Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Unfortunately, my and Mrs. L's car was stolen from across the street of our apartment on Saturday. For those familiar with Pittsburgh, I live in Squirrel Hill which I can say fairly confidently is the least crime ridden neighborhood in the city. Apparently the 1998 Dodge Neon was irresistible.

If it isn't found in the next few weeks we'll need to get a new car. We were hoping our car would last until I finish grad school next year but it looks like that's not going to happen. Since I'm not balla like some here, we're looking to spend less than 25 grand, preferably somewhere in the 18-23 band. We would much prefer to get a new car to a used one.

Before getting into specific vehicles, this will be my first time buying a car. My wife bought ours used about 4 years ago when I was in Pittsburgh and she was in Oregon. Any general buying tips would be great. We have already secured a loan at 6.2% so unless we get some special deal we're good to go on financing.

The primary use of the car is for my wife to use for work. She works at multiple preschools around Pittsburgh and does a lot of city driving. For this reason and because we're hippies, fuel efficiency is more important for us than the average person for whom it matters little. Reliability and overall performance are important as well. I'm not looking to race or anything but don't want a total slug.

The first car we'll probably look at is a Honda Civic sedan. We are also considering getting a Mini, which I suspect I'll take [censored] for. We have a friend that has one so we're somewhat familiar with them and I'm familiar with Hondas as my parents have had a couple Accords and I know a few people with a civic. People seem pretty happy with them. Having looked at random reviews the Mazda3 looks like a possibility as well.

What other cars would you guys suggest?

Any and all comments appreciated.

Jared

Re: Car under $25,000
 

Civic sedan is a great choice imo. Also the new Corolla's are nice and get killer mileage. Honda/Toyota is the way to go though. Run forever, get awesome mileage, look fairly classy, etc. FWIW my girlfriend just got an 07 Corolla for (don't quote me) like 19ish, and it's awesome.

Re: Car under $25,000
 

Get a Honda, Toyota, or maybe Hyundai. Whatever you do, get an Asian car. I would go with an Accord, Corolla, or maybe Camry if you're feeling really balla.

Re: Car under $25,000
 

hondas are one of the most reliable cars out there. its a good choice

if its primarily your wifes car then i guess you can get a girl car. just get a yaris. cheap, reliable, ive heard it is REALLY nice, and of course, 40+mpg i think it is... 10k yo

ive heard minis are very fun to drive, still, dont get one.

another one to take a look at are toyota camrys. very reliable car, i still have 90 camry and its still running great. but they are the most stolen car in america. have fun

i think what they did was a good thing, trust me, ditch the neon

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Pretty simple stuff.

Don't sign anything that you haven't had in your possession for 24 hours at your house.

Don't take the car off the lot until you've had like 20 minutes with the car by yourself,

Re: Car under $25,000
 

[ QUOTE ]
i still have 90 camry and its still running great. but they are the most stolen car in america. have fun

[/ QUOTE ]

They are also the most popular...coincidence???? It's not like they are more susceptible to theft, they are just more common.

Re: Car under $25,000
 

im just saying if they thought his 98 neon is irrisistable then they will take his camry before he gets out of his car

Re: Car under $25,000
 

[ QUOTE ]
hondas are one of the most reliable cars out there. its a good choice

if its primarily your wifes car then i guess you can get a girl car. just get a yaris. cheap, reliable, ive heard it is REALLY nice, and of course, 40+mpg i think it is... 10k yo

ive heard minis are very fun to drive, still, dont get one.

another one to take a look at are toyota camrys. very reliable car, i still have 90 camry and its still running great. but they are the most stolen car in america. have fun

i think what they did was a good thing, trust me, ditch the neon

[/ QUOTE ]

The neon would have basically done its job if it had made it through next spring. Depending on where we end up after I finish school we would have gotten either one or two new cars and it would be either traded in for little or rarely used if we would only need one car. At this point though I think we're better off if we don't get it back. I don't know much about theft but I assume it will likely have some damage coming back and since it's not worth much would be close to totaled anyway.

