Family cars with some spunk.

[Kompresshun]

I vote for the Focus, great looking car for the money.

[Jesda]

As a used car, a Lincoln MKZ Hybrid might be nearly the same price as a Milan Hybrid, but with more doodads and stuff.


The Focus and Juke offer the best bang for the buck. The Civic is dated. The Versa is motorized sadness.

[Rex]

If you're going to put that many miles on something buy used, even if it's a CPO.

Since this needs to be family friendly, I'd suggest looking around for a MazdaSpeed3, Mazda5, (prev-gen) Mazda6 Wagon (stick shift), 04-ish Jetta TDI wagon or maybe even a well maintained 2005 Audi allroad 2.7T w/ 6 spd. Anyone see a pattern there?

[Looneybomber]

If you're going to put that many miles on something buy used, even if it's a CPO.

We've been looking for a good used Golf/Jetta TDI, Audi A3 TDI, mini cooper/clubman and a few other cars, but even a couple years old with 30-50k miles, they're selling 2-3 thousand less than a new car. At that price, I might as well buy new.
'09 Jetta TDI $24k

The older cars 04-06 with real good MPG either 1) have a butt load of miles on them, or 2) are charging a premium because of their good MPG.
'06 Jetta TDI $10k w/112k miles.

*edit*
I did email the owner of this car to see if it'll fit car seats in the back. I'll do more research on it to see what the back seat specs are, but I have a feeling the wife will say no because of the MPG.
'07 Mazdaspeed3. $14. 77k miles

[Rex]

Keep in mind most CPO's get you extended warranties that cover the car to 100k and 7 yrs from (original) purchase date. Assuming you find a 2 yr old car with <30k on it, you're getting a 5 yr 70k factory warranty. And some include roadside assistance.

[Kompresshun]

*edit*
I did email the owner of this car to see if it'll fit car seats in the back. I'll do more research on it to see what the back seat specs are, but I have a feeling the wife will say no because of the MPG.
'07 Mazdaspeed3. $14. 77k miles

I know diesel vehicles and econoboxes get a considerable amount more MPG, but once you exceed 30mpg, the savings are very little. Is it really worth it to limit yourself to save $35-50/mo? It's your decision, but just trying to make a point here. If you stop and do the math, you're not really going to save much, if any at all, by buying something that gets 40+ MPG compared to something that gets close to or just over 30 MPG.

[Looneybomber]

Is it really worth it to limit yourself to save $35-50/mo? It's your decision, but just trying to make a point here. If you stop and do the math, you're not really going to save much, if any at all, by buying something that gets 40+ MPG compared to something that gets close to or just over 30 MPG.

I drive ~500 mile/week. That's ~2165mi/mo. Assuming $3.40 for fuel, the savings from 30mpg to 40mpg are $60/mo, or 720/yr.

The wife's bringing home a Versa sedan *ugh* for the weekend. We'll see how it is

[Jesda]

I drive 40,000 miles a year.

Fuel economy is a priority for sad people.

[Kompresshun]

The wife's bringing home a Versa sedan *ugh* for the weekend. We'll see how it is

Yuck. Too bad you can't sell her on the hatch, I love those.

I drive 40,000 miles a year.

Fuel economy is a priority for sad people.

^This.

I only drive around 10-12k/year, but even if I were driving more, i'd rather spend more on fuel to be able to drive something I enjoy. It would take $100+/mo in savings to get me to buy an econobox, even then i'd probably just save up and buy something with cash instead.

Heck, we drive a Jeep Commander that averages 13-14mpg city and 18-20mpg(on a good day) on the highway. You probably can tell I don't give a crap about fuel costs

[jdansmith]

Versa didn't have any spunk when we test drove one, do your wife a favor and at least have her test drive the Sentra. Its a lot more car for not a lot of cash. The only issue I have with it is it likes tires more than I like buying them.

[Kompresshun]

The current generation Sentra's are excellent, I drove a friends 2.0S a little over a month ago and loved it. I honestly would consider replacing my I30 with one, it has tons of space for such a small car and the power isn't half bad either.

[jdansmith]

The current generation Sentra's are excellent, I drove a friends 2.0S a little over a month ago and loved it. I honestly would consider replacing my I30 with one, it has tons of space for such a small car and the power isn't half bad either.

Gets better gas millage in most cases. 54,000 miles and only tires, oil changes and filters. Shoot, the front pads still have 40% of the pad left too. I would recommend it to anyone. The CVT takes a little getting use too but service for the CVT fluid is 120K so maint. cost is pretty low overall.

[Looneybomber]

Versa didn't have any spunk when we test drove one, do your wife a favor and at least have her test drive the Sentra.

I had very low expectations for this car. This one has the CVT, so it helped get moving a little quicker due to the lower initial gear ratio, but still pretty weak. The interior was sucky, but still roomy. To be honest, the back seat leg room is awesome for being such a small car, even more than the sentra. Because of that, I wasn't able to sell her on the sentra at all.

She's taking the car back today and stopping by Ford to see if they have any 09-10 Focuses (Foci?). Rex echoed my thoughts in an earlier post - Why buy new if you're going to put on a ton of miles and treat it like a throw-away car?

She just texted me pics and the previous body style focus (pre 2012) doesn't have enough rear seat room for the kids in car seats. The civic is out too for the same reason. We could look at a newer Altima/maxima, but unless there's a pretty good jump in gas milage, she's going to want to keep her '00 altima for a little longer.

All I know is that car shopping is getting pretty sucky because I want something a little more cool, fun, and enjoyable to drive and she wants a versa.

[Jesda]

"But the benefits of the 1.6 and CVT come at a hefty cost: the sanity of the car’s occupants. Rarely have we wanted out of a car so badly before we even made it out of our office parking lot. With the motor revving straight to 4800 rpm, the drone from the powertrain is so intense you’d rather listen to your mother-in-law go on about a day of holiday shopping"

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car ... _road_test

[Dattebayo]

Foci are annoying cars to drive IMO. Almost as annoying to drive as the Fiesta I currently have...

[Chaotic_Warlord]

If it doesn't have to be 4 doors might i suggest the Fiat 500? If it does have to be 4 door why not the Chevy Cruze? I'd suggest the Chevy Volt but they're $30 - 40K and that's hella expensive even if it is an all electric car.

[jdansmith]

We came REAL close to buying a 09 Sonata, it felt like our old Crown Vick in the back seat area with tons of hip and shoulder room and was a nice driving car. The word is out on them though and even used they still fetch a premium. The gas millage was good even with the v6 with plenty of pep. in the 4cyl.. Hold out for what you want, if I were to buy today I would give strong looks at the Sonata and the Buick Regal. I think the next two mos, will be a good time for buyers as Dealers try and move the current year model.