Cars: Search & Destroy

I couldn't drive a BMW because it's all my UVA freshman roommate ever talked about--getting the Beeeeeeemer and I would think of her every time.

Old Volvos are okay but they get a little rusty when you get them old enough to look good. New Vovos are too pedestrian. My mom's friend tried to sell me a white one 10 years ago and I nipped that in the bud.

Saab too swoopy and aspirational.

Basically, I think I want an Old Jetta. Maybe they call with Jetta Classic.

I need an extra safe car because I am an absent-minded driver.

right now I would take an old volvo 850 estate. But then, estate cars suit me.

as far as safe cars go, import yourself one renault.

of course it's no good to you when you want the dents taken out but they do do best in the crash tests

Estate cars=station wagons? Ohhh no. The reason Renault's are safe is bc they don't run long enough to leave the driveway.

The Volvo S40 isn't too bad. And according to their website, it has "superfly styling."

Ed and Mary are talking past each other here, I think. Ed -- the US has German and Scandanavian brands, and some of the Saabs in the States are just rebadged Subarus -- none of the Fiat group (except Ferrari), nothing from the VW family except Audi and VW, no Peugeot or Citroen, no Renault except that there are some Nissan models that share some Renault components, the smaller VWs, MBs, and BMWs aren't available. Given the US obsession with driving vehicles that are basically miniature big rigs, you think there'd be a lot of diesels, but diesel fuel quality and availability are much lower in the States than in Europe so no go.

Mary: there's absolutely no comparison between the quality of today's Renaults and the ones from the 70s and 80s. New French cars are better made today than most new American cars -- it's the same with the Itlians. You should also consider a used C-class Mercedes -- they're terrific cars, and much less expensive than you'd imagine.

I saw a rover 75 in what appeared to be really good condition for 3500 quid yesterday. I guess the value of these machines is going to drop a lot. I do quite fancy one (the estate car/stn wgn version) i must admit.

Do you get the "SAABaru" in the states, then? IE the impreza wrx w/the saab-styled front end. I don't think they imported them into the uk.

No,I'm pretty sure not. I found this picture though, of the next Saab/Subaru xover vehicle.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/gallery/tmb/7879_image.jpg

Sickening really!

My mom has a Merc so that's what I drive when she let's me, but for me own car I need something more proletarian, with a dash of nice design. Something that says woman of the people, who just happens to appreciate design.

Mary, just go get a Golf already! You'll love it!

Okay! Do you recommend leasing or buying?

Sorry, Tombot, but the 9-2X is a re-badged Impreza, and the 9-7X is a re-badged Chevy Blazer or some other US SUV -- and both are on sale in the States.

I usually lease, but that's only because it's easier for me. Buying will always be cheaper in the long run.

Edmunds is a great resource for these kinds of questions:
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/

The mexican made VWs are prone to problems, according to what I've heard. Get the Mazda 3 noted above. (It's predecessor, the Protege5, won some mags best hatchback competion a couple years ago.)

I realized I also have a convertible Mercedes coupe in my garage--my mom is storing it for a friend. Perhaps this friend wouldn't mind if I adopted this as my car.

Does this '98 Beetle for ~$6000 look like a good deal?

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/69707519.html

Here is a car for Ally to learn to drive on

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/69572306.html

I don't like cars but I like this one:

http://www.bestjapancar.com/NISSANS/FGFR.JPG

if I had enough money to buy one and put an electric engine in it and park it offstreet, I may consider it, but I guess not.

That's cute, RJG. I didn't realize you were such a Japanophile!

I've gone off VW for now. I've done my consumer research and I didn't realize that they were not the best for maintenance/repair. I am surprized bc I thought VW stood for safety and longevity and all that good stuff. The Passat did get good ratings, but fuck a Passat.

I like the Hyundai Elantra--it's a cutie. However, without an acceptable safetly rating I don't think it is the car for me. Love the colors though--it feels quite fresh.

Seems in my compact range--Toyota and Honda have the best reps, for safety and reliability. This is important bc I have no money and I would be very sad if I had a car and it broke down and I had to spend a ton of money to fix it. Of course, cars are prone to break down, but I would rather have the least prone to break down car of the bunch.

Cars are so expensive! I don't know how anyone affords one!

So I am thinking of Civic or Corolla, or Prius or Civic hybrid. Civic is the smaller one, right? I mix it up with Accord.

I'm thinking red might not be the best color to get in this instance. Red is for drawing attention to a car, but when you are driving a mainstream, run of the mill car, maybe you don't want to draw attention? Maybe a nice silver . . . .? Fade into the background . . . .

how about a nice British Racing Green?

http://www.nw-autopage.com/lg_pics/0010241.jpg

The Civic is smaller than the Prius.

I'm really not looking forward to replacing my car when it finally expires...I'd rather not deal with them at all, but that's not very realistic given where I live.

haha, I didn't think I was such a japanophile!

ever since saab was bought by gm they've sucked hairy donkey balls.

