ek wrote:alright, getting a new car within the next month or so. deciding between the 09 Altima and the 09 Malibu

Altima, GM is going bankrupt and one more car wont help

phatj wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:

MrsVox wrote:

jamiethekiller wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:It's minivan time. Recommendations?

seriously? just get a full size car

<snip>

Thanks for the info.

Ditto. With the second one on the way, I'm strongly leaning towards a minivan or something else with significantly more people/cargo volume than a normal sedan type car.

Did you (or anyone) ever drive one of the Korean minivans, i.e. the Hyundai Entourage or Kia Sedona? They're quite a bit cheaper than the Japanese equivalents but are pretty well-equipped. They seem to be well-reviewed overall.

I didn't drive one, basically because getting one of the larger minivans was what we needed. My understanding is that the Entourage/Sedona are smaller. I had a friend from VoxJr's old preschool who had a Sedona and was really happy with it. I would worry about the Entourage a bit just from anecdotal experience, VoxMom had an Elantra, and was always getting nickel-and-dimed on it.

I don't know what the price comparison is, and it does depend on what you are looking for in a van/crossover, but a friend of ours has a Toyota Rav4 (not 4WD). It gets fantastic gas mileage, and fits all of the Voxes + 1 without a problem, with room for cargo. Only certain trims have the third one, but it's like the middle and top of the line, maybe. The third row is stow and go, just like a minivan. The only disadvantage I've ever seen is that a carseat (Britax Roundabout, at least), doesn't fit rear-facing in the third row, even with the second row all the way forward.

imo

The Red Tornado wrote:imo

Dirty Hippy Coffin.

My parents had a VW Microbus. That thing was great.

Thanks MrsVox. I'll check out the RAV4, though I'm allergic to SUVs. The price looks competitive with the Korean minivans.

I had a VM microbus.

phatj wrote:My parents had a VW Microbus. That thing was great.

Thanks MrsVox. I'll check out the RAV4, though I'm allergic to SUVs. The price looks competitive with the Korean minivans.

phatj, this is a light SUV at best. Like the Honda CR-V, it's built on a car frame (the camry, I believe). And you don't have to get 4wd. My friend who has two girls about our boys is seriously considering it, after seeing what we fit into our friends'.

Something I remembered as I was pulling out of the driveway tonight... Another must-have on my ist was privacy/tinted glass. In the Avalon, with clear glass windows, babyVox was always getting tan because I do alot of daytime driving.

As a bonus with the XLE, we also got retractable window shades. They are like those shades you can suction cup onto your windows, but they are built into the window frame for the second and third row windows. While I wouldn't call them a must-have, they are nice.

Would anyone care to post, in their opinion, the 3-5 best overall "well-made" cars. I am not really looking to buy right now but my 2002 car is a POS and the complete opposite of "well-made" and I would just like to see what I'm missing (if I'm lucky mine will hold out 5 more years). I would think Mercedes and BMW would be on this list but thats probably out of my price range anyway. Maybe the list should be well-made cars relative to price? Bang for the buck?

Bonus points if you can name the make of car I own (hint: its not American).

I'll guess you own a Hyundai

Probably hard to go wrong with a Honda Civic or Accord. Likewise with Toyota Corolla or Camry. I've heard good things about the Ford Fusions. I've never owned any of the above, however, I'm just going on reputation. I have a 2003 Mazda 6 and it's been good to me. My wife's 2003 Nissan Altima has been great, too. Both are paid off and we haven't had any problems to date

granted Ive been out the biz for almost 10 years but in my experience the best regular schmoe cars that are the most reliable:

Honda- Accord and Civic
Toyota- Camry, Rav4 and Corolla
Subaru- Impreza, Forrester

If you must go domestic then stick with Ford (the Fusion I hear is decent) and shy away from GM and Chrysler

I like Nissans.

Drugs Delaney wrote:I like Nissans.

and they tend to have more problems than Toyotas and Hondas but less than Ford

Warszawa wrote:Bonus points if you can name the make of car I own (hint: its not American).

I'd guess you own some sort of VW.

we really weren't happy with the Civic that Vox had -- that was an '08, I think, maybe an '07. Although on his rec, his mom and brother both got civics too, and I haven't heard any complaints.

I put toyota at the top of the list. I was happy with the Nissans that I had, too, an Altima and Pathfinder.

Do they still make Plymouth Sundances? If they do, do not buy a Plymouth Sundance

It seems though with cars today everything is much more reliable than it used to be. But if you do have a problem, no one will ever figure out what it is. My wife had a Ford ZX2, and it started having idling problems. It was still under warranty, and the dealer had it for weeks, and sort of fixed it, but we traded it in anyway because it was totally an unsuitable vehicle for a family with a child. I figured they just needed to put a new computer in there. I'm sure it was a software issue.

We have an 09 Nissan Altima from the rental company, it's actually a pretty sweet car thus far. But what's the deal with the push button start? I don't get it it doesn't make anything it just seems like another thing to get screwed up.

So now that we are in the market for a new car, I guess we'll look at that. I've been feeling Ford for a while, because it seems like you can get pretty good value on them right now and they seem like decent cars.

ek wrote:this new Altima I have is freakin sweet. got the moonroof, bose system, dash computer, 6 disc changer, free XM radio. love it so far

nice. The rental doesn't ave none of that crap, but it's a nice ride. How much you pay for that, if you dont mind me asking.

I know some stoners who have been driving their Honda Accords for years with huge dents, bumpers falling off, plastic bags for windows, don't even know you're supposed to put oil in a car sometimes, but they never seem to break down.