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My dad has a 2006 Impreza and wants to upgrade a little bit in terms of performance. His only criteria are 200+ HP and AWD. His favorite is currently the Audi A3. Both the BMW 328i XDrive and the Benz 45 AMG are too expensive. At my request he looked at the Legacy 3.6R (which I guess is the new GT?) and says he has to consider it. I think he has a soft spot for German cars but he wants to make an informed decision. What other cars should he look at, if any? We're in Canada, if it matters, and where snow is in our lives 6 months a year, hence the AWD.
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Aug 13, 2014 00:57
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internet inc posted:My dad has a 2006 Impreza and wants to upgrade a little bit in terms of performance. His only criteria are 200+ HP and AWD. Taurus SHO.
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Aug 13, 2014 03:25
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Uncle Jam said about mustangs posted:It just doesn't feel good in everyday driving situations Qualitatively, what do you mean? Really close to pulling the trigger on a 2012 Mustang v6.
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Aug 13, 2014 06:43
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Will a rear facing baby seat fit in the back seat of a Fiesta ST and still leave room for a front passenger to sit comfortably? I've got a kid on the way but I want to be able to still have a fun car during the time the kid has to sit in a rear facing seat. I have an FR-S now and I've lost all hope of finding a seat that will fit in there.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:09
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Stitecin posted:Proposed Budget: ~$20k definitely <$25k, ~$10k down Do you want an suv for reasons or because you think you need something big for your size? Because external size bears almost no relationship to driver comfort in this day. I'm 6'4" as well and quite happily drive a mazda 2, which is tiny.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:19
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internet inc posted:My dad has a 2006 Impreza and wants to upgrade a little bit in terms of performance. His only criteria are 200+ HP and AWD. How expensive are Taurus SHOs there? They're not super reliable, the interior is dated and a little cramped, but they're really cheap in the US for what they are. I see mid $30ks advertised on new ones, and 365hp AWD muscle Taurus sounds fun. As a more practical option, at least go have a sit in an Accord Crosstour. The current Accord V6 is great, but good god they've gotten expensive for what they are. You have to get a Crosstour to get AWD in an Accord unfortunately. Edit: Saw you wanted performance, I was just thinking you wanted horsepower. An Accord Crosstour is a big porky car. So is the SHO, but all that torque makes up for it. I think a WRX is right up his alley, the current WRX is a better buy than the STI if you can deal with it not being available in a hatch. Twerk from Home fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 21:21
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Proposed Budget: <25k New or Used: No strong preference, depending on the deal. Probably 2011 or newer Body Style: small suv/crossover How will you be using the car?: driving up and down mountainous forest service roads in northern CA a couple weekends a month if there's no snow with 2-3 other adults and up to 150 lbs of gear on the roof. Cramped inside is ok. daily commute otherwise, plus the 2-4 hour highway drive out to said forests and back. Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos?: no. What aspects are most important to you?: 4wd or awd a must, moderate ground clearance, reliability, fuel economy Most immediate thing I think of is a Subaru Crosstrek, Forester, or Outback, but I don't want to miss out on other options. The Outback is bigger than I'd prefer, and even the Forester looks like more than I need. My 2003 Camry is currently adequate if the road is good enough for it, but my wife and I share it and I won't be able to ride my bike to a new job so we need a second commute car anyway.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:05
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You are like the platonic ideal of a Crosstrek buyer, and you can get a nice new one with the CVT out the door for under 25K. If you like stick, congrats, you just saved yourself a thousand bucks. My mom has one and she loves it. I've driven it and it's shockingly competent in most areas. It's just a bit slow, although it feels faster with the 2.0/CVT than the old Forester with the 2.5/4AT. Edit: it appears according to Subaru that they are offering some decent support on 2014s in terms of financing/cash on hood.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:19
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:You are like the platonic ideal of a Crosstrek buyer, and you can get a nice new one with the CVT out the door for under 25K. If you like stick, congrats, you just saved yourself a thousand bucks. You could also look into a Jeep Compass, give up a few mpgs in fuel economy but get a more practical vehicle. The latest facelifted Compass is actually quite decent inside, mechanically reliable and they've ironed out all the bugs by this point and because it's old you can get 4WD models for like $17k after incentives. Hell because it's a Jeep even the resale is pretty decent. Still ugly but the Subaru isn't winning any beauty contests either.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:02
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I'm in the market for something like a Golf GTI or Subaru WRX, but my wife would love something that has memory seats (and preferably mirrors, etc). Budget is around $40k new. I think the Honda Accord V6 has it but it's a little boring - is there anything else in the sports sedan or larger hot hatch segments that has memory seats at that price point (in Canada)?
