Buying a car?

Joeboo

Joeboo

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That's exactly my scenario. We just had our first kid, I have a Ford Escape, my wife has a Ford Mustang, so the Mustang has to go. I'm not going to worry about upgrading my Escape to something larger as long as my wife has a slightly larger vehicle. Hers will now be the roadtrip car, we don't need 2 medium to large SUVs really, you're only going to take 1 on trips. I have 2 uncles that worked for Ford, so we've just always bought those since we get a family discount.

I'm about 6' tall, so not overly big, and my knees hit the back of the seats if I'm in the backseat of my Escape, to the point of being REALLY uncomfotable if the front seat is all the way back. The Mazda CX5 was the same, as was the Toyota Rav 4 and Honda CR-V. We had to go up to the Nissan Murano/Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, Ford Escape/Edge sized vehicles before I could sit in the back seat without my knees coming close to touching the seats up front if they were all the way back. And out of all of those, the Santa Fe Sport blew the others away in gas mileage, a good 5+ MPG highway better, and the room/storage space of the Santa Fe was easily on par with the others. Now, the Santa Fe Sport does have a smaller engine, it's a 4 cylinder 190HP engine, which was plenty peppy when accelerating up an on-ramp on the highway when we test drove it, but you aren't really going to be able to do any heavy towing or anything with it. My dad used to use his Explorer to pull his boat to the lake, I can't see doing that in the Santa Fe without ruining it.

All that being said, I love my Escape. It's a 2005 with 130K miles on it now and I've had to do nothing to it other than routine oil and filter changes + 1 new set of tires around 80K miles. It's very, very reliable, we just needed something a little bigger this time around.
 
A

a_skeleton_03

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Ok the wife and I are really leaning towards the following two cars.

I want a Subaru BRZ (I don't think I can do a Toyota Scion) and she wants a Nissan Pathfinder. She wants a 7 seat SUV that isn't huge. We had the Armada before we moved here to Germany but they would only ship one vehicle and we knew it wouldn't work on the small roads here so we just brought the Honda Accord she has and my motorcycle. I can't ride the motorcycle here much at all due to it being the most terrible weather on the planet and raining or snowing like 364 days a year.

Anyone have experience with either of these?
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

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I test drove both a Nisson Pathfinder and Murano, I liked them quite a bit, we just ruled out a 7-seater early on, so I didn't end up doing a lot of research on the Pathfinder. Out of all the 7-seaters that we looked at, I probably liked the Mazda CX-9 the best, but it was also probably one of the smaller 7-seaters. It handled real well and didn't feel overly huge while driving it, it handled like a much smaller SUV, but the 3rd row in the CX-9 would be rough for adults to sit there, seems like it would be a lot better for just hauling kids. I don't think 7 adults could fit in it comfortably. However, a few adults and several kids would do just fine.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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joeboo_sl said:
I test drove both a Nisson Pathfinder and Murano, I liked them quite a bit, we just ruled out a 7-seater early on, so I didn't end up doing a lot of research on the Pathfinder. Out of all the 7-seaters that we looked at, I probably liked the Mazda CX-9 the best, but it was also probably one of the smaller 7-seaters. It handled real well and didn't feel overly huge while driving it, it handled like a much smaller SUV, but the 3rd row in the CX-9 would be rough for adults to sit there, seems like it would be a lot better for just hauling kids. I don't think 7 adults could fit in it comfortably. However, a few adults and several kids would do just fine.
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Yeah we always come with two kids but they are 12 and lanky.

How were they for just options and 'niceness' not just size?
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

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As far as options and overall feel, both the Pathfinder and CX-9 were real similar. Both had nice perks like keyless start, all the electronic perks like bluetooth, voice commands, etc. If looks are important though, the CX-9 definitely looks more wagon-ish, while the Pathfinder looks more like a traditional, taller SUV. If I had to guess, the Pathfinder probably sits up higher and has more ground clearance, and the CX-9 is lower to the ground, which might be why I liked it's handling a little more. It felt tighter in turns and a little sportier to drive.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Yeah I think I need to see one in person soon. The Pathfinder in their official pics looked a little wagonish to me and the older ones I don't remember looking like that. I think it was angle.

