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

get bridgestones or goodyears or something

Why no A4? So many certified options avail.

Obviously the Infiniti would have the edge on overall reliability.

I'd be concerned about 535 reliability, that engine has had many problems.

know who makes a good engine at a good value? honda motor co

you can choose among their four and six cylinder varieties, but they're both great. highly recommended.

The car I had before my Passat was a Honda Accord. I LOVED it. But still, I voted BMW, because I gotta confess that I think they are awesome.

"pre-owned" one of my least favorite euphemisms ever fyi

USED

it's fucking USED

"my brother jimmy, yeah, he runs a pre-owned car lot down next to the airport"

oh man how did i not include a AMC pacer on here

No A4 because, ideally, we want a car slightly larger than that.

(I recognize that the Mercedes C300 is likely about the same size as an A4 but I am willing to go there because it looks bad-ass.)

Audi, BMW, Merc: great and reliable but BORING

I <3 my Alfa Romeo ^_^

Do they even sell Alfas in the US?

the car i tried to kill you in was indeed a horizon. as you may recall i had managed to mount home stereo speakers in the back hatch. for its short lifespan it was very loud.

ball the fukk out get a white lambo or mb a heli

xxp Good luck USA if so. Next stop down, Lancia.

They sell Alfas in the US. LOL at me getting one, though; I'd need to be in a single-family home to justify that to myself.

I remember how loud that car was! You could get it to move by playing bass-heavy industrial music.

A3 and C300 and 328xi are all the same or smaller than A4

You're shopping certified, right?

Absolutely.

Write-in vote for Pre-owned Trabant

If it was pre-owned by Bono, forget it...

I vote HI DERE KITTY

http://i50.tinypic.com/1zmdvo3.jpg

Is AWD a requirement?

yeah, not having it is a dealbreaker for my wife

Leases on new A4s are really cheap right now.

and the new A4 is quite a big bigger.

bit!

I really should put the A4 back on the list, I know; cutting it was kind of an arbitrary decision.

The Neon is just the worst car ever, seriously.

You never knew an AMC Gremlin, obv.

youre just saying that because you havent seen the spoiler yet xpost

Oh come on, it's a gas! (xxpost)

Also S6 is $$$$$$

Make sure you low-ball the mofos at the dealership. Certified prices are just like any other - subject to change.

hondas are great aggro cars cos nobody ever expects it

Oh, lowballing is not a problem for me at all; we got our current car, a practically-loaded Rav4, for the base price of the basic model.

dealer got preowned

well, that's what happens when the dealer hires someone who accepts deposits from 4 different people for the same car

xpost A+

haha I still remember going in to get the car; my wife was about to burst into tears when she heard what had happened and I was all "DO YOU SEE, WE ARE ABOUT TO GET A MUCH, MUCH BETTER CAR THAN WE THOUGHT" and doing a happy little jig

It Had To Be Done:

http://reason.com/assets/mc/_ATTIC/ngillespie2/amc_gremlin.jpg

Strengths:

Audi - interior by far, best AWD
BMW - best performance (although mitigated somewhat by AWD system), cachet
Mercedes - most cachet
Infiniti - reliability by far

Styling is of course subjective.

xp: ... do we have to dress like that?

it might be worth owning two Gremlins if it means my wife has to dress like that

idk, can't speak for any late model mercedes, but i know at least 4 ppl driving 25+ yo Mercedes with very little trouble.

of course when there *is* trouble it is $$$

My sense of Mercedes is that the engine is always solid, but the gizmos crap out.

I think Dan is shamefully overlooking the Pinto. You could re-enact Cujo and everything!

Import a second hand Reliant Robin.

The Neon is just the worst car ever, seriously.

― ô_o (Nicole), Thursday, May 27, 2010 3:02 PM (50 minutes ago)

No way, my first car was a '78 Pinto. It broke me of ever becoming emotionally attached to a mere vehicle.

i know it's commonly accepted that Audi Has The Best Interiors but I'm not really a fan. I mean, they don't suck but they're the VW instrument panel and the switchgear's kinda tacky.

it might be worth owning two Gremlins if it means my wife has to dress like that

― Image: electrostimulation applied on a penis (HI DERE), Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:16 PM (55 minutes ago)

she has to dress like that no matter what imo, new rules for new cars

'0 to 60 in 15.3 seconds'

Tacky switchgear on Audis?! As opposed to what?