As far as being my wife's car, she will use it for work which will be a majority of the miles put on it but when we go anywhere I drive. So basically a chick car would be fine but I have to at least enjoy driving it.

Based on talking to the friend of mine that has a mini and reading stuff online they keep their value pretty well, do really well in the snow, and are a blast to drive. The main downside is the lack of cargo room since my wife hauls some stuff for work. It easily fit into our trunk with room to spare before but with the mini it would be a different story.

Re: Car under $25,000
 

Like others have said Toyota Honda or Hyundai. I bought a Hyundai Sonata a few years ago and haven't put a cent into any kind of repair and its ran very well for me.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

the best deal is a used civic that has around 30k miles on it. you say you want new though, so get a new civic. they are the best value by far imo.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Don't buy a new car.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

I'm looking for a car around the same price range as OP, what are people's thoughts on the civic hybrid? Also what about a Mazda?

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking for a car around the same price range as OP, what are people's thoughts on the civic hybrid? Also what about a Mazda?

[/ QUOTE ]

lol miatas are good....

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

If you have to deal with snow, how about a Subaru? The Outbacks are nice, and the Impreza's are relatively cheap and they are all AWD. I live in snow country and half the cars here are probably Subaru.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

I test drove a civic and thought it was pretty slow and not much fun to drive.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I test drove a civic and thought it was pretty slow and not much fun to drive.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is accurate. but they are reliable, inexpensive and last forever.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I test drove a civic and thought it was pretty slow and not much fun to drive.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is accurate. but they are reliable, inexpensive and last forever.

[/ QUOTE ]

He did say he wanted something fun to drive

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking for a car around the same price range as OP, what are people's thoughts on the civic hybrid? Also what about a Mazda?

[/ QUOTE ]

lol miatas are good....

[/ QUOTE ]

i was thinking about the ones for straight guys

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Also, the reason hyundais have so many luxury-ish features for so cheap is because they have no engine either.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking for a car around the same price range as OP,...what about a Mazda?

[/ QUOTE ]

I just bought a Mazda3 a couple of months ago. Decent handling, good milage, and a nice assortment of features. What sealed the deal for me was the 36/month 1.9% Mazda was offering.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
We would much prefer to get a new car to a used one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why? If you're going for value this is not a good choice. Depreciation FTL.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Honestly if you are really hippie you'd got with a honda civic hybrid, which is the car i want,

but the civic is a good choice and if you are buying a car, i think i agree with FFK here in that you should buy a 2-3 years old car, it's much better value if money is tight for you guys

heck, even if it wasn't tight, i'd still go used, there are many great finds out there,

one thing - if you are buyign used ABSOLUTELY get a mechanic to check it out and get a history report,

dealerships usually mark the cars up a bit, but i wouldn't mind it if they threw in the warranty

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

If you're going to get a NEW car, I highly suggest you look into the Consumer Reports New Car Buying Kit. It's a subscriptioion service, but well worth the money.

Once you sign up ($40 I think), you can look up any make/model and it will tell you <u>exactly</u> what the dealer paid for that car. Walk into any dealership with that number, grab a salesperson, and tell them you want that car for that price (+$150ish).

Salesperson would be a fool to not take such a quick and easy sale.

I've used it 3 times for total savings over $6k. The last time was for wife's totally loaded Honda Accord EX.
List 27.5k
CR price &amp; I paid &lt; 24k

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

MINI Cooper S

made by BMW
outhandles a Boxster (not the Boxster S)
decent 0-60 of &lt;6 secs
one of the safer cars
has luxury features (auto-leveling xenons, auto-rain wipers, etc etc) of bmws and other more expensive cars
has the front seat room of a Hummer (Dirk Nowitski drives a MINI)
rear seat doesn't have much legroom if behind a tall person, but plenty of headroom (unlike, say a RX-7)
if u value gas mileage most, then get the Cooper, not the S...similiar handling but slower acceleration but better gas mileage

