I got lucky with my Impreza - it only took two weeks. I really wanted to find an 08ish Forester with a MT, but it was cheaper for me to just buy a new Impreza.
Printable View
I'm souring on the Fit. My Volvo 945 has been parked at my parents house for about two months awaiting major repairs that may never happen, so the Fit has been our only car. I'm 6'2", and frankly, the Fit is brutal. A few things combined - seat is too low, not enough legroom, and no thigh support - conspire to cause me major hip flexor discomfort even on a short drive. Left leg is worse than my right, but even my right leg gets sore because the gas pedal is so light. Plus, the seats have no lumbar support.
We're moving soon to a larger place, and will keep it until then, but I can't wait for it to go away. We could trade it for a pretty nice A4 Avant or Volvo V70, which is a total no-brainer to me.
We live on a dirt road at the end of a long dirt driveway in a place that gets 100" of snow a year. We drive as little as possible, staying close to home as much as we can. Our situation informs our choices. We must have all-wheel drive and we never skimp on two wheel sets for the weather.
My SO drives an Audi Q5, which I find superior to any other small SUV type vehicle I've driven. Hands down, this is my favorite ride of anything that isn't my other car.
I sold my summer sports car (too expensive to fix, insure, and really too few days with the roof down here in the north country) and bought an Audi S5. It has the fat man from Boca comfort I want, costs less than the Astin Martin that I dream about, and cares not what the weather brings. The S5 may be the only fast car impractical gas-drinking love affair you can have that will plow through snow almost as fast as an M3/5 that is only good on dry roads. RWD is for other people, not around here.
I have the same love/hate relationship with cars that I do with bikes. And about the same opinions. But I'm not sure what that means entirely.
While not very fuel efficient (about 17 or 18 mpgs), I do love my 99 Range Rover 4.6 HSE. I got rid of the air suspension and switched to coil, so I don't have to deal with the maintenance of that. The parts can sometimes be pricey, but there is so much info out there about them online, that most things are easy to fix by yourself at home. You can also get cheap parts at British Atlantic. If we need to drive anywhere, we take my wife's SAAB 93. Great gas mileage, fast and fun to drive.
Why are we not talking about this?
http://www.4x4offroads.com/image-fil...4x4-bronco.jpg
BR | Models | ICON
The wife and I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Mercedes 560SL. We have no kids and lots of sunshine here and occasionally want to roll in style.
broncos are cool and all
but i'd import a diesel fj40/45 from s. america or an old series rover before
Attachment 37251
wut??
i didn't even catch that icon bit
took me a minute
totally nuts og
no compromises and all that
"jackpot"--definitely
Don't forget that Icon started with Cruisers!
http://coolmaterial.com/wp-content/u...-fj-models.jpg
all of the above are VERY nice. For me, I'm saving my midlifecrisisgetoutofjailfree card for a carrara 4 s cabriolet.
I'm with too tall, love the action of all wheel drive........the push and pull through the corners............
The classic styling of the 911 & a drop top for the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom in the hill country....
cheers,
shaner
I found a bunch of mold in my Golf yesterday. Wife said "sell it".
I'm looking at MINI's online. Somebody stop me please. I've never seen a straight guy down here drive a MINI. I could be the first.
Because this is substantially more awesome?
East Coast Rover Co.
http://eastcoastrover.com/CMC151/CMC2.jpg
I think Icon got their whole thing from ECR. Their website is a lot cooler, though.
Jetta tdi diesel (redundant, I know) 6-speed manual with fold down backseats. 500-600 miles between filling up. 35'ish in the city and 45'ish plus on the highway. Feels solid and will treat you right.
Mini's aren't that reliable from what I've read. Briefly looked at them when I was shopping for a car a few years ago.
This is what I ended up with instead: 2008 Honda Civic Si Sedan.
Swapped in some aftermarket springs, rear sway bar, and alignment hardware. I LOVE this car.
4 doors, seats 4 comfortably for around town trips, the drivers seat is amazingly comfy and supportive, the best cupholders ever (you can rag it out thru the mtns and not spill a drip), big trunk, very fun to drive, quick enough (certainly not fast though), 200hp out of a 2.0L I4 with a screaming 8,000rpm redline, and I average at least 29mpg every tank. And it's as reliable as a hammer. I bought it new for $22,500 OTD and after over 90,000 miles it's only been to the shop once because the AC wasn't cool any more. The valves were loose, had it back the same day and the repair bill was less than $80. Changing the oil is a massive PITA though because the filter is hard to get to and right above the passenger side drive axle.
My next car will be another Honda.
http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/24...600x600Q85.jpg
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/x...2/21a2a23e.jpg
Yep.
I knew,someday, I'd get my 3-series BMW. This thought had been with me since I was, oh, 15 or 16.
