running into me while parked.
This car is just amazing. Its the most basic model you can find with a 1.5 liter engine and 5 speed stick. I have put this car through hell, blew up tires from hitting hell holes which would eat up other models of various other non-jap cars. I drive over speed bumps on high speeds and get my girlsfriends afraid. I have over loaded the car with enough people to have myself listed in the guiness book of world's record. I simply want to kill that car and I just can't bring it to stop on me. On top of all that, my A/C still works. In fact all of my friends who own toyota models, never seem to complain of any serious trouble in their cars.
Now I have other friends who own french cars, Kias, skoda, volkswagon and english cars, always complain of high cost of maintenance and contant breakdown. Carlos got it the worst by buying a 2002 landrover discovery SUV. Every time the guy went to mechanic he paid 16-30 k pesos on each jobs. His oil change alone was in thousands of pesos. I remember his a/c compressor went out the first 3 months, then the transmission went out, then the hydrolic raised shock pump went out, then this and that. His power doors went bad. This guy had nothing but problems from the very start. he bought it brand new. He just got rid of it and never feels more relieved. Now he drives a 2000 toyota camry and can't believe he never thought of toyotas before. It seems toyotas are built for this country. They have tough bodies and high raised to be driven on dominican rough roads. Mechanics seem to know how to work on them so it makes it very cost effective to own one and be able to get cheap parts for it. Junkyards are full of toyota parts and you will always have full access to service at any part of this country.
I recommend toyotas for dominican roads if you don't have the money to buy a japanese SUV. I predict gas prices to really go up through the sky so stick with regular sedan cars.
Good luck.
Just yesterday we were in jarabacoa in a late model KIA SUV, owned by a girlfriend of my friend. My friend was driving and I was BSing in the back, chewing on food and drinking coke. Then he noticed the engine was losing power and making rattling noise. The power seem to have been deminishing every second. the temperature needle was within normal range. So we ruled out the high temperature (over heating of the motor). then the sound really became loud and the engine quit.
It turn outs there was no water in the radiator and the motor was burning red hot. Since there was no water in the radiator, we didn't see any overheating signs in the temp meter. Temperature of the motor is measured by the circulating water in the radiator from the engine, so no water, no temp reading. Needless to say, the motor is history and siezed.
Now I have a piece of Sh*t toyota tercel (1990) and believe me, I put it through rough abuse. The reason being, I simply hate this car because its so ugly. But I need this car because where I work, I have to park on a tight street and often the motorcycles and trucks bump into it. I have about 5 dents on it from people running into me while parked.
This car is just amazing. Its the most basic model you can find with a 1.5 liter engine and 5 speed stick. I have put this car through hell, blew up tires from hitting hell holes which would eat up other models of various other non-jap cars. I drive over speed bumps on high speeds and get my girlsfriends afraid. I have over loaded the car with enough people to have myself listed in the guiness book of world's record. I simply want to kill that car and I just can't bring it to stop on me. On top of all that, my A/C still works. In fact all of my friends who own toyota models, never seem to complain of any serious trouble in their cars.
Now I have other friends who own french cars, Kias, skoda, volkswagon and english cars, always complain of high cost of maintenance and contant breakdown. Carlos got it the worst by buying a 2002 landrover discovery SUV. Every time the guy went to mechanic he paid 16-30 k pesos on each jobs. His oil change alone was in thousands of pesos. I remember his a/c compressor went out the first 3 months, then the transmission went out, then the hydrolic raised shock pump went out, then this and that. His power doors went bad. This guy had nothing but problems from the very start. he bought it brand new. He just got rid of it and never feels more relieved. Now he drives a 2000 toyota camry and can't believe he never thought of toyotas before. It seems toyotas are built for this country. They have tough bodies and high raised to be driven on dominican rough roads. Mechanics seem to know how to work on them so it makes it very cost effective to own one and be able to get cheap parts for it. Junkyards are full of toyota parts and you will always have full access to service at any part of this country.
I recommend toyotas for dominican roads if you don't have the money to buy a japanese SUV. I predict gas prices to really go up through the sky so stick with regular sedan cars.
Good luck.