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Guys, I need some help picking out a used wagon or hatchback. Proposed Budget: $12-13k would be ideal, I can push that up a bit but I'd rather not. If I could spend less than my budget that would be cool too. New or Used: Used Body Style: Wagon or hatchback How will you be using the car?: Daily driver with frequent (5-6 times per year) two person road trips. I'm a remote worker so no commute, but I live in an area where I still need to drive at least a few times a week. Aside from wanting bluetooth built-in and a preference for power seats I couldn't really care less about luxury features or gadgets. Basic background is that I've been driving used BMWs in one form or another for like the past 15 years. My current car is a 2005 330Ci, my car before that was a 2012 335i, both 6-speeds. I love my E46 to death and planned to keep it well beyond 200k miles, but this thing has some kind of parking lot curse and it's been accumulating a mountain of minor to significant cosmetic damage. It's mechanically rock solid and well maintained, but it's getting so beat up that I just don't feel much like keeping it going for another several years anymore. My girlfriend and I also finally have the time and money to take a lot of road trips and something a tiny bit more practical for that would be nice. Anyway, I'm basically looking for a used wagon or hatchback that's fun to drive and that'll be quiet and comfortable for long trips. Decent fuel economy would be nice, but as long as it can match my E46 for highway economy that's fine with me. I don't have any problem working on cars myself so I don't mind something that'll require a bit of maintenance (which should be obvious since I've been driving used BMWs for 15 years) as long as I can trust it to be reliable if maintained. I like power seats and I really kind of hate cheap feeling interior materials, but otherwise I don't care about features. I'd prefer something new enough to have functional bluetooth audio just because I'm sick of aux adapters. My budget is about $13k. I'm not taking out a loan for this car so I'm not hugely flexible, but I can go a smidge higher if I absolutely had to for something good. I'm not expecting my E46 to sell before I buy this car either, so it's possible that if it does I'll end up increasing my budget a tiny bit. I'm also not in any kind of rush, so I have time to shop around for a good deal or a slightly more difficult to find car.
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Oct 5, 2018 16:59
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I don't think a F31 is in your price range but that would be what I would buy! Maybe Volvo V60 but again they hold their value pretty well and both of those are pretty expensive to fix. Yeah, I definitely want something that's fun to drive. I'm not really pushing myself too hard with this budget so I did consider just spending more and getting an F31, but part of why I got rid of my F30 a few years ago was that I didn't like it enough to justify how much it was costing me to own it. I'm also trying to stick to this budget in part because it's money I've set aside purely to replace my car and I'd like to avoid adding anything else to it or going too crazy. For what it's worth, I had an Elantra wagon as a rental for several weeks and I basically walked away thinking it was a really great car that I would never want to actually own. I feel like I probably need to find a Jetta Sportwagen to test drive since it seems like they check most of my boxes. I was considering hunting down an A3 Sportback too since they basically seem like Jetta/Golfs with slightly nicer interiors. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 17:43
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Guinness posted:My situation is very similar to yours. I�ve got a 2004 330ci that I love that is getting a little old and impractical, but is still overall solid and I just can�t find the replacement car that ticks all the boxes. More and more I lean toward just keeping it as a second fun car because it�s not costing me that much to own. Yeah, it's shockingly tough to find something that feels as nice as the E46 did without spending more than I'm really looking to. This is actually my second E46 and I went through this last time too before ending up in a 335 for a while. I'd love to keep my 330Ci around, but thanks to a house fire I'm stuck in an insurance provided condo for probably close to the next 10 months and there isn't enough parking for a second car without spending a fortune. I may end up either backing off on my hatch/wagon requirements and settling for a sedan or upping my budget. Edit- I had an e39 540i 6-speed like 12 years ago and the stupid part of my brain keeps telling me to hunt down to a pristine 540i wagon and pay way too much for it. I really need to get around to killing that part of my brain. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Oct 10, 2018 |
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Oct 10, 2018 02:22
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I was an E39 owner for years. Believe me, I know. Doesn’t make me want one any less tbh
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Oct 10, 2018 05:58