prices on those AMCs vs. average wage of American worker in 1970 vs. now = why we are fucked now

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Income_Distribution_1967-2003.svg

? indeed

as opposed to other mid-premium marques imo. harder plastics, "clickier" feel. it was cool in the bauhausy days of the TT v1 but it's pretty long in the tooth. fwiw i prefer it in Audi red over VW blue... anyhoo i acknowledged i'm in the minority here so imho ymmv etc etc

Hmm, not sure what which Audi you're referring to. The A4 interiors are totally covered in soft grippy rubberized material with very fine grain, WAY better than BMWs and Mercedes (harder and more vinyl-ey and larger textures) and WAY WAY better than Japanese luxury marks which all seem to be obsessed with that hard dark gray plastic with metallic flakes. The soft fine-grained matte material on the 2002-2008 A4 dash for instance is one of the best I've ever encountered. Also, the instrumentation and controls are always logical and perfectly laid out. I mean, I'm not the only one who reviews them this way.

Please note that the 1993 Cutlass Ciera of historical significance has been preowned by two ilxors. Plus a cutlass is a sword.

Sorry, I meant Audi has the best interiors aside from the 1993 Cutlass Ciara.

Thank you. Plus there are mysteries. What's under the seats? I haven't looked.

i'd go with merc, as long as you know someone that's good with electrics. still voted bus, for future WORLDFAP convenience

preowned by two ilxors

Depends on who the two ILXors are. If one of them is Ned Raggett then it should be in the Smithsonian in a glass cabinet.

Voted for Merc. I've owned four BMWs in the past and all were terrific cars, but every repair job was $1700. No matter what it was.

If awd is a requirement, then vote should automatically go to Audi.

No clown car?

My preference would be for smaller cars and wagons and hatches rather than sedans.

A3 or bmw 328 xdrive wagon.

i went w/ the pre-owned Audi. no real reason, except maybe the Statham Super Bowl commercial.

Please note that the 1993 Cutlass Ciera of historical significance has been preowned by two ilxors. Plus a cutlass is a sword.

This means that at least 3 iloxrs have owned a '93 Olds Cutlass Ciera. Mine crapped out at 160k, and any time past 100k, the mechanic was blown away.

Consider the VW CC or the GTI. Great cars. Not AWD, though.

Given the choices, I would go Audi, BMW, then Mercedes. Have never driven an Infinity.

I would go with the Audi so that in any uncomfortable situation you can stand up, point to your car keys (with the audi fob) and say "I'm sorry but I'm audi 5000" and leave

haha

and

xpost: there is an AWD CC. I think it's one of the best looking cars on the road right now. Only problem is, to even get a FWD with sunroof means spending as much as an AWD A4...

Just looked, the AWD CC costs $40K plus!

Probably go for a beem out of the real world options, even though recent ones are pretty ugly. Audis are pretty wanky to me, None of the mrecs seem very exciting - you can't stretch to a CLS merc? they're pretty nice-looking machines.

I voted fro preowned OTHER, other being a '63 R4 avanti with round headlights.

Swipe the Tucker from the Tupelo Auto Museum -- they'll never miss it. (I think they get about a dozen visitors a month.)

Toyota!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R1JOcl0VlA

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

aren't audis renowned for just stopping out of nowhere and then cost a gazillion dollars to fix? id go mercedes for sure. bmws are boring.

You know I've heard that some people, particularly in the midwest, are SERIOUSLY pimping out Ford Tauruses these days. I'm talking high def windshields

civic or corolla or something

beamer benz or bentley?

Honestly, I'd go for a VOLVO XC60. YUMMY.

Is preowned okay? My parents are vehemently against it, but my father in law has a preowned (okay okay secondhand wtf is up with preowned) sports car.

My husband is obsessed with a VW Golf.

