Buying a car?

Z

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
I would love to have a CTS-V Wagon, i got to drive one for a week last year and just fell in love. Completely destroying the Camaro/Mustang crowd at red lights with a child seat in the back and 4 large HP printers in the hatch never gets old. Never!

2013 Elantra or Sonata, I dont think anyone can really say anything bad about either. Good cars for the money with great styling for the segment. Pick what is more important, size or options. Smaller loaded Elantra or the larger mid tier Sonota would likely be the same price. You may also want to drive the 2013 Accord. I havent driven one yet, but from everything i have heard they cant be beat.
 
O

Orcus_sl

shitlord
295
3
Got a surprise extended test drive of the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Rented a car for a trip to New Orleans and they gave us a brand new Fusion with 1000 miles on it. Still smelled like new car. It was a great car all around. Mileage was in the mid to high 30s with me pushing 80 most of the way. It's so different from an older car. Everything was touch sensitive and automated. Auto-dimming mirrors, reverse camera, blind spot warning system, yellow light would come on in the outside mirror when someone was passing, a message telling me a car was approaching from the left or right would pop up on the display, even the brights were automated, would turn them on, then off when it sensed oncoming cars. If I swerved a bit or hit a pothole a message warning the driver to rest complete with a cup of coffee graphic would appear.

After putting 2000+ miles on it though, I can say that I wouldn't personally buy it. For all of it's starship high tech wizardry, the seats in my 2003 Beetle are more comfortable on long trips. I was getting butt and back pain, even with all the power adjustments and nice adjustable lumbar support. That never happens in the Beetle. I have a bad back, so it could be just me, your mileage may vary. But it was a deal breaker for me and I will be looking elsewhere.

Definitely taught me that an hour or two test driving a car isn't enough. I will probably look to rent the model that I'm interested in for a few days if it's available when we get ready to buy.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,820
32,301
Did Ford get the computers in their cars finally straightened out. I know for a while they were having lots of issues with the computer interface and touchscreen. All that isn't for me but I know I'm in the super minority.
 
A

Antarius

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,828
15
Obsidian_sl said:
Need the AWD! I drove an obscene number of cars in the last 2 weeks trying to decide what to get, settled on the Merc. Drove the following:

Acura RL
Acura TL SH-AWD
Audi A6 3.0T
Cadillac ATS
Cadillac CTS
Infiniti G37x
Infiniti M37x
Infiniti M56x
Jaguar XF 3.0 AWD
Lexus GS350 awd
Volvo S60 T6 awd

My first choice was actually to get a BMW 5 series with the M Sport package, but my business partner actually bought 1 last week. I did not want to have the same car as him. The new Lexus GS with F Sport is actually a phenomenal car, if I could get over my desire for German I would've probably picked that up.
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First world problem.... my business partner purchased a great car, now I can't buy the one I want because I have to be special.
 
Cad

Cad

scientia potentia est
<Bronze Donator>
24,553
45,634
Antarius_sl said:
First world problem.... my business partner purchased a great car, now I can't buy the one I want because I have to be special.
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Easy, just get an M5 so his pissant regular 5 series looks like a Camry.
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,313
3,169
Borzak_sl said:
Did Ford get the computers in their cars finally straightened out. I know for a while they were having lots of issues with the computer interface and touchscreen. All that isn't for me but I know I'm in the super minority.
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What issue are you speaking about? My 2010 Fusion's touchscreen works fine. Updating Sync is a pain in the ass, though.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
So these "econ" buttons are all the rage now it seems; Hondas have them, seen them in Nissans, I'm sure other companies too. Does anyone know under what conditions they work best? Most people would assume "always", but I know if you need to speed up fast with the Econ button engaged you really need to peg your engine and you probably expend more gas.
 
Z

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
You will probably end up having to do some digging to find out exactly what it does on your particular car. I think in general they just try to get to the highest gear in the lowest amount of time to save fuel economy, but there are so many variables that i doubt any of them work great for every situation.

The last thing i read about trying to hypermilage modern cars is to go 60/70% throttle to your desired speed then let off. Too little acceleration just wastes too much time trying to get to desired speed and lowers your fuel economy.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
I drive literally all highway so it's pretty noticeable there. If I'm driving in the city its basically negligible like you said. Doing 110 miles/day highway.
 
T

Trollicious_sl

shitlord
229
0
At least for the Honda, what it does is retard your throttle response, remap the shit points for the transmission (up shift quicker, down shift slower) and cycles your A/C on and off more. When you floor it, it over rides the econ mode so you can still get out of the way if you are in an unsafe situation. The supposed benefits are about 2-3 PERCENT better mpg. Which might be 1 mpg.

Personally the tradeoff sucks for me so I would never use it.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
So it's all in my head. First my iphone can't send text messages and now this... First world problems fo' real.
 
K

koljec_sl

shitlord
845
2
Trollicious_sl said:
At least for the Honda, what it does is retard your throttle response, remap the shit points for the transmission (up shift quicker, down shift slower) and cycles your A/C on and off more. When you floor it, it over rides the econ mode so you can still get out of the way if you are in an unsafe situation. The supposed benefits are about 2-3 PERCENT better mpg. Which might be 1 mpg.

Personally the tradeoff sucks for me so I would never use it.
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It's the same for the ct200h (and I assume the Prius). Basically, econ and normal modes have varying degrees of mushy throttle response, which prevents the driver from giving too much gas. Sport mode gives immediate torquey response -- ct200h is actually pretty hoppy off the line...quick 0-30, kinda dies after~

All modes are better than the throttle lag that some vehicles have nowadays. Can't stand a dead pedal for half a second when merging from a stop, or stop and go.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,820
32,301
Eyashusa_sl said:
What issue are you speaking about? My 2010 Fusion's touchscreen works fine. Updating Sync is a pain in the ass, though.
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There have been several service bulletins about the issues with touchscreens in Fords over the last few years. Maybe they finally got them straightened out. You can find lots of reports of them acting buggy, from the touchscreen itself to the software underneath.
 
S

Solariss

Golden Squire
141
13
Well, after everything I was thinking with the Elantra being the choice.. I ended up test driving a Ford Fusion Hybrid just recently and fell in love with it. I love the looks and style, and have never liked having a compact car for sake of convenience and fuel costs, because I just like the looks and room of mid-size cars much more. So I factory ordered a 2013 Sterling Gray Ford Fusion Hybrid (with My Ford Touch lol). I think I got a pretty damn good deal on it. I went to several dealers and finally found a price I liked. The MSRP is $27,200. They were willing to go to 24,400. I have the Ford X Plan pricing available to me, and this price beats that by a lot. Since I was getting what seemed like a decent price, I expressed interest in the touch screen and navigation which would total up to about 1,500 more, and I got her to include that for $25,500 which is a price I was going to pay at the last dealership without the touch screen. My out the door cost for the Hybrid SE with Touch Screen, Nav, tax and $499 processing fee was $26.9k.

I'm skeptical about owning a hybrid still, but from everything I'm told the resale value is higher. I figure that I'll be paying for the extra money on the car with the money I'll be saving on gas, and have a more expensive car to sell in the long run. Although the life of hybrids is probably still up in the air. But, I realize it will probably take 5 years or more to recoup the gas differential. There is an 8 year warranty on the battery though, at least
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
8,313
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Fusion Hybrids have lost their luster or else they are producing more... when I bought my 2010 Fusion, every dealership was selling the Hybrid for at least $2,500 over sticker cost (if you could even find one) and the wait if you ordered one was at least 6 months.

They are nice cars. I love mine.
 
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