Well, it has come to pass that I need to buy a new car. My 1993 Subaru Legacy served me well for three years, but it’s time to put it out to pasture. Soon, I will be transfered for my job. Before, I was a traveling guy. I went to different hospitals in a small area, and had a company car to do so. But in about a month, I’m going to be in one hospital, and it’s an hours drive away, and I will not have the company car. So, rather than have my car break down on the way back from work one night when it will be most certainly snowing and cold as hell, I’ve decided to get a new car.
Now, being that I am in the middle of the Adirondacks, I need a car with four wheel or all wheel drive.
I’ve been thinking about it, and so far I have a couple choices:
Nissan Frontier: I like the way this looks, and it’s not that expensive of a truck. However, I can’t seem to get one exactly how I want it. I like the way the ones with the roof rack look, but the rack is only on the crew/quad cab models, which are more expensive. In addition, the two models with a roof rack do not come with manual transmission, and it will be a cold day in Hell when I buy a pansy-ass automatic car. So I have to either settle for no roof rack, or settle for a more expensive, automatic, albiet cooler looking.
Jeep Wrangler: I’ve always loved Jeeps (not couting the Liberty), but I don’t want to have to afford a Grand Cherokee, both in terms of initial price, and the fact that it will certainly guzzle more gas than the smaller Wrangler. However, a Wrangler is less practical of a car. It has no real roof, just tops. I’ve ridden in a few, and because of the tops, they are very noisy. I would get a hard top, which seems a little more secure and less noisy, but then I have the problem of what to do with it in the summer when I take it off and cruise around with the wind in my hair. I only have an apartment with no garage, and the top looks like it’s one piece, so I don’t think I could store it inside.
Pontiac Vibe: I like this, and there is an AWD model. However, it is only available in an automatic, those bastards!
So those are three I came up with. I welcome suggestions from other dopers, as well as any information you might have if you’ve owned one of those three. If you do suggest a car, here are the stipulations:
No large SUV’s. The X-Terra is about as large a size as I’m willing to go.
In that vein, no large trucks.
No UGLY cars. This includes, but is not limited to: A Scion, the Element, the Aztec, etc…
The base price should be below $26,000.