u also get first 50k maintenance done for u; that's oil/brakes/wipers/clutch/etc

oh, and it's one of the top 10 cars in resale value

and u won't find a car that is more fun to drive or where u feel more 'in control' of every movement the car makes; test drive a MINI and a bmw back-to-back and even the BMW will seem to have loose steering and that 'floating on road' feeling compared to the MINI, where u feel uber-connected

it'll outhandle that M3/M5, but lose to them in the straightaways

it is basically a giant luxurious safe go kart

it turns on a dime; literally


http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7387/turninghm3.jpg


blue line is a normal car turning into driveway
green line is the MINI

Re: Car under $25,000
 

[ QUOTE ]
The main downside is the lack of cargo room since my wife hauls some stuff for work. It easily fit into our trunk with room to spare before but with the mini it would be a different story.

[/ QUOTE ]

if it just 1-2 of u in the car when she hauls the stuff, u'll be fine; it's a hatchback

u put the rear seats down and it's like the back of an SUV...i haul 7' xmas trees inside it

Re: Car under $25,000
 

[ QUOTE ]

ive heard minis are very fun to drive, still, dont get one.


[/ QUOTE ]

why not? u haven't even driven one; have u been in one?

it's safe; cost-effective, FUN, gets good mileage, luxurious, FUN, has free maintenance for 50k, FUN, tons of leg room in front seat and headroom throughout, FUN, etc etc

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

Mini's are awesome, you'll take no [censored] from me on that. Subaru is the way to go in pittsburgh for saftey, snow driving, pretty decent fuel economy, a little Impreza I would probably suit you well.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

If New Mazda 3 or Toyota Matrix

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking for a car around the same price range as OP, what are people's thoughts on the civic hybrid? Also what about a Mazda?

[/ QUOTE ]

lol miatas are good....

[/ QUOTE ]

The Mazdaspeed 3 is an awesome deal. Great handling car under 25k.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

This thread has been done to death, but I'll give out my quick suggestions for decent cars:

Full size cars:
Nissan Maxima - great power &amp; reliability
Nissan Altima - can get same engine as maxima for cheaper
Honda Accord - reliable, decent power, good resale
Toyota Camry - most reliable, decent power
Mazda6 - good mix of power,reliability
Pontiac GTO - tons of power, should still be reliable (basically corvette engine in it)
Subaru's are also solid.

Economy Cars:
Honda Civic - good resale. 4cyl
Mazda3 - based on Volvo S40 C1 chassis - pretty solid

Mini's are great cars, but I personally think they look gay.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

1) Your car will probably be recovered.
2) Used Hondas, Toyotas are a great, practical suggestion.
3) If you want something a little more exciting....

$8,299

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ar-morning.jpg

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
This thread has been done to death, but I'll give out my quick suggestions for decent cars:

Full size cars:
Nissan Maxima - great power &amp; reliability
Nissan Altima - can get same engine as maxima for cheaper
Honda Accord - reliable, decent power, good resale
Toyota Camry - most reliable, decent power
Mazda6 - good mix of power,reliability
Pontiac GTO - tons of power, should still be reliable (basically corvette engine in it)
Subaru's are also solid.

Economy Cars:
Honda Civic - good resale. 4cyl
Mazda3 - based on Volvo S40 C1 chassis - pretty solid

Mini's are great cars, but I personally think they look gay.

[/ QUOTE ]

List QFT

I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima and I love it.

p.s. Mini's are ghay. I rode in a Type S and was not impressed.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

I love Hondas they are great and as others have said they last forever. I also think the interior finish of Hondas are superior to Toyota.

I love my Civic but you also might want to check out the Fit. Cheap, versatile for storage (thanks to the hatchback and flat-folding seats) and comes with most the safety features standard. Needless to say it's small and not very powerful, but it's cheap and gets great mileage, if your wife just needs a commuter car it might be worth looking into.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This thread has been done to death, but I'll give out my quick suggestions for decent cars:

Full size cars:
Nissan Maxima - great power &amp; reliability
Nissan Altima - can get same engine as maxima for cheaper
Honda Accord - reliable, decent power, good resale
Toyota Camry - most reliable, decent power
Mazda6 - good mix of power,reliability
Pontiac GTO - tons of power, should still be reliable (basically corvette engine in it)
Subaru's are also solid.