I dunno, I reealllllyyyy love a volvo xc60 but it's a bit silly considering where I live. A smaller car is much easier to navigate in this tiny town.

haha pre-owned is the only card on the table; fuck paying $30+K for a car IMO (altho for the right car I will go to $35K but don't tell the dealer that)

where is "should have been on minnesota hi school friendz bored so i could more easily not give a fuck"

; ) j/k buy anything you feel like but give it some thought!!

it will be more thought out once we do some test drives; right now we're both pretty enamored with the idea of a pre-owned Infiniti M35x but I can't stop gooning over Mercedes C300s and E350s

AND I got the opportunity to ride in a BMW X3 last week and it was kind of gorgeous (the sun roof alone, which is the size of almost the entire roof, came close to selling me on the car)

Mercedes, Infiniti, BMW, esp. Audi - all great makes & insurance is often more reasonable than you'd think, but just make sure you factor in repair/service/replacement-cost expenditures in yr decision. I got burned this way with a used Audi A4 a few years back: Cost of the car & insurance was within my budget at the time, but maintenance most assuredly was NOT, esp. since I had to take it to the dealer to have a diagnostic run on the computer whenever the slightest thing went wrong & I forget the base cost for the reading, but is was ridic high, like over $100. Any little piece of plastic that may need to be replaced will cost at least that much (even if you buy used parts) & if you need yr transmission rebuilt or something like that LOL

It was a sweeeeeet ride, but, until such a time as I'm making comfortably 50k/yr+, I'm sticking w/ Japanese rides (& BIKES, buses, subways etc.).

FWIW, my A4 was repaired last week for an astonishingly modest amount of money. And I was also quoted less than €20 for a little piece of plastic that needs replacing.
As they say, YMMV...

Important breaking news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXiJBp7HK5o

xp - the difference prob has to do w/ pricing being milked in the US b/c of Audi's "luxury import" status

Most ppl here find audis fucking boring.

Not crazy about merc xs at all btw. Blergh.

http://www.mercedesbenzpic.com/mercedesbenz/car/pictures/2010/03/c300front.jpg

I think this car is almost painfully beautiful tbh

xxxp at least that's not the one with the fake newsreader playing football on the tenuous grounds that it's a World Cup year...

Also should be webuyalmostanycar.com - they wouldn't have bought my old Vauxhall in '93. I got £5 for it from a dealer, but then it was absolutely shagged to the bollocks.

xxpost, I love that angle, but the rear is problematic. Those wheels and the panoramic black roof are awesome too. The interior isn't my favorite at all though.

I didn't have a 93 Cutlass Sierra but I did have an 84 Cutlass Supreme, so write-in vote for 84 Cutlass Supreme. CUTLASS!

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v316/249/65/713441069/n713441069_1832123_1828.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/LEE_Spike_1996_Get_on_the_bus_0_poster.jpg

YES

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque.com/media/2009/01/riding_the_bus_small.jpg
http://www.autisminfo.com/images/RidingTheBusMovie.jpg

ilx has thrown hi dere under the bus

So?

he went out and bought everything that got a vote iirc

posting from hi deres bus at the moment with the wind blowing through my hair

pics, please

you guys

the new X3

I can't even

IT HAS A HUD

does it have silver paint

does the passenger door open using a crank device attached to a shiny vertical metal handle

silver paint: yes
mechanical crank: no but maybe it's an option...?

I am about to gladly become an insufferable douchebag and get this car NEW because really who needs money

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/x5/x5/2006/allfacts/_shared/img/ergonomics_hud.jpg

I could drive down the road with that in my windshield, and only I could see it

basically, it would be like getting into a car and becoming a Terminator

does it display point values for things you run over

yes!

waiting for this car has been torture btw

why do you hate democracy

I love democracy! I'm just bad at reading

i tell the children of ILX that every vote counts and then something like this happens

fwiw I am still waiting but at least I now know it's actually being built

oh hai ^_^

Does it always take this long to buy a car or are you getting custom Batmobile add-ons that require rare minerals and a secret cave for construction?

Oh wait you got it. Sorry. I'm stupid. So very, very fucking stupid.

to answer your question, as far as I can tell the only ppl who got similar cars who post to beemer douchebag forums are either:

- smug Americans bragging about their two week turnaround time
- sad non-Americans bemoaning their 6-11 MONTH wait

from order to pickup, it took us 6 weeks, which is probably typical but seemed VERRRRRRRRY long, esp. since at first it looked like we were going to be among the smug braggarts until we realized the car we were tracking WASN'T ACTUALLY OURS

Months! Is that a BMW thing specifically?

Also how awesome is your car?

i need a new car y'all. requirements:

1) hatchback (must fit dj table, drumkit, girlfriend)
2) reliable (i love my beat-up corolla)
3) excellent gas mileage

?

scion xB (lol)

maybe a Matrix?

Months! Is that a BMW thing specifically?

Also how awesome is your car?

