Luxury like cars under $18,000

[DivideBYZero]

the cars here are old and ordinary, for the most part, if the consensus here is like the ones taken in several geographic survey's across the US, only 5% of drivers drive luxury cars. And I doubt anyone here has a car "way better" than mine because that's just bs.

I'm not slapping nobody in the face, but anyone who calls me a "poser" is just a jealous choad.

Most of the regulars here have better cars than you. Sorry if that bursts your bubble,but that's the way it is.

I now understand. When you say 'status' you want people to look at you in your car and think, "oooh, he's loaded, wow", when most people don't really give a hot flying shit. All that means is that you bought the car for everyone else, not yourself. Good going.

PSA: This forum isn't for 'bragging about your ride' and pretty much no one is jealous of you. Get over yourself.

 

[TruePaige]

Most of the regulars here have better cars than you. Sorry if that bursts your bubble,but that's the way it is.

I now understand. When you say 'status' you want people to look at you in your car and think, "oooh, he's loaded, wow", when most people don't really give a hot flying shit. All that means is that you bought the car for everyone else, not yourself. Good going.

PSA: This forum isn't for 'bragging about your ride' and pretty much no one is jealous of you. Get over yourself.

This. 1000x this.

 

[halik]

no you're missing the point.. luxury cars from 10 years ago have nothing on the ones today.

Just like saying a muscle car from the 80s can compete with the ones made today... Standards change.. so if you consider your 2001 lexus to still be luxurious then you'd have to say that a camry w/leather is a luxury car too since it has a nicer interior..which it's not.

My 2000 A6 begs to differ!

Power everything (auto up/down windows, even my parents mkx doesn't have it everywhere), heated seats front and back, Navi, xenons, heated washer fluid, AWD. That being said, I am shopping around for a 545i 🙂

 

[sdifox]

I am so lost... what the hell is going on here?

Is "Help me buy a new accord" not happy with people not being impressed with his Accord + G37?

 

[DVad3r]

^ I have no clue but I never ended up getting those Nokian WRG2 tires. They were on backorder and the guy told me he should have them after x-mas. He still didn't have them and didn't know wtf was going on as the shipment was coming in from the US. I needed tires bad so I ended up going with the Toyo Versado LX All Season Tire.

I read reviews, seems like a solid all around tire, it's quieter than my Goodyear Triple Treads also. I've driven in the snow a few times now and the car handles a lot better than it did with the Triple Treads.

Got 4 new Toyo's installed all in for $ 620. Not bad.

 

[sdifox]

^ I have no clue but I never ended up getting those Nokian WRG2 tires. They were on backorder and the guy told me he should have them after x-mas. He still didn't have them and didn't know wtf was going on as the shipment was coming in from the US. I needed tires bad so I ended up going with the Toyo Versado LX All Season Tire.

I read reviews, seems like a solid all around tire, it's quieter than my Goodyear Triple Treads also. I've driven in the snow a few times now and the car handles a lot better than it did with the Triple Treads.

Got 4 new Toyo's installed all in for $ 620. Not bad.

I am running Blizzak WS-60 right now. I am still keeping a long distance to the car in front though. 4000lb is not something that stops on a dime in the snow/slush/ice.

Come summer I would have to shop for new 18" all season tyres. Thinking of tirerack, ship to border and drive them over. Advan Sport is fun and all, but it is just way above my driving habit and they wear really fast.

 

[DVad3r]

If you want a tire that has crazy long tread life, get the Triple Treads. I had those tires 5 years and when they took them off they said I should keep them and use them as summer tires lol. I had a good experience with them, but I've also read a lot of reviews saying people didn't like them. Come to think of it, every tire has negative reviews by someone. I'm pretty sure most of them come from people who didn't maintain pressure, had leaks, not properly installed, no alignment, etc.

Winter tires are a safe bet for sure hehe, but I decided not to get any, simply because in TO we don't get enough snow to really justify their use. All seasons are good enough considering you drive carefully.

Do you have a guy in the US that you can ship stuff to? If so that's awesome, hook me up 😉

 

[sdifox]

If you want a tire that has crazy long tread life, get the Triple Treads. I had those tires 5 years and when they took them off they said I should keep them and use them as summer tires lol. I had a good experience with them, but I've also read a lot of reviews saying people didn't like them. Come to think of it, every tire has negative reviews by someone. I'm pretty sure most of them come from people who didn't maintain pressure, had leaks, not properly installed, no alignment, etc.

