Hi everyone. First thanks for reading my post but I need some serious help. I am going to be in the market for a new car Jan/Feb timeframe. I have researched to the point where my head hurts (ever get that feeling). First of all let me tell you what im looking for. I am looking for driving excitement again. I used to have a 2001 (which I bought new) BMW 330CI which was pretty much almost a perfect car for me. The car drove like nothing I have ever driven in my life. It was like an extension of myself. At the time I looked at and drove Nissan Maxima , which although had a lot more horsepower, could not drive like the beamer did. So why in the world did I get rid of it? Well its twofold. First the most important reason is reliability problems. I had electrical problems and the lights would not shut off sometimes. I would have to play with them for them to shut off. The oil light came on and my local Beamer shop (which is very high end shop that also has high end stuff like Ferrari) could not figure it out and ended up having to call BMW of America to get it figured out. They had my car for 3 days. Then I was spray washing my truck one day and my hood emblem just blows off. I kid you not. The service manager of my local beamer shop just says ?doesn?t surprise me?. Also I was quite picky with the car and would not take it out of the garage unless the weather was perfect. I bought an extra junker car to drive through snow and stuff like that.
Anyways I traded it in for a New 03 F-150 FX4 4x4 Lariet (5.4L Engine). Its been a pretty reliable truck except for a minor seat squeek that keeps coming back though they?ve replaced it four times. But everything considered its relatively minor. A year after I bought this truck I was unhappy with it. 1st gas prices started skyrocketing three weeks after I bought it (what luck hey). Eventhough it has a big engine its relatively slow (I know it?s a truck) but it does have a lot of power. Anyways I have drove this think for over 4 years hating what I drove. I don?t want to do that again and have to drive a car im unhappy with and that?s why im doing so much dang research.
Anways im wanting something that is relatively fun to drive and will get descent gas mileage. I also am putting reliability at the top of my list. I will first list the cars im currently considering including negative and positives of each car. Please guys chime in if you disagree or you think im wrong.
Nissan Altima: When I first test drove this car I thought this is the car that I would get. I test drove the 07 Sedan 3.5SE last year and absolutely loved the way it drove and handled. Granted it didn?t handle like a beamer but I still loved the way it drove. Out of all the competition I thought Nissan put an emphasis on its driveability but the ride was more harsh. This I definitely liked. The 2.5L engine for a 4-cyl had great power and the 3.5L was just phenomenal. I thought the interior was minimalistic but I liked it. There is one big negative for Nissan and its RELIABILITY. I assumed that Nissan, being a jap car marker, would be top notich on reliability. Slightly below toy & Honda but excellent. Well after my research I found this to be incorrect. Nissan has had reliability problems with many of its lines (Titan, Quest, and Armada to name a few)
Here is an article back in 04 about it:
http://www.businessweek.com/ma...ent/04_20/b3883053.htm
In 06:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb.../AUTO01/601070335/1148
One of the best ways I?ve found to research reliability is go to some of the user forums for the type of car your looking and see what kind of problems are being reported. I have definitely seen some people reporting some major annoyances even with the 07 models. To bad I can?t be more confident with Nissan and reliability because like I said I really did like the altima.
MazdaSpeed3: This is probably one of my highest contenders now. Its very fast and handles great. When I go to user forums the problems being reported are few and far between. I think for the price this is one of the highest value for the dollar. Anyways like anything else there are so negatives. First of all the design of the center console is kind of crappy. I am on the tall side (6?2??) and my leg kind of rubs up against it while im driving. You can not get leather/heated seats. Only leather bolstered seats. There is no sunroof option. Mazda has pretty good financing deals but the exclude the speed3 because it?s a limited edition. The biggest negative is that I am going to immediately have to purchase snow tires and rimes for the car which is going to be $1200-$1500 dollars out of my pocket that I?m not going to be going to throw on the loan. I see some people get crappy looking 16in steel rimes so they can save money and they look like CRAP on the car and they have some clearance problems. I am not going to do this. I am going to at least get 17in and no steel rimes for me.
Mazda3: Pretty similar to above but the finance rates are a lot better. I found the standard 2.3L engine pretty dang good for what it is. Its not nearly as fast as the speed but its not slow by any means. You an get heated/leather seats and it has a sunroof option if you want it. Big positive for this one would be price of course.
Hyundai Sonata Limited V6:
Of everything ive looked at this was probably the biggest surprise for me. I heard reports of Hyundai getting better but I still thought back to the old days and thought they would be junk. I decided to give one a try anways and wow was I surprised. The V6 was very powerful and the car was quick. It was relatively fun to drive and looking on forums it appears that people are having pretty good dang luck with them. So now for the bad?. The exterior styling is just so so I would say. The interior styling I would say is even worse. I thought the car was comfortable but styling could have been improved very much. The big negative would be resale value. If I end up keeping it long term then it wouldn?t matter but if something happens and I want to get rid of it they drop so much in resale value that it might be difficult to do. Still it definitely is a bargin for what you get.
