Considering a new car

[Deathdiesel]

Thinking of getting red of my Mustang. Its a 2000 Ford Mustang Convertible, V6, 82k, Good-Fair Condition. KBB for it is 6-7k, and its selling for that in my area.

Looking for something mid-small sized car, wanting good gas mpg, preferably 2 door, but nbd if not. Want something cheap and reliable, manual would be nice. Not a ton of mileage.

Kind of looking at maybe a VW Golf Mazda 3, or something of the sort. Would like something that isnt a complete bore to look at. Thoughts, opinions? :catfight::steve:

 

[mdgreene2001]

New Nissan Sentra is very good car. The Nissan Versa is also a good car. I also like the Nissan Juke. All 3 are very good cars, some get better mileage than others, some are nicer than others to look at. I would own any of them. I work for Nissan as a tech and I will say there are very little issues with these cars. All are dependable, reliable, and low maintance.

 

[MistahT]

New Nissan Sentra is very good car. The Nissan Versa is also a good car. I also like the Nissan Juke. All 3 are very good cars, some get better mileage than others, some are nicer than others to look at. I would own any of them. I work for Nissan as a tech and I will say there are very little issues with these cars. All are dependable, reliable, and low maintance.

Sister-in-law has a Versa. I've driven this in town and on long road trips. For a car with the same footprint as my Corolla it has an incredible amount of room. We've fit 4 people over 6 feet tall inside comfortably. That and I think she went OTD around 11k brand new

 

[Brock Kickass]

Used I have a 2000 Honda Civic 2 door coupe with the 1.6L and the 5 speed. By the time I retired it the odometer was showing 428,000km. Great car, fun to drive, surprisingly sporty feel and better on gas than my FZ1. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, an excellent car overall.

 

[Kdubb223]

2008+ civic si coupe or 4 door. Can't go wrong with a Honda and its a fun car to drive!

 

[MichaelInVenice]

Love the Mazda 3s.

 

[danieljardim]

I will put my vote here for a Ford focus, fusion or escape.

 

[Pinarello Rider]

Thinking of getting red of my Mustang. Its a 2000 Ford Mustang Convertible, V6, 82k, Good-Fair Condition. KBB for it is 6-7k, and its selling for that in my area.

Looking for something mid-small sized car, wanting good gas mpg, preferably 2 door, but nbd if not. Want something cheap and reliable, manual would be nice. Not a ton of mileage.

Kind of looking at maybe a VW Golf Mazda 3, or something of the sort. Would like something that isnt a complete bore to look at. Thoughts, opinions? :catfight::steve:

What's cheap? New or used?

I bought a '12 Ford Focus SE Hatch w/5sp and it's honetly a hoot to drive. I've had an Evo VIII, 328, and A4, and this is one of my favorite cars. The Sync is really nice (stay away from the My Ford Touch for another year or two), and the engine/tranny combo is really entertaining. I get 32 combined 50/50 driving, but will get 36+ on the highway. It is quiet on the highway, and the rear seats fold flat so you can fit alot of stuff inside of it.

The Fusion is also a good bet - it was good when it was released and still is. Honda's and toyota's tend to be a little bit boring until modified heavily. I find their interiors to be uninspired and old, and they're "reliability" is not dramatically better than anyone else out there. If you compare the published warranty numbers, the top 5-10 manufacturers are separated by a few dozen warranty claims per 1000 cars. That's pretty good these days. I also find the brakes on Hondas to be poor/awful and the suspensions on the Toyota's to be airy and wallowy. Otherwise, they are great!!!

My wife loves her 07 Mazda 3 w/5sp. I haven't been as thrilled with it, but reading the user forums for the car, I have an unusual example. It is a good car, and very economical. The common issues with the car are easily fixed and the kids put good how-to vids on line. Changing the pass motor mount is easy and can be done in your garage. Ask me how I know

If you don't need space, get a Miata. Hands down one of the best values for a car ever. With the money you save, you can sign up for a track day and love life.

 

[blkbrd]

I personally would not go anywhere near a used Honda Civic that I didn't know the entire history of. If teens or other 'young adults' have driven it much it's likely that it will burn more oil than gas! LOL

The kids all seem to think these are F1 cars, and treat them as such!!

 

[Rich007]

Love the Mazda 3s.

+1 for the Mazda 3.
I bought my wife a 07 loaded hatchback, very nice little car and fun as hell to drive. One really nice thing about the Mazda's are the low cost of maintenance, no timing belts and spark plugs at 75K miles. If you get a newer one they get really good fuel economy.

 

[Brock Kickass]

I personally would not go anywhere near a used Honda Civic that I didn't know the entire history of. If teens or other 'young adults' have driven it much it's likely that it will burn more oil than gas! LOL

The kids all seem to think these are F1 cars, and treat them as such!!

