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I was steered this way from AI in regards to my current predicament. As of today I’ve managed to find myself in an interesting predicament in terms of my car situation. I just accepted a new job offer which is going to entail a good deal of driving throughout the week. Right now I’m leasing an 07 Saturn Ion which is up at the beginning of July. I’m about 3,000 miles short of my agreed upon lease mileage as it stands, so I’m on track to end up a bit over when I turn it in. The good news is that the job I’m accepting comes with a $600/mo car allowance to be used how I deem fit, car payment, insurance, etc. This would obviously help me with buying a car when it comes time. My question is mostly, what would be my best plan of action? Right now I see a few possible options. A. Keep driving the lease until it’s up and use the car allowance to pay for the overage in miles. B. Buy a new car soon, pay for both and make sure I don’t go over on miles with the Saturn. C. Look into turning in the lease early and see if it’d be cheaper than paying for both. Another thing that will probably play into things is that the lease is technically in my mom’s name and registered in MI and I am currently in Florida. I know most companies will let you turn in a lease in another state, and I’m sure that because Saturn is on its way out it would make that more likely. I’m not sure how easy it is to turn in a lease that isn’t in my name though. Would I need my mom to have them transfer the lease to me beforehand? I know that most of that can be sorted out by me actually calling them, but I just wanted to see if anyone had an idea.
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Jan 29, 2010 05:59
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SlapActionJackson posted:Many car allowances come with strings attached as to what is an acceptable car. Does the Saturn meet the qualifications? From what he told me it doesn't sound like there are hard and fast rules about it, but there are things I know would be necessary, 4 doors for one and reasonable trunk space for carrying equipment. Aside from that it sounded like I'm open to choose. The saturn would be fine for now useage-wise, but I plan to get something with a little more room in the back seat for when I take clients out to lunch. The overage penalty I believe is 15 cents/mi. Edit for more info: After finding my lease agreement and scouring through it, it sounds like the early lease termination would result in me paying pretty much what is left on the lease payments since I'm only a few thousand miles off from the total allowance. The good thing about paying that off is that I would not have to continue to pay insurance on it. rockcity fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jan 29, 2010 |
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Jan 29, 2010 14:53
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SlapActionJackson posted:According to Edmunds, $.15/mi is WAY more than the actual depreciation hit for extra miles on an '07 ($.03 - $.08 is the rage it seems to be pricing in). So I wouldn't go over your lease miles if you can help it. Yeah, that was one thing I looked into. After running some numbers though the cheapest plan of action looks to be getting a new car in April and turning in the lease then. According to the lease agreement I'd end up paying the remaining 2 payments left, which sucks, but I'd save on paying insurance all together for 2 months. Even when I throw in overage miles as a potential circumstance it still ends up cheaper than getting a new car earlier than say April because I won't be spending $600 worth of overage in a month. I do want to limit the overage as much as possible though. My girlfriend said I can use her car here and there if I want save some miles on days that I drive more. Though she has a 50 mile round trip drive to work so it'd still add up. The good news is that I'd still be getting my $600/mo car allowance so even though I'd pay an overage and pay out the lease, it still ends up cheaper per month than what I'm paying for the car+insurance now. The overage price definitely does suck though. Another reason why I'll never lease again.
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Jan 30, 2010 22:28
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quaunaut posted:Proposed Budget: $600/mo maximum, but this is where I wanna have the conversation. I was hoping to have my price by $17,000 maximum, but if it's a brand new car I can be worked up to $24,000 because of the huge change in reliability. You could look into an Infiniti G35 Sedan. I drive an EX35 which is the crossover version of the sedan. The powertrain was used in 3 different vehicles and it's solid. The interior on the later models is also quite nice in terms of fit and finish and the tech packages that go with it are great. You should be able to find one under $17k with reasonably low miles if you dig around. rockcity fucked around with this message at 03:53 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 03:50
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RisqueBarber posted:I know I suck at this...These are models that I thought I would like to drive based on my budget (under $30,000), are manual transmissions, and style that I'm interested in. I want something fast that handles well but also looks good. Those are the three that I came up with. I had no idea they were so different. You could also look at the Infiniti G37 coupe which I think would fit your needs and be easily under your budget. They handle pretty well and it's a reliable and reasonably powerful engine that is used in several vehicles in their lineup.