Accord 08:
It was kind of weird?.when I looked at the pictures of them online I thought the sedan didn?t look that good and the coupe looked good. When I seen these cars in person I think the sedan grew on me a little more and the coupe didn?t look as good as I originally thought. I drove both the 6 & 4 cyl revisions. Both reved very high with no strain. They were silky smooth and fast for what they were. The v6 was probably one of the more refined power plants ive ever drove (almost to refined). The steering was very good but the car was not as nimble as it used to be. They were just to damn big. The coupe and sedan drove exactly the same. I liked the idea of the cylinder deactivation thing but after I read a review online both the altima V6 & camry v6 still got better gas mileage (motortrend). The interior on both was top notch except for the seats. The seats looked good but the leather revision was very hard and I thought uncomfortable. One thing about the accord is its probably going to be a VERY reliable car.
Ok here are some cars I looked at and eliminated from my list. Maybe I should put them back on? You tell me.
Camry V6: The biggest problem was price. A fully loaded Camry without GPS was about 31k msrp. I think this is WAY to much for a camry. They also had transmission problems with the V6 but I don?t? think I would be to worried about it because I think they have corrected it.
Camry Hybrid: It seems like your paying a LOT of green to be GREEN if you know what I mean. The cost savings just don?t add up. The car is less than stellar to drive and the gas savings are just not enough.
Rav4 V6: The RAV4 for a small SUV is very fast and has very good gas mileage (I think Toyota has an excellent V6 on their hands) but again, like the camry, the price is what is stopping me. Over 30k for a Rav4?
BMW 3Series: Elimanted because cost seem even more inflated then when I first bought mine and reliability history
Infinity G35: Again it?s a Nissan so?. Also the closest dealer to me is over 90 miles. This is the car that come closest to performance of a BMW for me
Lexus: Nice but I don?t think the performance is where I would like it to be for a car that cost this much. Reliability would probably be best out of the luxury sedans though.
Ford Fusion V6: I like the styling way better than the Sonata and the cornering/steering was better. Also from consumer reports it seems like the reliability is very good. Where the fusion is lacking is in its power plant. The v6 is not very refined. Its noisy and it just didn?t have very much oomph eventhough its horsepower/torque rating are very close to the Sonata.
Honda Civic SI: Liked the way it looked and its price. Handling was great and it took curves very good. The problem with the Civic SI was its engine. The engine has high horsepower of about 200 but torque sucks at only about 130. What problems does this cause? Well, the engine only really gets fun to drive as you get up in RPMs. Low RPMs its not that much different than a regular civic which kind of sucks. I don't want to have to drive a car like that to have fun. I think i liked the mazda3 engine better. It didn't have as much horsepower but had more torque and a lot more low/mid end grunt.
So there it goes. I know this was a long post but im hoping for some really good feedback. I will probably spend up to 30k if I have to but I would like not to have to. The cheaper the better of course. I just don?t want to be stuck with something again that I hate driving. Only time I like driving my truck is when it snows a lot ?. My priorities are in the following order: Reliability, performance (fun to drive) and then probably cost. Right now my top contenders are (in order by how I grade each now): MazdaSpeed3, Mazda3, Sonata, Accord. Please let me know what you guys think.
Thanks,
Ncage
Anyways I traded it in for a New 03 F-150 FX4 4x4 Lariet (5.4L Engine). Its been a pretty reliable truck except for a minor seat squeek that keeps coming back though they?ve replaced it four times. But everything considered its relatively minor. A year after I bought this truck I was unhappy with it. 1st gas prices started skyrocketing three weeks after I bought it (what luck hey). Eventhough it has a big engine its relatively slow (I know it?s a truck) but it does have a lot of power. Anyways I have drove this think for over 4 years hating what I drove. I don?t want to do that again and have to drive a car im unhappy with and that?s why im doing so much dang research.
Anways im wanting something that is relatively fun to drive and will get descent gas mileage. I also am putting reliability at the top of my list. I will first list the cars im currently considering including negative and positives of each car. Please guys chime in if you disagree or you think im wrong.
Nissan Altima: When I first test drove this car I thought this is the car that I would get. I test drove the 07 Sedan 3.5SE last year and absolutely loved the way it drove and handled. Granted it didn?t handle like a beamer but I still loved the way it drove. Out of all the competition I thought Nissan put an emphasis on its driveability but the ride was more harsh. This I definitely liked. The 2.5L engine for a 4-cyl had great power and the 3.5L was just phenomenal. I thought the interior was minimalistic but I liked it. There is one big negative for Nissan and its RELIABILITY. I assumed that Nissan, being a jap car marker, would be top notich on reliability. Slightly below toy & Honda but excellent. Well after my research I found this to be incorrect. Nissan has had reliability problems with many of its lines (Titan, Quest, and Armada to name a few)
Here is an article back in 04 about it:
http://www.businessweek.com/ma...ent/04_20/b3883053.htm
In 06:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb.../AUTO01/601070335/1148
One of the best ways I?ve found to research reliability is go to some of the user forums for the type of car your looking and see what kind of problems are being reported. I have definitely seen some people reporting some major annoyances even with the 07 models. To bad I can?t be more confident with Nissan and reliability because like I said I really did like the altima.
