Need suggestions on cars

There is always the brand new Smart Fortwo.

40 MPG highway, easy to park, fits two someone's our 6'5" size. Not a particularly comfortable ride, though.

Shifted manually it can be fun.

After 10 minutes you forget how small they are too, and they cruise down highways/interstates/motorways very nicely.

Just not so great on bumpy roads.

The mini clubman isn't very big on the inside, not like the smart but you can fit alot of stuff in it and it gets great mileage too. Front seats are not too bad but the backseats are for kids, little kids, only.

Or the new Scion Xb.

Actually I just thought of the vehicle I was looking at getting instead of my Marauder.

The Suzuki SX4. I like the wagon but they have a sedan also.

AWD fairly good MPG and lots of interior room.

Not cushy like the Maruader or Jag but nice seats and great room for us big people.

http://www.nctd.com/review-intro.cfm?Vehicle=2008_Suzuki_SX4&ReviewID=3651
 
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You do realize the smart car doesn't really get that good of mileage for the price, do you? The Prius FYI and Civic Hybrid are rated better mpg wise, have 4 door's, and you can find them less than $18k.
 
Have you ever seen a 6"5" guy in a Prius or Civic?

Plus for the money you spend you might as well get something that in 8 years isn't going to cost a fortune to replace the batteries, even if they still make those batteries.

Plus have you ever seen a battery that lasts eight years, yes it might still work on year 4 5 6 & 7. But not nearly as well as it did the first couple years.

And Hybrids do not have good MPG when it is cold out. Plus the Prius and Civic do not have that great of gas mileage, they do not get what is claimed unless you drive like a ninny.

See the Topgear review of the Prius.

I'm 6'5" tall maybe a bit heftier than your Dad, I get in the civic, eventually, the roof is very low and doors on the 4 door very small, the 2 door has very tinny doors, 4 door is Hybrid. Once in it is ok, not great just ok. The Civic does look good, but it is a Honda.

The Prius is a different bird. Looks odd. Skinny is the word. Now the problem with the prius is the placement of the central pod and the gear shift. Getting in is a bit of work but once in the head room is fine, the legroom is not. My knee sticks out and to the middle of the car. I sit with my knee, as far down as possible right under the gear selector. I found a problem with that. I couldn't get the gear selector to go down and select any of the gears. My knee blocked it.

Other than that it was great, too bad I couldn't put it in gear.

The Smart car is amazing. Not great for Mileage anymore, the earlier version we had up here had the .8L Diesel and would get 70 MPG. This new 1.0L is not nearly as good, but remember it gets 40MPG on the new system of measuring MPG not the old one. With the old system, that used by our Marauders, it would be closer to 50 MPG.

Wouldn't want to see the Marauder with the new MPG rating system.

The Fortwo is a fun car. Nimble, quick but not fast, with awesome parking abilities. Yes it is small, as small as they come, but it is almost Doctor who like in that it seems larger on the inside. Parking is amazing, it is exactly half the length of a Marauder. Narrower, and yet has a good sized cargo ability with one and fair with two people. It is like the worlds safest motorcycle, especially with the rag top.

Plus it is the only affordable, 2 door 2 person mid engine car around.

The Suzuki, which I never would have considered until seeing one at the car show. Bad name but the now Crossover, hatch/wagon SX4 is a great AWD vehicle. Much ignored, cheap and with good MPG ratings.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/119812/article.html epa 2008 ratings explained.

Also the Prius is 11K more than a Fortwo and the Honda Hybrid is 7.5K more.

That is alot of gas, even at 15MPG city 33 vs 48, the difference is only

20,000 miles

Fortwo 20,000 divide by 33 = 606 gallons.

Prius 20,000 divide by 48 = 416 gallons

Difference of 190 gallons or say $6 a gallon, $1140 a year.

Yes the smart likes 91 or so octane. So even that would mean you would break even at $1254 in the best case for the prius and worst case for the Fortwo.

for the $11,000 price difference you are looking at 8 years 9 and a quart months.

Battery is warranted 8 years, before failure, but not reduced optional ability. So in the end the Fortwo will always be cheaper.

Any way I'm not saying it is better, you might hate the Fortwo, you might love the Prius.

Just go sit in one take a spin in one then decide.

And don't just drive around a parking lot at 15 MPH and say the Fortwo is slow.
 