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May 6, 2013 22:58
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The Dart is surprisingly nice for a mid/compact sized sedan. My brother just got the Limited turbo version and I'm really impressed with it so far.
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Jun 7, 2013 20:22
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ThePotatoEater posted:I believe I've made up my mind and want to get a Dart. Only issue is the fully loaded limited editions are 24k which they don't offer much in rebates and along with my family discount, it only goes around 21-22k. Is there anyway to try and wiggle the price down with salesman or am I pretty much stuck on that price? Unlikely that you'll do much better than the family discount, that is if it's the actual family discount and not the smaller discount one. They're not in the market to lose money and the actual Chrysler family discount is pretty large, $3k off sticker is pretty good. Sometimes you can get some small add-ons tossed in if you know the guy, but doubtful you'll do much better. The limited is nice though as I noted earlier. I was really surprised by how much I liked my brother, especially the interior which dodge has been awful with up until about a year or two ago.
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Jun 10, 2013 04:31
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ThePotatoEater posted:If I buy, I want to pay around 250 per month but I'm not sure if that is possible with a fully loaded limited, unfortunately. How much are you putting down? Even at $20k you'd need to put quite a bit of money down to get to a monthly payment that low. Ignoring interest, you'd need to put down at least enough to get the loan amount down to $15k. More than likely you'll need to get it down to like $12-13k. And don't forget about tax and fees when you're budgeting this out too.
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Jun 10, 2013 15:37
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I'm 22, and I might have to become financially independent from my parents soon. I assume this is going to involve getting my own insurance, too. How do I avoid getting completely hosed as a <25 year old man? Currently I have a '99 Subaru. There isn't really anything you can do necessarily, at least not now. Just shop around and look for a good price. Your rate has a lot of factors beyond age that can help or hurt you as well, driving record, safety features, engine, security features, where you live, etc. Driving record plays a big part, so if you're record is pretty clean, you may come out ok.
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Jun 13, 2013 05:36
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fanpantstic posted:Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. :/ Beyond insurance and basic maintenance like oil changes, it's hard to say as it will depend heavily on the condition of the vehicle you buy. Could need new tires, could need new brakes, could need fluids changed, belts replaced, etc. All of those are wear items, but they all need to be replaced at different times.
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Jun 18, 2013 03:01
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Psimitry posted:Edit: Just found the Dodge Dart....interesting. The Dart with the Turbo is actually quite nice. Dodge really got it right with that car. I'm not sure if it comes in the manual transmission or not, but I believe it does.
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Jun 18, 2013 13:35
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Psimitry posted:The fuel bit is far from a deciding factor, especially since Scion recommends 91 as opposed to 93 (I think the math worked out to like $60/year). It's the sticker price that keeps me out of that one. Most of the premium fuel only vehicles are 91 octane, but 91 octane isn't all that common at most gas stations. I drive about 36k miles per year all over Florida for work and I'd say 10% or less of the gas stations I've stopped at ever have it, so I have to put 93 octane in mine. I'm definitely getting something that takes regular gas next time around. Even if it doesn't get better gas mileage I'll probably save at least $500 a year with how much I drive.
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Jun 19, 2013 03:54
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kansas posted:Premium gas is typically 20 cents more expensive than regular and let's assume you get an average of 25 mpg. Spending an extra $500/year because of premium would mean you are driving 62,500 miles a year. Where do you live that premium gas currently costs only 20 cents more per gallon? I have not seen that in years. In Florida it's typically between 30-40 cents higher, so let's call it 35 cents. I drive an Infiniti EX35 which averages around 20mpg. I drive about 36k per year. That's $630 per year, so my $500 estimate was pretty fair. Edit: AAA has the current average national prices for regular and premium at exactly 35 cents apart. rockcity fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Jul 1, 2013 |
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Jul 1, 2013 14:21
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Thirding the G. I daily drive an EX35 and the sedan has the same powertrain and interior features (well from the front seats forward). It's worlds better than a 3 series for the interior. You can easily get one with fairly low miles in your price range.
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Jul 14, 2013 18:56
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As a previous Acura RDX owner I can definitely say that their SH-AWD drive system is excellent and feels more like a RWD than a FWD. There's actually a display setting where you can watch the torque to the wheels to see where it's going.
