Best chise of car for a country like the DR

heldengebroed

Bronze
Mar 9, 2005
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Imagine you have to choose a car.
1 a brand new pickup with all mod coms and electronica
2 for 8 to 10 times les money an old pick up with no electronics but for which you can fiend a mechanic on every streetcorner that can repair it if broken

Which would be your choice?

Greetings


Johan
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
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neither. best choice is a pick-up few years old, mitsubishi or toyota. easy to fix, easy to sell.
remember there is a tax to be paid on purchase of brand new cars. unless you are rich - take used car...
 

CFA123

Silver
May 29, 2004
3,512
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83
Honest? Something in the middle, still reliable but having depreciated a lot in value.
 

hammerdown

Bronze
Apr 29, 2005
1,466
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buy a toyota, or mits....every mechanic knows how to repair them, if you buy a chevy, like i did, then the only place to get them repaired is in santiago, or santo domingo.....i had a mechanic take 9hrs to replace an alternator belt on my chevy...and after he said thats the first time he ever worked on a chevy....go with toyota or mits
 

El Viejo

New member
Jan 2, 2002
135
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Insurance

Do you plan on getting full coverage insurance ( collision, theft etc ). The two insurance companies I've dealt with here charge 6% of the value of the vehicle for this coverage. Therefore the older the vehicle, the lower the insurance.
 

heldengebroed

Bronze
Mar 9, 2005
560
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No

Just wondering after a conversation with a friend here in Belgium. He has a brand new Renault and is a mechanic he works all day with truck engines. Like any good car owner he checked the oil levels and they were down a little so he desided to put some oil in his car. Bigg mistake :paranoid: His car wouldn't start afterwards. It had to be done by renault at a huge price. Made me wondering how the situation in the DR is.

Greetings

Johan
 

ffritz

New member
Feb 7, 2008
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www.gymbar.blogspot.com
We looked at what everyone else was driving. It was Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan. We bought a 2000 Montero Sport figuring that there's thousands around so parts & repairs can be easily found/done. As Hammerdown said if you have a rare car the repairs are very difficult to do - not only costly but also in terms of the time involved waiting for parts.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
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My specs:

Not low-slung (potholes, floods, sleeping policemen) which rules out a whole load of cars.
Not too small and vulnerable to being crunched in city traffic like the one I have at the moment.
Fuel efficient.
Manual.
Inconspicuous - don't want to be a more of a target for thieves.

Mr C says that the downside of the popular models like Toyota and Mitsubishi are that they are in great demand from thieves too, for their spare parts.

Generally, I like European cars but I found that spare parts are relatively expensive. Also, my little Italian job is not as fuel-efficient as one would expect.

A smallish, diesel, stick shift SUV several years old in good condition might be the answer.

My first car here (first car ever) in 1999, was a 1987 Isuzu Trooper and it was excellent in most ways - too big though. Mr C has a 2001 Land Rover Defender which is incredibly fuel efficient, but also ridiculously huge.
 

The Virginian

Bronze
Mar 16, 2007
929
8
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toyota,toyota,toyota,toyota make it 4 wheel drive and something that sits up. So shoot for a truck or SUV, but make it a toyota,toyota,toyota.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
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we have mitsubishi montero sport - target car for thieves, yes, so we have lojack (or whatever the system is called). insurance is, i believe 30k pesos a year or so but the car is fixable everywhere in the country.
with peugeot 407 we had to go to santiago to get it fixed.
i like european cars too (i am european) but in DR it ain't best choice...
 
May 12, 2005
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Get one of these.


Cougar.jpg
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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dude, i saw all "killing the toyota" while in london. would you believe it has survived EVERYTHING they threw at it?
 

J D Sauser

Silver
Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
While I don't think newer HiLux's won't quite stand the TopGear test, BUT they are indeed made FOR THIS market (versions sold in Latin America are actually built in Argentina), as well as Africa and Asia.
A year ago I got a one year old HiLux, the high neat looking version but 2x4, and with the 2.4L diesel engine... stick shift (manual/mecanica).
Delta Commercial (Santo Domingo & Santiago) sells them with a whooping 3 year/80K km TRANSFERABLE warranty! Mine had 15K Km on it an during this year I put another 15K on it. Only one minor issue, a wheel bearing went noisy and was replaced under warranty... and still I got another year or 50K km to go with warranty.
It's got killer air, plenty of power (turbo) and enough room (double cab) and I put a hard top on the back.
I take good care of my ride but I expect it to take good care of me too (which has included crossing the Yassica river back and forth).
Built in "road authority": Here the system or right of way is easy; the bigger and more threatening the vehicle has right of way. Higher vehicles have preference too. Given, the HiLux will not give you absolute right of way... but it sure stands above most cars, "muertoahoritas" and even many jeepetas (pickups just have that damage creating look to them). I have many less "deals" per mile than I remember having while riding a small 4 door Hiunday rental when I first got here.

Oh... runs 47km/28mls per Gallon (about 8.2 Liters of diesel per 100km) :).

... J-D.
 

DrChrisHE

On Probation!
Jul 23, 2006
599
0
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Helicopter?

Why can't I pick a tank? What kind of poll is this anyway?

LOL...How about a helicopter while we are at it?! It would avoid those nasty potholes, Chiri's sleeping police, speed bumps, miss the motos with babies on them, and that awful traffic on the elevado. Yes, definitely...I now understand why the president takes his all over.

Moreover, one can make impromtu beer stops just about anywhere there is a square flat surface. I SWEAR that one day while I was at Playa Carribe (while the Carribean Sun was still operating) a helicopter circled, landed in the field across the highway and they bought beer...promptly returning to the heli with the beef. It had me in stitches (there may have been more to this story but from where we all were--that is ALL we saw). ;)