The problem is that all X3s are made in South Carolina; if you live in the US or Canada, it's relatively quick to get one, but if you live elsewhere you have to put up with the build delay and THEN the shipping delay.

Fortunately the car is REALLY FUCKING AWESOME. Totally worth several months of ramen noodles and PB&J.

we just bought our first car - volvo s60 - and had to wait 6+ weeks for delivery, couple weeks longer than the promised month but so worth it. this has been the summer of cruising :)

see at least you got yours in time for the summer

we thought we were gonna be cruising for at least SOME of August, but no

That is very interesting -- I didn't realize cars took that long to get once you ordered them! I think my parents have always bought existing cars, even if they have to be shipped from California or something, at least they already exist on a dealer's lot somewhere. This is probably at least partly because their car sales guy is at this point a friend they've known for 20 years, and he makes the prices work for them by selling off existing inventory.

Yeah, the manufacturing wait for what we REALLY wanted was the biggest drawback to buying a new hot-selling car. They had one car on the lot that was ALMOST what we wanted but it didn't have the backup camera and we didn't love the interior leather/trim combination, and really once you get into that price range I am firmly of the opinion that you should get EXACTLY what you want.

That's true! And awesome for you!!

DJP pick us up in your new ride so we can make a music video for my new vanity pop single.

cruisin' down Newbury St, hollerin' out the moonroof at ladeez

kind of bums me out that you got the back up camera because now it is more likely that you will notice me creeping up shaking my spray can

Okay, surely ILX is a haven for VW owners. I'm looking at a Golf/Rabbit of recent vintage and I've read that 2006 and newer years have corrected all the reliability and integrity problems that plagued the brand for a while. Can anyone confirm?

Either that, or a Saturn Astra (which Euros and Britishes know as either an Opel or Vauxhall).

(also, HOORAY DJP!)

xxxxp - that's frustrating, we cancelled a memorial day weekend trip cause the car wasn't waiting yet. we bitched a little to the dealer and that may have sped things up. reading over the paperwork i was surprised to see how many countries were involved, various parts made all over the world and then shipped to sweden for assembly I guess. my brother, who works at GM in detroit, said this kind of delay never happens w/american cars, though he also recommended against buying domestic. he's a total cynic.

still cruising around new england in the fall is going to be pretty awesome.

wasn't waiting ready yet

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

In that order?

scion xB (lol)

I don't know. I-Go has these cars or maybe those Cubes and they aren't that bad for a cheap car with lots of interior room. Of course there's a difference between driving a goofy looking car with a THIS IS AN IGO CAR LOL sticker for a couple of hours to go get groceries and having that be the car that you actually own.

FYI the Pontiac Vibe is the same car as the Toyota Matrix with a different body (ie same guts) and it costs significantly less. the Vibe looks dorkier (more station wagon-y) though. we're looking at both of these for when we finally have the cash to get a new (used) car.

Really? I didn't know about the Matrix/Vibe connection (though it makes sense, because the Geo Prizm used to be the Toyota Corolla).

Jordan, how about a Ford Fiesta? They're rel. cheap, cool looking, they've got excellent gas mileage, (29 city/ 38 highway/ 33 combined) and they're not played out like the mazda 3 5-door which costs 5Gs more, plus it's a Mazda.

plus it's a Mazda

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

I thought Mazdas notorious for transmission problems, and kind of synonymous with every-two-month mechanic visits. In my experience, at least...

Now that you mention it, mine had a bunch of little $10 and $20 problems, but never anything really severe or that I couldn't fix myself with a screwdriver. I'd gladly trade the occasional $1000 repair on the cars I've had since for the 30-minutes-on-Saturday fixing my 323.

The new Mazda 3s have a great look, though:

http://www.visionale.net/wp-content/uploads/2011-mazda-mazda3-.jpg

Is that a concept or for reals? Because that would be a pretty drastic style leap from what's currently on the road.

that mazda looks like a very big vegetable slicer

maybe a juicer

That's for reals. It's very cool looking. I'm not too proud to say that I really like the 2012 redesign of the VW Beetle:

http://image.automobilemag.com/f/features/news/1003_2011_volkswagen_new_beetle/32154942+w440/1003_01_z+2011_volkswagen_new_beetle+front_three_quarter_view.jpg

squished tomato

http://car-pics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2012-Mazda-3-Front-Angle.jpg

Aerodynamic Smurf?

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?