Winter tires are a safe bet for sure hehe, but I decided not to get any, simply because in TO we don't get enough snow to really justify their use. All seasons are good enough considering you drive carefully.

Do you have a guy in the US that you can ship stuff to? If so that's awesome, hook me up 😉

You know with tirerack you can ship to their partner store right?

My sister in law bought winter tire with rims and shipped to a retail store, she drove over and picked them up and drove them back. I slapped them on her car.

I leave for work at 6:20am, the road condition is iffy at that hour so I want to have winter tires.

Can you imagine running Advan Sports in the winter? :awe:

I might just pick up conti DWS, or maybe yoko all season. I still don't know.

 

[DVad3r]

Oh yea? I never knew that! That's pretty bad ass man, and good to know, maybe I could even get motorcycle tires as I will be needing a set of those this season...Hmmm. Yea morning times can be rough, I leave at 7:45 so the highway is run down by then.

I heard good things about the Conti DWS. Made in Germany too I think? Gotta love Z Germans 😉

 

[ShawnD1]

One thing the older Lexus will probably still have on the '10 Corolla (and Civic/etc) is the quality of the suspension and the level of sound dampening. It's a lot easier to keep one of those Toyota 6-bangers quiet than the typical buzzy i4s.

I don't even know why you would try to comment on engine noise. You're saying a car with 300+ horsepower is quiet? This is what a Lexus sounds like.

 

[DVad3r]

I don't even know why you would try to comment on engine noise. You're saying a car with 300+ horsepower is quiet? This is what a Lexus sounds like.

That guy is booting it and the GS is a sportier type sedan. It sounds nice. And just because it has an engine grunt noise doesn't mean it's not luxurious...

 

[ShawnD1]

That guy is booting it and the GS is a sportier type sedan. It sounds nice. And just because it has an engine grunt noise doesn't mean it's not luxurious...

The guy I quoted stated that a V6 is quieter than an I4 and that video I posted proves that this is completely wrong.

My dad's Nissan Altima V6 is significantly louder than my Toyota Corolla I4, which probably has something to do with the fact that the V6 is literally twice as big (3.5L compared to 1.8L) and effectively twice as powerful. The only way to make the I4 generate more noise would be to unbalance it so it causes the whole car to shake like a Harley Davidson.

 

[Arkaign]

I don't even know why you would try to comment on engine noise. You're saying a car with 300+ horsepower is quiet? This is what a Lexus sounds like.

Well, I was commenting on the 'luxury' aspect of a comparison between a '99/'01-era Lexus (LS or ES I presume?) to the Corolla, with specific emphasis on suspension/ride quality and sound dampening for average daily driving.

With a Corolla or most any 4-banger compact economy car, the motor noise is almost always noticeable, and varies from moderate to fairly loud (putting the foot in it a bit to go up a freeway ramp incline or whatnot).

With a 6-cylinder typical Lexus, driving around at a pretty good clip but not pushing it, it's really quiet, with only a slight burr to speak of.

That's what I meant 🙂

 

[Arkaign]

The guy I quoted stated that a V6 is quieter than an I4 and that video I posted proves that this is completely wrong.

My dad's Nissan Altima V6 is significantly louder than my Toyota Corolla I4, which probably has something to do with the fact that the V6 is literally twice as big (3.5L compared to 1.8L) and effectively twice as powerful. The only way to make the I4 generate more noise would be to unbalance it so it causes the whole car to shake like a Harley Davidson.

*sigh*

http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/LexusES300/index.htm

2001 Lexus ES300

"On winding, undulating roads the ES300 handled nimbly and felt smaller than it actually was while the ride remained luxury car smooth and quiet, a difficult combination to achieve. Noise isolation was exceptional with minimal wind noise and only the wonderfully rich but muffled engine sound coming through during hard acceleration"

The link to the youtube clip of an exterior WOT situation is ludicrously unrelated to the luxury aspect of interior and engine noise penetration that the comparison I brought up. Bigger motors aren't louder unless you push them to be, or if their exhaust setup is deliberately set for noise. Ever hear a 750i drive by? They're whisper quiet even from the outside unless you're really pushing it, and inside is like a vault. That's a 5.0, and it's a lot quieter than joe schmoe driving a 2009 civic at 6k rpm trying to race up a ramp or around a semi.