MazdaSpeed3: This is probably one of my highest contenders now. Its very fast and handles great. When I go to user forums the problems being reported are few and far between. I think for the price this is one of the highest value for the dollar. Anyways like anything else there are so negatives. First of all the design of the center console is kind of crappy. I am on the tall side (6?2??) and my leg kind of rubs up against it while im driving. You can not get leather/heated seats. Only leather bolstered seats. There is no sunroof option. Mazda has pretty good financing deals but the exclude the speed3 because it?s a limited edition. The biggest negative is that I am going to immediately have to purchase snow tires and rimes for the car which is going to be $1200-$1500 dollars out of my pocket that I?m not going to be going to throw on the loan. I see some people get crappy looking 16in steel rimes so they can save money and they look like CRAP on the car and they have some clearance problems. I am not going to do this. I am going to at least get 17in and no steel rimes for me.
Mazda3: Pretty similar to above but the finance rates are a lot better. I found the standard 2.3L engine pretty dang good for what it is. Its not nearly as fast as the speed but its not slow by any means. You an get heated/leather seats and it has a sunroof option if you want it. Big positive for this one would be price of course.
Hyundai Sonata Limited V6:
Of everything ive looked at this was probably the biggest surprise for me. I heard reports of Hyundai getting better but I still thought back to the old days and thought they would be junk. I decided to give one a try anways and wow was I surprised. The V6 was very powerful and the car was quick. It was relatively fun to drive and looking on forums it appears that people are having pretty good dang luck with them. So now for the bad?. The exterior styling is just so so I would say. The interior styling I would say is even worse. I thought the car was comfortable but styling could have been improved very much. The big negative would be resale value. If I end up keeping it long term then it wouldn?t matter but if something happens and I want to get rid of it they drop so much in resale value that it might be difficult to do. Still it definitely is a bargin for what you get.
Accord 08:
It was kind of weird?.when I looked at the pictures of them online I thought the sedan didn?t look that good and the coupe looked good. When I seen these cars in person I think the sedan grew on me a little more and the coupe didn?t look as good as I originally thought. I drove both the 6 & 4 cyl revisions. Both reved very high with no strain. They were silky smooth and fast for what they were. The v6 was probably one of the more refined power plants ive ever drove (almost to refined). The steering was very good but the car was not as nimble as it used to be. They were just to damn big. The coupe and sedan drove exactly the same. I liked the idea of the cylinder deactivation thing but after I read a review online both the altima V6 & camry v6 still got better gas mileage (motortrend). The interior on both was top notch except for the seats. The seats looked good but the leather revision was very hard and I thought uncomfortable. One thing about the accord is its probably going to be a VERY reliable car.
Ok here are some cars I looked at and eliminated from my list. Maybe I should put them back on? You tell me.
Camry V6: The biggest problem was price. A fully loaded Camry without GPS was about 31k msrp. I think this is WAY to much for a camry. They also had transmission problems with the V6 but I don?t? think I would be to worried about it because I think they have corrected it.
Camry Hybrid: It seems like your paying a LOT of green to be GREEN if you know what I mean. The cost savings just don?t add up. The car is less than stellar to drive and the gas savings are just not enough.
Rav4 V6: The RAV4 for a small SUV is very fast and has very good gas mileage (I think Toyota has an excellent V6 on their hands) but again, like the camry, the price is what is stopping me. Over 30k for a Rav4?
BMW 3Series: Elimanted because cost seem even more inflated then when I first bought mine and reliability history
Infinity G35: Again it?s a Nissan so?. Also the closest dealer to me is over 90 miles. This is the car that come closest to performance of a BMW for me
Lexus: Nice but I don?t think the performance is where I would like it to be for a car that cost this much. Reliability would probably be best out of the luxury sedans though.
Ford Fusion V6: I like the styling way better than the Sonata and the cornering/steering was better. Also from consumer reports it seems like the reliability is very good. Where the fusion is lacking is in its power plant. The v6 is not very refined. Its noisy and it just didn?t have very much oomph eventhough its horsepower/torque rating are very close to the Sonata.
Honda Civic SI: Liked the way it looked and its price. Handling was great and it took curves very good. The problem with the Civic SI was its engine. The engine has high horsepower of about 200 but torque sucks at only about 130. What problems does this cause? Well, the engine only really gets fun to drive as you get up in RPMs. Low RPMs its not that much different than a regular civic which kind of sucks. I don't want to have to drive a car like that to have fun. I think i liked the mazda3 engine better. It didn't have as much horsepower but had more torque and a lot more low/mid end grunt.
So there it goes. I know this was a long post but im hoping for some really good feedback. I will probably spend up to 30k if I have to but I would like not to have to. The cheaper the better of course. I just don?t want to be stuck with something again that I hate driving. Only time I like driving my truck is when it snows a lot ?. My priorities are in the following order: Reliability, performance (fun to drive) and then probably cost. Right now my top contenders are (in order by how I grade each now): MazdaSpeed3, Mazda3, Sonata, Accord. Please let me know what you guys think.
Thanks,
Ncage
(& without those God forsaken Alpisser tailights!!!!)
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