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MAZDASPEED is really fast and really nice, but maxima's are bigger and will probably have more "creature comforts". My friends dad has an '06 Maxima and it can break traction when he hits it pretty easily...
 
Diabolical1 CC said:
Have you ever seen a 6"5" guy in a Prius or Civic?

Plus for the money you spend you might as well get something that in 8 years isn't going to cost a fortune to replace the batteries, even if they still make those batteries.

Plus have you ever seen a battery that lasts eight years, yes it might still work on year 4 5 6 & 7. But not nearly as well as it did the first couple years.

And Hybrids do not have good MPG when it is cold out. Plus the Prius and Civic do not have that great of gas mileage, they do not get what is claimed unless you drive like a ninny.

See the Topgear review of the Prius.

I'm 6'5" tall maybe a bit heftier than your Dad, I get in the civic, eventually, the roof is very low and doors on the 4 door very small, the 2 door has very tinny doors, 4 door is Hybrid. Once in it is ok, not great just ok. The Civic does look good, but it is a Honda.

The Prius is a different bird. Looks odd. Skinny is the word. Now the problem with the prius is the placement of the central pod and the gear shift. Getting in is a bit of work but once in the head room is fine, the legroom is not. My knee sticks out and to the middle of the car. I sit with my knee, as far down as possible right under the gear selector. I found a problem with that. I couldn't get the gear selector to go down and select any of the gears. My knee blocked it.

Other than that it was great, too bad I couldn't put it in gear.

The Smart car is amazing. Not great for Mileage anymore, the earlier version we had up here had the .8L Diesel and would get 70 MPG. This new 1.0L is not nearly as good, but remember it gets 40MPG on the new system of measuring MPG not the old one. With the old system, that used by our Marauders, it would be closer to 50 MPG.

Wouldn't want to see the Marauder with the new MPG rating system.

The Fortwo is a fun car. Nimble, quick but not fast, with awesome parking abilities. Yes it is small, as small as they come, but it is almost Doctor who like in that it seems larger on the inside. Parking is amazing, it is exactly half the length of a Marauder. Narrower, and yet has a good sized cargo ability with one and fair with two people. It is like the worlds safest motorcycle, especially with the rag top.

Plus it is the only affordable, 2 door 2 person mid engine car around.

The Suzuki, which I never would have considered until seeing one at the car show. Bad name but the now Crossover, hatch/wagon SX4 is a great AWD vehicle. Much ignored, cheap and with good MPG ratings.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/119812/article.html epa 2008 ratings explained.

Also the Prius is 11K more than a Fortwo and the Honda Hybrid is 7.5K more.

That is alot of gas, even at 15MPG city 33 vs 48, the difference is only

20,000 miles

Fortwo 20,000 divide by 33 = 606 gallons.

Prius 20,000 divide by 48 = 416 gallons

Difference of 190 gallons or say $6 a gallon, $1140 a year.

Yes the smart likes 91 or so octane. So even that would mean you would break even at $1254 in the best case for the prius and worst case for the Fortwo.

for the $11,000 price difference you are looking at 8 years 9 and a quart months.

Battery is warranted 8 years, before failure, but not reduced optional ability. So in the end the Fortwo will always be cheaper.

Any way I'm not saying it is better, you might hate the Fortwo, you might love the Prius.

Just go sit in one take a spin in one then decide.

And don't just drive around a parking lot at 15 MPH and say the Fortwo is slow.
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See motor trends review of the Prius getting better gas mileage as a standard 4 cyl.... all the hyrbid crap in it made it so heavy it is now what they call a "statement car"

the Smart cars are not practical. period. they are cheap quality over priced golf carts. no self repecting male would hop into one of those, epescially after trading in in his baddass F150, and feel like he made an excellent trade. they are dumb cars that should have been left over seas.
 
If he doesn't like the Impala 3800s/c get one of the other variants, the Grand Prix GTP or Buick Regal GS. Also the newer Grand Prix's aren't bad either.

The Jag is nice looking, and yeah they DO depreciate! I think '04 was the last model switch, IMO you'd want an '04 or above. The previous models although still nice looker are very narrow cars.

My first car was an '80 XJ6 with a small block chevy under the hood, fun car and one of the best looking 1980 cars!

But i'm still nervous around newer Jags, I've seen plenty of late 90's models, looked at a few with a friend years ago, and they seemed to still be plauged by minor issues and electrical bugs. If that really was fixed in '04 I think they look great and are much more comfy (wider).

