YACT (yet another car thread) (1 Viewer)

[SethH]

I really like these cars. I was trying to talk my dad into buying one to replace his old ford escort wagon BUT then I found out it's rear-wheel drive. This struck me as very strange. Unless you're making a sports car rear-wheel drive just doesn't make too much sense at all. If you live in an area where you never have any chance of snow/ice it's not a problem, but if you ever have to drive in the snow rear-wheel drive definitely sucks.

 

[Eric Kahn]

All Volkswagons come with manually adjustable seats that have more range of movment than most power seats
they adjust up and down about 6 inches and back and forth close to a foot, seat back will also tilt almost flat

I am 6' 6" and drive a new beetle TDI with a new TDI passat waiting for me to pick it up

New beetle will be for sale soon, at shop geting the broken bumper coverr fixed, hit road debris on the trip home from vacation

Forgot to mention the Honda accord, Good car

GM FWD cars with the 3800 V6 have been very reliable and good on gas

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I drive rear-drive vehicles 10 hour days all year round in upstate NY, and have never had an accident as a result of the vehicle being RW drive. Yes FW drive is slightly more sure-footed on lightly snow covered roads (once you get heavy snow & ice your boned no matter what you drive), but really shouldn't be your deciding factor on vehicle choice. Just don't drive like a dumbass and you'll do fine even in january.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I driven the BMW 3 series Leila. They are a bit small in the back (compared to some of their competition such as Acura and Lexus, both of which I would pick over the BMW. The BMW does have a better feel (to me) so I think it a great choice if you are real driving nut. All of these would push your budget however.

You may feel differently about sedans with a baby than you do today.

In the sedan, under $30,000 range, I would highly recommend the Honda Accord and Toyota Corolla. Neither of these is a very exciting car. They are just pretty roomy (in their size category), get very good mileage, handle quite well (if not at sports car levels), have maintenance and repair records that are the envy of the industry and have very good safety records and features (especially Honda).

If you are not planning on bringing along a couple of large dogs and don’t expect to use the car to haul moderately-sized loads, I would not see any reason to buy an SUV, paying a bit of a premium on the price and every day at the gas pump. Still one may well meet your needs.

Since you sort of started with the BMW, you ought to test drive one. And also the Acura (my latest purchase). I do admit that both of these (and the competition) may be a bit of a luxury for a new parent. Still, you can go out for some green-chili enchiladas in style.

 

[Lance Nichols]

I would offer up the suggestion of the PT Cruiser. Fun truck, lots of stowage, TONNES of room in the rear seats, AWESOME collision protection.

Comes in a variety of engine choices, from teh base 2.4L inline four, to a turbo "lite" version and a full out rip snorting 225+ HP GT.

If not the PT, then the Magnum would be mice other choice.

 

[Bob-N]

I have a 330i and haven't had a problem with kids/babies in it. Although when the kids get bigger, they're going to be a bit cramped (I'm 6'2") in the back seat. It's a great driver and I wouldn't replace it for anything mentioned in this thread. I will drive it into the ground.

I would second the endorcement of the Subaru Outback wagon or it's lesser sibling, Legacy wagon. I owned the Outback for 5 years before passing it to my mother in law for the BMW. It had great room and fit tons of stuff in it. Good driving dynamics and fairly cheap to maintain. Mileage was pretty good, mid-high 20's in the city (95% of my driving) but I thought it was underpowered with the 165hp 2.0L engine, before the H6 option came out (it was a 1997).

I wouldn't touch the Magnum with a 10ft pole if it was built anything like the Durango. We test drove the Durango a couple years ago and it rattled, looked cheap on the inside and had no low end torque. Plus being a first year model, it's a tough one to even look at one from my perspective. Maybe in a couple years when they work out the bugs. The Hemi power and rear wheel drive are appealing.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Thank you all for the wonderful posts and advice. As is typical, there's a lot of opinions and a lot of choice. Oh boy!

I'm genuinly intrigued by the Outback. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of station wagons, but some of them do look fairly sporty and the specs seem decent. I'll definitely have to test drive one. As much as I hate to say it, function does come before form. And who knows, I might just fall in love with it.

I'm going to have to do some research on Hondas and Accuras. My family is have nothing but domestic cars (well, except for my Dad's Mercedes) so I really don't have much else experience. But I am certainly not opposed to any other vehicles so I'll just have to go out and see those as well.

For those with kids, thanks for chiming in on this issue as well. I can't honestly say I've tried to fit a carseat in any of these vehicles so I was only going off what I've heard. Knowing that some of these vehicles are kid-friendly is good. At least when I eliminate them, it won't be based on that

Well in the end I think what this thread has really pointed out is that I've just got to get out there and test drive. I typically surprise myself with what I like so I'm trying to be pretty open minded.

I've got some great suggestions, though. Thanks!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Please remember to follow-up!

 

[Leila Dougan]

I will, though it might be a few months

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Scion XB--only runs 15-16k well equipped, gets phenomenal gas mileage, extremely roomy especially in back with nice high off-the-floor seats, and an absolute kick to drive and look at.

Comes standard with ABS, Traction Control, Brake Assist, and Vehicle Skid Control, so you'd be hard pressed to lose it in the worst weather. Built by Toyota in Japan.