Did anyone do any research of what a good mustachian style family car would be in Switzerland? So, having in mine the purchasing price, the operating costs (including service and gas, insurance, taxes…) and other aspects important for families and mustachians?
I would need to upgrade my car soon and any reasearch done by someone before would be helpful to me!
Thanks!
I’d take a look at Dacia, the Sandero or Logan might suit your needs. The motorization is OK on the consumption and emissions sides (not a performer, though) and they seem to be reliable nowadays : https://www.osv.ltd.uk/are-dacia-unreliable/
If I had the budget, I’d go the extra mile and try to find an hybrid suiting my needs to make it more eco-friendly. (I haven’t checked the EV market recently so wouldn’t know how friendly to use and recharge full electric cars are nowadays).
Disclaimer: I have no experience with family use of a car and what features are useful for that.
We drive a Dacia Dokker - totally happy with it. Not the most comfy car, but in the end we need to drive from A to B for as little money as possible.
We = my wife and me, our 2 children and our german shepherd dog 
Depends what you need and what you use your car for. Commuting to work? Forget a car, get a scooter or a GA and a bicycle (a.k.a Bahnhofvelo). Having weekend trips with the family? Look at VW Californias. They are expensive but there is hardly any depreciation if sold within the warranty period (which can go up to 5 yrs). The downside is that they are expensive as hell (did I also mention about the price? )
If you really want to save every penny I’m sure you can get a 10-yr old Golf or an Octavia Combi that still runs about 10+ more years before going to scrap or export. But this also means: all service in Germany and pure luck with the drivetrain
Any specific model of Skoda? Did you take it new or used? Did you have problems with it? How much does the service and insurance in CH cost for a Skoda?
Thanks!
I was thinking as well at one point, but dont know if worth to get it new vs getting a 1-2 years old another maybe better car for the same price. But I will do some more research on it. Thanks!
How is the insurance and service for Dacia here in CH? I have seen the purchasing price is small for a new car, but not sure if should one expect more operating costs for it?
Well, for all kind of things, like commuting, weekend trips, vacations…I am also investigating mobility + renting car + GA, but GA is not a good option anymore for families, when everybody needs to travel
We bought 1st car 2nd hand from friends. 2nd car is a test/demonstration car: almost new, with 3000 Km, good rebate.
My criteria for a car:
Also do your math on fuel economy/taxes. This will all depend on the canton and your driving habits. Some people get wound up on getting the most economic car and then drive 5-10k/year.
For reliability - definitely look at Japanese models (Honda, Toyota, Mazda), solid buys of 3-5(+) year old cars with <100kkm for 1/2-1/3 of the original price.
Then Hyundai and Kia should be affordable to maintain too, and are mostly well built.
If you give us your criteria (must have ones and nice to have ones), as did Glina as an example, it would be easier to answer more precisely. 
What about the electric car -> Hyundai Kona ?
How often do you use a car ? have you considered Mobility ?
I believe this is a bit a myth that stems from the 90s, when Japanese cars were indeed superior.
If a car is properly maintained and serviced, it should last, whether it’s a European brand or not.
Now, as for a mustachian family car: Kia has a 7 year warranty that might be interesting. Dacia are cheap to buy and cheap to run; I have no first-hand experience but a colleague of mine has one, I think two years old, and is super happy so far.
I don’t.
Some sources, showing the ratio of Japanese/Korean vs. European houses in top 5/10; it’s pretty clear:
1- https://www.autolist.com/guides/most-reliable-car-brands
2- Consumer Reports Auto Reliability Survey: Most, least reliable cars
3- The most – and least – reliable brands for 2019, ranked by Consumer Reports | Driving
But I agree that today the differences are probably smaller than before.
Nevertheless I am a fan of Japanese engineering, so probably a bit biased.
I also agree that maintenance is important.
However there are also 2 dimensions to “total maintenance/fixing cost”:
a) probability of an issue (e.g. could be low with Porsche) and
b) cost of fixing an issue (e.g. high with Porsche)
People decide on different cars for different reasons.
So it would definitely help us help the OP if he listed his motivations and criteria he has (other than “costs”, which are also quite relative). 
I bought a kia ceed combi, but I was looking at a Toyota Prius+ as well
can seat 7 (but the two rearmost seat are for children only), is very reliable (preferred by taxi) and you can find some great occasion on the internet.
Great consumption for a car of that size thanks to the hybrid engine, and has a large trunk. It checks all the box for me honestly.
so with two kids, look at kia ceed, more than 2 kids, look at toyota prius+. If you travel often with other kids or guests a prius+ makes perfect sense.
Same here. I was actually planning to buy Toyota, as they are highest in reliability rankings, but the second-hand market for Toyota is extremely small in Switzerland. On the other hand, the market for Skoda Octavias Kombii is enormous, so I quickly stumbled upon a good deal and bought it.
PS. It’s 1.8L Benzin (160 hp). It was 6 years old and had 90k mileage. Very good shape. I bought it for 10k CHF and I’m driving it 5th year now without any issues.
I once drove a Dacia Duster for a day when having maintenance performed on my Renault. I can’t quite point the finger on what the problem was but it just felt really wrong all around and I’ve driven a lot of different cars. So make sure you test drive it before you purchase.
Compared to other brands, the price for a service in the Renault Garage is lower. I always go to the brand garage until it’s out of warranty and after that, we have our own mechanic (carxpert) with good service and reasonable prices.
You can compare operating cost here: https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/autokosten/autokosten-rechner/default.aspx
You need to figure out your budget and your skills (and options) to fix the car yourselves.
Having a car with 0km a year is already super expensive in Switzerland (garage 2k, insurance 600-1400, road tax 400-800, one service 3-500 CHF), it comes to about 4’000 a year + depreciation.
Driving a car with all costs (service, repair, tyres, garage AND depreciation) included costs anywhere between 0.40 and 3.0+ CHF per km.
The 0.40 CHF/km figure was mine on the following basis:
So if you drive 20.000 km a year it will cost you at least 8’000 CHF. If you buy new the value depreciation will probably bump up this value to double.
If I wanted to have a really good reliable “no issues” car I’d bring a Hyundai i30 SW or a Kia Ceed SW - bring it from Hungary (27% VAT rebate ) and import yourself. Both brands honor the 5/7 yrs EU warranty in Switzerland and after 7 years the Kia might still be worth a good chunk of money (like 33% of NP). It will not be that cheap but you have peace of mind for 7 years, that’s also value.