 

[iGas]

*sigh*

http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/LexusES300/index.htm

2001 Lexus ES300

"On winding, undulating roads the ES300 handled nimbly and felt smaller than it actually was while the ride remained luxury car smooth and quiet, a difficult combination to achieve. Noise isolation was exceptional with minimal wind noise and only the wonderfully rich but muffled engine sound coming through during hard acceleration"

The link to the youtube clip of an exterior WOT situation is ludicrously unrelated to the luxury aspect of interior and engine noise penetration that the comparison I brought up. Bigger motors aren't louder unless you push them to be, or if their exhaust setup is deliberately set for noise. Ever hear a 750i drive by? They're whisper quiet even from the outside unless you're really pushing it, and inside is like a vault. That's a 5.0, and it's a lot quieter than joe schmoe driving a 2009 civic at 6k rpm trying to race up a ramp or around a semi.

I have to agree, bigger engine will be quieter/more power at most speed/acceleration compare to smaller engines at the same given speed/acceleration. The only time larger engine making a racket is that they are poorly balanced, no muffler/straight muffler, or accelerate/at speed that the smaller engine can never ever dream off.

A Bentley 6.0L W12 is going to be extremely quiet and smooth as silk at normal road speed/acceleration. Even bigger and just as smooth/quiet is the Mercedes Benz 6.3L AMG 63 engine. Or, any car with V10/V12 engine.

 

[halik]

I have to agree, bigger engine will be quieter/more power at most speed/acceleration compare to smaller engines at the same given speed/acceleration. The only time larger engine making a racket is that they are poorly balanced, no muffler/straight muffler, or accelerate/at speed that the smaller engine can never ever dream off.

A Bentley 6.0L W12 is going to be extremely quiet and smooth as silk at normal road speed/acceleration. Even bigger and just as smooth/quiet is the Mercedes Benz 6.3L AMG 63 engine. Or, any car with V10/V12 engine.

It is quiet, smooth and comes with ridiculous amount of torque. One of my buddies brought over a new Brooklands about a year ago; pretty impressive vehicle.

 

[ayabe]

I don't have a problem with Arkaign he seems like a nice sensible guy..

i have a problem with the asshats that think i'm a poser for owning a base luxury car.

That makes me SMART.

I could spend $30,000 on an Altima 3.5SR w/Sports/Prem package or $30,000 for an Accord exlv6 but then people would say "nice car how much did it cost...$20,000?"

Status is the main reason to buy a nice car. Why would I want to spend $30,000 on a car that looks like $20,000 when I could spend $30,000 on a car that easily looks like $40,000. Now that's money well spent! And I see dozens of accords/altimas on the road, why would I pay good money to drive something everyone else has? There's no rewarding feeling associated with those $700/mo payments.

Almost nobody buys a car for performance.. It's safe to assume any car over $25g will have a V6 3.5L with over 250hp.. performance is hardly an issue for anyone these days.

Nothing wrong with looking down on someone either. Whether it's about the car, the way someone looks, dresses, physique. This is a car forum this is where you come to brag about your ride.

Now again, a poser is someone who buys a 2001 Jag X-type for $10,000 because he can fool his dumb friends and hoes into thinking he's driving around an $80,000 car.

What you either have completely forgotten or are actively choosing to ignore, you called everyone in this forum a poser then went on to preen about your marvelous status wagon landing yourself squarely in the realm of hypocrisy.

Now you're building up quite a fan base, congratulations.

Lots of people on this forum do actually buy cars for performance. Not everyone is primarily concerned with how expensive their car looks to other people.

 

[casiotech wants a new accord]

Most of the regulars here have better cars than you. Sorry if that bursts your bubble,but that's the way it is.

I now understand. When you say 'status' you want people to look at you in your car and think, "oooh, he's loaded, wow", when most people don't really give a hot flying shit. All that means is that you bought the car for everyone else, not yourself. Good going.

PSA: This forum isn't for 'bragging about your ride' and pretty much no one is jealous of you. Get over yourself.

Tht's exactly why I bought the car all my friends/neighbors and coworkers are all very jealous of my new ride and it shows my clients I can handle their investments. If I wanted 400+HP I woudl have bought a camaro SS but that looks like a cheap "made of plastic and vinyl" type of ugly car for an immature person (probably going to turn out unreliable as hell too) even though it goes super fast.