And last month the realistic opportunity finally presented itself - I had the means, I had the need. But then I drove a TSX Wagon and 328ix Wagon back to back, and I realized I'm a Honda kinda guy. Don't get me wrong - the Bimmer is great. But so, in its own subtle way, is the Acura.
So I've got a shiny new wagon and about $12k more than I thought I would still in my pocket. Or from another perspective, I've got two Hondas for a few thousand more than one BMW.
With age comes wisdom, I guess.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...2B08.37.48.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4...2B12.30.21.jpg
Screw BMW. I want something reliable that doesn't cost a ton to buy or repair. And I don't care about status symbols.
A buddy of mine's father in law works at a local bimmer dealer, so my buddy's wife has a 3 series lease for stupid cheap (~$90 a month) and they've had all sorts of issues, the last was that the car would lock itself in a security mode if it was put in park sometimes. So his wife went to a drive up ATM, put it in park, and then couldn't leave. Wait 20mins and it'll unlock itself. Took the dealer two weeks to fix it b/c BMW sent them the wrong wiring diagram to look at. The local techs spent hours on the phone with engineers at BMW trying to figure out WTF was happening. Finally someone realized they had the wrong wiring diagram (after installing several hundred dollars worth of parts trying to fix it), turned out it was like a $25 part or something stupid. Luckily it's a lease, so it didn't cost them anything and they had a loaner while it was in the shop.
A few weeks ago the same buddy took delivery of a brand new 1M. Badass looking car. Went thru the break in period, took it to the dealer to have the fluids swapped, then discoverd they put the wrong fluids in it (tranny and oil IIRC). They didn't believe him. He kept pressing the issue, and they finally realized they screwed up. When trying to get the correct fluids they called my buddy to get the part number because they couldn't find it in the system! Then the car sat at the dealer for a week waiting on the fluids to get here.
Thanks for the validation!
I realized how critically important reliability is to me a few cars back. I bought a '95 Contour SE - hot V6, tight suspension, etc. A poor man's 3 series, and great fun to drive. But. The thing broke, and broke, and broke. It got to the point after a few years that whenever I heard the slightest creak or clunk I was filled with dread. On the road to Rehoboth Beach one hot July day the AC died, leaving my family literally steaming in stop-and-go traffic. But the final straw was less than a month later when my wife called me in tears (she never cries over petty crap) from the dealership where, once again, they had failed to fix whatever stupid problem the car was having.
We bought a brand new 2000 TL a few weeks later. I just traded that wonderful car, after 11 1/2 years and 150k miles, for the TSX.
A friend bought a used M3 with 20K miles on it and within 1 month started giving problems. It took them 6 months to figure out the problems but even prior to that they thought they couldn't fix it and offered everything but a brand new model. My wife was also around at BMW when the radically styled 7-series came out - those things were wiring nightmares.
My wife had a honda in the late 90s and loved it. Funny you mention cup holders. I always thought their wipers were top notch too.
My one real complaint?
They look better in real life than in photos- the TSX is more svelte & creased and the Fit is just so damn perky - but I wish Honda's design was a little more, y'know, good.
Those TSX wagons are super hot. It was a bit more than we wanted to spend when we picked up our off-lease A4 Avant, but I would very much consider one in the future. A good mutual friend of Delicious and myself was about to get the Avant and went for the TSX. The interior is really, really nice.
Ah, so this is where I can ask about cars!
Looking at a used Accord for the wife, don't think we can go wrong there. But I'm thinking about a Ford transit for myself, seems like if would work for the small deliveries I do to NYC and might be good for going to bike races. Anyone know about them?
Thanks Ronnie....they are a little funny looking, but seem very practical for what I need to do. When I deliver to NYC even a cargo van is a PIA as you can't go on the parkways, like the Westside highway and such. Plus if I have to stay for a few hours the parking garages usually don't want to take a full size van. And it seems ideal for bikes, could probably rig up a cool way to rack the bikes inside and still have a changing area....imagine a mini protour bus set up!
I read somewhere that the biggest grip folks have with the transit is that they lack some refinement with regard to the suspension and steering, but that probably needs to be expected at the pricepoint and expected use of the rig. Can't argue much with the practicality that comes along with the shape, though. I think that you are on the right track for something to take into NYC, though.
I dig those Transits - even though it does say f-o-r-d on the front ;-)
I bought last year's Audi S5 because I heard they would put in the smaller motor and I wanted the large, stupid, gas guzzling natural 8. It's everything that's right and wrong about cars. You can't buy happiness but you can buy exhilaration. Thrills don't always come cheap. I will have that Citroen DS before I die. Stupid is as stupid does. I like friction shifting too.
What's wrong with Ford? They put many Americans on the road for the first time and they have won every major race in the world...multiple times.
I'm into this little Fiat today.
http://youtu.be/cpi2IAec9Ho