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We have in-house peugeot experts @fiat fan @AVANTE

Okay...so about the Geely recommended above....good if you can find a good car. Most of them are rattly and rusting out. Euro cars...depending on where you are you might find it challenging to maintain. Where are you ? Plus...Euro cars are a committed relationship. So unless you are willing to have a committed relationship you are going to be miserable. So...I am going to suggest the usual Japanese cars. Now...a Japanese car (especially if you find an immaculate example) can be like the school-time lifelong love affair with the girl next door or be as quick and raunch as a night with lady of the night (that comes with similar risks as well). 1. Toyota: T2xx series Corona Premio (1.6L) and Carina (1.5L). Good ones hardly come up for sale and when they do they are advertised more towards 4mil for a Carina. The Corona Premio is significantly cheaper. Looked at a few for a friend over the last few weeks and the Coronas were in better shape than the Carinas too. They do exist if you are willing to be patient. I would not bother wasting my time looking at Corollas/Sprinters (sedans and wagons) because 99% of them are garbage and over priced. Only time I would look at one is if something exceptional pops up and literally falls on to my lap. Cars like the Mark II, Chaser, etc...will be significantly over your budget. 2. Nissan: Honestly, I cannot think of any other than a Sunny FB15 (I personally find this the better option compared to a Corolla of the same generation). Again...hard to find a decent model. A Primera would be the most comfy...but again...a lot have been abused by wannabe racer boys. Cars like Glorias/Cedrics are now quite expensive because people want to buy them for "modification". Bluebirds, Cefiros, etc......again...most have been poorly maintained and have plenty of hidden gremlins lurking inside. 3. Honda: You are limited to the likes of Civics. Again...wouldn't bother chasing one down unless something exceptional drops on your lap. Fits are almost the same. 4. Mazda and Mitsubishi: The usual suspects...Axela/3 and the Lancer. Good ones are held on to by owners like gold and when they come up for sale, they disappear in no time. Most are pretty average but would be in significantly better shape than a Corolla. If you are into hatchbacks, the Demio is also a decent option. So... looking at the above.... I would say.... you are 26. Make your money go further. If you can find a Peugeot 406 in good shape. Go for it. Build a love affair. Yes, they are cars that your neighbors/friends and kade' mudalali will envy you over because "market naha", but you buy low and you sell it off at a decently depreciated price (provided you take care of it). If you are worried about going for a Euro...well you have an idea of the common Japanese options. Finally..don't max out your budget on buying the car itself. If the maximum amount of money you can spare is 3.5mil...then you should aim for a car that is about 3mil and keep at least 500,000 for post-purchase preemptive maintenance and repair work that will come up as you start using the car.

...and in the blink of an eye 3 years have gone by. It only occurred to me/us when the dealer called up to remind us of the upcoming shaken inspection and tax payment and to inquire what I wanted to do with the car loan. So off to inspection it went and decided to totally pay off the car. So now she is totally mine At the 3 year mark I have put 10,xxxkms on it and each one of those kms have been more smile worthier than the other. Interestingly as the engine broke in the car became more lively as the engine was way more rev happy. In 2022 GR Garage started a personalization program called GR Personal Selection. The program offered owners the chance to take the car for a track day, drive it and tune the car according to their own driving style. This included a software upgrade which bumped up torque to 390Nm (an increase of 20Nm from the stock 370), adjustments to steering weight, throttle response and AWD torque split. Unfortunately, the track days didn't work out with my schedule so got it tuned to some presets that were offered. So now the car has 390Nm of torque, heavier steering and high throttle response. I didn't do anything with the torque split of the AWD system as I felt the changes introduced a bit of understeer which I didn't like. The upgrades have made the car a lot easier to drive. So much so my wife, who always made the car leap from stand still or jerk when accelerating and shifting gears, found it a lot easier to drive than before. I bought the GR Yaris completely out of impulse. The original plan was to buy a standard Yaris with a MT until