Looking at New Cars (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

My recommendation:

 

[Clinton McClure]

I looked at both the Elantra and Sonata online but have yet to go look at the lot. I was on vacation a couple weeks ago and the time I didn't spend working on different home projects, the weather was absolutely dreadful so I didn't want to be out on car lots looking and test driving in the pouring rain. I am off again in a couple weeks and hopefully the weather will be better and I can do some lot visits and test drives.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I see you have the following on your list and that you also mention the Toyota Prius.

2017 Kia Forte5 SX (1.6L 201hp automatic) - I would drop this one.
2017 Honda Civic EX Hatchback (1.5L 174hp automatic)
2017 Honda Civic EX-T Sedan (1.5L 174hp automatic)

I wouldn't get the Kia, they are not all that great and will not last a long time. Honda's are nice just know that when something does finally go the parts are not cheap. Toyota's are nice but I personally feel the Prius is not only a total piece but you pay to much and that offsets the fuel economy. If you feel you might be set on a Prius look at other alternatives first and defiantly do a really good test drive as you might find the car a little gutless. Plus there is a new Chevrolet Volt that came out that got better reviews. I do not feel the quality of the KIA and or the Hyundai are that great and they feel like a toy on the road. Plus this is a very very small reason but it is based on the slim chance that the war that never technically ended could start up, then have fun getting parts. My main reason is that the car is not all that great and it has a crappy ride that doesn't feel solid.

You might also consider the following:
Ford Fusion 2.0L / 4 cylinder automatic trans 43/41 MPG
Chevrolet Cruze 1.4L 4 cylinder/ turbo automatic trans 40 MPG HWY
Chevrolet Volt - I hear there could be as much as 10K in rebates that drop the cost of this car depending on where you live!
Toyota Camry

Always test drive and never be in a hurry to buy! Find out true cost of ownership and ask lots of questions! I find that if you go in acting like your desperate for a car some of these salesman will take you for a ride and you will end up paying more!

Yep, I wouldn't waste time looking for a car with a cd player, not worth it when there are so many better options now (usb drive etc). Especially when a cd only holds what, a handful of songs anyway??

Sure some say CD players are on there way out but if you have a CD player that will play mp3's then you could always burn a disc with alot of songs on it. Otherwise you might want to opt out or not bother getting a model with a cd player. Personally I have always hated the way CD's loaded into car stereos anyway. And lets face it if you want a really nice sounding car stereo because you spend alot of time commuting then stock systems are not all that great so you may want to invest in a aftermarket system that is better than what the factory sticks you with.

 

[Alf S]

"I wouldn't get the Kia, they are not all that great and will not last a long time."

A statement that could have been made in say 1992 and been mostly true. Your comment doesn't hold water now in 2017.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Dave, did you mean to mention the Focus? The Fusion is a mid-size; those others are compacts.

 

[BobO'Link]

Always test drive and never be in a hurry to buy! Find out true cost of ownership and ask lots of questions! I find that if you go in acting like your desperate for a car some of these salesman will take you for a ride and you will end up paying more!

Sure some say CD players are on there way out but if you have a CD player that will play mp3's then you could always burn a disc with alot of songs on it. Otherwise you might want to opt out or not bother getting a model with a cd player. Personally I have always hated the way CD's loaded into car stereos anyway. And lets face it if you want a really nice sounding car stereo because you spend alot of time commuting then stock systems are not all that great so you may want to invest in a aftermarket system that is better than what the factory sticks you with.

While I somewhat "need" a 2nd vehicle (my wife doesn't work and is home all day but uses her car to take her father, who's legally blind, to/from doctor appointments, etc. during the day) I'm not in "desperation" mode. That's rather nice as I've had the dealership calling me every couple of days to see if I'm still interested. And with now being end-of-month I expect I'll be able to work a better deal.

Yeah, I hate those slot loading affairs too but even aftermarket ones load that way unless you opt for a multi-disk changer. I only spend about 30 minutes a day in the car. That includes to/from work and picking up my grandkids from school to take home to my wife for afternoon babysitting and returning to work. That's one reason I much prefer a CD player. I can simply grab whatever hits my fancy off the shelves, pop it in the car, and I'm good for the day (or two). With a library of over 1500 CDs I'm not too keen on converting them to MP3 just for the car, but will do so if that's the only option. If I do go that route they'll be ripped to FLAC before being converted to MP3 (I don't think the factory unit in the Hyundai's will play FLAC). That way I'm at least doing a bit of future proofing...