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Jul 17, 2013 15:57
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The Elantra is a much better car than both the Avenger and the 200. My friend has had two of them now and they're considerably more well built, at least from both a fit, finish and features standpoint. The other two are just really underwhelming. They just come off as cars that look about 5-7 years behind the times even though they're new.
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Jul 18, 2013 16:01
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Extra posted:Proposed Budget: Least amount of money physically possible. Wait your cost to insure a $2k car for a year is $2k? Do you have a laundry list of accidents or tickets? I pay less than $1k a year for my Infiniti EX35 for comprehensive with high property values. Granted I've never had a driving infraction in my 12 years of driving.
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Aug 8, 2013 17:38
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, and like $2000 annually in insurance.
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visuvius posted:What kind of mechanical issues and costs can I expect with a 5-6 year old Infiniti? Like is there some $3,000ish service luxury cars require at around 75,000 miles or are they basically like Toyotas and Hondas where they'll run like champs? The G35/EX35/M35/FX35 drivetrain is solid. It's used in all of those vehicles plus a few different Nissan vehicles in other countries. I've had my EX35 since 30k on the odometer and I'm at over 90k now. I've done all the service myself which has been pretty basic fluid replacement and brakes so far. Because the engine was developed by Nissan it's fairly straightforward and doesn't really need a whole lot of special treatment aside from premium fuel.
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Aug 11, 2013 05:10
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nm posted:For the guy considering a used mazda 3. Beyond that, that price isn't that good so you can definitely haggle it down. I've seen new, loaded grand touring Mazda 3's for $21,500. Coincidentally I'm looking at getting one of those for my next vehicle in probably early October. The 2014 is getting a small update to the outside so I'm hoping dealers will be looking to get the 2013's out and keep the drop in the price and offer the 0%. I'm really glad they moved the nav in the 2013 as well. That small one up in the dash was awful. It's the main reason I didn't get one the last time I bought a vehicle.
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Aug 11, 2013 20:39
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Neither here nor there, but it's a lot more than a small update. It's a total redesign inside and out, including an updated 2.5. Ehh, the body style is largely the same with a few small tweaks and the interior is mostly the same as the 2013 when they updated it. The 2.5 is new though, I forgot about that.
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Aug 12, 2013 04:37
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Friar Zucchini posted:If this isn't a completely redesigned car, then what is? My mistake, I remember seeing photos quite a while back when they were discussing they new model and it definitely wasn't as big of an external redesign as that is. I don't remember the changes to the rear being as big, more of the front view changing. Are they actually on the lots yet? The Mazda site really doesn't even have all that much info on there yet. I'd be curious to go take a look at one in person.
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Aug 12, 2013 13:50
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My Infiniti dealer doesn't even charge that much for brakes. I had my rears done through them because for around $200 on my EX35. I don't know if you're on the mailing lists, but my dealer sends out service specials about every two weeks for various things. Also, as mentioned above, those cars are actually supposed to be very reliable for an entry level luxury vehicle. I bought my 2008 EX35 with 35k on the odometer and I've put about 60k on it since and I've had to do no work on it aside from general service. Hell the tires haven't even really reached the end of their life yet and I'm still on the set I bought it with (they were brand new when I got it). I do mostly highway driving though which is why that's the case.
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Aug 20, 2013 14:53
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G35/G37 Sedan. The engine has plenty of pickup for it's size and it's a pretty reliable vehicle (despite what the post a few up seems to indicate). That powertrain is used in a bunch of vehicles and it's quite sound. I'd recommend finding either the most recent year of G35 or the first year of the G37. The interior took a big jump up in quality then. I find the interior to be loads nicer than a 3 series, at least in terms of looks, they're pretty similar in material quality.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:21
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Xguard86 posted:wow I had no idea people turn their cars over so quickly. Seems nuts to buy a heavily depreciating asset every 3 years. I actually have to for work because my company has a rule where our vehicles can't be over 100k miles and I drive about 35k per year. They pay me a car allowance though. My last car I had a little under two years and that's going to be how long I'll have the one I own now for as well. I bought both of those with about 35k on the odometer though.
