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So my 2015 Corolla is now a 2016 memory. The accident was relatively minor (my airbags deployed, the other driver's did not, no injuries), but apparently Corolla airbags are made of pixie dust and unicorn farts, so the car's totaled. Fortunately, I have great insurance and no prior claims, so we got a check for more than we owe on the car, and likely no rate increase. But that puts us down to one car (my old beater 2003 Corolla, which I think I may have to put a stake in to kill eventually), and my wife/son add a new level of nonsense to the car situation. Proposed Budget: $20k to $30k-ish? We're willing to go higher for the right car, and our credit is great, so financing isn't an issue. New or Used: Either, really, though we're leaning new. Body Style: Hatch/Wagon. A regular car with a big-rear end trunk, basically. An SUV is probably more car than we need, and taking the gas mileage penalty to drive one is not ideal. How will you be using the car?: Primarily as a Mom-mobile. The kid's only a year old, so we're a few years out at least from needing to carry 10 kids to Junior Murder Scouts or whatever kids do now, but even taking him to the grandparents' place (a short drive) is a big production, and more trunk space for things like a stroller plus groceries and such would be great. It would also be nice to be able to haul something home from Home Depot or Ikea or whatever without twine and prayer. Occasionally (once a month or so), the car would be taking a 160 or so mile round trip drive to visit friends. What aspects are most important to you? Reliability and gas mileage are important. The Apple/Android car setup would be great, but it's not a deal-breaker as long as the car has basic BT connectivity. Our home is in a complex, and the roads are kinda narrow, so a back-up camera is very helpful. This car will also be used for the occasional long-distance drive, so comfort is important. We're looking at the Corolla iM, a couple of Hondas (the Civic hatch, and the HR-V), and we might try a Ford Focus for the hell of it, since we've heard they've improved quite a bit since my wife drove one last. Hyundai has the Tuscon, but it's more expensive and gets worse mileage, looks like. We've thought about the Prius v, but we'd need to sit down and do the math to see if paying that much would be worth the fuel savings. I'm mostly wondering what makes and models I might be missing, since I'm no expert on current-year models. I was very happy with the 2015 Corolla; drove great, decent mileage, and plenty of leg room, which is important for me because I have long stupid legs and big clown feet. That said, I bought the Corolla over a year ago, so I'm sure there's stuff from other car makers worth looking at. We're not looking for 'luxury' cars, since the kid's just going to tear up anything nice we own. EDIT: Not the Prius c. I knew I'd read something in here about them, and now I remember; they suck, I guess. Jedi425 fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 22:31
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H110Hawk posted:Why not another 2015 corolla? I'd love to just get another regular Corolla, but we could use a little more cargo space. Our stroller never quite fit in the trunk right, and the last time I bought a piece of furniture I had to lash it down with the trunk hanging open and pray to the car gods. Our only other car is basically the same size/style as the Corolla was, so we'd kinda like one with a bit more room, hence the Corolla iM. I suspected that'd be the case with the Prius (and my own math seems to bear that out; even just between it and the iM it's nearly 8k difference in starting MSRP), but we'll probably test drive one anyway for the heck of it.
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Jan 15, 2017 23:46
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IRQ posted:Is there any reason you aren't looking at Mazda3 hatches? They're far better than Corollas or Civics and do everything you want. Not really, aside from what Thermopyle said; I had honestly forgotten about Mazda being a thing. No one I know owns one, so I don't hear any of the dumb anecdotal poo poo idiots like me base purchases on.  But thanks for mentioning it; we'll add Mazda to the test drive day we're planning next week. Might try a Mazda3 5-door and a CX-5.
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Jan 16, 2017 05:59
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Why would you look at the HR-V, which is useless and stupid, and not the CR-V, which is a perennial best-seller in the category you are looking at for the exact reasons you find important in a car purchase? I've been slowly working my way back through the thread, and didn't see anything, why not the HR-V? My wife had suggested it rather than the CR-V, probably because the CR-V is basically an SUV (I think?), and we were mostly looking at hatches and crossovers. It's going on the list though. So far we're looking at: Prius v (probably not unless we get a good used deal, new it's the most expensive option of the lot at MSRP) Corolla iM Civic Hatch CR-V CX-5 Mazda3 Hatch Focus We might try Subaru too, thanks for mentioning them, they were in the memory hole next to Mazda. I honestly can't remember ever seeing a Subaru dealership around here though; Google says there's two, but hell if I've seen either of them. Appreciate all the posts, exactly what I wanted was other options I hadn't thought of. We bought the Corolla mostly because I'd had such a good experience with the 2003; thing's got over 120k on it now and still runs great, nothing but routine maintenance needed. I wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking other makes and models that could be better, though, especially since this is my first car purchase for anything bigger than the Corolla. How do car folks feel about Consumer Reports as a review outlet? My dad swears by them for drat near everything, and they offer a cheap one-month digital sub, so I might grab that and read up some.
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Jan 17, 2017 08:19
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IOwnCalculus posted:The CR-V and RAV-4 invented the modern concept of crossover, so, not sure where you're getting that from. It's a tall five door Civic. The Honda website for the CR-V says something about 'a design that is set to raise the bar for SUVs' so who knows? Maybe they meant 'so good it's like an SUV but it's not' or something.