I have yet to see anyone here with a better ride all I see are a few guys with old corvettes, one guy with an X5 (reps) and a few guys with old ass luxury cars and performance cars complaining about problems they keep having and wondering why it has problems even though their car only has 150,000 miles :awe: . I'd be real curious to make a poll and have peoples KBB values put up for average. Of course nobody would be honest in such a poll here.

and I know at least you and truepaige are jealous as you keep trying to kill my buzz (which will not happen) by reiterating how "previous level" and "common" having a g37 is and how everyone on this forum pwns me with their altimas, sentras and cobalts. Yet, only something like 3500 2009s G37s were made. Pretty damn exclusive car if you ask me! Coupled with the recession and the average person's poor credit rating and terrible interest rates and the exclusivity goes up even more and will continue to stay this way for quite some time.

Lots of people on this forum do actually buy cars for performance. Not everyone is primarily concerned with how expensive their car looks to other people.

I don't care what people on this forum do... it appears to be college kids, guys in a lot of debt and old hippies but in the real world nobody buys a car for performance anymore. Do you know how often I see a Camaro on the road? Once a month, if that. How often I see a new Mustang? Maybe once a week. A Challenger? Maybe twice a year. These are "performance" cars. Why do I see countless Altimas, Accords, VW Passats? They're not big on performance (all under 200hp) but they all have more prestige.

People stopped caring about performance years ago ever since base model $12,000 cars started coming with 150-170hp. I wonder how long until the new Camaro gets discontinued again... Not long. With gas prices who the hell wants a 500hp car that does like 12mpg? Almost nobody and if they think they do a few months go by and they put it up for sale like every craigslist ad (new 2SS, awesome car, 3500 miles.. can't afford gas..need to feed baby..what was i thinking)

 

[Doggiedog]

You are new to this forum so you probably don't know the culture here.

Many people here have been on for quite some time. You can tell by looking at their join dates. I'd say the average age now is probably in the late 20s since the site was started around 1999 and consisted mainly of college kids back then. If you venture into the Off Topic section you will find a lot of professionals. There are doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, programmers, etc. There are a lot of people here with nice cars. They just don't talk about them. Also, this isn't a car enthusiast site. It's a tech site so the flow of forum traffic is around tech (as well as off topic).

If you want to really enjoy Anandtech, I might suggest maybe being a little less antagonistic. There are a lot of good people here. They are very helpful. There's a tax help thread that starts up every year in Off Topic where CPAs help out with tax questions. If you go into any of the special topic forums, there are experts there to help you with questions you have. It's a great place. Just enjoy it.

 

[casiotech wants a new accord]

There are tons of smart people here with lots of $$$ but they aren't wasting time on the Garage forum, they're busy making money and building their careers.

That's the irony the successful people don't care about their car (which is usually an expensive leased car..status..) they're focused on greater things; the guys on car forums usually ask for help because they have and old, out of warranty car and don't have money for a mechanic, so they have to learn to fix their own problems or they might be genuine car enthusiasts who like to discuss cars they'll never own.. that's okay too. But, then they have no right calling anyone a poser or even having any opinion on the matter because they only end up looking like miserable, spiteful people.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Tht's exactly why I bought the car all my friends/neighbors and coworkers are all very jealous of my new ride and it shows my clients I can handle their investments. If I wanted 400+HP I woudl have bought a camaro SS but that looks like a cheap "made of plastic and vinyl" type of ugly car for an immature person (probably going to turn out unreliable as hell too) even though it goes super fast.

I have yet to see anyone here with a better ride all I see are a few guys with old corvettes, one guy with an X5 (reps) and a few guys with old ass luxury cars and performance cars complaining about problems they keep having and wondering why it has problems even though their car only has 150,000 miles :awe: . I'd be real curious to make a poll and have peoples KBB values put up for average. Of course nobody would be honest in such a poll here.

and I know at least you and truepaige are jealous as you keep trying to kill my buzz (which will not happen) by reiterating how "previous level" and "common" having a g37 is and how everyone on this forum pwns me with their altimas, sentras and cobalts. Yet, only something like 3500 2009s G37s were made. Pretty damn exclusive car if you ask me! Coupled with the recession and the average person's poor credit rating and terrible interest rates and the exclusivity goes up even more and will continue to stay this way for quite some time.

