i need a new car :(

[Anubis]

!*&%^!*(&%

My plan on driving it until it was dead is coming sooner then I thought.

Current car is a 2005 Saab 9-2X. it currently has ~170K miles on it, and I'm about to replace the rear diff, and pet a new (used) transmission in it. This will be the 2nd replacement transmission I've put it in, the first one went at around 110K miles, and they only guaranteed it for a year or 12000 miles (this was in 2011). I do somewhere between 25-30k miles a year

Reason for not just getting something new now is I'm not prepared for it, I can afford it but would rather just spend the $ to keep what I have running and find something in the next few months. As they wont give it back to me unless they at least fix the Diff anyway.

So I need a new car. well new used car as new new is a complete waste of money IMO

as I said I drive 25-30k miles a year so it need to get good gas mileage
needs to not be total crap in the winter. I live in western NY and we get snow here, and I have to commute 100 miles round trip a day in it - its 99% highway driving
needs to not be tiny - I do like to move crap around from time to time. Hatchback is a bonus, I don't need a huge car but something of similar size to what I have would be as small as I would want

What should I be looking at? I honestly pay zero attention to the car market. besides cruse control, power windows and AC a car does not need much else

 

[TridenT]

If you want something that will get good gas mileage, has storage, and is a hatchback... A Toyota Prius fits the bill pretty well. They last a long time as well and the batteries are not an issue (Consumer Reports did an article about them). Main reason people sell them is because they want a newer model.

 

[Crono]

Subaru Legacy

AWD will help for winter, and depending on what year you get, count around 30 mpg highway.

 

[tortillasoup]

Well don't get a subaru if you don't like your Saab because your car is the product of badge engineering. Why not rent a Prius and see how you like it. Renting for 2-5 days will let you get over things you don't like about the car and let you enjoy things you do like about the car. If you don't like the car after 5 days, then it's not meant to be. Renting a car is the primary reason why I actually prefer the 2004-2009 Prius over the 2010+ Prius as I find the older Prius to be more roomy.

 

[tortillasoup]

Subaru Legacy or Impreza
AWD will help for winter.

He has one already and isn't too satisfied with its longevity.

 

[Crono]

He has one already and isn't too satisfied with its longevity.

Subaru is a little better than Saab for reliability.

If you do get a Prius, replace the tires. The energy saving tires are crap for any type of real snow. You'd want to replace most stock tires with winter tires is possible, though, regardless of what you get. The Prius is decent for snow considering, but if you can get a decent AWD car I would go for it.

 

[Anubis]

Well don't get a subaru if you don't like your Saab because your car is the product of badge engineering. Why not rent a Prius and see how you like it. Renting for 2-5 days will let you get over things you don't like about the car and let you enjoy things you do like about the car. If you don't like the car after 5 days, then it's not meant to be. Renting a car is the primary reason why I actually prefer the 2004-2009 Prius over the 2010+ Prius as I find the older Prius to be more roomy.

TBH I don't dislike the car, I dislike the fact that when things need to be fixed its now larger things. this happens to all cars eventually.

I should prob add that something American would be desirable over something foreign simply based on the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere and the closest dealer of anything besides Ford/GM/Chevy is a 50 mile drive away. actually its prob 20 min to the closes Ford dealer as well

the GM place will actually service my Saab, but that's only because I personally know the dude who owns it

 

[tortillasoup]

Subaru is a little better than Saab for reliability.

If you do get a Prius, replace the tires. The energy saving tires are crap for any type of real snow. You'd want to replace most stock tires with winter tires is possible, though, regardless of what you get. The Prius is decent for snow considering, but if you can get a decent AWD car I would go for it.

That 9-2x is a rebadge of a Subaru, that's why I mention it.

 

[Crono]

TBH I don't dislike the car, I dislike the fact that when things need to be fixed its now larger things. this happens to all cars eventually.

I should prob add that something American would be desirable over something foreign simply based on the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere and the closest dealer of anything besides Ford/GM/Chevy is a 50 mile drive away. actually its prob 20 min to the closes Ford dealer as well

the GM place will actually service my Saab, but that's only because I personally know the dude who owns it

Ford Focus would be my recommendation, then. It should be decent for winter weather (especially if you put winter tires on it for the season), has good fuel economy (mid 30s or higher highway), and the hatchback version should give you more space.

 

[Crono]

That 9-2x is a rebadge of a Subaru, that's why I mention it.

Hmm, did not know it was an Impreza underneath. Interesting.

EDIT: Wikipedia mentions only 2005 and 2006 model years as being the rebadged versions?

 

[Anubis]

Hmm, did not know it was an Impreza underneath. Interesting.

yea its basically the same car with some slightly different exterior/interior styling

I got it in 2008 for 12k when a fam friend was getting rid of it. It only had 28k miles on it then and I basically didn't drive it in 2009 (was unemployed so it saw minimal driving)

 

[Anubis]

Hmm, did not know it was an Impreza underneath. Interesting.

EDIT: Wikipedia mentions only 2005 and 2006 model years as being the rebadged versions?

yea I had the year wrong in the OP I fixed it, its a 2005, I got it in 2008

 

[Crono]

yea I had the year wrong in the OP I fixed it, its a 2005, I got it in 2008

Oh ok, that makes more sense, couldn't find any results on a 2008 9-2X.