We hate wagons looks wise.

We are going to the states for a bit at the end of June so will hit up a few dealers one day just to narrow down what we want. Shipping them over to Germany will take some time and paperwork, probably won't actually pull the trigger until October and get 2014 models of both.

Really waiting to see what else is done with the BRZ. I need to know if they are doing an STI in 2014 and if it will have turbo or not.
 
Soygen

Soygen

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Yeah, the BRZ needs more power and even then, the STI version would probably be upwards of a 370Z, price-wise(I think it's only about 5 grand off the base Z now). If it ain't as fast, I wouldn't even consider it. That said, the BRZs look like such a fun track car. I think I prefer the styling on the Scion better than the Subie, though.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Soygen_sl said:
Yeah, the BRZ needs more power and even then, the STI version would probably be upwards of a 370Z, price-wise(I think it's only about 5 grand off the base Z now). If it ain't as fast, I wouldn't even consider it. That said, the BRZs look like such a fun track car. I think I prefer the styling on the Scion better than the Subie, though.
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They are almost identical styling, sure a few subtleties.

I have tracked down a new block and twin turbos that I could swap in. Would need a new clutch for sure. Not sure on the transmission. All said and done I could probably have it track ready with a ton of power for 50k which would be cheaper than a base M3 (new) which is what I was originally looking at. I am also looking at an E46 M3 used and putting a lot of work into it. There are a few 95 Skylines around me for sale but I don't think I can import those back to the states when I leave. I want a long term car.

Being over here in Germany I think I would have a TON of fun with it on the Nurburgring and just driving out in the forests here. Might be more fun and would definitely be safer than the motorcycle.

I am really debating on it.

Crawford Performance is doing some great things with it.

 
Dis

Dis

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Ok the wife and I are really leaning towards the following two cars.

I want a Subaru BRZ (I don't think I can do a Toyota Scion) and she wants a Nissan Pathfinder. She wants a 7 seat SUV that isn't huge. We had the Armada before we moved here to Germany but they would only ship one vehicle and we knew it wouldn't work on the small roads here so we just brought the Honda Accord she has and my motorcycle. I can't ride the motorcycle here much at all due to it being the most terrible weather on the planet and raining or snowing like 364 days a year.

Anyone have experience with either of these?
Click to expand...
Pathfinder has a very good, reliable engine in it. If you plan on driving the shit out of your next car, this would be a good choice.
 
Zodiac

Zodiac

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I test drove the BRZ and while fun to drive it seemed low on power. If your going to do all of your own wrenching a used E46 is an awesome car. I would have bought one if I hadn't wanted a Z car for years.
 
Soygen

Soygen

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Yeah, instead of putting 50k into a BRZ, I would much rather spend more on a new M3 or save over 10 grand and buy a nice used Cayman S or the like instead.
 
Woffer

Woffer

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I'm about to buy a new Kia Cee'd 1.6 Diesel Automatic... Anyone know of anything that would make me reconsider?
 
Frenzied Wombat

Frenzied Wombat

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So my lease is up on my 2011 Z4 in August so I need to get a new car asap. I always have gotten manual transmissions which almost always necessitates a special order which takes three months, so I'm looking to close a deal in the next few weeks. My budget is 60K and it's still up in the air whether I should lease or finance this one. I've always enjoyed the hassle-free experience a leased car provides with no surprise repairs, as well as the fixed monthly car expense that never waivers. Of course on the negative side you are eternally making car payments.. Plus, as in the case of my Z4, if you decide you don't really like the car you don't have to worry about selling it, you just toss the dealership back the keys in two years. However, the appeal of having a shiny new car every 2-3 years has started to fade, and cars if well treated seem to last a long time here down in Texas with the nice weather, so I'm thinking of financing this one if I am confident I am making the right decision. My Z4 is a beautiful car, drives great, and gets compliments all the time (A cop was taking pictures of it in the 7-eleven parking lot yesterday lol), but fuck has BMW every gone downhill on internal build materials. Both this Z4 and my last 335 squeaked and rattled like crazy. The dashboard in my Z4 sounds like a Styrofoam cooler over every bump due to the cheap hard plastic they use and it drives me NUTS. The next car I get HAS to be relatively rattle free-- I am OCD about that as it ruins the whole drive for me when all I can hear is a constant chirp or rattle. It pisses me off because from a drive, looks, and reliability standpoint BMW has always been good to me, but I just can't deal with their rattle ass interiors anymore.

