Bucky wrote:

EndlessSummer wrote:I'm going to need to own a car for the first time in 6 years. I'll be commuting from the burbs to Philly and don't want anything nice that I'd actually worry about some mook scratching or hitting. 4WD would be nice. Looking at used Suburus and Mazdas, but I'm really out of the loop on cars. Will I regret buying a car with 70K + miles on it? Any thoughts?

so didja guys get a house?

Pending the inspection on our house later this afternoon, yes. And I'm crossing my fingers as my neighbor's tree is swaying in the wind over our house.

Parents went to Clearwater for a week so I get to take a break from my usual ('93 Ford Tempo with 79k on it) in favor of their '08 Saturn Vue (with XM programmed into the radio) and '06 Ion. Life is good.

when you call a Saturn an upgrade then you must have something like a Tempo

mickbayne wrote:+1 for Subaru. Some $#@! at my apartment complex left a nasty door ding a few weeks ago. Worst part is I'll never know who it was.

I've actually been considering selling the car or trading it in for something cheaper, but it's just too much fun to drive

Endless- bear in mind McBayne got the suped up rally car with a turbo engine which is alot more expensive to maintain. It's been called a poor man's Porche 911 by alot of the Automotive press.

Yeah, I'm actually familiar with the turbo because a friend of mine used to have one. They're ridiculously fast. I'll be opting for the non-turbo direction.

the regular Imprezas still have plenty of horses, I think 165hp?

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:when you call a Saturn an upgrade then you must have something like a Tempo

that's about right

my car is awful. I inherited it from my grandmother (after my sister had it for a while and surely took a few thousand miles off its life. In the meantime I'm saving money for when it inevitably dies. I just put 400 bucks into the muffler and alignment a few months ago, so if I can get this old lady up to 90k or god willing 100k, I'll be pretty happy.

My wife had an '89 Tempo. What an incredible turd of a car.

I had an '86 Tempo. I called it the great white hope

The new Mustang that has 300 hp, but does 33 mpg highway intrigues me...

My Forester has been nothing but a dream since I bought it in late November. I ride the hell out of that thing, and so far, so good.

EndlessSummer wrote:

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:

EndlessSummer wrote:I'm going to need to own a car for the first time in 6 years. I'll be commuting from the burbs to Philly and don't want anything nice that I'd actually worry about some mook scratching or hitting. 4WD would be nice. Looking at used Suburus and Mazdas, but I'm really out of the loop on cars. Will I regret buying a car with 70K + miles on it? Any thoughts?

Im on record as being a Subaru guy so I'd say that a used Subie is a good bet, if you dont need a large car you can get an AWD Impreza for a decent price and itll usually last a long time as long as you dont get the turbo

That's good to hear, as I was looking at the Imprezas. It seems like a good mix of being durable, but being compact enough for the city driving while I can still toss a good amount of stuff in it, too.

I'm glad I read this thread. I may be trading in my 2002 POS VW GTI soon due to innumerable problems that just won't stop. I keep narrowing down my options but the Suburu Impreza 2.5i hatchback keeps coming out #1 on my list based on styling, reliability, price, safety and AWD. I have also looked at:

Mazda3 (girl car)
Toyota Matrix (I prefer to live)
Hyundai Elantra Touring (can't really trust a Hyundai...can I?)
Honda anything (no hatchback with an automatic trans and a powerful engine)

Almost all other hatchbacks that I look at either have sub 130HP or turbo engines, neither of which I want.

It is interesting though that Suburu seems to have highly ranked reliability in some publications but in others it rates just average. I do not want to go through another VW mess again!

Warszawa wrote:
Mazda3 (girl car)
Toyota Matrix (I prefer to live)
Hyundai Elantra Touring (can't really trust a Hyundai...can I?)
Honda anything (no hatchback with an automatic trans and a powerful engine)

Almost all other hatchbacks that I look at either have sub 130HP or turbo engines, neither of which I want.

It is interesting though that Suburu seems to have highly ranked reliability in some publications but in others it rates just average. I do not want to go through another VW mess again!

Hyundai is much much much much better than what they were just 10 years ago, it's truly amazing how they managed to completely turn around their company and one could only hope GM and Chrysler could learn something from them.

Personally I find Toyotas and Hondas boring but Im sure most people would be perfectly happy with one (as the sales prove anyways)

Mazda's alright and they are half owned by Ford so you could feel better supporting a US product.

The Imprezas are made at a Japanese plant that consistently gets the highest ratings for quality (the Forester also gets made there). The reason the reliability average goes down is that the turbo dilutes the report as pretty much any turbo has problems. (and it may have to do with the fact that turbo drivers may drive the car more harshly) Bear in mind reliability reports are consumer based and due to image they get somewhat tainted. I'd bet that Toyota's reliability will go down in the next few years due to their gas pedal problem and the new image they have. Plus reliability reports should also be looked at like baseball stats. If the bases were loaded you'd want Pujols up there but he still could strike out and Pedro Feliz could be the guy who whacks a grand slam, but youd rather go with the odds. As such, you could get a bad Honda and a great Chrysler but I'd rather take my chances with the Honda. Your chances of getting a bad nonturbo Subie are low.

Barry Jive wrote:

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:when you call a Saturn an upgrade then you must have something like a Tempo

that's about right

my car is awful. I inherited it from my grandmother (after my sister had it for a while and surely took a few thousand miles off its life. In the meantime I'm saving money for when it inevitably dies. I just put 400 bucks into the muffler and alignment a few months ago, so if I can get this old lady up to 90k or god willing 100k, I'll be pretty happy.

My first car was a 1990 Tempo that I bough at auction for like 3 or 4K back in 1994. I can't believe you have a 17 year old car with only 79K miles and its a Tempo that still runs! My engine would randomly shut off while idiling, especially in the rain. The AC was broken, the passenger side door lock was broken...all this before 1996.

So what does it mean when my car is in park and my engine starts revving up and down and the RPMs are fluctuating between 500-2000 RPMs?

Slowhand wrote:So what does it mean when my car is in park and my engine starts revving up and down and the RPMs are fluctuating between 500-2000 RPMs?

You have a Toyota

incorrect

This might help: http://autorepair.about.com/od/enginetroubleshootin1/a/TS_idle-speed.htm

Just got a new vehicle. It's the first time I ever bought a brand new car.

2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
4-door with the dual top
Paid extra for the side airbags and the trailer tow group. I couldn't get the airbags without getting the power windows and doors, so I got that, too.

I wanted something I could take on trails to go camping and stuff. I won't use it to go 4-wheeling in mud and rocks, but I might use it for summer jobs if I get the types of summer jobs I want.

This is for Monkeyboy.