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Please help me pick an econobox car to buy
Ledneh
shinesquawkRegistered User regular
shinesquawkRegistered User regular
Long story short, I need a new car. I'm looking to spend less than 20k, which probably means used if I want something good. My priorities, in no particular order:
- Reliability
- Gas mileage
- Leg room (for driver and front passenger, rear passengers be damned! :P)
- Value retention
I've had a large number of cars recommended to me, among them the Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Mazda3, and the Toyota Camry. I HAVEN'T had the Chrysler 300 recommended to me, but god I'm smitten by it's looks, and the mileage doesn't seem too bad. The Civic seems too small and uncomfortable for me (6'1 on a large frame); I rather like the Accord's looks, room and mileage (and I know Hondas are utterly reliable), but the price runs high; I know nothing about the Mazda3, and most everyone I know loves the Camry EXCEPT one person who has had nothing but endless reliability issues with his '05.
Does anyone have any thoughts on any of these, or other alternatives for a guy who's pretty much driving himself to and from work five days a week?
- Reliability
- Gas mileage
- Leg room (for driver and front passenger, rear passengers be damned! :P)
- Value retention
I've had a large number of cars recommended to me, among them the Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Mazda3, and the Toyota Camry. I HAVEN'T had the Chrysler 300 recommended to me, but god I'm smitten by it's looks, and the mileage doesn't seem too bad. The Civic seems too small and uncomfortable for me (6'1 on a large frame); I rather like the Accord's looks, room and mileage (and I know Hondas are utterly reliable), but the price runs high; I know nothing about the Mazda3, and most everyone I know loves the Camry EXCEPT one person who has had nothing but endless reliability issues with his '05.
Does anyone have any thoughts on any of these, or other alternatives for a guy who's pretty much driving himself to and from work five days a week?
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PSN Hypacia
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German engineered, built in Belgium, great ride and good gas mileage. And you can fit in it comfortably if you're over 6 ft.
You even get the employee pricing on it right now, so you could get a very, very well equipped car for about 17k.
Do it. Do it now.
If not that, the new Pontiac Vibe is nice (and joint build with Toyota).
And really, with both those cars, you don't have the feeling that everyone else is driving the same thing.
As for the Pontiac, that's the make of car I'm desperately trying to get rid of--an '02 Grand AM GT that is falling to pieces before my eyes, with little more than a "sucks for you" from the dealers.
As for the others, thanks for the suggestions so far. I'll look into the Chevy, and I'll definitely reconsider the Civic. I actually like the Civic interior more than the Accord's, say, but there just didn't seem to be much room for my lardass :P
The Saturn Astra is the same as the Vauxhall, but I don't know where you've heard bad things about them, especially since they redesigned the body, which is just beautiful. The only thing I've read and experienced that was wrong with the car is that it has only ~140 HP (but so do the Civic and Corolla and Cobalt) and that it has one cup holder in the front.
The Pontiac Vibe is different from the Grand Am in that it was co-designed with Toyota, and uses the Toyota engine. The only changes are slightly different bodies and a more masculine interior.
That said, check out the Smart Fortwo, it's very cheap, reliable, great on gas, will fit you just fine.
Edit: A friend of mine is 6'3 and has the new civic sedan, fits in it just fine, loves it.
Agreed, especially on leg room (it, at least to me, was waay more confy than corolla/civic)... I wub my Mazda3, and it's much more fun than most of the other cars in that price range
Subarus are great if you need the AWD, if not then I'm not sure if there's really a real reason to strongly consider them (especially if cost is a big factor)
Yeah, Camrys rock, or at least they used to - a couple cars ago, I had an 84' Camry given by my grandparents that made it to approx. 220,000 miles before I sold it, many of those in the lovely winter conditions of Upstate NY.
Probably still out there driving around after the guy did some brake work and maybe patched the body a bit.
Woah, this is the first time I have EVER heard the Prius referred to as a "blast." Everyone else I have heard talk about it say its "not fun to drive, far too slow and sluggish to get going, and not even particularly gas efficient."
I've never heard anyone say it doesn't get good mileage. I consistently see it getting 48-52.
my dad has a Prius. It does get good milage, but I'm not sure 20mpg more than a subcompact is worth the significant difference in list price, but YMMV (literally).
I can go fast in it, it brakes well, it's quiet if you're only on the electric motor, it looks cool. I'd rather have a Z3, but it's as fun to drive as any other new, non-sports car.
From Toyota's spec on the car, that 295 lb-ft of torque is only 0-1200 rpm. I don't know about electric motors and they are different from gasoline engines, so perhaps I'm misunderstanding something there, but in a gasoline engine, the 0-1200 rpm time frame is basically a fraction of a second while accelerating from a dead stop.
I have no clue about value retention, as I plan to drive it till it dies.
It's automatic and I got it for $11,500 brand new.