So, I test drove three cars this weekend:

Jaguar F-Type: The Jag dealership was right next door to the Audi and Mercedez dealership and they had an F-Type out front that was absolutely gorgeous so I said wtf I might as well check it out. 20K over budget and I'm not sure I want another two seater, but boy was this car awesome to drive. Insane pick-up and handling, gorgeous wall to wall leather interior, HUGE touch screen nav/computer, amazing engine noise-- the list goes on.. Amazing car

Mercedez C350 Coupe: A little under budget, but I found the E class to be too big while the C350 was more appealing from a sport coupe standpoint.. This car was extremely underwhelming.. Felt very slow for a 300HP engine and the automatic shifting didn't feel optimized or responsive. Steering was pretty numb too.. All around, despite being advertised as a sport model, it felt more like something I'd end up getting my wife. Interior was fairly bland however I checked the areas where cheap plastic squeaks in my Z4 and Mercedez uses a better softer textured plastic that doesn't creak.

Audi S4 and Audi S5: Both cars had great rides with very nice acceleration and handling. Internal materials were top notch and I really liked the alcantara\leather mix along with the stitching. Seats were great and the manual shifter had very nice throws similar to my Z4. Ride was firm but not jarring like BMW with their run flat tires. Really the only downside is I find Audi's look, particularly on the S4 to be rather "plain". I liked the looks of the S5 more, but it starts to go over budget with all the bells and whistles I want.

So far I'm leaning towards a 2014 S4 prestige w/ Optic Black package. Comes out to 55K. Still open to other suggestions as well. Question still remains as to whether lease or finance. I have gotten conflicting opinions on Audi reliability and I know some people on these boards hate them. I am particularly concerned about how well the turbo holds up out of warranty or any other items that are known to blow up after a certain amount of years necessitating a pricey repair.
 
Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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joeboo_sl said:
That's exactly my scenario. We just had our first kid, I have a Ford Escape, my wife has a Ford Mustang, so the Mustang has to go. I'm not going to worry about upgrading my Escape to something larger as long as my wife has a slightly larger vehicle. Hers will now be the roadtrip car, we don't need 2 medium to large SUVs really, you're only going to take 1 on trips. I have 2 uncles that worked for Ford, so we've just always bought those since we get a family discount.

I'm about 6' tall, so not overly big, and my knees hit the back of the seats if I'm in the backseat of my Escape, to the point of being REALLY uncomfotable if the front seat is all the way back. The Mazda CX5 was the same, as was the Toyota Rav 4 and Honda CR-V. We had to go up to the Nissan Murano/Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, Ford Escape/Edge sized vehicles before I could sit in the back seat without my knees coming close to touching the seats up front if they were all the way back. And out of all of those, the Santa Fe Sport blew the others away in gas mileage, a good 5+ MPG highway better, and the room/storage space of the Santa Fe was easily on par with the others. Now, the Santa Fe Sport does have a smaller engine, it's a 4 cylinder 190HP engine, which was plenty peppy when accelerating up an on-ramp on the highway when we test drove it, but you aren't really going to be able to do any heavy towing or anything with it. My dad used to use his Explorer to pull his boat to the lake, I can't see doing that in the Santa Fe without ruining it.

All that being said, I love my Escape. It's a 2005 with 130K miles on it now and I've had to do nothing to it other than routine oil and filter changes + 1 new set of tires around 80K miles. It's very, very reliable, we just needed something a little bigger this time around.
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We got along in the murano with 1 kid, rear faceing kid seats take up a shitton of room- they cant sit behind me, even in the van with how much I put my seat back- the murano and 1 seat in the back being occupied still allowed us to put 1 seat down if the rear storage ran out due to baby shit-stroller etc etc bla bla... you carry so much crap for young ones I look forward to when they are just kids sitting in a normal seat and I dont need to take the damn house with me..