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Aug 27, 2013 21:43
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IOwnCalculus posted:Only with the 2.0L which is pretty well down on power, and 'fun to drive' is a relative thing in crossovers since you still have a high center of gravity no matter what you get. The Infiniti EX35 would beg to differ 
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Aug 30, 2013 21:30
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Throatwarbler posted:The EX35 is really more of a G35 wagon, and at that price point you're competing with the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and the wagon variants of the CTS, A4, etc. For under $25k new IoC is pretty much right. You could call the CX-5 or the Jetta Sportwagon diesel "fun" in some ways but they're def. not fast. For 25k new sure, but he said that slightly used was the sweet spot. I got my EX35 as a CPO with 35k miles for 24.5k. My point was more than an EX35 doesn't have a high center of gravity and that it handles more like a car than an SUV. It's fairly quick for a crossover, though I wouldn't call it fast per se. I don't really think it fits in the wagon category though, at least not on body style.
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Aug 30, 2013 22:36
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Saltin posted:The problem with the EX (and I love Infiniti, drive a G37) is that you'd expect it to be more spacious then a G as a "G wagon" but it just isn't. I'm not sure what the EX is for. I have no doubt it is a blast to drive, relatively speaking. Yeah, it's not that spacious overall. With the seats down it has reasonable cargo room, but probably not much more than say a Mazda 3 hatch. My work requires me to have something with a liftgate for work related gear so my past two vehicles have been an RDX and an EX35. I have enjoyed both of them, but I need something with better gas mileage. I'm looking at the new Mazda 3 at the moment, though it needs to come out first.
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Aug 31, 2013 23:41
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My brother has a Dart Limited with the turbo and I'm really impressed with it overall for the price point. It's much smaller than an Elantra, but they really stepped it up on the interior compared to practically anything dodge has done in the last decade. I wish they'd make a crossover or a hatch that looked that good.
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Sep 30, 2013 19:42
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CatchrNdRy posted:It easy to tell based on year and mileage. A 2012 with 40k miles on it with SINGLE OWNER, neglects to tell you the single owner was probably Avis. If it's an early 2012 that's only 20k a year. I drive nearly twice that a year. Most people who travel by car for work probably put more miles on a car annually than a rental. They likely take better care of them though (I know I do).
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Oct 18, 2013 20:47
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The SL2 was probably their most reliable car overall. Our family had one that made it to 200k before finally crapping out. I will say that as the engines get older, they burn oil like crazy, you need to check it with every fill up and keep a quart in the car. No idea what they're worth nowadays though.
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Oct 21, 2013 15:33
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Seconding an MDX. I'd also take a look at an Infiniti FX37 and the Volkswagen Toureg.
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Oct 26, 2013 20:47
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I just bought or rather put a deposit on a new 2014 Mazda3 S Grand Touring. They only had the red models in that trim in stock and I wasn't that into the red so they're getting a black on black on shipped over from a dealer in another city. Took some haggling to get them to where I wanted to be with trade, OTD price and financing, especially because they had the whole anti-theft part ID nonsense in there, but they waved it. Still didn't pay much less than MSRP overall, but they had a few other dealer options that I got included for free and dealers pretty much aren't making deals on these yet, so I'm satisfied. I pick it up on Thursday. The heads up display is definitely going to take some getting used to.
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Oct 29, 2013 01:29
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A Proper Uppercut posted:I've had my eye on these for a while, 90% sure it will be my next car. Did you but any chance test drive any of the 2.0 models? I keep going back and forth about whether the extra2 or 3 grand is worth it for the more power and more tech stuff, plus the fact that the 2.5 doesn't come with a manual yet. I guess I'd just like any of your thoughts on the car in general, if that's cool. I actually didn't drive the 2.0 unfortunately. I was really mostly just interested in the S Grand Touring. I drive a ton for work so the creature comforts and features that came with that trim appealed to me. That and I'm coming from an EX35 which is about the same size, but obviously has way more power and I know I'd have been disappointed with the smaller engine, even if it's only 30hp. On to my general thoughts. I was really impressed with the car, especially compared to it's main direct competition, the Focus hatchback. The top trim focus isn't nearly as nice all around as the Mazda3 in my opinion. The seats are much nicer in the Mazda, the interior materials feel better, the new entertainment system in the Mazda is FAR superior in terms of usability and I thought it drove better all around too. The big difference is price though. you can get a Focus Titanium for around 23-24k whereas the Mazda S Grand touring is about 27k. To me, it's a really nice car for the money though. They really set their goals high with it, you can tell they aimed at the more luxury vehicles rather than trying to just edge out the likely competitors. The rear end is definitely EX35 and the front is clearly Audi inspired. All in all, it's a huge improvement over the 2013. The only dumb thing I wish it had is the homelink garage door opener system. Apparently it's an option in every trim but the S Grand Touring, I have no idea why. It's not a big deal, but I've had it in my last two cars and it's nice not having an actual garage door opener, plus I have more than one house programmed in there, so I won't be able to do that now. I'm curious to see how I like the adaptive xenon headlights, I didn't get to drive it at night.