the GR Corolla was released. Thus, once the GR Corolla was released in Japan I had to go try it out and put my name down for one. The GR Corolla was a nice car. It is a lot easier to drive. The two rear doors make the car a lot more practical. The car does have a larger cargo area, however the usable space is not that much larger than the GR Yaris. The best thing about the GR Corolla is the engine improvements. The power delivery is much smoother and the engine is more responsive (the updated engine is going to be offered in the facelifted GR Yaris). Performance wise, although the GRC has more power, you cannot not actually feel it due to the added weight. Track runs have shown both cars to be equal in things like 0-100 times, etc...the main difference seems to be in terms of handling. The consensus seems to be that the GRY is better for rallying and B-roads (due to the shorter wheelbase) and the GRC is better for track use. Which brings me to what I did not like in the GRC. The weight...and the longer wheelbase. The GRC feels less nimble and playful than the GRY. Albeit...straight line, flat-out..the GRC is a lot more stable. Which I support is in line with the above mentioned consensus. So, after a lot of driving around in the GRC and a track day with the GRC and a bunch of other GR cars, I decided to stick with the GR Yaris (I was hoping to keep the GRY and buy the GRC as a second family car for its practicality. Wife insisted I had to trade in the GRY). Then there was the whole purchase method for the GRC. The cars were offered only through lottery with each round of lottery having only 550 cars (Toyota closed its 2nd lottery a few months ago and the next one is supposed to come up in a few months). To give you an idea of how crazy the lottery is....I went to the dealership/GR Garage to apply for the lottery the morning after the lottery started (1.00pm prev day). The system already showed 5000+ lottery applications. The low chances of actually winning the lottery reaffirmed my decision to hold on to the GRY. The GR Garage is a total car person's den. It has two racing sims, a library with car books, mini cars...and always has a selection of fun cars. In this instance they had their (Toyota Corolla dealership's) GRMN Yaris and GR Corolla Morizo edition apart from the white one in the previous pic). Now..the second moment of temptation.. I was so mad with Toyota that I went and ordered a Civic Type R. Now that was a very refined car. FWD and wonderfully balanced. Interior was well appointed. The adaptive suspension was quite good. The car came in at 4.9mil yen fully loaded (compared to the GRC's price of 5.8mil) and the car made you feel special for all that money you spent on it. At the time of placing the order the delivery period was 4 years. To my good fortune, Honda called last December and said I could have mine in April 2024 if I still wanted it. So... am I getting a Civic Type R in April ? I suppose we will have to wait and see. For now..life goes on with the GRY .... Yes...we still have the old Corolla. She turns 25 this year and has 52,000km. Still runs strong and along with her shaken inspection next week I will be replacing some oil seals (for good measure as some are 25 years old and some 10). Other than that I replaced two engine mounts and replaced the clutch and pressure plates about 2 years ago Its amazing how small the Corolla wagon is compared to the GRY. The day Toyota was crazy enough to ask a bunch of us to drive their cars The blue Supra was a manual and LOVED it ! If I could have afforded it that would be a car I would give up the GRY for in less than a heart beat. The pure grunt and glorious sound of a V8 was mesmerizing. Now....about that family car I wanted until a new toy comes around. Because the chances of getting a GRC was so low...the dealership managed to sell us a facelifted Corolla Touring ! Our/my first Hybrid car. The facelift has some exterior/interior design improvements, but the main change is the hybrid system. It now uses a 5th gen HSD mated to a 1.8L engine. Has a total combined output of about 137? hp and tons of torque thanks to an updated control unit and lighter batteries (so it has more power than the pre-facelift model and weighs less). It is interesting how the system handles the charge/discharge. The car does not let the battery charge up to a 100%. Only time it does is when driving long distances on the highway or going up and and down hills. At such times it just starts cruising on EV mode. Its biggest let down is the eCVT and has a little bit space than the old Corolla wagon...but everything else is pretty sweet. All in-all the (temporary ?) purchase of the Corolla Touring worked out quite well considering some unexpected life changes.