My advice has been to buy a BF or BAII Falcon wagon or a VY Commodore wagon. These have a reputation as being reliable if you keep up the maintenance and are very practical with a mattress in the back etc. Plus they are pretty cheap on fuel on the highway ~ 8.5 L/100km and parts are very easy to come by throughout Australia.
BAII or BF wagon is a pretty honest car for the money. Taxi Technology!
My daily is an 04 BAII wagon, but it's the Egas dedicated LPG. Pretty much given to me with 250K on the clock and now has 330K (I do 30K+ of city driving). Was one of my works old company cars. Ex Telstra with 40K when they got, so I knew the history.
Bad points (sometimes) are brake shudder, noisy diffs (pinion bearing flogs out) and heater / ac controls (make sure you test this when looking, about $300 from the wreakers for another). I've only had issues with warped rotors. It had new slotted rotors at 240K and its started shuddering at about 310K. I do alot of heavy CBD stop start driving. Shudder is massively common on BA on and Territorys. Not using genuine pads and rotors help, but not a complete fix. I haven't found mine too bad, I'm living with it okay atm.
Mines never had diff or heater issues and I know its full history.
Other stuff like the PS hoses leak, not a major issue itself, but it leaks onto the alternator which becomes an issue. Especially when people desgrease them after a hose change. Coil packs go, but thats more a consumable thing (stick with genuine ones). The mixers on the Egas model usually start leaking around 180K or the stepper motor craps itself. About $800 to replace. Door actuators break, but you can buy gear/motor sets for the actuators for about $8 and take about 30 minutes to change. Doesn't have the rear suspension bush issues like the sedans or Territorys thanks to good old leaf springs, but expect bum sag.
Other one is the trans cooler Shitting itself and mixing the fluid with the coolant. This was more an issue on the series 1 BA's.
They have normal wear/tear issues like most other cars. Fuel pumps, drivers seat belts, drivers window regs. I hang around a fair bit at a mates workshop and thats generally what I've seen.
The Barra motors are near bulletproof, wreakers will sell you a good long motor for $300, cause they hardly sell them. The BTR/ION 4 speed autos seem to have a mixed response. This is my 3rd 4 speed falcon and I've never had an issue. Both this car and a previous EB that was sold with almost 400K had the original auto. Just filter and fluid every 40K. They're pretty slushy, but they do the job.
Fuel economy. 10's are pretty common on the hwy for petrol. I get 11's with gas and about 13.5 around town. Ignore the trip meter (distance to empty and L per 100) not exactly accurate... Egas has twin 70L tanks with 115L usable, so range is brilliant I usually fill up every 700km with plenty still in the tank.
You'll probably find something with 200-250K on the clock for that money. If it's got a solid service history, chances are the previous owner has probably encountered the common issues and had them fixed. Keep up the maintenance and happy motoring.
VY probably similar to the above with issues. Just a personal thing, I'd steer clear of VZ on with high k's and the alloytec motor.
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