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Budget: 0 - 40k/loan. Bodystyle: minivan or SUV. New or used. Driving: thinking about kids #2 and 3, it'd be nice to be able to drive the family in a single vehicle. Neither my wife or I are hip so we're leaning towards a minivan, seems easier to haul stuff, has more kid oriented gizmos and last I checked, they get better gas mileage and have higher towing capacity (for those big home depot purchases). I was thinking about a Chrysler town and country that's a year or two old or Honda/Toyota. Haven't really looked too closely at them, but specs seem fairly similar. I saw the new Honda has a vacuum cleaner built in. Worth the new car price? Any SUVs to consider? I'm of the mind that SUVs should be very off road capable, so either a jeep or a land rover, neither of which really appeal to me at this point in my life. But if there is some other model I should look at feel free to recommend it.
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Apr 26, 2014 18:29
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Proposed Budget: Whatever a new A3 Sportback costs and down from there. New or Used: New or no more then a few years old. Body Style: Golf class preferably How will you be using the car?: Kind of a special case. I'm 90% of the time going to drive around in town carrying 2 to 3 adults BUT on occasion i have to manage really poor road conditions. Unpaved and un-plowed in the winter etc. Which leads me to... What aspects are most important to you? Four Wheel Drive. I don't want an SUV or anything big because of the city driving, but a front wheel drive is out of the question for those 10% adventure drives. Ice and snow and roads that resemble beaten paths demand it. Otherwise it goes MPG's, reliability and luxury. So as i was searching for 4wd golf class cars what i found was the... golf. And it's nicer twin the A3 Sportback. So the A3 would be great to have but i want to hear what the alternatives would be (cheaper ones, primarily) since an 8V A3 is probably going to set me back 35k. It feels like i must have missed some medium sized cars that have 4wd. I don't need to make a fast decision so i'm just stewing on the options for the time being. Probably won't buy the car for a few months yet. Also, i live in Sweden.
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Apr 26, 2014 20:45
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Subaru Impreza, but its not as nice a place to be in as an A3.
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Apr 27, 2014 01:11
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BertrandRussell posted:Proposed Budget: 20-25k USD, but I'd like to keep is closer to 20k. I just bought a 2014 Ford Focus SE Hatchback after looking at both the Focus and Mazda3. Both are great cars. The focus has been a real blast to drive. At first I thought the shifting felt really weird, as it uses a dual clutch automated manual transmission. But, really, in the first thousand miles, the car's computer is making adjustments to how the transmission operates. After 150 miles now, the shifting has improved dramatically -- And, it's quick and totally drives like a stick shift! So, keep that in mind as you're test-driving. As far as pricing: Mine, with minimal features (but with the automatic trans which adds about $1000, and in Blue Candy, $395 upgraded color) was $19,625 which includes tax (Texas), title, and license (MSRP was $21,940) and other fees. Managed about $2500 in cash back, including $500 full-time student cash. So, I managed to get it a few hundred under the KBB fair purchase price of $20,154. The dealership I went to was great. I had a bankruptcy due to a medical emergency last year so my credit is shot, but they managed to get one of the local credit unions to finance -- at a ungodly APR, but that was kind of expected and no other bank was gonna get near it except at an even more ungodly APR.  