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Aug 15, 2014 04:12
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nm posted:Do you want an suv for reasons or because you think you need something big for your size? We're looking at suv's because of reasons I guess. It seems our budget has grown to $25k and we are very seriously considering a CX5. Please feel free to throw out additional recommendations.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:10
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One Swell Foop posted:I'm in the market for something like a Golf GTI or Subaru WRX, but my wife would love something that has memory seats (and preferably mirrors, etc). Budget is around $40k new. I think the Honda Accord V6 has it but it's a little boring - is there anything else in the sports sedan or larger hot hatch segments that has memory seats at that price point (in Canada)? Volvo S60/V60 will have it and is a pretty nice car all together, but not the sportiest thing in the world if your baseline is a WRX. Or how about a 2015 Chrysler 200S? Get it with the 300hp V6 and memory seats for about $30k and it's faster than anyone could reasonably need at legal speeds.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:31
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Proposed Budget: $11-15K New or Used: Used, 2010 or newer Body Style: SUV or Crossover, mid-size or "compact" if possible How will you be using the car?: Will use for towing a cargo trailer (5x10 or 8x12) mid to long distances; but most of the time, everyday in-town commute/small trips. What aspects are most important to you?: Towing capacity (3500 lbs should be sufficient, possibly higher?). Reliability -- I'll plan to use this for a long time. Good MPG. Repairs that can be easily done by any mechanic, so probably domestic (I'm clueless with repairing myself). Budget was based on some research into used 2009-2012 SUVs in my area, no clue if I'm way off. The average SUV is higher, but I see a fair number under $15K for 2010-2012 models without crazy high mileage and no issues. Towing capacity is all over the place and has nothing to do with size, apparently. Every site I've looked at doesn't have it as a search field either, so I have to look up each model. The kind of size I have in mind is like this (random car from google images):  Rather than:  I'm in Florida and would do most of the towing in the Summer, so I'm not worried about rough weather/offroad driving. Don't care about having extra storage space (as you can see above), don't need extra seats. I've done a bit of research here and there, looking into random models hasn't helped sway me towards anything; if I needed it now I'd probably walk onto a lot and pick out whatever fits my price/towing requirement and looks best. I'd be using it for maybe a dozen road trips with a trailer each year, ranging from 3 hours to 12 hours each way. But, the other 10 months of the year, it'll just be a replacement for my sedan. My old car can tow a small trailer, but I don't trust it doing so for long distances, it's close to 10 years old now with no big issues, recently got new brakes/rotors, and it's KBB value is still solid ($5500), so selling it now seems like a good idea.
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Aug 16, 2014 03:21
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Farrok posted:Proposed Budget: <25k I have a Crosstrek and I like it but if you think at all you might want more interior space, I would at least look at the Forester. The rear space on the Crosstrek is small. When I bought mine I thought it would be fine but there are a few times I wished it was bigger. The passenger space was only very slightly bigger on the Forester so that didn't bother me.
