WHAT CAR SHOULD HI DERE BUY

Which Audi/Beamer/Inf/Merc?

voted bus

The Neon and the PT should both end up at the bottom of this poll. They're both sold in the UK and no-one touches them with a bargepole.

Should have included all of the above option

Avoid the beemer. It will oblige you to become an asshole driver. <--This is based on voluminous experience with beemer drivers in my neighborhood, of which there are shitloads.

bus, no question

The Cutlass Ciera looks like any non-descript lol80'sUSA car that you might see in an episode of The A Team or Knight Rider. I didn't know what the Prowler looked like until just now, but I snorted with laughter when I saw it, it's a total d-bag wagon.

The cars under consideration (assume either pre-owned or closest pre-owned equivalent for models that are new):

Audi: A3, A6, S6
BMW: 328i xDrive Sedan, 535i Sedan, X3, X5
Infiniti: M37x, EX35 AWD
Mercedes: C300 Sport Sedan, E350 Sport Sedan, GLK

also fwiw the only person I know who drives a Prowler is, literally, one of the nicest human beings on the face of the Earth

those plus the latter fully specified choices of course xpost

nother bus

tbh I am now leaning towards the bus, too

I know nothing of their drivability or reliability, but of the first four, Infinity is probably probably the least likely to generate feelings of "oh shit, here comes a guy in a ______" to me.

I'd go for either the Audi A6, or the S6, or the Merc C300. The A3 is pretty small, I hate the stylistic direction BMW have taken in the last ten years, and the Infiniti models don't look like much.

Oh and also I can't actually, you know, drive a car, so I'm going on how nice they look...

needz photoz

Incidentally, the Cube looks like something driven in Tokyo by people who don't have their own off street parking space.

I will say this: the interior of the M35/M37 is AMAZING

I will say this: the interior of a retired Chinatown bus is also AMAZING

I'm anti-Audi due to VW's old ignition coil fiasco plus watching my friend's turbo go kaput at 2,500 miles. Small sample but that makes an impression. I've done a fair amount of work for [major nipponese automaker] so I should probably recuse myself there but the recent M is def a pretty sweet place to park your ass.

If you like to drive, it's BMW easy. Manual transmission. No trucks. F a Benz.

infiniti/bmw for sure

Prowler is pretty hardcore, if you like feeling every little bump in the road and feeling like your ass is dragging the pavement it is a fun time.

buy american

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr251/mookieproof/brat.jpg

if you're the kind of dude (like me) who's interested in driving a car until it is undriveable, i'd prob go with the mercedes

I'm not sure what I'm going to vote for, but I don't understand why John didn't include whatever car it was he drove in high school. Because Dan needs that car.

I would have voted Audi, because my turbo A4 is a sweet ride - or at least was until last week, when it abruptly crapped out on me. Shit happens, of course, but I'm pissed because it's not old and is quite low mileage. So, BMW got my vote this time.

aren't audis basically notorious for that?

John's car really knew how to bounce in a ditch

My parents bought a pre-owned Mercedes sedan some years ago for my mom, and when it was time to replace it she couldn't find a single other car on the market that had its power and responsiveness, even among some of the other high-end brands sampled here.

The Cutlass Ciera looks like any non-descript lol80'sUSA car that you might see in an episode of The A Team or Knight Rider.

whenever i hear the phrase 'late model sedan' i still think of a cutlass or equivalent

aren't audis basically notorious for that?

If so, the word passed me by. In a market as competitive as the car industry, I can't believe that a marque with consistent reliability issues would survive. Particularly when its direct competitors are BMW, Lexus and Mercedes Benz.

xpost to Dan; yes, that's why you need that car. You can relive your (somewhat terrifying) youth in the safety and comfort of whatever the Hell kind of car that was.

And if you came back to MN, you could do it on the VERY SAME ROADS.

I horrified J by driving her out to that spot and saying "here is where John drove us into a ditch and his car bounced 10 feet to the side nose-first".

...wasn't it a Horizon?

So resisting the temptation to start a WHAT CAT SHOULD HI DERE BUY Custos-level parody thread. (Choices: mummified, Garfield Minus Garfield, whispered, 'the one time you choose to do a poll thread and it's this' meta-entry.)

loooooooooooool

CATalytic converter?

Was it a Horizon? I have no idea. For all I know it was just a Car. Apparently it was bouncy, though?

why not just get like a civic or corolla or something

For all I know it was just a Car.

http://www.adclassix.com/images/77renault_lecar.jpg

why not just get like a civic or corolla or something

Because we don't want a Civic or Corolla? I mean, obviously if that was what we wanted, that is what we would be looking at?

i guess, but i still think you should just get a civic or corolla or something

nothing personal btw - i just think everyone in the market for a car should get a civic or corolla or something

civics aren't that great on the highway

i drive too aggro for a civic

nah, they drive fine. and it would help you correct your driving style.

i'm buying tires for my car tomorrow

Hi Dere, will your car have tires?

O the one his wife likes

Hi Dere, will your car have tires?

if all goes well, yes

ambitious spermatozoa

I mean let me be rr here and admit that I own a gold 1996 Corolla that I've put 170,000 miles on, and I intend to at least double that number.