The interior of that XJ6 posted looks so nice though!
 
Breadfan said:
If he doesn't like the Impala 3800s/c get one of the other variants, the Grand Prix GTP or Buick Regal GS. Also the newer Grand Prix's aren't bad either.

The Jag is nice looking, and yeah they DO depreciate! I think '04 was the last model switch, IMO you'd want an '04 or above. The previous models although still nice looker are very narrow cars.

My first car was an '80 XJ6 with a small block chevy under the hood, fun car and one of the best looking 1980 cars!

But i'm still nervous around newer Jags, I've seen plenty of late 90's models, looked at a few with a friend years ago, and they seemed to still be plauged by minor issues and electrical bugs. If that really was fixed in '04 I think they look great and are much more comfy (wider).

The interior of that XJ6 posted looks so nice though!
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After testing an 00 XJ8 i was thoroughly disappointed. the car felt numb and heavy as could be. the MM was much nicer all around
 
Raudermaster said:
I was looking around at them, he hates the W body style, along with that bland styling (in his opinion) on that car. The Maxima 6spd is looking good at this moment, along with a Mazda 6. They are great cars, quite peppy, good styling and mpg's. Any of you have experience with Nissan's though? Even though the Maxima we're looking at says Regular Gasoline, people have said Nissan's are picky and you might as well just toss premium in, is this true or not?
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My first car was/is a 1995 Nissan Altima...I have 125k miles on it and the damn thing wont DIE!!! I will say Nissans RUN...and I am sure that a newer model will do just the same. As for your fathers size...I had a retired vet come into my store one day and say (he was using a cane) "I cant walk too tough and I cant fit in most cars...except a Nissan." He wa si luck cause of the Altima...he was showing me that most cars he had been in did not have that extra foot of leg room under the "dash" like most cars. I stuck my foot up there and it was plenty space but I am only 5'10'' he was bout 6'3'', but he was comfy...All and all go with the maxima...BTW Acuras are premadonnas!!!
 
Maxima SE's with the stick shift are good cars with get up and go. My friend had a 99 with the 5spd and it really moved.

TL's are also very nice acuras. Its alot more loaded and it doesnt feel like your in another tin can honda. My sister had a fully loaded 02 and it was a very nice car. Although im not sure if they changed something with the motors to require premium when they changed the body style, i know the 02 didnt have to have premium.
 
offroadkarter said:
Maxima SE's with the stick shift are good cars with get up and go. My friend had a 99 with the 5spd and it really moved.

TL's are also very nice acuras. Its alot more loaded and it doesnt feel like your in another tin can honda. My sister had a fully loaded 02 and it was a very nice car. Although im not sure if they changed something with the motors to require premium when they changed the body style, i know the 02 didnt have to have premium.
Click to expand...

Too bad the '99's were a complete different motor and tranny, but I've been in a stick/autostick '04+ Maxima, and can vouge for their quickness. '04+ are also a new motor/tranny. The old TL's used the 3.0, and the new one's use the 3.2 VTEC. And yes, they do need premium.
 
I had an 03 TL Type S (260 hp, premium fuel). Very comfortable, more leg room up front than the MM (yes, really), great supportive and firm seats, excellent handling, very fast car. The 00-03 Honda and Acura 5AT transmissions were a durability nightmare. For sure stay away from 03 and earlier TL, TL-S, honda accord, etc. The TL-s was the worst because it had the most power, and the same trans. 3rd gear clutch pack was undersized and Honda never came up with a a fix for it, they just keep remanning and replacing them. I went through 3 transmissions in about 25k miles and sold the car w/o looking back. It was very low mileage and a lost my shirt on that car but that's okay.

The 3.2 engine is a thing of beauty though. Faster stock than a stock MM (all 04+ get the 260 hp mill that was previously optional), modern and refined, and gets 28 mpg highway driving like a nut case. I still want an 04+ TL (I'd go for the auto, but you can get the stick in the new body style). If I ever get sick of the MM I will probably go for a TL. The 04+ is a nice looking car from all angles except from the rear (I think it looks like the ass of a duck).
 
Okay, noone has mentioned it yet. How about a Fusion? Everyone here at Ford that owns one really likes it. The four can come with stick, the six is strictly auto.

2008_ford_fusion_sport_appearance_p.jpg
 
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