 

[tortillasoup]

The idea that a car's transmission that is driven mostly highway had to be replaced twice in the span of 170K miles when I know people who are driving V6 Hondas with the notorious "glass transmissions" of '98/'99-'02/'03 with well over 200K miles on the odometer should speak volumes about how poor the reliability of the Subaru is. Op might be better served getting subaru transmission with lower miles or something but otherwise I'd say subaru can't make a transmission worth a damn. I would stay the hell away from any of the Belt CVT transmissions that the automakers are coming out with as those definitely won't be lasting long especially because consumers aren't used to replacing transmission fluid regularly.

I like the Prius because while you should replace the transmission fluid, it should be of the most durable design for any transmission as it's as simple in design as a differential.

 

[Anubis]

Car is an anto trans, not sure if that matters.

cant remember what was wrong with it the first time it was replaced, but this time its slipping quite noticeably. the 1st replacement was not a brand new one.
They said the fluid was fine when they checked it

 

[tortillasoup]

Torque converter should be locked up when cruising on the freeway, causing little if any strain on the torque converter, its fluids, etc. That plus constant temperature, little fluid dilution due to a lean fuel mixture, etc. is the reason why highway cruising is suppose to be so easy on vehicles. Auto/manual, what ever, highway driving should be really easy on a car.

 

[NutBucket]

Strange. The 4EAT is typically regarded as a pretty tough trans. People throw "decent" power at it without any issues. Perhaps there is some other problem causing your failures?

 

[HitAnyKey]

Get yourself a used Honda Fit and snow tires for the winter.

 

[Anubis]

Strange. The 4EAT is typically regarded as a pretty tough trans. People throw "decent" power at it without any issues. Perhaps there is some other problem causing your failures?

your guess is as good as mine. first one I honestly don't remember what happened with it, just randomly started binding/slipping/doing odd stuff somewhere around 100k miles. Dealer did all the scheduled work. i'm pretty sure at one of those checks between 40-60k the trans fluid is looked at and it was not an issue then.

this one started slipping badly quite recently, also would randomly just not go into gears. if I did a 3 pt turn on any slight incline I had to go from drive to park and then to reverse to get it to engage.
Fluid looked great when they checked it yesterday

something close to 100% of my driving is on the highway cursing at ~75. the rest of it is normal small town driving, no bumper to bumper, very little stop and go

 

[Jimzz]

How often did you change the trans fluid?

 

[Anubis]

How often did you change the trans fluid?

no idea. potentially never.

I know its on the list of things to do on one of the big mileage service dates. I assume it was done then when I took it in for those. I however could be wrong. that would have been the first one.
The dealer I took it to was a Saab dealer and a very good one. So i'm confident they would have done it.

The 2nd one has prob never been changed. However it was clean after 50k miles or so anyway

I only take it over to the GM place now because the Saab place no longer services Saabs because Saab no longer really exists

 

[Jimzz]

^

Well there ya go, do a Drain and Fill every 30k and it would have probably lasted longer.

And as said its a fancy Subaru so check out their forums to see what others do. But a D/F ever 30k is easy and prolongs the life a lot.
If you get a used trans change the fluid right away then again in 10k.

 

[JimKiler]

Ford Focus would be my recommendation, then. It should be decent for winter weather (especially if you put winter tires on it for the season), has good fuel economy (mid 30s or higher highway), and the hatchback version should give you more space.

I will one up you since he is in NY and recommend the AWD fusion which still gets decent mileage and will handle the winter better and be bigger since he does not want a small car.

My original recommendation would be the Mazda 6 after i read a review on autoblog where the guy like it when driving in snow but since the OP wants American for the local repairshop Fusion.

It does make it hard to get a car repaired if no one can do it locally. Unless you are willing to take it to a non dealership shop but then you might not get a mechanic with experience with specific brands.

 

[Anubis]

I will one up you since he is in NY and recommend the AWD fusion which still gets decent mileage and will handle the winter better and be bigger since he does not want a small car.

My original recommendation would be the Mazda 6 after i read a review on autoblog where the guy like it when driving in snow but since the OP wants American for the local repairshop Fusion.

It does make it hard to get a car repaired if no one can do it locally. Unless you are willing to take it to a non dealership shop but then you might not get a mechanic with experience with specific brands.

the convenience of having it serviced locally is def a plus but I took it 50 miles to the saab dealer and it was not THAT annoying. little things like oil changes can be done anywhere or I can do it.

I've driven the Fusion a lot with rentals and its not a bad car, don't think ive driven a focus in forever. The Fit is def popular as well.

i don't mind small cars, i just don't want a tiny one.

 

[JimKiler]

the convenience of having it serviced locally is def a plus but I took it 50 miles to the saab dealer and it was not THAT annoying. little things like oil changes can be done anywhere or I can do it.

I've driven the Fusion a lot with rentals and its not a bad car, don't think ive driven a focus in forever. The Fit is def popular as well.

i don't mind small cars, i just don't want a tiny one.

Then you should check out the Mazda 6, reliable car that is fun to drive. I bought my Protege5 during the zoom zoom days and still going strong but i only have 158K miles on it.

Read this review of the 6 in snow: http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/14/2014-mazda-mazda6-long-term-update-winter/