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Aug 16, 2014 14:03
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Proposed Budget: $5000 New or Used: Used Body Style: 2 or 4 door compact or midsize How will you be using the car?: Commuter, and maybe as something to drive long distances >600mi once or twice a year What aspects are most important to you? Reliability and cost of maintenance/repairs I just got a new job that pays pretty well but my credit is terrible so my ability to get a decent car loan is probably awful or non-existent. I have about $5k in cash right now so if for some reason there was a way to get a decent apr I would be completely down to do this and would be willing to pay up to $10k. I have a long history of buying 'reliable' car brands (Toyota, Honda, Subaru) with decent history on them with a mechanic checkout and but having them lemon out on me within two months,so I'm looking to spend as much as I need to to get something that will get me 5+ years without expensive repairs. I'm really paranoid about dropping $5k on a car and having the engine blow on me within a year again. Arus fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Aug 16, 2014 |
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Aug 16, 2014 20:44
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Proposed Budget: $4000-5000 New or Used: Used Body Style: 2 or 4 door compact or midsize How will you be using the car?: Long distance commuting, roughly 330 miles a week. What aspects are most important to you? Reliability and high gas mileage. The "check engine" light on my 1996 Ford Contour popped up as I pulled into my driveway. If it ends up signaling an expensive problem (the engine's been running awful hot lately) I'm inclined at this point to simply buy something else with what cash I can spare. Pretty much looking for what the guy above me is.
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Aug 17, 2014 04:28
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I think a 2009-ish Ford Focus or Chevy Cobalt would be the best bet for both of you but you should probably take some time to go read some forums and repair histories because at this price point you need to invest some time in being reasonably handy yourself, or at least knowing enough not to get ripped off by mechanics. Otherwise you might be better off stretching for a newer car.
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Aug 17, 2014 15:16
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Is using the "Apply For Financing!" forms on dealership websites worth using? I'm going to have to use dealerships about 200 miles away in another state so it seems like working this out through email and the phone is going to be my best bet, since I travel a lot for work anyway. Ideally I could just get things worked out so I only have to go there one time, sign some paperwork and drive home but I've never financed a car or bought a new car before so I'm not even sure where to begin. I've got $3,000 saved up already and I'm continuing to save while I work all this out. I've got a 98 Civic but it has 218,000 miles on it and probably isn't worth trading in, I could easily get $1,200-$1,500 for it from a private party as it sits now. I have a limited credit history and most of it sucks thanks to an impaired and uninsured driver who left me footing over 10k in medical bills for a while, but I've always been good about paying my credit cards. I'm not expecting a miracle from the finance department but I figure it can't hurt to shop around and find a good interest rate. Will this work out the way I have it planned, or is there a better way to go about things? I'm trying to get things done somewhat quickly since I'd rather put $400 towards a new car instead of fixing the car I have now
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Aug 17, 2014 19:56
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I've been trying to live car free in a midwestern city that wasn't built for that for about half a year now. It worked out fine for the most part except the last couple of months it became painfully obvious that I might want to look into buying a car cause I broke my leg and all of a sudden couldn't commute by bike or bus anymore (no bike is obvious, the bus stops are all just really far away from where I want to go to walk with crutches). I've never shopped for a car before and I honestly don't even know where to start. I seriously hate driving, but I recognize I might need one so here we go. Also my dating life here kinda sucks because I don't have a car and I don't live in a bike friendly place where people's mindset matches mine that think cycling around is cool, so I kinda want to fix that too. Proposed Budget: $5000-$10000 (with a huge bias towards the lower end of that) New or Used: Used Body Style: compact How will you be using the car?: I need an A to B car. I hate road trips and when I can ride my bike again this car will probably sit dormant for weeks at a time. What aspects are most important to you? Reliability and high gas mileage e: A lot of these posts say to get the car checked by a mechanic. Am I suppose to just ask the guy on craigslist to let me borrow the car to drive to a mechanic or something? I mean if I were selling something I'd feel really uneasy about literally handing them the keys and leaving my sight before they've even paid me. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Aug 18, 2014 |
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Aug 18, 2014 12:54
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Budget: started at $14k. Two days in my budget has crept close to 20k and I find myself justifying higher creeping. New or used: prefer used. Body style: small SUV, maybe a larger sedan How will you be using the car: daily 30 minute commute. Hauling sports equipment around. I coach and play multiple sports. Regional trips for camping, beach, etc. What aspects are most important to you: LEGROOM AND HEADROOM. I'm 6'8 so choices are extremely limited. I also have a lot of tall friends so I need something that has back seat space even when the front seat is all the way back. I've always driven sedans and been kind of anti SUV. However it's hard to ignore that suvs could be really useful. Went to car max yesterday. Sat in and liked the escape, outback, cx5, and equinox. CRV and Forrester no good. Headed to Toyota dealer today then... other places TBD. On the sedan side I like the mazda6 a lot. Sonata fits well too. I had an accord for a long time. It was fine but I don't want to go back. Price: next month I get a $400/month raise and start saving $150-200/month on rent. In the fall my coaching should start earning another $4-500/month. I started out thinking a mid teens used car made sense. Asked for 14k from cap one and they gave me $18k. Which of course shifted my thinking on what I could spend. The idea of a newer car is appealing to me. I think I'm okay with around $400 of my new money going to a car payment. I can put $2-3k down. So basically I'm very lost when it comes to what I want to spend. I think
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Aug 18, 2014 17:23
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Don't buy based on payment, that is like the Number 1 "don't do this" of car buying. Don't "I think I can $X" - figure that out and come back. Just because Cap One approved you at $Y doesn't mean it's prudent or reasonable to take out a loan of $Y.