What's that mean? Mazdas are cool and I loved the one I had.

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 1 September 2011 09:57 (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Our 3yo Mazda 3 developed numerous rattles at 1k, is now above 25k iirc and hasn't stopped.

I miss the 80s age of car design - current cars look like they were forcibly extruded from a giant play dough machine.

http://webiol.homenetinc.com/dealers/15316/31836/304879.jpg

Play-doh is a good trend in general but sometimes it's applied with LITERALLY no finesse e.g. that BMW X6 SUV-sized coupe that shouldn't exist but does anyway

http://auto-novosti.ru/photo/bmw-x6-concept-1109-4.jpg

(in pictures it looks normal but when you're stuck behind it in traffic it's just 100% wrong)

no, it still doesn't look normal

oh good

It looks like a life-size Hot Wheels car.

haha I kind of love how ludicrous the X6 looks

while we're on cars that don't look quite real, how about the EVOQUE:

http://auto4team.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2012-Range-Rover-Evoque.jpg

I just saw a red one of those in a shopping centre literally 2.5 minutes ago, ugly as hell imo

On the other end of the scale, lol new smart

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/content/image/2/0/2011_smart_forvision_concept_01-4e5ee8b680810-450x240.jpg

(near-market concept)

That smart car makes me want to offer it a lollipop.

Here little car. It's lemon-flavored!

it's got a slightly pious face, i can imagine it saying in a piping voice that it's not allowed to eat sugar.

Fordiabetics

If the X6 is a Hot Wheels, this one's a Penny Racer

EVOQUE??? Really? That is a name for an actual car? It sounds like a terrible pre-mixed alcoholic cocktail or a celebrity perfume.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Premacy wins the bad-car-name battle imo

"Premacy" is extra terrible, I agree.

(I'm not playing down the awfulness of EVOQUE, mind)

I have just been told, in all seriousness, that "Beemers" are motorcycles and "Bimmers" are cars.

what is this world I have inadvertently stumbled into

That Evoque thing is not only completely terrible, but also it looks like the back row of passengers gets to look out of a 5" tall window???

And looking at it again, I think it only has a front seat and a back seat, NOT a third row! Which makes that car way too long in the wheelbase to only seat 4 people. Bastards.

1) hatchback (must fit dj table, drumkit, girlfriend)

In that order?

ha, well, if she comes to solo gigs with me now, the only place to sit is in the backseat next to the drums.

thanks for the suggestions guys, i'm checking them out (also looking at the hyundai elantra and honda fit?).

Oh I meant to mention the Fit, that was actually the first car that came to mind but old brand loyalty made me say Matrix

if I were a Beemer/bimmer person I would call all other cars bummers

I guess that would make me asshole dr seuss

dear HI DERE,

i keep getting fb posts from some weird app you must've gotten about how much fun you're having driving your new beemer around listening to tunes.

no need to rub it in,

love,

cad

I think I've passed some event horizon of insufferability:

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/MyBMW/SharedVideo.aspx?vin=5UXWX5C50BL714947&memberid=51305062

fat bloke 59secs in left out a screw, I'd get onto BMW, it looked important.

Mis-understood the particular meaning of 'screw' until I saw the video. BMW personal service apparently not that personal.

APPARENTLY SOMEONE SCRATCHED AN "L" ON OUR BUMPER

WHAT THE FUCK

you were a brave man to bring a new beemer to our city my friend.

does your place have a driveway or do you street park?

We have a lot behind our house and we're in the spot furthest from the street. J drives to a garage in Harvard Square every other day.

We did park on the street yesterday though, maybe it happened then...? Regardless I am LIVID.

dammit that sucks. i'm buying a new car soonish (key point: it won't be a beemer) and am pretty scared of shit like that.

i wonder what the L stands for.

i've had my (new at the time) car for 14 months now and have avoided any of that stuff. then again it's an altima, not a BMW

back when we lived in the city there was a guy on my block who owned a corvette and parked it in the alley way. now at that time the corvette in all likelihood was probably worth more than a house in that neighborhood. yet I never saw anybody fuck with it, never saw any scratches or keying. I think there sort of an 'aspirational' mentality or something - like, everybody in the neighborhood wanted to be able to own a corvette and accorded respect to anybody who actually did, in the belief that if they ever owned a corvette themselves, they would be given the same respect.

or maybe I just never looked at the corvette that closely or maybe red paint hides keying really well.

or maybe the dude was a well known badass around the neighborhood who had a big gun and a fierce dog. who knows!

right now I think the "L" stands for "Look out for me so you can jump up and down on my neck"

'lividness inducer'

I'm starting to get obsessed with the GLK

a worthy obssession

Yuck. Luxury SUV drivers are the biggest assholes on the road.

:(

Some of the high end/luxury suvs are attractive, but the GLK is not one of them.

hmm, see I was gonna say the exact opposite. Anyway seems that they don't make them running on petrol with stick transmission

i am now facing a HI DEREesque dilemma. so, uh, do we still love the X3?