You could say the same about sport bikes, no? It's always wise to thoroughly inspect any used vehicle. For every punk out there hot-ridding their Civic there is an average person who bought one because they want to save on fuel and have a car that starts every time. As long as the one you're buying doesn't have neon light underneath and a huge stupid wing on the back it should be ok.

 

[nismos14]

My vote, Veloster, or new Focus.

 

[Pinarello Rider]

My vote, Veloster, or new Focus.

I know several people with Hyundai's and the bloom on that rose is usually gone after a couple of years and trips to Hyundai's dealerships for service. You don't see it immediately, but after some miles you begin to see where they cut corners, and it usually ends up costing extra money. For example, my brothers mini-van was out of alignment, but needed a camber kit to be fixed. Of course he had to buy the camber kit in order for it to be corrected, even though it was still in warranty.

Hyundai's are a good bang for the buck, though, and they have come a LONG way from the 80's when they rusted out around you. Just go into Hyundai ownership with your eyes open.

 

[nismos14]

I know several people with Hyundai's and the bloom on that rose is usually gone after a couple of years and trips to Hyundai's dealerships for service. You don't see it immediately, but after some miles you begin to see where they cut corners, and it usually ends up costing extra money. For example, my brothers mini-van was out of alignment, but needed a camber kit to be fixed. Of course he had to buy the camber kit in order for it to be corrected, even though it was still in warranty.

Hyundai's are a good bang for the buck, though, and they have come a LONG way from the 80's when they rusted out around you. Just go into Hyundai ownership with your eyes open.

Interesting, my wife and cousin have a few hyundai's in their past, and I know a couple of friends with them over the past few years and have heard pleasant things about them, no real issues to speak of.

 

[MistahT]

Interesting, my wife and cousin have a few hyundai's in their past, and I know a couple of friends with them over the past few years and have heard pleasant things about them, no real issues to speak of.

Hyundai didn't used to have a great track record, but in the past 5-ish years I heard they redid everything and now are making really good, affordable, reliable cars.

 

[crobih]

I drive a vr4 thats gets like 16 miles to the gallon. But my work car is a hyundai elantra hatchback. Fits my necessary equipment and its 2 years old with 60, 000 miles on it. Only thing they changed was a starter and tires and the starter was warrantied because hyundai has the 100k mile warranty. Gets about 33 m/gl and that's with a ton of weight in it.I drive it a lot but so far so good.

 

[Pinarello Rider]

Interesting, my wife and cousin have a few hyundai's in their past, and I know a couple of friends with them over the past few years and have heard pleasant things about them, no real issues to speak of.

Hyundai didn't used to have a great track record, but in the past 5-ish years I heard they redid everything and now are making really good, affordable, reliable cars.

I drive a vr4 thats gets like 16 miles to the gallon. But my work car is a hyundai elantra hatchback. Fits my necessary equipment and its 2 years old with 60, 000 miles on it. Only thing they changed was a starter and tires and the starter was warrantied because hyundai has the 100k mile warranty. Gets about 33 m/gl and that's with a ton of weight in it.I drive it a lot but so far so good.

Anecdotes - love 'em. My neighbor has 3 of them and one of them has given them trouble and left wifey stranded 3 times. Apparently on their model, the VCG leaks and drips oil onto the alternator. This destroys alternator, which shuts everything down all at once and the car glides slowly to a stop on the side of the road.

Again - you gotta look at the empirical data which says that Hyundai's have more problems per 1000 cars than many other brands, but those numbers are still fantastic. It's like complaining that your wife has double D's - why couldn't they be bigger?!

Cars nowadays are not "unreliable" at all. It's just how many trips to the dealer you want to make, and how long you can live with one of the few things that go wrong nowadays. While I consider a busted window regulator a pain in the arse, if one went bad at 15k miles, I wouldn't call the car unreliable.

 

[blkbrd]

You could say the same about sport bikes, no? It's always wise to thoroughly inspect any used vehicle. For every punk out there hot-ridding their Civic there is an average person who bought one because they want to save on fuel and have a car that starts every time. As long as the one you're buying doesn't have neon light underneath and a huge stupid wing on the back it should be ok.

^^^^ What he said ^^^^

 

[CrazyCawi]

Thinking of getting red of my Mustang. Its a 2000 Ford Mustang Convertible, V6, 82k, Good-Fair Condition. KBB for it is 6-7k, and its selling for that in my area.

Looking for something mid-small sized car, wanting good gas mpg, preferably 2 door, but nbd if not. Want something cheap and reliable, manual would be nice. Not a ton of mileage.

Kind of looking at maybe a VW Golf Mazda 3, or something of the sort. Would like something that isnt a complete bore to look at. Thoughts, opinions? :catfight::steve:

Buy a subaru. They hold their value, dont cost much to maintain and you get awd/great gas mileage.

 

[Deathdiesel]

Btw guys im looking at buying used really. The newer cars are nice, but really dont wanna pay new price. Looking for around 14k max. So it may come down to whats a better deal for the price.