Are cheap toilets a false economy?

Hi. Just looking to replace a toilet in an IP and not sure whether to pay $200 for the cheapies (Elite etc) at Bunnings etc or go for Caroma or another known brand for $500. Will the Caromas lead to less maintenance? I am guessing the mechanics in the cistern are better in the better brands?

Any advice/experiences much appreciated.

 

Cheapie will probably have a plastic cistern. They don't age as well as a porcelain one.

 

As long as it's porcelain, I don't think it matters.
I've got a couple of fancy ones in my house that would have been expensive and the flushing mechanism on those is dodgy and gets stuck fairly regularly.

 

Do you only want to spend a penny to spend a penny?

Main differences will be the quality of the flushing mechanism (ie is it a silent fill or one of those noisy things). Is the backset of the S-Bend the same as the existing (only important if you don't want to move the plumbing).

 

The plumbing is being redone and the floor tiled. I would also be interested to know if close coupled or link connector toilets have caused more maintenance issues? If I go close coupled I will probably have to use a 40mm offset as the pipe is a fair way from the wall. Do these offsets cause plumbing issues?

 

I would spend the extra money on a quality toilet. We purchased a cheap Bunnings (porcelain) one and you've got a flush it 3 times for number twos.
So much for buying a water efficient loo.

 

The ones at work are like that too. They are not cheap though. I think it is the design. The best one I have used it a cheapie. It's not fancy looking though.

 

We've just put in 2 Bunnings porcelain toilets and had to upgrade to the $250 ones so it had the adjustable distance from the wall. All solid porcelain and working a treat so far. Much easier to clean than the old plastic fantastic one that was disintegrating

 

That's because it's a 7lt flush and simply isn't enough water for the deep bowl they have matched it with. We have found that when you flush the water just doesn't swirl around (so to speak) and just hits the 'load' from front and back. We have other toilet with the same water volume flush and they work fine.

My conclusion is that it's just a bad match of cistern to bowl. We won't be buying these again but will still be on the look out for reasonably priced toilets suites.

Cheers

 

Haven't seen any failures with the close coupled units - also much easier to clean around as well

 

Problem is you get sold it as a matched pair from Bunnings and the person selling you it only knows that it's a toilet and how to scan the barcode.