 

[Alf S]

Spotify if your friend.

Just tap the icon on your A/V screen, start playing pretty much any and every song your heart desires. No need to limit you days to a disc of 8 songs, or carrying around a bunch of discs etc. Just create a playlist on Spotify of your favorite singer/group, and you're off to the races.

 

[BobO'Link]

^Not going to happen. But then you're assuming I have a "smart" phone. Don't own one. Don't need one. Don't want one.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I think some cars have Spotify built in now.

I have thousands of CDs. . .it took a while to rip MP3s to that USB stick, but once I finished, it was worth it. Now I have my entire CD collection available at any time. Well, almost all of it -- my older Ford Sync has trouble indexing that large of a drive, so not everything shows up in the list all the time. But 99% of it is at my fingertips.

 

[BobO'Link]

Still... it's a subscription fee I don't want. Both it and satellite radio.

I'll give a USB drive a shot but if the interface is as bad as most I've used I'll likely abandon it and look for a replacement option or do the flash drive equivalent of copying just the disc I want to the drive.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Dave, did you mean to mention the Focus? The Fusion is a mid-size; those others are compacts.

I meant to put fusion and did not even think about the Focus, but you might look into it if they have a hybrid model..

 

[Alf S]

Spotify is free as long as you don't mind listening to a few ad's. Not nearly as many as OTA radio which is BLECH!

 

[John Sparks]

I went with the Nissan Altima for 2016. It's the SV 4 cyl. 181 HP. Gets 38 MPH and I've got as much as 44 MPH...but only for about a mile.

 

[Dave Moritz]

If I had solar panels at home with battery packs to run the home at night I would seriously consider getting a Chevrolet Volt because it would cost nothing in electricity.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Let us know what you end up with

 

[Alf S]

If I had solar panels at home with battery packs to run the home at night I would seriously consider getting a Chevrolet Volt because it would cost nothing in electricity.

I really wanted to get the previous generation one (used) as a daily driver and travel car, but once I saw one in person, I realized how darn small it is, next to no legroom in back and trunk space for traveling is pretty much next to nothing. It was a cool looking car, both inside and out.

 

[Hank_P]

My wife got a chevy cruze hatchback with RS package, auto, sunroof back in Nov. Looks sporty and gets over 40mpg. She loves it. It was a little step up from her Sonic. It rides great on long trips. She has a weekly 2.5 hour drive to see her mother.

 

[skylark68]

Just to get back to the CD conversation, some cars still have a factory or sometimes dealer accessory option for a cd changer in the trunk that is seamless to the factory radio. My parents recently bought a Dodge Challenger and got the 9 disc changer option (Dad's not ready to sit around and convert all of his cd's to digital files). It sits in the trunk out of the way of storage. It does mean that you have to be certain what cd's you want to listen to before you start traveling though. I believe the days of the built in cd player to the up front head unit is just about over though. My wife's '15 Highlander still has one, but it's becoming a rarity.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Planning test drives for week after next if the weather cooperates. The Prius is out. I've never liked them. Also, no trucks or SUVs. I still like the Civic hatchback and sedan and I have been taking a second look at the Carolla. The 2017 refresh of the Carolla SE caught my eye so it's back on my radar. I'm sure I'll go ahead and test drive both the Accord and Camry sedans both they are both at the top of my price range for the trim level I would want.

 

[BobO'Link]

I purchased the Elantra this week. Satellite radio is as bad as over-the-air. It has adequate song selection and incredibly bad announcers. At least they don't talk as much/often as over-the-air ones and there are no commercials but it's still not worth the monthly fee. I don't like the digital player as it's as cumbersome as I expected it'd be when selecting songs/albums to play. Because of the lengthy selection process, I'll be copying what I want to hear on a "daily" basis (basically look over the shelves, pick what I want, copy the already done rip to a flash drive while dressing). That way there'll only be one album on the drive which will autoplay when it's inserted. It will not do "gapless" MP3 playback either (but most hardware players won't do that) which is a huge negative. I discovered it will play FLAC files so I ripped "Dark Side of the Moon" to see if it'll do gapless playback with FLAC. If not, Hyundai Corporate will receive an angry email as I have quite a few albums I listen to on a regular basis which would be ruined when played back with gaps.