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Apr 27, 2014 09:12
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Molybdenum posted:Budget: 0 - 40k/loan. Here's my opinion on the current state of minivans. The Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna are the clear segment leaders, in that order. The Chrysler product is what I call a 'value option' in the current marketplace. It's not a bad vehicle, but it's not on the level of the Honda or Toyota. We have some extended family with a 2013 Toytota Sienna XLE, and another branch has a fully loaded 2013 Chrysler T&C Limited. I've spent time in both and here is my opinion on the two. The T&C looks great on paper, but the fit and finish of the car is a joke for the 40K price tag. The good news is, you don't pay anywhere near 40K for the car. That's why it's the value option. I think they paid 6K+ off MSRP for the van. If you just have to have all the fancy features, but are ok with a less than perfect package, it's for you. The Sienna XLE doesn't have some of the upper end features of the T&C (HID lights, BLIS, dual DVD, maybe a few other features), but I much prefer it. It's quieter on the road, the fit and finish is much nicer, its just generally a better vehicle. I think the XLE clocks in around 34K or so with varying discounts from Toyota (not much). I personally love the new Honda Odyssey. The built in vacuum is only available on the top of the line Touring Elite model, which starts at 44,450 MSRP. You might be able to deal a little on them, but when my wife and I went to look at the 2014's when they first came out we were told "The price is on the sticker, no discounts. We can't keep them on the lot". The vacuum to me is a big gimmick, a neat one, but really there are coin operated vacuums at every gas station if your OCD is that bad, and you can pick up a 12V handheld for like 20 bucks at Autozone. The rest of the Odyssey is very nice though. Not sure if the it's worth the price premium, but they tend to hold their value pretty well. Even CPO 3 year old ones are hard to find. The Honda is the most expensive of the vans, and the price difference between it and other vans can be hard to swallow. If you want the nicest van money can buy, the Touring Elite is stupid nice though. My wife didn't want to buy a van, so we bought a Ford Explorer instead which we both love. It's fine for 2 kids, but the 3rd row isn't accessible really. It's a nice SUV, has every feature on the planet, but the gas mileage sucks. The doors also require a lot of space to fully open, in today's tighter parking lots this can really suck trying to get kids in and out of car seats. If you're thinking about 3 little ones, a minivan is really the only sane choice. Our choice in the minivan segment was the Toyota Sienna XLE. We were able to negotiate about 2K off sticker, getting it down to around 32K. Which was a good price for the XLE package. We wanted leather seats in the car, so that kept us in some of the upper end trim packages (Honda EX-L, Toyota XLE), but ultimately my wife didn't want to buy a minivan. Ultimately your choice will boil down to: 1: Is the Honda worth the price premium? 2: Is the Chrysler product shortcomings worth saving a considerable sum of money? 3: Which one do you like the best?
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Apr 27, 2014 18:46
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BertrandRussell posted:Proposed Budget: 20-25k USD, but I'd like to keep is closer to 20k. I've got another vote for the Focus. Depending on your part of country they can be very, very cheap. We got my wife an automatic SE hatchback with a couple options for $18k out the door in Texas 7 months ago, $16.2k before TT&L. I thought that was good until my coworker managed to get pretty much the same car for $15.5k a couple weeks ago. Prices fell quite a bit when the 2015 refresh came out. Just aggressively cross shop all the Ford dealers near you, good luck!
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Apr 27, 2014 23:34
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skipdogg posted:Here's my opinion on the current state of minivans. Pretty much agree with this post. I'll throw in a couple more options: If you are remotely interest in the Chrysler T&C, see if you can find a VW dealer with a close out Routan on the lot. Same thing built in the same factory with largely the same parts except badging and front/rear sheetmetal, and hilariously cheap. I think incentives were up to the $12-13K range on the top end ones last year. Also, check out the Kia Sedona for another value option if you're price sensitive.
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Apr 28, 2014 01:37
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Twerk from Home posted:I've got another vote for the Focus. Depending on your part of country they can be very, very cheap. We got my wife an automatic SE hatchback with a couple options for $18k out the door in Texas 7 months ago, $16.2k before TT&L. I thought that was good until my coworker managed to get pretty much the same car for $15.5k a couple weeks ago. Prices fell quite a bit when the 2015 refresh came out. Bluebonnet in New Braunfels is advertising base Focus SE sedans at 13,995. Sure it's a base manual transmission car, but for 14K..... I think I paid more for my 2000 Focus SE when I bought it new almost 15 years ago. (That was like 10 cars ago I think)
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Apr 28, 2014 05:09
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I think I can guess the answer to this, but do the extreme "stripper" base models of cars actually exist in any meaningful numbers? I'm looking at the "build your own Fiesta" tool on Ford's website, and I'd be pretty happy with a manual hatchback with basically no options, but no one has them. Do they exist? Could I order one? Is there some reason this is a bad idea?