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Aug 18, 2014 17:53
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Boris Galerkin posted:I've been trying to live car free in a midwestern city that wasn't built for that for about half a year now. It worked out fine for the most part except the last couple of months it became painfully obvious that I might want to look into buying a car cause I broke my leg and all of a sudden couldn't commute by bike or bus anymore (no bike is obvious, the bus stops are all just really far away from where I want to go to walk with crutches). I've never shopped for a car before and I honestly don't even know where to start. I seriously hate driving, but I recognize I might need one so here we go. Also my dating life here kinda sucks because I don't have a car and I don't live in a bike friendly place where people's mindset matches mine that think cycling around is cool, so I kinda want to fix that too.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:40
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Boris Galerkin posted:I've been trying to live car free in a midwestern city that wasn't built for that for about half a year now. It worked out fine for the most part except the last couple of months it became painfully obvious that I might want to look into buying a car cause I broke my leg and all of a sudden couldn't commute by bike or bus anymore (no bike is obvious, the bus stops are all just really far away from where I want to go to walk with crutches). I've never shopped for a car before and I honestly don't even know where to start. I seriously hate driving, but I recognize I might need one so here we go. Also my dating life here kinda sucks because I don't have a car and I don't live in a bike friendly place where people's mindset matches mine that think cycling around is cool, so I kinda want to fix that too. Why do you care about mileage, if this is an in-town vehicle you'll hardly drive once your leg heals up? When you go look at a car sold by a private seller, check it out, and then if you are actually interested, explain that you'd like to have the car inspected by a local mechanic and if the inspection is good, you're prepared to pay $x for the car. At this point it's probably necessary to make a conditional commitment to the seller - that is, you are promising to buy the car at the agreed-upon price, unless the mechanic tells you there's a big problem. Pick a mechanic that is nearby the seller and call ahead to ask for a PPI (pre-purchase inspection). Have the seller arrange to bring the car to the mechanic at whatever time will be convenient for the seller. You pay for the inspection. The inspection will almost always come back with a few minor things, which are expected and you should not dicker on the price based on that. Anything serious and you can either politely decline the car (if it's a deal-breaker) or ask the seller to come down on price based on the estimated cost of repair of the serious thing. Many sellers won't go for this of course. You may have to offer a little more than any other offers they're getting, in order to convince them it's worth their time to do this. It's one of the negotiation points so be polite but firm and if they say no, thank them and move on. At your price point there are probably hundreds of cars in your area available. A $5k-$10k car spans thirty years of most non-luxury/specialty cars, including cars made as little as 5 years ago for the cheaper econoboxes. Because of that, it's hard to recommend a specific make/model - condition is more important, and if you agree with me that MPG is not important for a car you'll only drive like 100 miles a month or whatever, your "reliability" factor is going to come down to each individual car and how well it's been maintained. Don't buy a car with a salvage title. e. nm posted:Gen 2 Prius This is a good suggestion, though, if MPG really is important to you (like, not for saving money (becuase you won't save much money) but because you care about climate change or something); the prius gets tremendous mileage and is also an extremely reliable car. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Aug 18, 2014 |
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Aug 18, 2014 22:11
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Leperflesh posted:Why do you care about mileage, if this is an in-town vehicle you'll hardly drive once your leg heals up? Because Leperflesh posted:but because you care about climate change or something I care very much about the environment so there's that. I wasn't sure if that get a Prius comment was trolling or not but I guess it's not. Isn't it like, potentially a very terrible idea to buy used hybrids? I haven't done any research on this one but from my many years of owning laptops and cell phones I know those batteries don't last very long and if I were to sell a Prius it would probably be because it's gotten to the point where I'd rather just offload it to someone else to deal with rather than paying for expensive new batteries.