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Hello friends. Last time I posted in this thread I was asking about cheap-ish wagons. You all gave me some very good advice that I promptly ignored because I decided that I really missed my E46 and allowed my budget to balloon out of control and... well anyway! That ship has sailed, but I find myself in another car purchasing dilemma that I definitely didn't expect to be in. My girlfriend who really does not like to drive is most likely starting a new job that she'll probably have to commute to. It is a super short (<3 mile) commute, but it's not easily accessible by the public transit around here and she's not a fan of riding taxis/ubers all the time. She's probably going to end up biking some days, but the traffic/weather situation doesn't make that a really reliable option. She wants something dirt cheap. Like, under $3k dirt cheap. She's not interested in cars or driving and has outsourced the whole thing to me. My main concern is just finding the nicest car at that price point that isn't a death trap and that won't immediately die. This car will be driven very little (I'll be shocked if it does 3000 miles/year) and I don't mind working on/maintaining something like this, so while something wildly unreliable is out of the question it really doesn't have to be bulletproof either. It needs to be dependable if maintained, but that's all. Proposed Budget: $3k or less. I can add to or stretch this if it's really worthwhile. New or Used: lol Body Style: She likes SUVs. She also doesn't really give a gently caress. Smaller is probably better for parking reasons. How will you be using the car?: Really short commutes. She may occasionally want to haul her parents around to doctors appointments and things, so it can't be a two-seater. It's unlikely that it'll even be driven around town much since I'm sure she'll still use the bus when she can. What aspects are most important to you? At least kind of dependable and ideally something that won't chug gas since it's going to be used for roughly 100% around town driving. I'd personally prefer to find something that isn't a total rust bucket so she's at least not driving a car that's falling apart around her. I realize I can just go on Craigslist and starting picking randomly (which is kind of what I'm doing), but I guess I'm sort of looking for random suggestions on things in this price range I might not have thought of. This isn't actually a pressing purchase, so assume I have a more or less indefinite amount of time to wait for something "good." Edit- I should probably add that $3k isn't a huge amount of money to either of us, so this isn't a purchase that has to last forever. The price point is really a choice that's being made based on priorities, not necessity. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Mar 2, 2019 |
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Mar 2, 2019 20:25
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Thanks for the advice, dudes. The SUV thing wasn't in any way a hard requirement and wasn't something that I actually expected to be able to find anyway. To be honest, I'm shocked that there are any CR-Vs or RAV4s in that price range at all. nm posted:For $3000, I would ignore the SUV thing if possible and buy the best condition civic/corolla/matrix/vibe because you'll get much nicer and probably newer example. For what it's worth, the opposite kind of seems to be true in my local area (southern CT). I actually made this post because I went looking for Civics/Corollas and basically found that everything in the target budget was exceptionally beat to poo poo, so I figured I'd venture outside of the cheap, reliable beater mainstays. I'd honestly rather she either increase her budget or let me chip in to go a bit higher, but she's pretty strongly opposed to spending any money on a car in the first place so that's probably not happening. I'll definitely keep an eye out for Vibes. I always forget that they're rebadged Matrixes.
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Mar 3, 2019 22:05
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Yeah, that's also why I wasn't necessarily locked down to something like a Corolla. If she was driving this on even a 10-15 mile commute I'd probably insist on something like that even if the doors were literally falling off, but there's really no need for something that's super bullet proof or long lasting given how little it'll be driven so I'm trying to find a car that at least won't be actively unpleasant to get around in. Mostly just have to control my urges to pick out something "interesting" at this point. this w126 is totally a good idea right guys https://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/d/trumbull-1989-mercedes-benz-560sel/6830896688.html
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Mar 4, 2019 00:56
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I drove one a while ago at a dealership that was basically shoving cars to drive in my face in the hopes that I would drop my manual transmission requirement. They're kind of weird to drive. Not as cushy as I expected, but for no reason that was evident to me since it still drove like a barge. Kind of reminded me of the Fusion rental car I had a while ago tbh. I think the one that I drove was a 2017, so maybe the suspension issues were some first year weirdness that got corrected or maybe something was wrong with that car?
Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Mar 4, 2019 |
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Mar 4, 2019 03:39
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Throatwarbler posted:I've never driven one but all the reviews say it's the last car on the market that was unapologetically cushy and not trying to be a large RS4, so I would be interested if you ever tried it back to back with anything else. It was the only big ol' luxo-barge I drove that day. I don't know why the dealership even offered it up, but I was already annoyed with them and I'm not one to turn down free test drives so hey. My only point of comparison for that kind of car was an old Panther-platform Town Car a buddy had ages ago, and in terms of ride that felt waaaay cushier. This honestly felt more like the kind of ride you'd expect from a big German car, but without the actual handling feeling sporty at all. The roads around this dealership were super bad, though, so any stiffness was probably exaggerated a bit.
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Mar 4, 2019 23:00
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