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Apr 28, 2014 19:03
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You might have a hard time finding a true stripper base model sitting on a lot, but if you're okay waiting a little while you can probably order one or have a dealer do an inventory trade with a dealer that has one in stock.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:08
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Grumpwagon posted:Could I order one? Is there some reason this is a bad idea? When you order a car you typically pay pretty much full price for it. You could probably get something that is actually on a lot and lightly optioned for the same price as a complete strip model that you special order.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:19
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Motronic posted:When you order a car you typically pay pretty much full price for it. You could probably get something that is actually on a lot and lightly optioned for the same price as a complete strip model that you special order. I thought that was a myth, and that you could negotiate a decent price on an ordered car.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:24
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my dad has a 2002 chevy impala that needs like $1500 of work. it can drive (for now), just not really freeway safe (it's some brake spring thing). is it even worth it to fix it at this point? i see ones that are advertised to be fully running on craigslist for around $2500.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:27
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Grumpwagon posted:I thought that was a myth, and that you could negotiate a decent price on an ordered car. You can. Ordered cars are great for dealerships since it's a car that they don't have to hold in their inventory taking up space. You might not get quite as good a price as something rotting on the lot that they dealership wants to move asap, but it is still negotiable. Chances are some dealer within a couple hours of you will give you a decent deal on an ordered car so use the phone and email.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:32
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Grumpwagon posted:I thought that was a myth, and that you could negotiate a decent price on an ordered car. A "myth"? What exactly would a dealer's motivation be to lower their cut on administering a factory direct order, prep and paperwork for someone? None of the salesmen I know would do that. You're there because you want something very specific so the know they've got you by the balls. The price has to be just enough in line that they won't lose the sale to the dealer the next town over, which also knows all of this and acts the same way. The best deals are had on cars in the lot or that they can get on the lot NOW and get on their book for THIS MONTH, especially if they are hurting to book their volume.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:33
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Motronic posted:A "myth"? No, you can contact several dealers and negotiate with all of them on a specific car you want to order. They only "have you by the balls" if you're impatient and must have your car today; otherwise, you can order the same car from anyone, and if you make it clear you know that, the dealer will probably be inclined to make a few hundred bucks on a car that will spend zero time on their lot, as opposed to not making any money at all.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:36
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jarjarbinksfan621 posted:my dad has a 2002 chevy impala that needs like $1500 of work. it can drive (for now), just not really freeway safe (it's some brake spring thing). is it even worth it to fix it at this point? i see ones that are advertised to be fully running on craigslist for around $2500. Of course it's worth fixing. Most cars are worth fixing to be honest, people just get tired of them and need to rationalize buying a new one. I'm not really one to talk, as in 17 years of driving I've owned 13 different cars, 8 of which were purchased brand new. The way I look at it right now, is a new car is going to cost at least 350 to 400 dollars a month to finance and cover the uptick in insurance costs. If you can make the repairs and get 6 more months of trouble free driving out of the car, you come out ahead, as a newer car will probably cost you 2400 dollars over that same 6 month period. Now if the car has been neglected and is on it's last legs and this 1500 bucks might only buy you 3 months, it may be time to look into something else. Grumpwagon posted:I thought that was a myth, and that you could negotiate a decent price on an ordered car. Depends on the car and the dealer. If you're trying to order a new 2015 Mustang in a certain color/option combo, you're probably going to be paying full sticker on it due to the new model's popularity. At the high volume, invoice + 2% dealer we bought my wife's last car at, we could have ordered an Explorer at their standard price if we wanted to wait for it. My wife really wanted 2nd row captains chairs without the center console and that combo is hard to find. Grumpwagon posted:I think I can guess the answer to this, but do the extreme "stripper" base models of cars actually exist in any meaningful numbers? I'm looking at the "build your own Fiesta" tool on Ford's website, and I'd be pretty happy with a manual hatchback with basically no options, but no one has them. There are 37 Fiesta S Sedans with no options around me, only 1 hatchback. I'm guessing the hatch sells better. Ford's inventory checker is pretty good, just search extended inventory around your area, then throw the VIN into Google to find out what dealer it's at as Ford wants you to go through their system to get info about the car.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:45
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skipdogg posted:There are 37 Fiesta S Sedans with no options around me, only 1 hatchback. I'm guessing the hatch sells better. Ford's inventory checker is pretty good, just search extended inventory around your area, then throw the VIN into Google to find out what dealer it's at as Ford wants you to go through their system to get info about the car. I totally didn't even see the Ford inventory search (just their "give us your info and a sales person will call you"), and was trying to do it dealer by dealer, so thanks a lot for that. Found some. That said, I had to share the listing for the first one that came up. CHECK OUT THAT PAINT SCHEME!!