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Aug 18, 2014 23:35
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Changing the batteries is not particularly complicated and a lot of independent mechanics can do it now. It's not more expensive than similar service you'd do to similar non-hybrids at similar ages, like replacing an auto transmission. And the warranties on the batteries tend to be very long anyway. Basically don't worry about it. But do be aware that heavy metal batteries are extremely bad for the environment, so from an environmentalist perspective, you're trading carbon emissions for toxic waste. For some of us that's an acceptable compromise, but it's not a clear cut thing. There's more on this debate in the The EV anticipation / speculation / discussion electrothread in AI, if you're interested. Regardless: the amount of carbon emissions you're saving by mostly not driving, absolutely dwarfs the incremental amount of emissions you're saving by going with a car that gets 40mpg instead of 30 or even 25, given the small amount of driving you're talking about doing. This is why I don't think it should be as big a concern for you. Example: If you're driving on average 100 miles per month, and we assume gas costs $3.75 a gallon: Car A: Prius, 51MPG city 2 gallons of gas a month, $7.50 a month, ~40 lbs of CO2. Car B: good mileage subcompact car: 33MPG city 3 gallons of gas a month, $11.25 a month, ~60 lbs of CO2. Car C: poor mileage vehicle such as a pickup truck or muscle car: 20 MPG city 5 gallons of gas a month, $18.75 a month, ~100 lbs of CO2. In this case, Car A is only saving you a bit over ten dollars a month in gas, which is basically ignorable. It is saving you 60 lbs of CO2 emissions per month, which may sound like a lot, but take a look at the rest of your carbon footprint and you might find it's comparatively little. For example, this carbon footprint calculator suggests my own carbon footprint is on the order of 23 tons per year. In my case saving 60 pounds of CO2 a month would save me 720 a year, which would be less than a 2% reduction in my carbon footprint. To me, that's not nearly enough to offset the problem with using batteries full of toxic heavy metals. It might make sense if I was driving 20,000 miles a year, or even 10,000 a year, but if it's more like 1000 a year I don't think I'm actually helping. You'll have to decide for yourself what your priorities are, and consider your entire carbon footprint, if that's important to you. By all means consider a Prius if it's a car you like, it's a great car with great reliability and you should be able to find one in good condition within your budget. Just do the math before you decide for sure that you need to drive a super-efficient car. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 00:02
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Boris Galerkin posted:Because Gen 2 Prius (gen 1 prius is not as good) batteries are lasting 10+ years and 200k+ miles. They are not shockingly expensive. The warranties are long on them as well, but double check which that specific car has because it depends precisely on where and when it was sold. Also, the batteries are cored and recycled, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Cars are basically toxic as hell -- standard car batteries are also terrible for the environment -- see the Excide SoCal plant.
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Aug 19, 2014 00:13
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Leperflesh posted:When you go look at a car sold by a private seller, check it out, and then if you are actually interested, explain that you'd like to have the car inspected by a local mechanic and if the inspection is good, you're prepared to pay $x for the car. At this point it's probably necessary to make a conditional commitment to the seller - that is, you are promising to buy the car at the agreed-upon price, unless the mechanic tells you there's a big problem.
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Aug 19, 2014 01:23
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When looking for used cars online I always search for the keyword "inspected", and that usually reveals cars that passed state inspection a month or two ago and are good to go. Also make sure the vehicle passed both the safety *and* the emission inspection. A lot of times a car will pass the safety inspection, but the cost of getting the emissions inspection passed is astronomical, so the owner will stop there and sell the car. On the CarFax report it will say "Emissions inspection performed", but if it passed it should say "Emissions inspection passed".
