I’m going to sell my car and possibly looking at buying a used VW Pointer, Freeca ute or Zace ute.
What are your opinions on themr? Mechanically sound? Reliable? etc…
By the way, if you want to buy my car, it’s a black 2003 Ford Tierra RS (12000kms).
PM for more details if you want.
Thanks in advance. 
What do you want it for? I could maybe see the point if you have a huge amount of grocery shopping to do and no family. Otherwise … a tiny cab and a strictly non-trucklike chassis.
Like a sedan pretending to be a mini-truck.
I don’t see the point of them, really – what are they actually sold as by Volkswagen, anyway? Who are they aimed at?
My wife’s cousin had one… kept it for about 3 months then sold it… what else can I say??
If you like, I can ask him why he sold it.
That’d be appreciated.
I’m still undecided about buying one. A Toyota Zace (ute) or a Mitsubishi Freeca (ute) are possibilities also. But I haven’t been able to find any for sale. (I don’t know what they sell for either.)
Pity you can’t get the Subaru brumby here, or any more. That would have beeen a good ute for Taiwan. (they did roll a bit easily though, must have been the stiff shocks.)
I think I may be leaning towards a Freeca or Zace ute now (something with a tail life would be nice). They’re a bit bigger and I guess safer…
Not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper to maintain.
Why’s that?
VW’s are expensive here. So are parts. Freecas and Zaces are cheap, as are parts.
You know, I actually didn’t even consider that. Thanks.
VWs are a bit overpriced in Taiwan I think. The strength of the Euro has something to do with it, and parts can be extremely expensive.
A Mitsubishi Freeca or a Toyota Zace?
Well I would put my money on a Toyota Zace being more reliable than the Mitsubishi as Mitsubishi don’t really have the best track record in terms of reliability, although Toyota parts are considerably more expensive than Mitsubishi if it does come to repairs. Toyota always fetches a better resale price however, so more can be made up there. Safety shouldn’t really be an issue in either of these vehicles as they can’t be considered safer than the car you are selling. These vehicles are taller with a higher center of gravity which makes them more difficult to brake and more likely to loose control and even tip in collisions or in certain conditions of usage or driving. These models don’t seem to be available in Europe or America either which offer statistics on crash safety, so I would be very dubious as to whether or not these cars perform well at all. I’m betting that they would look not too dissimilar to one of those Chinese cars we were talking about in the other topic which killed their occupants in a simulated crash test. My advice then would be to go with the overpriced VW for safety and reasonable reliability or take a trip to the Skoda garage and take a look at their Octavia estate or hatch back which are much cheaper than VWs, more reliable (studies from Europe show)but built with the same components by VW.
Both the Zace and the Freeca are very reliable. The older Zace is very industrial, really basic interior etc. The Freeca is more comfortable and a bit quieter. The 1.5 liter Zace models are a bit underpowered but the later 1.8 versions are much better. Don’t buy a Freeca with an automatic trans, nor the similar Zace Surf. Slow and thirsty.
Mitsubishi parts and service are cheap. I put probably 300,000km on a Delica van and only did regular service, put new tires on it once in a while, and replaced the clutch once. Toyota are more expensive, but nowhere near VW levels.
So, it depends what you want it for. If you are moving building supplies etc. I’d take the Zace. If you want to carry passengers around and/or care about your own comfort I’d take the Freeca. While neither of these vehicles is built to a high spec wrt to crumple zones etc. they are both better than the typical forward-control van like a Delica or Varyca and they are built on truck chassis.
Oh, if you can afford the price you could look at the Space Gear or that 2.7 liter van that Toyota has. I forget the name but they are very good. Even though it’s an automatic it hauls ass.
Thank you all for your opinions. I’ve decided on either the Freeca or the Zace, it’s just a matter of test driving and seeing which I prefer I guess.
Now all I have to do is sell my car…
I would second the recommendation to at least look at Skoda Octavia. I really liked them. I would have bought one if I had a bit more in the budget.