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Apr 28, 2014 19:56
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skipdogg posted:Of course it's worth fixing. Most cars are worth fixing to be honest, people just get tired of them and need to rationalize buying a new one. I'm not really one to talk, as in 17 years of driving I've owned 13 different cars, 8 of which were purchased brand new. So it isn't unwise to spend more than 50% of a car's value fixing it? I know dick about cars, just seems like something you maybe shouldn't do. I don't know about it being on it's last legs, but my sis drove it for many years and it was a money pit, always breaking down. When she got enough for a new car, she just gave it to my dad. Not going to buy a new car, he was thinking of buying a different cheap used car instead of fixing this one.
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Apr 28, 2014 20:27
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jarjarbinksfan621 posted:So it isn't unwise to spend more than 50% of a car's value fixing it? I know dick about cars, just seems like something you maybe shouldn't do. I don't know about it being on it's last legs, but my sis drove it for many years and it was a money pit, always breaking down. When she got enough for a new car, she just gave it to my dad. Not going to buy a new car, he was thinking of buying a different cheap used car instead of fixing this one. This is a future value problem - If that big repair is the only thing wrong with an otherwise reliable car, then go for it, then it may be worth it. Is there any cheap way to own a car for 1 year? I really like the current Mustang, and I'm assuming the next year's will be far better everywhere but the engine, but I need a car for the summer/fall, and they don't come out 'till fall of this year. Having never owned a car, how good are the various "True Cost to Own" calculators online? I'm looking at Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds, but there's a large spread between them ($29k(kbb)/$35k(edmunds), with a lot of that being in insurance estimates).
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Apr 29, 2014 00:47
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MarsellusWallace posted:This is a future value problem - If that big repair is the only thing wrong with an otherwise reliable car, then go for it, then it may be worth it. Lease. It's a waste of money generally, but if you want a car, particularly an American car, and for only a year, welp. You'll be paying good money, but if you want to/can eat it, at least you won't be on the hook for resale.
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Apr 29, 2014 01:28
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jarjarbinksfan621 posted:So it isn't unwise to spend more than 50% of a car's value fixing it? I know dick about cars, just seems like something you maybe shouldn't do. MarsellusWallace posted:This is a future value problem - If that big repair is the only thing wrong with an otherwise reliable car, then go for it, then it may be worth it. Yeah, I've never understood the various 'rules' -- if a car costs more money to repair than it's worth, get rid of it and buy a... wait what? Cost of a repair vs value has no bearing on whether or not it's worth keeping and repairing the car -- maybe that one repair buys you another 10 years. Of course I get that maybe a major repair is indicative of future trouble, and for a generally unreliable car, one big repair might be the kiss of death.
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Apr 29, 2014 01:37
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polpotpotpotpotpot posted:Yeah, I've never understood the various 'rules' -- if a car costs more money to repair than it's worth, get rid of it and buy a... wait what? Especially when the person's budget would just put them right back into a sub-10k used car that may or may not have any issues lurking. It's the devil you know vs. the devil you don't. And if you have the budget for a new car, while a $1500 repair might feel expensive that's not even a decent down payment on a new car, let alone years of monthly payments in the $200-500 range for something economy to mid-range. So many people say "oh no my paid-off 8 year old car has had its second $800 repair bill for [typical wear items that will last another 8+ years] in a 12 month period, better go buy a new car!" when really they're just looking for a justification to buy a new car. If you want a new car and can afford one, just buy one without trying to rationalize it as a financially optimal decision because it's probably not. Granted, yes, there is a point in every car's life that it is no longer worth repairing and should probably be replaced but the vast majority of people use that reason when it just isn't true. Sorry, not directing this at you jarjarbinksfan621, just ranting about people and their cars in general.