Seriously, I had no idea how much these things cost. Of course I knew the base prices, but I didn't realize that if you didn't put all that money down, buying on the installment plan or leasing would average ~200/month on the economical side. More for a nice/r car. And that's not counting gas, repairs, insurance, tax (in VA there is a mysterious car tax wot I have heard referred to. Oh, and tickets, both of the speeding and parking nature. Then it seems by the time people pay their car off, they trade it in and buy a new one. What brave new world is this?

Hmm. I think if you subtract the amount of money you are saving in automobilism, NYC is really not that expensive to rent. A space to live, not the whole city. I guess I knew this in the abstract but I am just feeling the crushing weight of it now. Plus, I don't like to go out on the road with all of the crazies.

PS: Nicole if you have any advice for me on the librarian thread I would appreciate it. For instance, which type of vehicle best suits a woman of letters.

RJG: First a camera that can only be purchased in JP, than a similarly Nipponise car. Get with the times, dude, it all about Korean these days. Can you pass the kimchee?

oh, yeah, I forgot about the camera!

I got that, in the end, from austria.

: )

PS to Gabb: British racing green best suits British racing cars, not the bland, economical car of my future.

And to RJG: Perhaps you can get this J-car from Austria, too?

Do we have any Gen Y-ers here? How does they feel about the Scion.

Sorry Mary, I didn't see that thread. If I don't reply tonight I probably will have a chance tomorrow morning.

Oh, no rush. Here is the link for your reference are you now, or have you ever been, A Librarian? It was doing brisk business for a while but then seemed to fall off of the new answers page...

Or if you would prefer, and approve and submit, I could ask questions & you could proffer advice and/or dire warnings via personal e-mail accounts.

Gabb, don't make me cry. The MC lives in a galaxy far, far away, known to mortals by the name of Sterling.

I love the Scion Tc. It's loaded, reasonable and looks cool. Unfortunately, it's a bit too "boy" for me at this point (and maybe always would have been).

I am about to purchase a certified pre-owned vehicle from the Honda dealership--a 4 dr Civic sedan. Do I need a moon roof, ABS breaks, etc. even if it costs about $1000 more? I like the pretty black EX with the sun roof, but it is the most $. But it only has 5,000 miles. The black LX costs less, but doesn't have the same amenities. There is a blue VP (Value Package) for the lease money, but it doesn't have anything special on it. What do I care more about--fly looks or lowest monthly payments?

(these cars are all '04s)

ABS is very nice to have. moonroofs are a totally unnecessary luxury obv.

You guys are so cute when you talk about cars! Even the guys become Lisa Simpsonesque.

Mary, I've had a Civic and I'd tell you to go for it, but get the moonroof, especially if you smoke cigs/jam tunes loud.

Sun/Moonroof is pretty essetial. I skipped it on my current car and really regret it...

essential!

I don't smoke. This is the silly thing, I fell in love with the most $$$ Civic. I thought I'd feel hemmed in bc my mom's car has the moonroof. But on the way home, I looked up and realized I didn't even have it open. So maybe I am just fixating on this for no reason. I really wanted the ABS but I had sort of resigned myself to going without them since most of the models didn't come with.

x-post, thanks Spencer for confirming my desires!

How much under what they are asking should I offer? I don't know how to haggle!

Think about the lowest amount you feel comfortable offering and then offer them $500 less than that initially. Give them an opening bid of 60% of what they're asking for and try to haggle them down to the 75-80% range.

Alternately, have a shady salesman; we had one and as a result we ended up getting a Rav 4 L model valued at $27K for the base model no-amenity price of $21K.

Yikes. I need a calculator.

my ride: 2001 honda civic LX, my wife just got one too (new Civic VP - got it for below invoice! they had some crazy sale a few months back but apparently they raised prices shortly afterward to ease tension w/ US automakers)
ideal ride: late 70's/early 80's vintage Toyota Celica, SOOO cool, they're like little wolverines
i don't know of any car movies

Heh--I found out the price and it the price I wanted to pay but was embarassed to ask for bc I thought they would laugh at me. I used Edmunds to try and figure out what they payed, what private party people get payed, and what the dealers get payed--on average. They are still going to laugh at me, I know.

The dealer sold me this lovely sob story about how he bought the same car for his daughter, that's how much he believed in it, in the middle of the story his daughter changed into his niece, before he caught himself and said, I mean, my daughter.

Basically, you need to tell them "I love the car and I am going to buy it but you have to make me happy. I am not buying the car unless you make me happy." If they are under a quota crunch (I don't know if late June would qualify as crunch time), they will consider making concessions.

Alternately, lie out of your ass and tell them you're looking at a private sale for a similar car that's 20-30% less, but stress that you really, really love their car. If you moon over it enough and convince them that you're itching to pull the trigger, they will either drop the price for you or start throwing mad free shit at you to get you to sign the papers.

Hahaha also ask him how much he would make his niecedaughter pay. And still lowball the price even if you're willing to pay it.

(You may not want to bust him for his fake story but still hahahahaha.)

Also, they will try to upsell you on a bunch of BS after you've agreed to the deal - things like some special kind of wax protection etc. These things are all pure profit for the dealer. They may even make you try to sign things like "denied special wax coating protection" which is basically a scam. Just get up and say, "I'm leaving" and they'll chill out.

Hahahaha "special wax protection"! You should demand that they shrinkwrap the car for you.