Are there any negatives to buying a car which a manufacture don't make anymore?

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

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The girlfriends 107 is on its last legs, and she's limited by budget and only having an auto licence.

Want's something cheap and reliable and found a Suzuki Balerno, but apparently they're going to stop making them soon, will this make parts more expensive?

Any other negatives?
 
The Baleno is quite well regarded, although like many Suzuki’s won’t set her knickers alight. Parts aren’t generally a problem unless you go really old.
 
How cheap are we talking? The cheapest Baleno auto on Autotrader is £7,800, so anything around that is a pretty decent budget for a small and reliable car.

In answer to your question though, I wouldn't avoid a car for that reason. Parts availability wont disappear overnight. But I don't think the Baleno is a particularly popular car in the UK, so parts availability may not have been amazing to start with. Depending on your actual budget though, there's plenty out there which could be much nicer cars for the money.
 
andy_mk3 said:
How cheap are we talking? The cheapest Baleno auto on Autotrader is £7,800, so anything around that is a pretty decent budget for a small and reliable car.

In answer to your question though, I wouldn't avoid a car for that reason. Parts availability wont disappear overnight. But I don't think the Baleno is a particularly popular car in the UK, so parts availability may not have been amazing to start with. Depending on your actual budget though, there's plenty out there which could be much nicer cars for the money.
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Parts are still available and generally are for eight to ten years but it may mean going to Suzuki direct for parts.
 
MissChief said:
The Baleno is quite well regarded, although like many Suzuki’s won’t set her knickers alight. Parts aren’t generally a problem unless you go really old.
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The setting alight of knickers is at the bottom of the list of demands. Coming from an 57 plate 1ltr auto 107 anything is an improvement.
Any other recommendations around the £8k mark? Something bigger than a swift/super mini style would be a benefit as she’s got to lug loads of rubbish back and forth to her horse.

andy_mk3 said:
How cheap are we talking? The cheapest Baleno auto on Autotrader is £7,800, so anything around that is a pretty decent budget for a small and reliable car.

In answer to your question though, I wouldn't avoid a car for that reason. Parts availability wont disappear overnight. But I don't think the Baleno is a particularly popular car in the UK, so parts availability may not have been amazing to start with. Depending on your actual budget though, there's plenty out there which could be much nicer cars for the money.
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Any other recommendations around the 8/9k mark? See above about horse.

MissChief said:
Parts are still available and generally are for eight to ten years but it may mean going to Suzuki direct for parts.
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Cheers :)
 
Hyundai i30? Can get a new-ish one with some spec for that money. Ford Fiesta/Focus, can pick up a good spec of either of those in that budget with low miles and not too old.
 
I've been told, although I have not verified personally, that car manufacturers have to keep spares for a set amount of time, but quite a long time.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I've been told, although I have not verified personally, that car manufacturers have to keep spares for a set amount of time, but quite a long time.
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It's around 20 years from when they are removed from sale. Some manufacturers support them much, much longer. Porsche for example, you can buy parts for literally anything they have ever produced direct from the manufacturer. My car is 20 years old and I needed an obscure part. It took 6 months but porsche eventually did a run and I got a bran new factory part. Happy days.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I've been told, although I have not verified personally, that car manufacturers have to keep spares for a set amount of time, but quite a long time.
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I have no idea on that but I've never had a problem with any vaguely mainstream vehicle getting spare parts even 15 odd years out of production sometimes you have to pay a little over the odds via 3rd parties or second hand, etc. but I've never personally had any significant issue due to running a car that is out of production - lot of the dealers these days seem to take after-sales service quite seriously as well albeit it isn't cheap.
 
People still buying Saabs and old Rovers without issues finding parts or being extortionate, so just the model retiring shouldn't be a problem, although as the model gets older certain pricing for oem negates the cheapness of the uses car... eg. I can still get parts for my '91 5 series from BMW, however they are ridiculously priced... but BMW ygm.
 
Most manufacturers support vehicles up to 15 years old. But there’s no hard and fast rule.
 
Make sure the auto is a proper auto and not an automated manual which is awful to drive and not reliable.
Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10 are pretty nice little cars.
And the Kia still have balance of its 7 years warranty.
 
About parts, I would only avoid really old vehicles, which wouldn't be practical to be used every day, as the need of some part would let you without a car for weeks if not months, or imported cars rare in here, but not the vehicles you're looking for, anyway.
 
As far as I know Suzuki will still make the car but won't export it to the UK market. Parts should therefore be OK.

As for supporting - I thought it was ten years after the end of manufacture but perhaps it is different for different cars.

I agree about semi automatic gearboxes not being particularly good, but the 107 has a semi automatic so she will be used to them.

I have a manual 2007 Lexus IS250. This is a rather rare car (the vast majority are automatics or diesel manuals) but when I recently needed a new clutch and flywheel it was easy to get (unfortunately though I had to get it from Lexus direct, making it expensive). I used to have a 2008 Saab 93 Aero and had no issues with parts on that (and a 2002 MG ZR, both purchased after the parent companies had gone bust).

In short I wouldn't worry :)
 
ajgoodfellow said:
As far as I know Suzuki will still make the car but won't export it to the UK market. Parts should therefore be OK.

As for supporting - I thought it was ten years after the end of manufacture but perhaps it is different for different cars.

I agree about semi automatic gearboxes not being particularly good, but the 107 has a semi automatic so she will be used to them.

I have a manual 2007 Lexus IS250. This is a rather rare car (the vast majority are automatics or diesel manuals) but when I recently needed a new clutch and flywheel it was easy to get (unfortunately though I had to get it from Lexus direct, making it expensive). I used to have a 2008 Saab 93 Aero and had no issues with parts on that (and a 2002 MG ZR, both purchased after the parent companies had gone bust).

In short I wouldn't worry :)
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Yeah the semi-auto gearbox in her 107 is truly truly awful!

Think she's got her heart set on a Juke at the moment, found one local and going to have a look this week I think.

Any opinions or things to be aware of with these?
 
I've got a 2011 ford grand cmax had it a few years now and this is the first time I've needed parts... Like hens teeth, no local places do them, Ford don't have them I've had to rely on some random German seller on ebay haha

My previous car was a 55plate mazda 6mps they only made them for just over 2 years, the only problem I had with parts for that was brake calipers so ended up just refurbing them
 
No doubt the balerno is probably sharing parts with their other range like most manufactures do, compile a universal range of parts that will be compatible with other their other cars to make cost cheaper.
 
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