Economy Cars:
Honda Civic - good resale. 4cyl
Mazda3 - based on Volvo S40 C1 chassis - pretty solid

Mini's are great cars, but I personally think they look gay.

[/ QUOTE ]

List QFT

I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima and I love it.

p.s. Mini's are ghay. I rode in a Type S and was not impressed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then your driver sucked.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

hondas for reliability. my 92 civic runs super good after much neglect from me after 160k

mini S is super super fun to drive. handle so damn good. very peppy... small, obviously.

maybe i'm gay or something, but i really love the scion xB. it's toyota, so you know it's reliable. and they just put a 2.4 liter 160 HP engine in them. not the greatest on gas mileage. i think they're 22city/28 highway, so it's not bad either. they're like $17k too.

i test drove a mazda3, and they're pretty fun. not ridiculous, performance wise, but they're more fun then a regular honda.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
The first car we'll probably look at is a Honda Civic sedan.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had a Civic Sedan EX. Drove it for nearly eight years without a single breakdown and only one unscheduled maintenance. Sold it at 150,000 miles for $2,900.

Tip: take it to your own mechanic and ask him to follow the suggested maintenance schedule. You will save $$$ over taking it to the dealer.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

a Honda Civic/Accord will last forever (make sure you have a brake lock for security)

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately, my and Mrs. L's car was stolen from across the street of our apartment on Saturday. For those familiar with Pittsburgh, I live in Squirrel Hill which I can say fairly confidently is the least crime ridden neighborhood in the city. Apparently the 1998 Dodge Neon was irresistible.

If it isn't found in the next few weeks we'll need to get a new car. We were hoping our car would last until I finish grad school next year but it looks like that's not going to happen. Since I'm not balla like some here, we're looking to spend less than 25 grand, preferably somewhere in the 18-23 band. We would much prefer to get a new car to a used one.

Before getting into specific vehicles, this will be my first time buying a car. My wife bought ours used about 4 years ago when I was in Pittsburgh and she was in Oregon. Any general buying tips would be great. We have already secured a loan at 6.2% so unless we get some special deal we're good to go on financing.

The primary use of the car is for my wife to use for work. She works at multiple preschools around Pittsburgh and does a lot of city driving. For this reason and because we're hippies, fuel efficiency is more important for us than the average person for whom it matters little. Reliability and overall performance are important as well. I'm not looking to race or anything but don't want a total slug.

The first car we'll probably look at is a Honda Civic sedan. We are also considering getting a Mini, which I suspect I'll take [censored] for. We have a friend that has one so we're somewhat familiar with them and I'm familiar with Hondas as my parents have had a couple Accords and I know a few people with a civic. People seem pretty happy with them. Having looked at random reviews the Mazda3 looks like a possibility as well.

What other cars would you guys suggest?

Any and all comments appreciated.

Jared

[/ QUOTE ]

The new Dodge Avenger.

http://www.dodge.com/en/avenger/features/interior.html

Mygig onboard for DVD, CD, Mp3, and navigation - 20 GB hard drive, USB hookups. Rear DVD players for the kids. Big engine. Nice looking car. $24,600 loaded.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

I never see Jettas mentioned in these threads. Any opinions? My friend has had one for 9 years and it's still going strong. Looks fine, drives well (I've driven it plenty of times), etc. I still like my Civic but I'm wondering if the Jetta is just as good.

Re: Car under $25,000 (and request for general new car buying advice)
 

I'm biased, but I'd get a used Audi A3. In terms of ride quality and engine, a civic or corolla isn't even in a similar class. The materials and finish of the car are at another level too. I got a certified pre-owned '06 with leather, automatic, 13,000 miles for less than 25K. Audi CPOs have a bumper to bumper 6 year or 100,000 mile warranty. The DSG transmission in these cars is also ridiculously awesome.

My car http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4816/a31io4.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4145/a32hd5.jpg