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Apr 29, 2014 01:46
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New or Used: Used Body Style: Probably a coupe but I am interested in nice hatchbacks How will you be using the car?: Intercity driving to visit friends and family/ indulgent fun driving. I don't do any commuting via car What aspects are most important to you?: Liveability really. I don't need a super economic car or one that never needs fixing but I think I want something that isn't known to have way too many issues or is so painful to drive that I won't have fun using it. I was thinking of upgrading what I have been driving. I have saved up a bit of money and I guess I've been looking at ~7 year old Mk2 Audi TT's, if only as basically a luxury 3 door car with a bit of horsepower and fun to drive. I think from buying a older E36 that I do want something fun but I can afford something a bit nicer and I want to indulge myself a bit. I would really appreciaite a bit of a sanity check - whether this is a good idea or if it's the type of thing that's known for issues. I have been looking at a few other options, things like less than 5 year old miatas and the possibility of a relatively lightly used 86. Is this a completely stupid course of action or workable if I find the right car for the right price?
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Apr 29, 2014 12:50
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So for a few reasons I'm thinking of trading in my 2010 MazdaSpeed 3. I'm looking for some advice as to where I should start doing my research, as it was 4 years since I've actually been in the market for a car. I'm near to paying off my car currently, but it's got probably another 2 years before that's done and I'm a little concerned that the trade-in value will plummet before I pay it off. I got some quote last night from Blue Book, Black Book and Autotrader and it looks like my current trade-in value is around $15k, which I don't consider bad. Here's the basics of what I'm looking for. New or Used Either Body Style Hatchback Price Range Depends, but I'd like to finance no more than 20k (which puts my range to around $30k). How will you be using the car Commuting (~20 miles a day), errands, road trips (~200 miles). What aspects are the most important to you? I've always loved performance cars (see the Speed 3 I currently own, or the Cooper S before that) that combine performance with usability, but I'm really tired of paying for premium gas + low MPG (I struggle keeping 21MPG currently) and never getting to use any of the horses I've got under the hood. So what I'm looking for ultimately is fuel economy and technology. I'm an unrepentant tech nerd and would love a car that plays to that. Currently I'm trying to sort through all the various hybrids out there, and I'm considering the Nissan Leaf (although I live in SC and charging stations are hard to come by). Some other questions I have are: Should I renew my online Consumer Reports account? I see that they have some new options focused on car buyers, are any of the other options worth it? Once I pick a make/model I know to look at forums and such, but in the past I've used Consumer Reports to inform my research into what car to buy.
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Apr 29, 2014 13:08
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Grumpwagon posted:I think I can guess the answer to this, but do the extreme "stripper" base models of cars actually exist in any meaningful numbers? I'm looking at the "build your own Fiesta" tool on Ford's website, and I'd be pretty happy with a manual hatchback with basically no options, but no one has them. I'd expect that you can find one like that at a Ford dealer somewhere, since the whole reason those low trim models exist is to offer a lower "starting at $x" price. That said if you're fine with next to no features, you might have an easier time (and probably a lower total cost of ownership) if you find one of the three-cylinder models.
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Apr 29, 2014 18:51
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Guinness posted:
At what point is this true, though? I'm in the market right now to replace my 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue since the week after getting the master brake cylinder replaced, I find my wheel bearings need to be replaced, something's started squeaking on the serpentine belt, and the catalytic converter has been on its way out for the last three or so years. In light of that, should I spend the $10k I can finance on a new car? My mechanic is willing to do the work, but even he tells me it's time to start finding something else, and I'd rather put the money toward a new car than fixing up what I have. RIP Geezer, you were a great first car 
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Apr 29, 2014 19:57
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bbcisdabomb posted:My mechanic is willing to do the work, but even he tells me it's time to start finding something else This is a good indicator. A trustworthy mechanic telling you that ongoing maintenance costs are going to be excessive for the forseeable future is much more reliable than the average goon who wanders in and declares that because their car has a few (totally expected and predictable) wear items that need to be replaced, that means they need to get rid of it. Not all mechanics can be relied-upon in this way, though. It's in their interest to keep doing expensive repairs for you, obviously, so a less-scrupulous mechanic might encourage someone to keep spending money on a clunker longer than they should. The important thing is to not let "how much could I get for this car if I sold it" be the deciding factor. The value of the car is its value to you, which could be much higher than that (since you know exactly what's already been fixed and will last another 100k miles, and maybe also you have a good mechanic familiar with your car, and maybe also sentimental value) or much lower than that (you hate this car and you don't care that you'll save tens of thousands of dollars over the next five or ten years maintaining it compared to buying a new car).