I don't care what people on this forum do... it appears to be college kids, guys in a lot of debt and old hippies but in the real world nobody buys a car for performance anymore. Do you know how often I see a Camaro on the road? Once a month, if that. How often I see a new Mustang? Maybe once a week. A Challenger? Maybe twice a year. These are "performance" cars. Why do I see countless Altimas, Accords, VW Passats? They're not big on performance (all under 200hp) but they all have more prestige.

People stopped caring about performance years ago ever since base model $12,000 cars started coming with 150-170hp. I wonder how long until the new Camaro gets discontinued again... Not long. With gas prices who the hell wants a 500hp car that does like 12mpg? Almost nobody and if they think they do a few months go by and they put it up for sale like every craigslist ad (new 2SS, awesome car, 3500 miles.. can't afford gas..need to feed baby..what was i thinking)

Why would I be jealous when I drive two BMW's, one of which is an M3, and both are more luxurious and better equipped than your Nissan? :awe:

Paid for the M3 in cash, too, before you get up your own tailpipe again.

And if you turn up to handle my money you had better not turn up in a new car every 6 months as I'm going to (rightly) think you're ripping me the fuck off. THAT is what your clients think.^_^

 

[Arkaign]

There are tons of smart people here with lots of $$$ but they aren't wasting time on the Garage forum, they're busy making money and building their careers.

That's the irony the successful people don't care about their car (which is usually an expensive leased car..status..) they're focused on greater things; the guys on car forums usually ask for help because they have and old, out of warranty car and don't have money for a mechanic, so they have to learn to fix their own problems or they might be genuine car enthusiasts who like to discuss cars they'll never own.. that's okay too. But, then they have no right calling anyone a poser or even having any opinion on the matter because they only end up looking like miserable, spiteful people.

If you read most of the threads here in ATG, you'll see that very few discussions turn into flames/attacks. I don't like to be presumptuous about anyone. There are certain cars like the IS250 that aren't that respected (high price, very low power in the class), but I like to think that most people are more rational than that. Certainly we have a lot of enthusiasts on here. We have a Noble owner, lots of bikers and ex-bikers like me, and on and on. I don't think anyone is pretentious one way or the other.

It's really unnecessary to get threads so derailed like this. You have to realize that your own attitude in this thread and a few others has led to a confrontational wtf moment or two here, and quite often your posts meander around so much that it's hard to really crystallize just what on earth you're trying to get across. I have no personal animosity towards you, and doubt that anyone else does, but it would help to tone things down a notch or three, and focus on help/insight/positive comments when possible.

Ah well, I hope your '10 is shaping up well, and that we can turn the page from this rinse/repeat cycle that's so evident in this thread. Cheers 🙂

 

[vi edit]

It is quiet, smooth and comes with ridiculous amount of torque. One of my buddies brought over a new Brooklands about a year ago; pretty impressive vehicle.

The owner of a theatre I worked at in in High School had a early/mid 90's Jaguar XJ w/ the V12. The only noise that car made when pulling up to the curb was the sound of the gravel under the tires. It was freakishly quiet.

 

[Arkaign]

The owner of a theatre I worked at in in High School had a early/mid 90's Jaguar XJ w/ the V12. The only noise that car made when pulling up to the curb was the sound of the gravel under the tires. It was freakishly quiet.

Thank you Jesus (that avy makes me laugh every time).

That's exactly what I was trying to get across earlier about the quietness of luxury cars with larger motors : they're quieter than I4 econoboxes, unless you're just being a maniac in one, or have it tuned and setup for lots of noise.

 

[casiotech wants a new accord]

Why would I be jealous when I drive two BMW's, one of which is an M3, and both are more luxurious and better equipped than your Nissan? :awe:

Paid for the M3 in cash, too, before you get up your own tailpipe again.

And if you turn up to handle my money you had better not turn up in a new car every 6 months as I'm going to (rightly) think you're ripping me the fuck off. THAT is what your clients think.^_^

cool story bro what year is your M3 again, 1997?

oh wow a WRX, a V6 Golf, 2 BMWs that you paid cash with... and you dare own it in lime green??? you def have to have balls to drive around town in a car that color. That car sure is a lot more luxurious than my "nissan." Keep tryin to fool yourself buddy.

Yeah, I guess you have to be ballin to have money for parts to fix it every other weekend.

How many miles you got on that sweet thang?