so i was at the pittsburgh auto show this past weekend. and was taking a hard look at whats available. while i was over looking at the Suzuki display, looking at the SX4 and i noticed they had a kizashi displayed on its side to show off the underbody. those black things on either side of the tunnel are accoustic panels designed to keep nose out of the cabin. now when the Suzuki rep came over to brag about his awesome car. i simply ask...what about the salt that collects under the car between the panels and floor pan ( i can fit my hand between the panels and floor...rock salt should fit) he simply said..it wont! when i showed him all the ways that it could. he said "well you could wash it out". I then proceeded to show him how that would be impossible without washing the underside while on a rack( the sides are sealed at the rockers). he then walked away. i love annoying imbeciles! anyway about the show. in my price range... i liked the SX4 ... its on my test drive list (i know marshal...im doing my research) i like the ford focus and chevy sonic. i liked the new new beetle but it is at the very top of my price range. the cars that impressed me most though were the mazda3 and mazda5. the 3 has more toys but the 5 fits my needs better.
Great little car, we're liking the gas milage. Mostly hubby has it all week, I get it on the weekends...sometimes. Yeah we like it.
I can't believe I am saying this, but of the ones you listed, I would look into the Focus. Its a proven platform has been around the longest of the 4 and it sure the heck is the best looking. 2nd would be a toss up of the SX4 and the Sonic, I would have to jump from one right into the other in a test drive. I wouldn't even touch that new Beetle with a 10 foot poking stick. Its not the looks, its because VW has gone down hill bad as of late and the last issue of the Beetle was, well lets face it a TOTAL POS! What about the Hyundai Elantra excellent warranty Or Toyota Matrix proven platform and Toyota Dependbility
yeeeeaaahhh....did the toyota thing remember that fiasco? i get D plan on ford products so the focus is kinda a no brainer. you cant get the platinum handling package with a stick though...so im stuck with the SE which doesn't have the killer sony stereo (the newer cars are almost impossible to upgrade the stereo.) the titanium is also $27,000.... my 02 focus was $16,000 and loaded (sans automatic) jens was $18,000 and as loaded as it could possibly be. now mind you, a loaded focus has just about everything a loaded taurus has, except the ecoboost and large size. the mazda's are sooo fun to drive though and as far as the mazda5, what other mini van can you get with great handling and a stick-shift! scott, i would buy the beetle with a TDI but thats $25,000 base! the SX4 i like because of the 4wd (i know subaru is also awd but the new ones are fugly IMO) guy near me has one with rally lights and a roof basket w/tools. it actually looks pretty cool.
If you are talking TDI, then thats a whole different animal. My old neighbor had a new Beetle a couple years after they came out, his wife would not stop until he got her one, a FUGLY puss green color, within the 80K they had it, it went through 2 trannys, a head and head gasket, hot starting issues and the rockers were rotting right off it. They traded it at a HUGE loss for a new Stratus and they liked that for the year they had it before i moved. I love the Mazda's they look so dang cool and are pretty sporty too. Suzuki, well they make great bikes and 4 wheelers, so their cars can't be all that bad My brother has a Matrix with over 200k on it and he has never had any issues with it, just normal upkeep. But then again, 2 months after he bought it he moved to St. Petersburg FL and then 2 years ago up to Greenville NC, so he has not had our weather to wear on like he would up here. I know you will do your homework and come up with whats right for you. I hope you end up with a gem, you deserve a break brother, after all the crap your cars have put you through. You are shopping for a new car and I am still shopping for a cheap beater for as close to $500 as I can get, just to get me a month or so, till I can afford to upgrade. I need something decent on gas, I will be going about 30 miles one way to work and need to save every penny can to get my wife and kids back home ASAP. That OCC you posted is tempting and I could probably knock him down to $6-650, but I don't really like the idea of getting 15mpg 60+ miles a day.
my caprice is in great shape, i really got lucky with that one but, i get 20 - 24 mpg, i burn 15 gal a week just going to work. my mom...whom has arthritis and bad knees. She lives 55miles away ...about an hour and a half through Pittsburgh. So I need a car that gets better mpg. im am guessing fall because thats when i should have some other bills paid off and thats when most mfg's try to clear off the previous model year cars so thatwhen the sales usually happen. If and when i do, i will sell the caprice on the forum first, both here and on the longroof forum. if after 2 weeks i see no interest at $1500 i will sell it on CL locally for $2000.
This kind of Sonic? I wish we had one here. the closest ones are an hour away in Winchester, Virginia and Fredricksburg, VA. It would be a great place for a cruise in with the car hops on roller skates or roller blades.
You might want to check further on this issue. Over on Focus Fanatics forum, there were a lot of complaints that you couldn't get the Titanium model with a manual trans. (although you can in Canada!) Apparently, Ford took note of that and I believe issued a press release that they will soon offer that combination in the U.S. . Not sure when it's going to happen though. For those who haven't read up on the new Focus and assume it's just a rehash of a vehicle that got laughed at a lot, it's really not - whole new vehicle, really engineered well - head and shoulders above the old one - really no comparison.
i never had a single problem with either focus i've owned and i modified the crap out of the 02. i had it up to 183hp at the wheels. (doesn't sound like much but the svt version was 170 at the crank! i would honestly consider the mazda2 but i hear from a lot of people that it needs more HP in the worst way. but they said it handles like its on rails
Sonic Drive-Inn We had a new Sonic open in our small southern town and our club began meeting for Friday nite cruises. It closed for around a year, reopened then closed for good. Someone came in and removed all the Sonic related things. Like many other businesses, it sits empty. I don't think these rednecks or the blue hairs from up the coast know or care what an old fashioned drive-in is. Yep, had car hops on skates, drive up, or outdoor seating. Took a long time to get our street rod club going because that's another thing the far south apparently didn't do. Us northerners brought cruising to the south. The only cruisin they did was to go fishin in a mud hole, shootin wild animals from the back of a fourwheeler, or gator huntin.
a1a, I sort of went thru this same thing last summer when nearly trading the gas guzzling Dodge truck for an HHR panel. You can buy a lot of gas for your wagon and still have something nice, and different, for a lot less than the payments on a small car. You're still gonna have to buy gas.