It currently has 70,000 miles on it with zero problems. The only thing I've changed is the tires, air filters, oil, and wiper blades.
As for the others mentioned so far, I'm not at all convinced on the Hybrid subject, and that Scion looks like the cardboard box Snake hides in, frankly. Sorry :P
I'm still most interested in the Accord (and I want to sit in the newer Civics, see if they have more room for me like Thanatos suggests it does), so I'm gonna go to the Honda dealer today, see what they'll offer on tradein and how their banks will deal with my severe upside-down-ness ($8k owed on a $3.5k bluebook car--blame me shifting another autoloan onto it so I could get the title).
Took it to Carmax yesterday to look at used Camrys and Altimas, and to check my pontiac's tradein value. They offered me only $2k on a car that bluebook says is more like $3.5! So what if the front bumper is a little cracked and the driver-side window fell off the window motor right as I left for your shop!
(seriously, RIGHT as I pull out to go to the shop, the window falls into the door. Fuuuuuck)
(edit) Also, duly noted on the Focus, I WAS planning to look into that today but nevermind if it's definitely too small.
they are definitely love-'em-or-hate-'em cars. I like the look. They're not as hulking as those Maibatsu Monstrosities everyone seems to drive these days, they're not as dorky as a true station wagon, and they've got MUCH more space than your average compact car. but if you want something that looks like your standard, everyday normal car, there is a tC model of the Scion for a couple thou more.
The seating adjusts nicely. My husband is 6'2", and he has plenty of leg room. I'm a short shit, 5'4", and it's comfortable for me. The seatbelts even adjust so they don't rub on my neck. (Other short shits will know exactly what I'm talking about.)
I got mine for $13k. They're hard to find, though. You would most likely end up on a short waiting list. If you don't want to wait, consider a Corolla, which is basically an uglier Yaris with a bigger trunk.
Oh, yeah, I don't really care much about acceleration, and haven't noticed it - I don't race/have terrifying freeway onramps to contend with generally. I meant, like you noticed, that I can do 80-100 on the freeway with it. If I wanted to drop ~50k on a car next year, what would you recommend?
I'm probably going to either end up with a Civic or a Corolla.
I've heard lots of good things about the Civic, but I haven't heard much at all about the Corolla... any reason I would NOT want a Corolla if it ends up being a better deal? (The price we got quoted on a Corolla was about $1200 cheaper than the Civic).
I still want to test drive both and I'll probably pick the one I like better, but I just want to make sure there's nothing big I should be aware of with the Corolla.
It's a great fucking car. And I can eke 430 miles out of the tank that costs 45 to fill up. It's fucking awesome.
The Civic has a nicer interior. It's something you wouldn't mind looking at for a few years.
Depending on how new you're looking, I absolutely couldn't stand the dashboard look of the new Civic (though some people love it, so it's a personal thing); otherwise I agree, functionally they're almost identical cars
I'll still say at least sit in a Mazda3, I was shocked how much more legroom there was than the Corolla
This I won't really disagree with; I'm currently getting 22 with almost all city-type driving (and not really trying to drive conservatively), it was around 30 when I did a long trip a while back
I bought a 2008 Elantra GLS Sport (SE in the States) this spring. It was rated this years top pick in the small sedan category by Consumer Reports against the Civic, Corolla, Cobalt, Aveo, Focus and Mazda3 in road test, reliability and safety tests. The only other cars recommended in that class were the Ford Focus and Subaru Impreza.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=126602
Personally, I think it's a blast to drive even though it only has 138 hp in a 4 cylinder engine. I average 35-40mpg in a mix of semi-aggressive city and highway driving. I also like the fact that I have front, side curtain, side seat and rear curtain airbags, wheel mounted cruise control/stereo controls, air conditioning, power windows, remote power door locks w/ alarm, heated seats, 6 speaker cd/mp3 stereo w/ auxillary jack, power sliding glass moonroof, foglights, 16" alloy wheels and a rear spoiler. All but the foglights, alloy rims, sunroof and spoiler are standard on the GLS version which is the trim level most commonly sold. We opted for the next level up to get the extras.
I disagree that you cannot get a good looking car for < $20k.
Here are a couple photos of mine. (which has been tinted by a third party, not factory)
http://www.yarlan.com/images/avante7.jpg
http://www.yarlan.com/images/avante8.jpg
Right now the decision is down to that Civic and a Mazda3--I like the feel of the Mazda3 more, and it would be new, but the Civic is a better deal.
Guess we'll see what my bank accounts can handle. In the meantime, does that sound like a good deal to allayuz?
I drive a manual '93 Del Sol, which is just a targa top 2-seater Civic, and average around 32-36 mpg. Have had it for a few months without any mechanical problems so far. Not bad for a 15-year-old car.
Anyway thanks all for your advice, thanks to you all I'm very certain and happy with my decision