Looking for a Car (Full Version)

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HomeSpunLady -> Looking for a Car (5/10/2008 9:47:47 AM)

We are expecting #2 at the end of sept. We have a Saturn SL1, four door, manual right now that gets like 38 mpg. But it's tiny. We pack it full of stuff when we travel. I don't know where we'd put a baby. And all his stuff. Now we are looking into getting a new or used car. We have the cash to make a nice down payment and a car to trade in. We want to find something that's a bit bigger, but still gets good mpg.

We don't travel as much as we used to. Maybe 3 times a year. My tiny car would be fine for around the town jaunts. Would it be better to just rent a larger car for the times we would really need it?

Oh, and this car and my husbands car are paid off. Run well.

Just because we have the money doesn't mean I want to spend it. KWIM?

Either, what are your thoughts? What would you do? And what sort of car would you buy?



Miss Giggles -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/10/2008 12:05:02 PM)

whats your idea of good mpg? Car Manufacturers are not improving fuel economy in newer cars. Every year the cars get heavier and bigger engines.

Good for a small car is 30+mpg (freeway)

Good for a medium car will be slightly less than that low 20s - mid 20s (avg) depending on the engine (V6 uses more gas, and so will awd)

Crossovers will probably be around that. Forget SUVS unless you buy someones that can't sell it for poor mpg and no resale value.

There are No newish cars that are not a hybrid will get 38 mpg+..



HomeSpunLady -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/10/2008 12:26:52 PM)

We are willing to buy a used car too. I know that brings a lot of cars into the equation, but we don't mind used.



Miss Giggles -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/11/2008 10:24:56 AM)

Are you looking for an accord/camry type car (midsize sedan) or something bigger?

I haven't had any good experience with GM cars and Fords are not fuel efficient (except the focus).. neither is Chrysler. Their long term reliability isn't that great (neither is saturn, there a lot of bad reviews on their new line and their resale value is HORRIBLE, I had two and took a big loss to get rid of a junky SUV that no one that knew about cars would buy used.)

You'll probably want to look at new or used Hondas and Toyota's. Better resale value, and good for long term reliability.



APZR -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/11/2008 11:11:48 PM)

We get about 20 MPG in a Honday Odyssey. Plenty of room, and you can get used very reasonable now.



jod78 -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/12/2008 8:57:29 AM)

Toyota RAV4 (specifically the newer design)
Toyota Highlander, basically a Camry in SUV form
Honda CR-V
Honda Odyssey
Honda Pilot



blessedinnyc -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/12/2008 10:38:33 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Miss Giggles

Are you looking for an accord/camry type car (midsize sedan) or something bigger?

I haven't had any good experience with GM cars and Fords are not fuel efficient (except the focus).. neither is Chrysler. Their long term reliability isn't that great (neither is saturn, there a lot of bad reviews on their new line and their resale value is HORRIBLE, I had two and took a big loss to get rid of a junky SUV that no one that knew about cars would buy used.)

You'll probably want to look at new or used Hondas and Toyota's. Better resale value, and good for long term reliability.

I don't know about that. I drove a Ford Mustang for 75,000 miles and put about $500 in maintenance into it over the course of seven years. I also averaged about 27 mpg. I sold the car for $8,000 less than I paid for it, so I don't think I got that bad of a deal.

American cars aren't as awful as people seem to make them out to be. In fact, in India, American cars have a better reputation for quality than Japanese ones.



Miss Giggles -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/12/2008 12:25:54 PM)

Thats my personal experience. I know that there are some good american cars but on avg toyotas and hondas hold their resale value a lot higher.

I am very familiar with the import issue as I live in michigan, however had I known about the poor reliability of my Saturn Vue which is now made in Mexico then I would have bought the crv, and still have it, and would have gotten a LOT better resale value for it. But that's getting on a different subject.



Row1 -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/13/2008 12:39:46 PM)

we used a small, high mileage car for baby until recently, at abt a year and a half.

i think you could see how the saturn goes at first, for a few months. it was not bad using a low-to-the-ground honda economy car while junior was so small. now that he walks and wiggles and is so big, it is so much nicer to be in a used minivan we recently bought (straight up cash no loan).

but i had a couple different reasons: child #1 just got driver license, so she got honda. and baby #3 is on the way.

anyway: the 6cyl caravan is abt 20mpg or a little worse, for running around on errands. but it greatly improved our life cuz it is so much easier to get the kids in it, plus junk.

at $4 per gallon, and a thousand miles per month typical driving, every 5mpg regular mileage would cost you about $240/year.

So, going from 40mpg to 20mpg would cost you about $1000/yr more in gas, if you typically drive 12,000/yr local stuff.

in my experience, renting a car costs about 300/week, and a minivan a lot more than that, maybe 500/week.

so, if you can avoid renting for 3 trips per year, that may make it worth it to go to a minivan.



jod78 -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/13/2008 1:48:12 PM)

You might also want to consider crash test ratings on some of these different cars you are looking at. I'm not trying to knock your Saturn, but important to me is how well they perform in various crash tests. Some of the results are appauling and I know Saturn has had some issues. You might have great frontal ratings, but results for something like rear side impact might be horrible and maybe the odds are that noone will ever
T-bone you with your kids in the backseat, but personally I refuse to take the risk, so any vehicle that I put my kids into is going to be one that has been proven to protect them well while in the backseat.



PrincessDonna -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/15/2008 8:21:29 AM)

Subarus have great cargo space and also AWD, which is great on snow and ice. They're also easier to find in standard than most cars, which increases gas mileage, if you know how to drive standard. We've found them to be good cars. A lot of people around here drive them to 200,000 miles.



Ellie-Mae -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/17/2008 7:25:15 AM)

ha! Donna beat me to it! If I only had two kids, I would have a subaru wagon again. We had way more than 200,000 miles on our wagon before the body rusted out (we live in NY), but the engine was still running fine.[:)] We still have a wagon for my hubby to drive. We also helped my mom get a wagon. Oh, and my brother just picked up an old wagon too. We would look like a subaru dealership if it weren't for the 15 passenger van sitting out there.

Another nice thing about Subarus is that because you can buy older ones and still have them be really good cars (ours is 18 years old), you may be able to pay for them in cash without taking out a loan which is always nice.



reach -> RE: Looking for a Car (5/21/2008 5:04:40 PM)

I have had 3 hondas. The two before the one I have were civics, and I drove them to over 300,000 miles. The 2nd one my sister is still driving at about 329,000 miles.

I then got an CRV, and I love it. It has lost of room, and I get 28-33 mpg. I love that car.

I got mine used and below blue book. It is the best car and has lots for room in the back seat for people and the back, back has room for camping stuff.



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