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Apr 29, 2014 20:58
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SquadronROE posted:So for a few reasons I'm thinking of trading in my 2010 MazdaSpeed 3. I'm looking for some advice as to where I should start doing my research, as it was 4 years since I've actually been in the market for a car. If you're a tech nerd and want the best gas mileage, get a top of the line Prius Five with the tech package. Or at least a Four with the Solar roof. There's nothing wrong with wanting a new car, but you drive 100 miles a week. That 21MPG you get in the Speed3 is costing you 20 bucks a week in gas. Assuming a worst case scenario of premium costing 50 cents more than 87, we're talking about 5 gallons, or $2.50 a week. It's not that big of a deal. Both of my cars now take 93 instead of 87 and it's less than 5 bucks a fillup difference. I spend that on coffee some days. Like I said, nothing wrong with just wanting something different, but trying to justify it by saving 5 bucks a fill up is crazy talk. Trambopaline posted:New or Used: Used I would never ever ever buy a 7 years old TT. I consider all Audi vehicles to be lease only vehicles only good for the duration of the original bumper to bumper warranty. Fantastic when new, but you don't want to be holding the bag when something that costs 5,000 dollars or more to fix breaks.
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Apr 29, 2014 21:06
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Twerk from Home posted:I've got another vote for the Focus. Depending on your part of country they can be very, very cheap. We got my wife an automatic SE hatchback with a couple options for $18k out the door in Texas 7 months ago, $16.2k before TT&L. I thought that was good until my coworker managed to get pretty much the same car for $15.5k a couple weeks ago. Prices fell quite a bit when the 2015 refresh came out. If price were no object, would the Focus still get the nod over the Mazda3? Like if it were between the Titanium and the Mazda 3S? BertrandRussell fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Apr 29, 2014 |
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Apr 29, 2014 22:20
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The Mazda3 was redesigned more recently so price no object it's a better car. Edit: if you are talking about 2014s that is.
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Apr 29, 2014 22:33
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skipdogg posted:If you're a tech nerd and want the best gas mileage, get a top of the line Prius Five with the tech package. Or at least a Four with the Solar roof. Good points. I've never had much of a problem with the premium gas (it's literally change), but I tend to almost double my weekly mileage over the weekends and evenings with all sorts of side trips and stuff. We use my car for everything, so I end up filling my tank once a week or every week and a half. When I look at how much I spent on gas the last year, it is pretty high. I'll take a closer look at the Prius 5. It didn't really impress me when I was looking at it last night but I didn't drive it. I went and took a look at Leafs tonight... I really like the look and comfort of those, and it was surprisingly spacious in the trunk. Not practical for long distance travel though.
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Apr 30, 2014 00:01
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Pretty much agree with this post. I'll throw in a couple more options: The Routan was also more expensive MSRP wise, so the discounts aren't that surprising or quite as good as they seem Trambopaline posted:New or Used: Used For the same amount of money I think you can get an E46 M3, or the M Coupe with the same engine.
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Apr 30, 2014 00:42
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skipdogg posted:There's nothing wrong with wanting a new car, but you drive 100 miles a week. That 21MPG you get in the Speed3 is costing you 20 bucks a week in gas. Assuming a worst case scenario of premium costing 50 cents more than 87, we're talking about 5 gallons, or $2.50 a week. It's not that big of a deal. Both of my cars now take 93 instead of 87 and it's less than 5 bucks a fillup difference. I spend that on coffee some days. To be fair, the MS3 is a deceptively spendy car to own. Thanks to mine going through a set of tires once per year, plus the engine mounts, wheel bearings, shifter cables, and throttle body... that thing cost me (fuel included) twice as much per mile to run than my CR-V. Seeing as I've done a tick over 29k miles in one year of trading the funmobile for a boring egg, it adds up amazingly quickly.