There "big" 2row crossovers are bigger than the "small" 2row such as an Escape vs Murano or a Tuscon vs SantaFe (2row) - but honestly, if your looking to have another kid while your first one is still in a full sized car seat, and "baby/toddler" level of take along shit- I would look at a 3rd row crossover/van for your "large" car - such as the Explorer, SantaFe 3rd row if its out- pathfinder, durango etc... vans are the big 3 obviously Toyota Nissan Honda-- but the sad part is all 3rd row and vans are high teens MPG as you can get a bigger-ish 2nd row in the mid 20's now days- but as you said the Murano is not the best in class MPG and my Quest actually gets better MPG than the Murano- mostly due to the newer CVT in the quest.
 
Deruvian

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Frenzied Wombat_sl said:
So my lease is up on my 2011 Z4 in August so I need to get a new car asap. I always have gotten manual transmissions which almost always necessitates a special order which takes three months, so I'm looking to close a deal in the next few weeks. My budget is 60K and it's still up in the air whether I should lease or finance this one. I've always enjoyed the hassle-free experience a leased car provides with no surprise repairs, as well as the fixed monthly car expense that never waivers. Of course on the negative side you are eternally making car payments.. Plus, as in the case of my Z4, if you decide you don't really like the car you don't have to worry about selling it, you just toss the dealership back the keys in two years. However, the appeal of having a shiny new car every 2-3 years has started to fade, and cars if well treated seem to last a long time here down in Texas with the nice weather, so I'm thinking of financing this one if I am confident I am making the right decision. My Z4 is a beautiful car, drives great, and gets compliments all the time (A cop was taking pictures of it in the 7-eleven parking lot yesterday lol), but fuck has BMW every gone downhill on internal build materials. Both this Z4 and my last 335 squeaked and rattled like crazy. The dashboard in my Z4 sounds like a Styrofoam cooler over every bump due to the cheap hard plastic they use and it drives me NUTS. The next car I get HAS to be relatively rattle free-- I am OCD about that as it ruins the whole drive for me when all I can hear is a constant chirp or rattle. It pisses me off because from a drive, looks, and reliability standpoint BMW has always been good to me, but I just can't deal with their rattle ass interiors anymore.

So, I test drove three cars this weekend:

Jaguar F-Type: The Jag dealership was right next door to the Audi and Mercedez dealership and they had an F-Type out front that was absolutely gorgeous so I said wtf I might as well check it out. 20K over budget and I'm not sure I want another two seater, but boy was this car awesome to drive. Insane pick-up and handling, gorgeous wall to wall leather interior, HUGE touch screen nav/computer, amazing engine noise-- the list goes on.. Amazing car

Mercedez C350 Coupe: A little under budget, but I found the E class to be too big while the C350 was more appealing from a sport coupe standpoint.. This car was extremely underwhelming.. Felt very slow for a 300HP engine and the automatic shifting didn't feel optimized or responsive. Steering was pretty numb too.. All around, despite being advertised as a sport model, it felt more like something I'd end up getting my wife. Interior was fairly bland however I checked the areas where cheap plastic squeaks in my Z4 and Mercedez uses a better softer textured plastic that doesn't creak.

Audi S4 and Audi S5: Both cars had great rides with very nice acceleration and handling. Internal materials were top notch and I really liked the alcantara\leather mix along with the stitching. Seats were great and the manual shifter had very nice throws similar to my Z4. Ride was firm but not jarring like BMW with their run flat tires. Really the only downside is I find Audi's look, particularly on the S4 to be rather "plain". I liked the looks of the S5 more, but it starts to go over budget with all the bells and whistles I want.

So far I'm leaning towards a 2014 S4 prestige w/ Optic Black package. Comes out to 55K. Still open to other suggestions as well. Question still remains as to whether lease or finance. I have gotten conflicting opinions on Audi reliability and I know some people on these boards hate them. I am particularly concerned about how well the turbo holds up out of warranty or any other items that are known to blow up after a certain amount of years necessitating a pricey repair.
Click to expand...
Just bought an A4 a few weeks ago. Drives supremely well, very happy with it.
 