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Aug 19, 2014 01:41
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EugeneJ posted:When looking for used cars online I always search for the keyword "inspected", and that usually reveals cars that passed state inspection a month or two ago and are good to go. A state inspection should in NO way be considered a replacement for a proper PPI. The safety inspections are for roadworthyness and emissions in some cases. The safety inspection is done at places that advertise 15 minutes in and out - how much do you really think they are doing? A proper PPI will catch a lot of things, but a safety inspection will catch very little.
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Aug 19, 2014 01:50
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Proposed Budget: $4k-9k New or Used: Used (obviously) Body Style: (e.g. 2 door? 4 door? Compact/Midsize/Fullsize Sedan? Truck? SUV?) 4 door. Would prefer a hatchback/small SUV or something with a big-rear end backseat for my big-rear end dog (90lbs) How will you be using the car?: Daily commuting, 60 miles. 2 mile grocery trips. No road trips or anything crazy. I live in the city but would be doing regular highway driving as well. Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos?) No, but auxiliary/mp3 hookup would be nice. What aspects are most important to you? I am not super picky, but I am really into Jeeps. My SO has a new Jeep Patriot that I love driving but I'm not looking to spend that much. I don't see this thread recommending Jeeps particularly often, but his family has 3 with no issues. My dad is also a mechanic but is a huge Chevy fanboy and won't recommend anything else. If I were to get a Jeep, I'm not sure which older models I should be/should not be looking at. Otherwise, my only big preference is not a Prius. I know this thread loves them but they're not for me. I do like driving bigger vehicles because that's what I learned to drive on (a Chevy Equinox) but I am open to pretty much anything that will fit decently tall people (5'8" for me and a 6'3" passenger) and has space for a large dog in the back. cumulonimbus fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 02:49
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Proposed Budget: $4k-15k New or Used: New or used Body Style: (e.g. 2 door? 4 door? Compact/Midsize/Fullsize Sedan? Truck? SUV?) 4 door midsized or maybe an SUV. How will you be using the car?: Daily commute, 380 miles a week. Most mileage will be interstate. Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos?) Well, let's see what I can afford here, but power windows and doors are mandatory. What aspects are most important to you? Automatic, leather seats, and great on MPG due to the sheer amount of driving I'm doing. I'm really looking for something to last me 5 or 6 years, and Ohio has a pretty interesting winter so I would want something that I could put snow tires on and actually be able to drive in the ice and snow. I'd prefer no trucks, since I honestly don't really need one. I'm open to an SUV, but I drive a 99 Honda Accord and am pretty partial to staying in a sedan. Also not against a Prius but don't know much about them. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and do a lot of my own preventative maintenance.
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Aug 19, 2014 04:08
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Proposed Budget: $5k-10k New or Used: Either, but probably used. Body Style: 2 door coupe or hatchback How will you be using the car?: Daily Driver, but that's not generally that far. Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos?) They would be nice of course, the more the merrier. But everything is negotiable. What aspects are most important to you? Aesthetics and reliability. I was initially looking at the BMW 3 series, E36 or E46, however I'm use to the reliability of my old Honda and from what I've read BMW's not only have some issues they are also expensive to maintain and work on. And I'm not at all handy. I also looked at the Mitsubishi 3000GT but found the same reliability concerns. Next I started looking at the Toyota Celica (7th gen). It's not all that sporty looking stock but from pictures I've seen there are a lot of possibilities for it aesthetically, depending on what you want to do with it. It's also supposed to be reliable and inexpensive. Downsides are that it's not fast but I don't really