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

[Fast Food Knight]

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

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

[dchz]

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

[dcasper70]

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

[Nicholasp27]

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





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

[Nicholasp27]

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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.

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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

[Nicholasp27]

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


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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

[blinden84]

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.

[lozen]

If New Mazda 3 or Toyota Matrix

[lacticacid]

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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?

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lol miatas are good....

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

[z28dreams]

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.