Re: New Car Opinions
Originally posted by dxp4acu
Well, my 1995 Mazda Protege has just about hit the ground. They can't fix the computer except with a new part, which is $1100. My car is worth about that much, so time to look for a new one.
I am looking to replace it with a 2003 or 2004 for under $20,000 (hopefully under $15,000). I have really enjoyed Mazda so a new Protege/6/3 is a definite possibility.
Anyone else have any suggestions about which cars to look at? Have you had experiences with newer Mazdas? Any cars you like other than Mazdas?
This protege has given me hardly any problems over the 130,000+ miles its been driven.
I research cars for a living, and I think you'd do well with a mazda 3. A friend test drove it and said the steering was a bit numb, but other than that, its a solid car that handles well, has a good engine and gets good mileage too boot.
Scion is worth considering if you don't mind the weird looks and low horsepower. They are practical, well built cars though. The upcoming TC coupe looks a lot better than the current offerings and shuold be a pretty nice car from what I saw at the detroit auto show.
There's the chevy aveo, but it just looks and feels cheap and its way small.
The dodge neon is probably worth looking at.
The ford focus is a fun car to drive, and certainly worth looking at. I'm not a huge fan of american cars, but the focus looks good.
Honda civic, a bit bland, but its hard to go wrong with it.
Definiltey worth at least checking out the koreans, like hyundai and kia. You get a lot of ryour money and a great warranty. expect meterials to be cheap though and engines udnerpowered and unrefined.
Mitsuibishi Lancer, good car all around, though I'd probably opt for a civic first.
Nissan Sentra is pretty solid. nissan has impressed me over the last couple of years. A solid choice.
I would stay away from the saturn Ion. I own a saturn now and I would never buy from them again. Price is right, but you'd probably do better with an import.
Toyota Corolla, like the civic, can't really go wrong with it. A bit pricey for what you get, but its very well built. The toyota ECHO should be avoided, you can get more on a scion for less money and they are both made by toyota.
If you want to spend a little bit more, I'd definiltey look at subaru, they make some great, well built stuff. I'm going to cross shop MINI as well, though with options, its price gets up there.
In the used market you'r probably looking at more or less the same cars. I have to say that if I had to buy right now and wanted to spend around 15k, I'd probably get the Mazda 3 sport wagon. I was just impressed by what I saw at the car shows and on paper it looks great. A 15 thousand dollar car is never going to really be great in terms of quality of materials used in the interior, but the mazda was definiltey pretty good. Its an upgrade over the protege in every way, and the protege was pretty competative too.
Of course, you gotta figure out whats best for you. The "best choice" is a compromise. If you really want good gas mileage, you have to give up engine power. if you want the best handling, you'll probably have to pay a bit more. same goes if you want the reputation of someone like toyota, or the safety features of a subaru. Gotta figure out what is relaly important to you and go through each vehicle and eliminate them based on that criteria. whittle it down to a mangeable number of choices and then go out and drive them and see how they feel, how they perform, and pay attention to details like ergonomics and standard features that may or may not be important to you.
On the other hand, a new car will cost you several thousand dollars a year in loan payments and increased insurance (and maybe more in gas). fixing your car for a thousand bucks will be a good investment if it lasts even 6 months longer. How hard you drive it and the mileage is important in considering that. I want a new ca so bad but figure it will cost around 4-5k a year to do it, so the 1600 bucks I spent fixing the transmission has been well worth it since its lasted two years. I saved probably 5 thousand dollars by doing the repair, and its been reliable ever since because I take great care of my car.