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Jan 17, 2017 09:52
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Thanks for the advice, everyone. We managed to get out and test drive some things today. The CR-V so far is the stand-out favorite, with the RAV-4 and Prius V coming in 2nd and 3rd. My wife hated driving the Prius; unlike me, she actually is a car enthusiast and hated the way the Prius handled, which I can understand. I just don't care as much. We also looked at the iM and the Civic hatch, but they were indeed too small to really fit our reasons for moving to a bigger car. The HR-V was a similar sort of deal; once I got my wife to look at it, she agreed that there was no drat point to it, just get a CR-V. On a whim, we also checked out the Nissan Rogue, but goddamn, was it bad compared to the others. Noisy on the road, poor brakes thanks to a brake pedal that seemed designed to cause knee pain, it was set so high up. We can take our time buying, so we're going to watch and wait, see what kinds of deals we can get at a couple of dealerships. I might also give the Costco thing a try, since I'm a member and it's apparently decent if not amazing savings. Thanks again for the help, car nerds.
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Jan 22, 2017 07:23
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Git Mah Belt Son posted:Hate to throw another test drive your way, but if your wife enjoys driving don't cross the Ford Escape with the 2.0 ecoboost off your list. That engine is really potent and it is probably the best handling compact CUV behind the Mazda CX-5. We actually did look at the Escape and the CX-5 too. The pricing on the Ford was kinda nuts; we could get a crapload of safety features (which now that we've seen, we'd kinda like to have in the mom-mobile) standard on the CR-V or CX-5 at the mid trim, but you have to go all the way up on the Ford to get a lot of the same stuff. Right now, we're debating the CX-5 or CR-V; from the sound of the Honda guy we spoke to, they don't budge much on price because of the volume of sales they've seen on the CR-V, while the Mazda is who knows what.
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Jan 30, 2017 02:07
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Thanks again everyone. We ended up buying a CX-5 Touring; the Honda people wouldn't give us a thing in negotiations (the guy was at least up front with us, saying they didn't really do much haggling because the CR-Vs sold fast enough they didn't need to), but the Mazda folks gave us a lower price and 0% on the financing, for a car that was basically 90% the same as the CR-V. We probably wouldn't even have thought of Mazda if you guys hadn't mentioned it.Nitrox posted:If you watch the other 11 minutes, then you can see it's a very good and thorough car review. RCR is a national treasure I really liked his review of the Lawn Man.
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Feb 1, 2017 08:06
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Hi, I'm Jedi425. This post doesn't matter any more. Hooray! Have a car I saw at the gym once a couple years ago: 
Jedi425 fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Sep 2, 2017 |
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Sep 2, 2017 09:20
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JnnyThndrs posted:Yah, outside of some anomaly, 125K on a Corolla is just broken in. Replace all the filters, plugs and rubber bits, then drive another 100k miles. Yeah, I needed to hear that from someone. 100k is just such a big number, man. My wife and I talked it over, and she's spent more time looking at it and is a lot less apocalyptic about the car's future than she was initially. The engine is still solid, and yeah, in looking around I can see tons of Corollas making it 150k+ miles. I'm going to edit my post away, but after listening to you guys, some more searches, and sleeping on it, I think I've talked myself back off the cliff. Jedi425 fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Sep 2, 2017 |
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Sep 2, 2017 18:20
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So an old guy decided to T-bone my wife driving our nice, low miles 2020 Corolla in a parking lot by driving across the empty parking spaces at speed, and hosed up the front passenger side so bad it's totalled. I got good advice from you nerds before, so why not touch base again? I put maybe 25k miles on the old car in 4 years, so I'm not exactly a frequent driver. Proposed Budget: Total around $35-40k at most? I'm getting about $15k after paying off the wrecked car's loan, so I have a solid down payment. New or Used: Leaning new. This will be our sole vehicle, and as far as I know used prices are still hosed up. Body Style: It's me, my wife, and one kiddo. Our previous car was a compact, and we're OK with another one, but it's getting a bit cramped, so we're thinking CUV/SUV. How will you be using the car?: Errands, not a daily commute (I'm WFH), the occasional family/social event. A couple times a year we might drive inter-state. What aspects are most important to you? 1. Reliability. This will be our only vehicle for some time. We were getting close to paying off the old one, and then this happened.  2. Fuel Economy. Gas sucks. 3. Back seats/Cargo. The kiddo's getting tall fast, and it'd be nice to have room for him. For this reason, we're not thinking the Prius would be a good fit, though I'd take one if it was just me. It'd also be nice not to have to borrow another car any time I want to move anything bigger than a lunch pail. 4. Comfort. My wife has some rather nasty nerve/autoimmune issues that cause her a lot of pain, so a car she can drive/ride in comfortably would be great. We do plan to test drive. We're leaning toward a RAV4 Hybrid or CR-V Hybrid. Another Corolla or a Prius would be too small for the times when all three of us would be in the car, especially since I'm a tall person, and my kiddo is tall for his age. It'd also be nice to not have to fall into my car any more because it's so low. The thread seems in favor of the two we're considering, but last time I checked in I hadn't considered every car brand, and thanks to you guys I ended up in a very nice Mazda CX-5. So I figured I'd see if there's anything I'm missing.
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Apr 5, 2024 08:52
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Dr. Lunchables posted:I’d go sit in a Camry before you pull the trigger on a CUV. Jesus hell, a Buick? OK, yeah, maybe worth a look. Thanks again all for the opinions. Good to hear the Mazdas are still decent; I only got rid of the old CX-5 due to a divorce, and when it was just me and the kiddo there was no need for a CUV.
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Apr 5, 2024 18:07
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