Suggestions for my Wife's "New" Car?

We talked it over today,& came up with a few ideas -

Mazdas,Fusion,Subarus,newer Impalas.She's looking at
something the same size (or close) as the Fusion,& gets at least
the same fuel milage,& is reliable,& reasonable to maintain.
A good Friend,& mechanic has a 3 series BMW,that's in
great shape,for around $2500,manual,that could be a temporary
vehicle,until we find what we want.
Thoughts/ideas/suggestions on the above,or other vehicles?
I think that we'll have about $5000 to spend.

I drive a three series BMW. Had it from nearly new (six months old, 4000 miles on the clock). Its now six years old with 130,000 miles on the clock. Apart from regular servicing and tyres the only thing I have had to fix are two blown bulbs. It spends most of its life going up and down the motorway and I'm getting high 50s mpg (UK gallon - diesel that is). I'd stick with the BMW!

For the kind of car you describe I would search by price not make - There are definitely cars like that out there, but, to confine ones self to a few models means you might miss something even better.

I used these guys to find my mother's car https://www.cargurus.com/ - you can search by price and, they also tell you whether it is a good (or great) deal according to average prices.

good luck!

We have a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe (v6) that I bought new. It has just over 240k miles and has been the best, most reliable car we have ever owned.

I think it comes down to the type of car you want... "appliance" or "work". A BMW is likely to be work - higher cost of parts, fewer mechanics to fix them. But they are a joy to drive!

I have a BMW, 150k on the clock. The steering feel is phenomenal. The radio emits a high pitched wail that nobody can fix. The heater fan squeaks annoyingly on cold winter days (The bearings have been lubricated, to no avail. I believe the whole assembly needs to be replaced. Thank goodness for a warm winter ). Point it into a corner and I can't help but smile. I had to replace an oil filter housing gasket - and the bolts are installed from behind, requiring all sorts of contortions to remove. And prayers not to drop them upon re-installation.

On the other hand, we had an Accord. Nothing ever went wrong, maintenance we did was very reasonable. The "design for maintenance" aspect was excellent. For example, it had a jack point for the front end just behind the font bumper - making oil changes an absolute breeze. It drove just fine, did not use much gas.

Point being, do you want a car that will require some work, or something that will just work? (In our case we sold the Accord and kept the BMW. We are a little masochistic that way.)

My sister & my sons wife both have Hyundai sonatas, both are 6-10 years & have pretty high miles, but never a problem.

I've become a real fan of Hyundai and Kia. They're not exciting cars, but they've proven themselves to be reliable. An advantage to them in the used market is that they do depreciate more than a Honda or Toyota, so they're real bargains on the lower price end. I've owned a couple over the years (and have a friend at work who has had a number of them for himself and his family) without any major trouble.

I've been looking for a cheap winter beater myself recently (in the same $5k range) and Hyundai in particular keeps coming up as a real viable option.

I'm with JP - search by price and see what comes up.

Drew I agree with praise for Hyundai with the exception of their double clutch. It has proven to be problematic. My daughter recently bought the Mazda SUV (CX5) over the Tucson because the Tucson had the double clutch. Other than that they are dependable cars. I put about a thousand miles on a Sonata and loved it.

Toyota Camry. Drive the BMW and hunt for "Grandma's Camry".

Thanks for all of the suggestions.We ended up driving down to
South San Francisco,& over to Roseville (East of Sacramento) to look at the
three 2010 Ford Fusions,all with 4 cylinder engines,& 6 speed transmissions.
The one we ended up buying was a one owner car,with only 44K.
It's really rare to find these with a manual.That's what my Wife wanted,& now
the only automatic we own (out of six cars) is the '95 Dakota pickup.
We drove the Ford Focus rental car down there,& it did a great job,
for an automatic.Averaged about 35 mpg of hard driving on the way down,&
about 45 on the way back.The Focus is too small for us.
We also hit heavy (for this area) snow,but made it home this morning,
about 12:30 AM.

Here's what we got.View attachment 47638View attachment 47639View attachment 47640View attachment 47641View attachment 47642View attachment 47643

Looks great! well chosen

I wonder if there's a mouse nest inside ....

Poor li'l critters need a warm place for the winter.




:banana:

drooartz said:

I've become a real fan of Hyundai and Kia. They're not exciting cars, but they've proven themselves to be reliable. An advantage to them in the used market is that they do depreciate more than a Honda or Toyota, so they're real bargains on the lower price end. I've owned a couple over the years (and have a friend at work who has had a number of them for himself and his family) without any major trouble.

I've been looking for a cheap winter beater myself recently (in the same $5k range) and Hyundai in particular keeps coming up as a real viable option.

I'm with JP - search by price and see what comes up.

Click to expand...

Hard to believe my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe, which we bought new, is 10 years old now! Honestly, it's been the best car I've ever owned. I has just over 240k miles now and still drives like new. Mine is a two row (seats) version with a V6. Unfortunately, the newer Santa Fes require you to get the three seat row version if you want a v6 so I'm in no hurry to trade.

AngliaGT said:

Here's what we got.View attachment 47638View attachment 47639View attachment 47640View attachment 47641View attachment 47642View attachment 47643

Click to expand...

Good choice - and congrats on finding a manual - most car thieves don't know how to drive a stick!

Thanks! - Still haven't figured out why they put a rear spoiler
on a front wheel drive car.She asked me if it could be removed.
I also want to take the wrecked one out,just to see if anyone
would pull out in front of me,or tailgate.