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03/27/2005 11:34:31 AM · #26 |
| BTW, congrats on your graduation. Best of luck to you in the future. |
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03/27/2005 11:38:54 AM · #27 |
Don't forget Consumer Reports magazine. I think the April issue is the one where they review a lot of cars. The web site has a lot of info but you need to subscribe. I do subscribe and have gotten a lot about a lot of things, including cars.
Just my $0.02.
I like Toyotas BTW. On my second Camry. |
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03/27/2005 11:39:04 AM · #28 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
Originally posted by FirstAid:
With the way gas prices are going up check out the Toyota Prius. It gets like 50 something Mpg city. We test drove one and for a small car it drove better than most. It is cutting edge tech. Check it out. |
Remember he's looking at a used car... with the waiting list for new ones, used Priuses are very difficult to come buy, and when one does find them, they typically sell for very close to their original price.
-Terry |
I got this 2001 Prius for the new year in Santa Monica ... they had six on the lot, and marked the price down from about $18,500 to $14,500 (with tax and registration and everything it was back up to about $18k). I've been getting about 45 mpg combined city/highway driving. |
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03/27/2005 12:21:16 PM · #29 |
I'll stick with my recommendation of the Passat. As for the new car info, I think one of the best ways to shop for a used car is to start looking at the new cars (the model you are most interested in). . .then work backward to what you can afford. I look to see if the consumer satisfaction is the same today as the year of the vehicle I am interested in. The Consumer Report suggestion is right on for this purpose. Don't do anything without looking at that.
The suggestion to look at two years lease cars is also fantastic. My son bought a Ford Ranger off a used car lot that was returned after the two year lease was up. It still had a warrenty on it. The lease program also makes sure that they are well taken care of. That was 8 years ago and the truck is still running strong. |
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03/27/2005 12:50:37 PM · #30 |
Originally posted by drydoc:
The suggestion to look at two years lease cars is also fantastic. |
You can also often get good 1-2 year old cars (with warranty) from the major rental companies. |
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03/27/2005 01:12:38 PM · #31 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
Originally posted by nsbca7:
Well common sense should tell you not to get another Ford. Toyotas and Hondas are the most reliable vehicles on the market to my knowledge and their resale value is also good. |
Why would you say that? I have a Ford with 112,000 miles on it and no problems.
-Terry |
See, with a Toyota or a Honda you wouldn't even be quoting that fact. Most Toyotas are rated at about 500K if the oil is changed on a regular basis. Very few Fords ever live beyond the 200K mark without a major component such as the engine or transmission being replaced. There are exceptions to this, but they are that, exceptions. I own a Ford and a Toyota and have owned quite a few Fords and one other Toyota in the past. I like both of the ones I have now. I trust the Toyota. I work on the Ford.
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03/29/2005 03:00:02 AM · #32 |
First of all, I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone for all of your wonderful help and suggestions. I definitely tried to keep them in mind during the search.
As for the car, I figured I would update here once everything got figured out. We certainly ended up going higher end than I expected, as my previous vehicles were a '89 Toyota Pickup (no model name), and a '95 Ford Windstar. Anyhow, my parents decided that it would be best to get a car that would be safe and reliable for a long time to come. That car ended up being a '02 BMW 325i (48k on it) - MUCH more of a car than I ever expected (and much more than I feel I even deserve).
I wanted to wait until the end of the week to have time to think about it and make a decision, but my dad isn't always the greatest about being patient when it comes to things like this and wanted me to make a decision that day after visiting only three dealerships (he chose not to go through a private seller, which I think is why we ended up with a newer model - the dealerships we visited didn't seem to carry anything below '01/'02 in most cases).
In any case, it's a wonderful car - it just has the basics and is a 5-speed (although I'm not much of a speed demon, to be honest - and oddly enough, I think I drive slower in this thing than I did in my Windstar). It came down between this car and a new Mazda 3 for just slightly less, but I figured that the resale value on this would maintain longer (especially considering that we are buying it used and not losing 5 or 6 thousand just by driving it off the lot). It was indeed a 2-year lease that was returned after the lease was up.. we checked the carfax and I ran my fingers and eyes over every inch of it (and drove it a decent bit too) before I made my decision. I think that it will end up being my car for the next 160,000 miles or more - and I hope that that's without many problems (crossing fingers). We did add an extended warranty (mfr ends in 2,000 miles) until 100,000 to be safe.
The guy at the dealership was extremely helpful, not pushy, and had an amazing wealth of information. He said that he used to work at a BMW dealership and the average maintenance costs (per year) on a BMW are less than any other car on the road (per service costs are higher, but required maintenance usually ends up being less severe/necessary).
Message edited by author 2005-03-29 03:00:58.
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03/29/2005 03:37:32 AM · #33 |
| Congrats on your BMW. I was going to recommend a Toyota Camry which served us well for a while. |
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03/29/2005 03:38:23 AM · #34 |
Congrats on the car ... but where are the pictures???? ;)
David
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03/29/2005 04:00:44 AM · #35 |
| congrats ! great choice.. love the BMW :) |
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03/29/2005 05:17:21 AM · #36 |
Thanks :) - pictures will definitely be coming - although I'm up north (away from my personal computer) for awhile, so when they get uploaded is still a question. I'll probably take some within the next few days, but my mom only has a 56k connection, so it may be another week or more before I get them up.. I'll post them here for anyone interested (although it does just look like every other one out on the road - maybe I can get some unique angles or something).
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