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Oct 30, 2013 05:10
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Jam2 posted:Are there restrictions on how many miles you can put on the leased car? There always are. Usually between 12-15k/year. The overage charge is typically absurd too.
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Nov 9, 2013 02:28
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It's a good idea to keep you monthly payment where you want it from a budget standpoint, but don't ever negotiate based on it. Salespeople can do all sorts of trickery to make it work and it almost always involves you paying more for it in the end. Runs some numbers ahead of time and figure out what a $300 monthly payment will get you with $3k down and then negotiate off that number. Assuming you have good credit, you should probably be able to get around a 3% interest loan. On a four year loan, that would mean you could afford around $16,750 out the door. On a five year loan about $19,750.
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Nov 9, 2013 18:22
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Wax Dynasty posted:Proposed Budget: Trying to keep it under 25k I just bought a 2014 Mazda3 hatch and I'm liking it a lot so far. I went with the S GT model so it's about as loaded as a Mazda can get. The only thing I've been a little disappointed with is the media system still has some kinks and it crashes every now and then. It's loaded on an SD card though so I'm sure there will be an update to fix that issue in the near future. More than anything I'm enjoying the huge jump in fuel costs compared to my EX35.
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Nov 18, 2013 19:43
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Boxman posted:Those words about the 3's system are a little sad to hear - I'm considering the same car. How crashy are we talking? Things seemed nice and snappy when I did my test drive, but that was all of 5 minutes of use. Don't get me wrong, I like the system, but I've had the car for three weeks and it's crashed three times in that period. It reboots on it's own so it's not like you need to do anything, but it takes about 20-30 seconds. The other thing I'm noticing and I keep meaning to search around to see if anyone else has this problem, but it won't save my favorite channels. I can enter them in and use them but after I shut the car off and turn it back on, they're gone. It saves everything else like phone info and all that so I'm not sure what the deal is there. Aside from that, it works pretty well. I really like the Pandora integration. As for the iPod interface, you have two options, USB cable or bluetooth audio. They both have their advantages. Bluetooth is faster with changing between songs but for some reason it won't let you scroll through artists by letter so if you need to get to an artist down in the T's you have to spin the wheel a while to get there. The USB method it takes a couple seconds to change songs, but you can scroll by letter to change artists faster.
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Nov 19, 2013 17:42
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IOwnCalculus posted:CPO is mostly trumped up bullshit but it varies; in some cases it can provide for an extended, manufacturer-backed warranty. On a regular car that might not be such a big deal but it can come in handy for cars with particularly high repair costs. Yeah, the car itself will likely be no better than a non-CPO counterpart, but the warranty can often be good. My last car was a CPO Infiniti EX35 and between 90k and 98k I had the radiator die on me and there was an issue with my solenoid valves and both repairs were completely covered under the CPO warranty. Saved me about $3k.
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Nov 21, 2013 18:42
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Not My Leg posted:I bought a 2006 Acura TL with about 70,000 miles a year ago on the advice of this thread (thanks thread, I really like the car). I just got a call from the dealership saying that they really want my car back, and asking if there's anything they have on the lot that I'd be interested in swapping it for. Am I correct that this is just a standard car sales thing - I've had the car for a year, they figure I might want to upgrade, so they make it sound like they really want to get my car back so they can screw me on a trade in and get me to pay for another car? It's definitely a common thing, especially for Acura. I can't tell you how many letter I received about my RDX when I owned it.
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Nov 23, 2013 18:17
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itskage posted:Proposed Budget: $35,000 upper limit Maybe look at the Infiniti G25. I'd suggest the G37, but the MPG aren't quite up to your standards. Edit: Actually I think they discontinued it because people were still buying the G37, so you may have to look at used ones. They also have the new Q50 which might be at your top end, but it gets 30 highway. rockcity fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Dec 29, 2013 |
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Dec 29, 2013 21:25
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