care about that. I'd much rather it look nice than go fast. Also, I've read that's it perceived as a "girl's car". I hadn't heard of this until I came across it researching the car. But I don't think it's something I'd really care about or agree with. I'm also considering a Nissan 350z. It's an all around nicer looking car than the Celica. And it's got real horsepower under the hood. I've heard conflicting opinions about the reliability so I was going to ask about it here? Downsides: It's obviously more expensive than the Celica, but they're really a different class of car. I've read that I'd need to spend 12k-15k to get a decent 350z with reasonable miles. Apparently the 2007+ are the years I should be looking at? It also has no back seats, which sucks but, meh whatever. Other cars I'm looking at: Mitsubishi Eclipse - How's the reliability? Nissan 300zx TT - Older car, but fast, not sure about reliability. Toyota MR2 Turbo (2nd Gen) - Same as above Mazda RX-7 (3rd Gen) - Heard they weren't reliable and all around could do better for the same class of car. Acura RSX/Honda Prelude/Honda Civic - Love my old Accord but Hondas/Acuras seem kind of played out, and I feel like getting something different, dunno, though. Pontiac GTO (4th Gen) - Decent looks, dunno much else about it. G35 Coupe - Heard it's a good 350z alternative (back seat!) but I like the sportier looking 350z. Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S - Nice, but more than I'm looking to spend. Hyundai Genesis - Same as above. Mustang (5th Gen) - Not really into muscle cars. Camaro (5th Gen) - same as above and more than I'm looking to spend. Challenger (3rd Gen)- same as above. I'd appreciate some suggestions and any comments, and/or comparisons with the above mentioned cars especially the Celica and 350z which I'm looking pretty hard at. -Blackadder- fucked around with this message at 08:59 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 06:39
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cumulonimbus posted:Proposed Budget: $4k-9k If you like jeeps get one. All the other mealy mouthed poo poo we post in this thread doesn't make any difference when you just like a car. For your price range you are looking at either a Compass or Patriot, well used. I don't think they are objectively that good of a vehicle especially before the 2011 refresh, but if you already know what they drive like and like them wellwho am I to tell you otherwise. Reliability wise they are pretty good with 2 exceptions: The suspension of the pre-2011 models used essentially underspec-ed bushings that wear out very quickly. It won't strand you, and the part is basically a $2.50 part, but the cost of fixing them at a shop will rapidly add up. There are aftermarket solutions to this problem that will fix it for good so at this point you should only need to do it once if it hasn't been done already. The other thing is that the manual transmission is actually less reliable than the Nissan supplied CVT. There are lots of anecdotal forum posts about manual transmission faults, not enough to necessarily put me off buying one but if reliability is your top priority you should really go with the CVT. If you want an alternative, the 2011+ VW Jetta has been taking the market by storm with its dual virtues of having a huge back seat and being sold new for like $14k. You can probably find some for close to your budget at this point. The 2.0l 115hp engine is pretty slow. Wickerman posted:Proposed Budget: $4k-15k You should get a Prius, or alternatively look into the "eco" version of the Chevy Cruze, which gets pretty drat good highway fuel economy and is otherwise a nice car without too many whiz-bang items to go wrong. I imagine you could get the Cruze for significantly less than the Prius but it probably depends on your location. -Blackadder- posted:Proposed Budget: $5k-10k 
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Aug 19, 2014 07:35
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Throatwarbler posted:If you like jeeps get one. All the other mealy mouthed poo poo we post in this thread doesn't make any difference when you just like a car. I am a huge dingus and meant to type Automatic transmission, but the advice is still appreciated. Again, cars that require small fixes is no big deal because I won't be getting them fixed at a shop. Does anyone have any commentary on Jeep Libertys? They have some decent ones in my price range/area that I was looking at.