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Apr 30, 2014 00:57
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BertrandRussell posted:If price were no object, would the Focus still get the nod over the Mazda3? Like if it were between the Titanium and the Mazda 3S? Focii are fine cars, but you still do better if you plan to drive it into the ground going Japanese (as a rule in my opinion, but that's just me). The 3's skyactiv redesign in 2012 I believe also majorly improved mileage and power. I can't speak to trim stuff on the Focus but I can't imagine Mazda fell much behind. Given that I have a modern smartphone I don't care much about in dash whatever, but my 3 is also an '09; I'm sure they have more gizmos now. Aside from scheduled maintenance at 60k the only problem I've had was a screw in a tire I ran over because I drive to a lovely industrial area every day.
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Apr 30, 2014 01:27
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IRQ posted:Focii are fine cars, but you still do better if you plan to drive it into the ground going Japanese (as a rule in my opinion, but that's just me). The 3's skyactiv redesign in 2012 I believe also majorly improved mileage and power. I can't speak to trim stuff on the Focus but I can't imagine Mazda fell much behind. Given that I have a modern smartphone I don't care much about in dash whatever, but my 3 is also an '09; I'm sure they have more gizmos now. Given that until quite recently, Mazdas were basically sporty fords (Miata and rotaries excluded). My mazda2 has more "fomoco" stamps on it than Mazda despite the fact that it was made in Hiroshima. That said, the current focus seems to have a host of problems related to myfordtouch and the automatic. If you got one without the touch screen and a manual, it'd probably be fine. But at that point you lose the selling points of the Ford. The mazda will be better to drive and should have better FE.
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Apr 30, 2014 03:42
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I'm helping a friend purchase a Mercedes GLK350. We're being offered $34,400 on a $40,115 MSRP model, anybody know if this is a good deal? No financing no trade-in.
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Apr 30, 2014 10:13
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IOwnCalculus posted:To be fair, the MS3 is a deceptively spendy car to own. Thanks to mine going through a set of tires once per year, plus the engine mounts, wheel bearings, shifter cables, and throttle body... that thing cost me (fuel included) twice as much per mile to run than my CR-V. Seeing as I've done a tick over 29k miles in one year of trading the funmobile for a boring egg, it adds up amazingly quickly. Yep, that's kind of where I'm at. Hence the looking around. Does the CR-V come in hybrid? I've heard "bad" things about Honda hybrids, notably on battery replacement fronts.
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Apr 30, 2014 13:02
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quote:Resonable advice That's quite fair. I'm still weighing up my options and I'm not exactly in a huge rush. Sorry I've got more dumb questions though, what about Mazda RX-8's? They look kind of reasonable and tick a few of those boxes for me as well, is an 2006-ish RX-8 also a reasonable option along the same lines as a fun car to drive as well?
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Apr 30, 2014 19:41
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RX8s are cool but they are fairly niche with their rotary motor. They are horrible on gas and burn oil by design. But on the flip side, they rev to the moon and are very smooth. Maintenance on them isn't awful, but it is fairly specific to the rotary and different from most other cars. I can't say that I would really recommend an RX8 unless you're already an enthusiast and know what you're getting into. Edit: VVVV yes a budget would help narrow down things a lot, and I also find it weird that in your original post you mention hatchbacks and yet we are talking about RX8s, E36s, BRZs, and Miatas. Are you looking for a hatchback, coupe, or roadster? FWIW, I had a '95 Miata for 4 years and it was awesome, I loved that car, but ultimately isn't very practical as an only car. So I upgraded to an E46 330ci which I've had for 3 years and it's a really awesome, quick, good handling, comfortable, practical daily driver. I considered an E36 M3 like you mentioned, but the E46 is just a much nicer car than an E36 for a daily driver. It's more expensive to run than a Corolla or whatever, sure, but really not too bad if you don't mind doing the easy stuff DIY and the hard stuff at an independent shop. And you sound like your mentality about car maintenance is not "omg wtf my brakes need replacing? car is on its last legs!!" which is good for a non-appliance car. Guinness fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Apr 30, 2014 |
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Apr 30, 2014 19:51
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