Change in criteria again

There has been a change in criteria again. Now only cars under $25,000 will be considered on the list which really cuts down the number of cars for consideration (and results in only two classes of cars being reviewed, the light and compact class).

This blog used to use similar criteria before (i.e. cars reviewed would be less than the price of a Honda Civic which was usually around $25,000). The difference this time is that the $25,000 will be a set amount and will not fluctuate as it would have inevitably if based on another car's price.

New scoring criteria

With ever-rising fuel prices, I became curious to think whether in the long run (or at least 10 years) whether it was worth buying a hybrid car or a diesel variant of a particular car compared to the petrol ones (which I've usually been reviewing). Often a hybrid or a diesel is more expensive, but maybe the initial cost would outweigh the long term fuel costs for some of these models?

Consequently I raised the limit to $35,000 for a new car so I could include at least one hybrid, the Honda Insight. This also means I'm able to once again provide ratings for different classes of cars however this time, total cost of ownership (or at least the 10-year cost) is going to be the major deciding factor.

All cars must have a 5 star ANCAP safety rating to get on the list and they will usually involve a trim level above the basic (typically whichever one offers alloys standard - I'm a fan of shiny wheels!).

Once again a change in limit

Due to a change in circumstances, the price limit has increased to $28,000. It basically reflects the same price as a mid-spec Honda Civic (which is similar to the car I've got now).

New Year and New Criteria

With the arrival of 2010 I've decided I'll change the criteria somewhat to even further limit options - I'll now only look at assessing 5-star ANCAP cars, however I will include Light cars as well.

The reason for the change is that I want to ensure whatever our next car is will be safe foremost and I don't mind the downgrading of size since some Light Cars are actually getting larger in size (almost to the point where they are the same size as smaller Compact Cars).

Big change in circumstances

I realised I couldn't really afford that much for a car especially with current economic conditions so I've downgraded the price substantially to $25,000. This really limits the number of choices (which can be a good thing) so large cars and medium cars are really rare now. I've also included a dirt cheap segment as well which at the moment is going to have the $16,000 limit. Both of these limits will of course increase with time.

Price limit increased to $35,000

I've decided to increase the limit to $35,000 so you'll start to see a few more options creeping into the list, especially for the Medium, Compact SUV and even Large segment.

Revised selection criteria

For the November picks I will be making a revision to the selection criteria. There will be the same $32,000 limit for this year but in light of the article I posted earlier on car prices being not what they seem, I'm now going to make a rough estimate of the cost if the car isn't at a "driveaway" price (A "driveaway" price usually means that all fees are included so the price you see is what you pay - usually you have to pay stamp duty, delivery fees and statutory charges).

From now on (at least for this year) I'll add an extra $2,300 to the price of the car to include delivery charges (~$1,500), annual rego (~$700) and other fees (~$100). After that I'll multiply by 1.03 to incorporate the 3% stamp duty on cars below $45,000.

This will give a fairer comparison for cars by price. Considering I already painstakingly review ACT prices each month, it wouldn't be much extra effort to reward those that are giving driveaway deals.

This'll also mean the database will most likely shrink to a smaller size since there will be a lot of cars near the $32,000RRP as a base price.