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Aug 19, 2014 13:52
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-Blackadder- posted:Next I started looking at the Toyota Celica (7th gen). It's not all that sporty looking stock but from pictures I've seen there are a lot of possibilities for it aesthetically, depending on what you want to do with it. It's also supposed to be reliable and inexpensive. Downsides are that it's not fast but I don't really care about that. I'd much rather it look nice than go fast. Also, I've read that's it perceived as a "girl's car". I hadn't heard of this until I came across it researching the car. But I don't think it's something I'd really care about or agree with. I love the look of these cars and they are very reliable. Screw the "girl's car" opinion. -Blackadder- posted:I'm also considering a Nissan 350z. It's an all around nicer looking car than the Celica. And it's got real horsepower under the hood. I've heard conflicting opinions about the reliability so I was going to ask about it here? Downsides: It's obviously more expensive than the Celica, but they're really a different class of car. I've read that I'd need to spend 12k-15k to get a decent 350z with reasonable miles. Apparently the 2007+ are the years I should be looking at? It also has no back seats, which sucks but, meh whatever. The lack of back seats can be problematic. Also these cars are very heavy so it sort of feels like the looks are writing checks the car just can't cash while driving. -Blackadder- posted:Mitsubishi Eclipse - How's the reliability? -Blackadder- posted:Toyota MR2 Turbo (2nd Gen) - Same as above -Blackadder- posted:Mazda RX-7 (3rd Gen) - Heard they weren't reliable and all around could do better for the same class of car. -Blackadder- posted:Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S - Nice, but more than I'm looking to spend. -Blackadder- posted:I'd appreciate some suggestions and any comments, and/or comparisons with the above mentioned cars especially the Celica and 350z which I'm looking pretty hard at. The Celica is pretty much the best car on the list in terms of a combination of good looks, sporty feel, reliability, and practicality. The Celica sort of lived on in it's spiritual successor the Scion TC, so you might want to check one of those out too. GutBomb fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 14:35
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Leperflesh posted:Changing the batteries is not particularly complicated and a lot of independent mechanics can do it now. It's not more expensive than similar service you'd do to similar non-hybrids at similar ages, like replacing an auto transmission. And the warranties on the batteries tend to be very long anyway. Ok, you make some good points. If I wanted to avoid the hassle of CL and trying to find a car from someone who isn't going to gently caress me over and just get a new car that could potentially last at least a decade, is there anything wrong with say a Nissan Versa? I did a few quick searches through different manufacturers during lunch today and I think this was the cheapest (MSRP) new car I could find with a base model being $13xxx. My sister had one a few years back and I remember borrowing/driving it when I visited my parents and didn't find anything wrong with it that I can remember. Unless there are other options or unless buying a car from CL just isn't as stressful and terrible as I'm thinking it is.
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Aug 19, 2014 19:31
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Versas are woefully, tragically underpowered and feel pretty cheap inside to me. For not a hell of a lot more you can get a new Focus/Fiesta if new is now your target. Maybe a Mazda 2 if you're ok with how small it is, but it's also pretty underpowered, but you hate driving, so really any of those are probably fine. The Prius recommendation is probably still the best though.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:15
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Yeah a Versa is the bottom end cheapest car for a reason. They're reliable and economical, but you'll be miserable driving one most likely. At the $13k price point you're really better off buying a lightly-used car rather than a new one. Shopping for used cars sucks, but it's like pulling off a band-aid: just get it over with for a couple of weeks and you'll be done with it after. You can go to dealerships or deal with craigslist. We all like the CL horror stories but the reality is that most people are just normal people selling their car. They may ask for more than it's really worth, they may stand you up or sell it to the guy who got there before you without bothering to call you to say it's sold, etc. but most of the time it'll just be some normal person selling a normal car for a normal amount of money. The key thing is to budget your time appropriately and assume it's going to take two or three weeks to find the right car. That way the ones that don't pan out you can just shrug off and move on. In your budget there will be hundreds of cars available unless you live very, very far away from any cities, so you can pick out the ads that are typed up competently with good photos of the car and probably be fine. Click the question mark under my post to see all my posts in this thread and click through the pages and you'll find two or three times where I've typed up how to buy a used car from a dealership. e. jesus I've posted a lot in this thread. Here let me save you from reading all my terrible posts. this post was my first effort-post about buying a used car. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 00:47
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I did briefly consider a Miata, but I don't really like the look of the body. Thanks, though. GutBomb posted:[The MR2 is] Reliable and awesome but not that practical. At this point I'm leaning toward the 7th gen Celica, though.
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Aug 20, 2014 22:37
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The MR2 has a tiny frunk and otherwise no storage space at all. "Practical" is usually a reference to a car's ability to provide utility besides transporting two people somewhere - storage space, hauling capacity, weather-tightness (so convertibles are rarely practical), comfort for long drives, etc. Most of the cars on your list are capable of at least getting your groceries home, and many could handle a suitcase or two. The MR2 has enough storage for like two bags of groceries or one smallish bag.
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Aug 20, 2014 22:43
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