Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Small Car recommendations...

I think I hear an owl in this thread.

A third Hyundai dealer told me my trade-in was worth between $5-7000....makes me want to go back to that other clown and give him a piece if Mark's mind.

Not too big of one I hope. I think he is getting dangerously low as it is

I have a 2010 Nissan Versa HB. I also test drove both a Toyota Yaris and a Honda Fit. Out of all three, I liked the Fit the best. The Yaris was the first car I drove, but it was immediately excluded as soon as I drove the other two vehicles. It felt and looked cheap on the inside and too much exterior noise. In the end, I went with the Versa because it saved me $3500...which is a big deal to ME. However, the Versa gets the worst gas mileage out of them all, at around 24mpg, but I believe it's simply a larger car then the other two. I also like that it's quiet in it's interior (AND roomy!) for a car in it's class, is definitely comfortable, and it drives smoothly down the road. I admit it's sort of boring, but it's priced right, and I actually DO enjoy driving it. Anyway...just a suggestion. I think it's worth the test drive... just for the heck of it. But, if the dealer doesn't take at least $2000 off it's retail, don't bother. The Fit would be the best choice in that case.

You are correct Mary, the Versa (compact) is in a different classification than the Fit and Yaris (both subcompacts)

Fist bump!

No, wait, "Thread bump".

I wanted to revive an old thread rather than start a new one. Recycling and all, you know.

First, Adrian, did you decide to get the Sonata? Sorry if I missed the news elsewhere.

My daughter turned 16 and got her license. She'll be a junior in high school this year and very athletic. I have to practice boy killing. Anyway, she's going to get my beloved 1994 Toyota Camry coupe to drive. It was the first year of the coupe and it is a great car, albeit showing its 150k miles.

So, I'm looking around at cars. It's been kind of fun, but I am still conflicted. Mrs. Tuttle drives a 2004 Corolla and we also retain a 1999 Ford Windstar minivan for its transcendent utility. But I don't really want to drive the van every day, because it isn't fun, gets crappy mileage and we want to preserve it so that we don't have to buy a truck or another van or something for the relatively few times we need it.

So, I can basically get what I want. Yay! I'm looking primarily at relatively recent, nice used cars with ~40k miles or less.

But I'm a practical sort and have a distant past still resonating with good old fashioned Catholic Guilt. I also have a bad back.

I looked at some nice coupes - Nissan Altima, Infiniti G35 - and did not fit. Same thing with the Miata.

Drove - and loved - a 2006 350Z convertible. Not sure about only having 2 seats and also not sure about how much use I could actually get from a convertible in Seattle. I LOVE having a sunroof, because I can decide on-the-go about getting some air and they are quiet.

Drove - and did NOT love - a BMW 328i.

Drove and kind of liked a 2010 Subaru Legacy. Really a very nice car. CVT, luxurious, all-wheel-drive, quite good mileage. It even looks pretty nice to me. Ultimately, I decided I didn't want to spend $24-25,000 on a Subaru. Although I didn't drive it, I came to the same realization about a Hyundai Genesis Coupe. I know that may not make sense to everybody, but I obviously keep cars a LONG time, and I just can't talk myself into those brands (and many others) for the long haul.

Where I'm at right now is a 2005 Audi A4 3.2 quattro or a 2006 Acura TL. I like the styling of the Acura better. I fit in both but haven't driven either one. I'm a little concerned about the reliability of the Audi, but it is a seductive car.

Also considering a newer Honda Accord (especially the Coupe) and Infiniti G35 sedan, but neither one of those are really getting me excited. This might be my only shot at a midlife crisis car, albeit a pretty conservative one.

Suggestions and comments greatly appreciated.

If it's a real mid life crisis ... consider a Honda S2000 (2000-2001) low mileage. The rush from 6000-9000 rpm is intense, the acceleration white hot.

Tom, I test drove a Sonata a while back it and have to say it would be at or near the top of my list for cars in it's class. It handles nice, very taut and responsive steering, has imo very attractive styling and offers more backseat legroom than most other smaller cars. It's really a mid sized car with small car economy with plenty of power(for a 4 banger 200hp). Btw, in the US you can get a nice sport version of the Sonata, there's also a turbo version coming out this year too. My only complaint would be the lack of headroom...anyone approaching or over 6 ft, might find the roofline a bit low, but I'm used to having plenty of room from driving trucks so take that with a grain of salt. I think the Sonata gives you more bang-per-buck than the compareable Japanese vehicles by comparison and I'd suggest a test drive of one if you're in the market. Hyundai has come a long way in the last few years.

I ended up replacing my Silverado with another pickup truck, an '10 Sierra 4x4 1 Ton with the Duramax/Allison combo. Couldn't argue with the GM employee pricing being offered here at the moment, I got a $14,600 discount. This will be my company vehicle and my personal transportation for now, until I get a small car down the road.

One other point of contention about some cars, for me anyway, is the fact that they require PREMIUM fuel. I expect that on a high end sports car, but not on a lower performance vehicle. I always work that fact into the claimed mileage by subtracting 10%, about the difference between regular and premium(in Ontario).

Just about anything with a turbo will want premium.

Tom, I'm surprised about your concern over Subarus. Around here, they're considered to be extraordinarily reliable cars. In fact, they're hard to find used...

That said, my boss's Subaru has had a lot of repairs over the years, but he's also got 180000 miles on it. It's a 2001. My coworker has a 2007 WRX STi, and afaik, the only expensive thing has been the tires.