Leadsalad

Leadsalad

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*shrug* My '08 A4 has been relatively reliable. Probably going to replace it with an S3 or a used S4 at some point.
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

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Frenzied Wombat_sl said:
So my lease is up on my 2011 Z4 in August so I need to get a new car asap. I always have gotten manual transmissions which almost always necessitates a special order which takes three months, so I'm looking to close a deal in the next few weeks. My budget is 60K and it's still up in the air whether I should lease or finance this one. I've always enjoyed the hassle-free experience a leased car provides with no surprise repairs, as well as the fixed monthly car expense that never waivers. Of course on the negative side you are eternally making car payments.. Plus, as in the case of my Z4, if you decide you don't really like the car you don't have to worry about selling it, you just toss the dealership back the keys in two years. However, the appeal of having a shiny new car every 2-3 years has started to fade, and cars if well treated seem to last a long time here down in Texas with the nice weather, so I'm thinking of financing this one if I am confident I am making the right decision. My Z4 is a beautiful car, drives great, and gets compliments all the time (A cop was taking pictures of it in the 7-eleven parking lot yesterday lol), but fuck has BMW every gone downhill on internal build materials. Both this Z4 and my last 335 squeaked and rattled like crazy. The dashboard in my Z4 sounds like a Styrofoam cooler over every bump due to the cheap hard plastic they use and it drives me NUTS. The next car I get HAS to be relatively rattle free-- I am OCD about that as it ruins the whole drive for me when all I can hear is a constant chirp or rattle. It pisses me off because from a drive, looks, and reliability standpoint BMW has always been good to me, but I just can't deal with their rattle ass interiors anymore.

So, I test drove three cars this weekend:

Jaguar F-Type: The Jag dealership was right next door to the Audi and Mercedez dealership and they had an F-Type out front that was absolutely gorgeous so I said wtf I might as well check it out. 20K over budget and I'm not sure I want another two seater, but boy was this car awesome to drive. Insane pick-up and handling, gorgeous wall to wall leather interior, HUGE touch screen nav/computer, amazing engine noise-- the list goes on.. Amazing car

Mercedez C350 Coupe: A little under budget, but I found the E class to be too big while the C350 was more appealing from a sport coupe standpoint.. This car was extremely underwhelming.. Felt very slow for a 300HP engine and the automatic shifting didn't feel optimized or responsive. Steering was pretty numb too.. All around, despite being advertised as a sport model, it felt more like something I'd end up getting my wife. Interior was fairly bland however I checked the areas where cheap plastic squeaks in my Z4 and Mercedez uses a better softer textured plastic that doesn't creak.

Audi S4 and Audi S5: Both cars had great rides with very nice acceleration and handling. Internal materials were top notch and I really liked the alcantara\leather mix along with the stitching. Seats were great and the manual shifter had very nice throws similar to my Z4. Ride was firm but not jarring like BMW with their run flat tires. Really the only downside is I find Audi's look, particularly on the S4 to be rather "plain". I liked the looks of the S5 more, but it starts to go over budget with all the bells and whistles I want.

So far I'm leaning towards a 2014 S4 prestige w/ Optic Black package. Comes out to 55K. Still open to other suggestions as well. Question still remains as to whether lease or finance. I have gotten conflicting opinions on Audi reliability and I know some people on these boards hate them. I am particularly concerned about how well the turbo holds up out of warranty or any other items that are known to blow up after a certain amount of years necessitating a pricey repair.
Click to expand...
buy a Tesla
 
Cyni

Cyni

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Audi A3 owner here... People often talk about maintenance costs when complaining about the german brands... But honestly i've found them to be pretty similar to the top end Japanese cars i've owned (STi and an Evo X previously). The main benefit with Audi, is the maintenance window is 10,000 miles. That's quite a bit even when daily driving, and often ends up being once a year. I dont mind paying $200 for a service once a year.

S4 doesn't come with a turbo by the way, the "V6T" badge is misleading, its actually supercharged, and i've heard of no reliability issues with it long term, even when tuned (very easy to make power with these cars with just a simple tune).

I've been pricing used 2010-2011's lately and they are dropping in price. Look around for one with the Sport Differential option as well if you're shopping used.
 
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