There’s an RSX in the lot too. Several years old, looks great, the dude loves it. I’ll ask him about reliability too. A guy that used to work with me had a TSX that he loved. It was leased and thus on warranty but I don’t recall it ever being in the shop aside from scheduled maintenance.
What I really want is this:
but that’s just dumb.
There’s of those in the lot too! Well not really. But that would be a sweet summer ride. You could buy a winter beater and the Chevelle 
Mine was a 2001 and it had small but very annoying problems. The a/c broke, the door locks were very messed up (they wouldn’t lock with the remote sometimes, and if I got in the car and didn’t start it immediately the doors would lock on me and when I went to start the car the alarm would go off until I turned the car off, unlocked the doors, and restarted the engine), and the memory seats never worked right. It was little things that sent me over the edge and I traded it in. Plus, I wasn’t very passionate about the car; it was ho-hum city.
The newer ones look nice.
My technicians will often talk about other car lines that are in their shop. Some times this talk is positive (Brand X does this in a much easier way), and some times negative (Holy crap, you should see what the Brand X guys have to do when they have this problem)
Anyway over the last 5-6 years, I think I have had more negative comments than positive concerning VW. Not scientific by any means, just a data point.
If you have 30K to spend, you can buy a new Volvo S40 with either the normally aspirated 5 cylinder (24K) or with a turbo (28K) or if you want even more cargo space, a V50 starts at 26K.
both of these cars come fairly well equipped.
If you decide you are interested in the a new Volvo I can get you a friends and family discount. Let me know.
You know - I was just looking on line at the S40 actually - I think the price was coming up at $33,000ish, so that sounds about right.
I have no idea what sort of flexability they have in that price - I’m bringing my “Car Guy” with me shopping, but it would be nice to know if there’s any wiggle room. To be honest, $26,000 was sort of sounding like a nice comfortable number and I don’t know if a Volvo could ever be had for that. FWIW, a 2005 or 2006 would be fine, but I just don’t think I’ll be able to find one of those around. 
(Nobody EVER sells their volvo).
See - I kinda love this:
http://www.valentinevolvo.com/Showroom/2007/S40/ModelHome.aspx?lng=2
Can’t you get a Mustang GT (The regular one, not the Shelby) for about that much?
Not many points for originality since most Mustangs are driven by women your age already, but I’m sure you’ll still be able to hit the speed limit quite briskly.
I’ve got an 01’ tdi. the previous owner was fairly OCD, so i would expect that he took care of all the early defect problems. but i love it, mileage, handling, its like a fish in the snow (if fish swam in snow), plus its chipped, so the extra power keeps a silly grin on my face at 200km/h. mines at 202,000 kms and looks beautiful, plan on keeping it for another 202,000 kms.
P.S. bought it for $15,500 cdn in 2005.
forgot to mention its fully equipped - leather, moonroof, upgraded stereo and changer. whole shebang
Why on earth would anyone want to? I mean, if yer gonna get the Mustang, it’s gotta be the Shelby. Otherwise its just a plain old ford.
And the Shelby isn’t a plain ol’ Ford? It’s still the same on the inside, adding a supercharger doesn’t turn it into an Audi. Who can tell the difference anyway? I’d say the effect would be about the same. :dubious:
The mustang is a sedan. The Shelby is a muscle car.
The commonly accepted definition of “sedan” is a car with 4 doors and a trunk, but I digress.
I’ll also be taking delivery of a German car shortly, so maybe we can compare notes on mechanic experiences? Which dealership are you buying from? I live fairly close to Northland VW.
Just to clarify; you’re talking CA$30,000, not US$30,000, right?
I think you should take Rick up on the offer; the S40 T5 AWD looks sweet. I’d consider it if I didn’t already have a Subaru Legacy GT Spec B in the drive.
The muscle cars look good (I’ve been lusting after a 66 GTO or a 67-68 Camaro SS since before I could drive) but handling is subpar and reliability isn’t even a good joke.
Stranger
A buddy of mine used to have a 99 Jetta, which had some problems (many of which were simply caused by crappy dealer service), he traded it for a Saturn in '01 or '02, and he liked the Saturn, until he had a wreck, then he decided that “it just wasn’t the same” (this was totally an issue with him, not the car, trust me) and traded it for another Jetta in '04. He’s had almost no problems out of his car and even though he could afford a new car quite easily can’t convince himself to sell the thing (though he often tries). Jetta’s aren’t my kettle of fish, but you could do a lot worse in terms of reliability.
VW owner checking in. I had a 96 golf that I loved [poor thing died when a tree fell on it during a blizzard sigh] then I got a 96 jetta [used] which I drove until my husband rolled it in june of 05. He walked away from a 70mph roll with bumps, bruises and one bad cut.
I replaced it with another 96 jetta. This past summer his poor 84 chevy S10 finally died, so I bought myself a 2002 jetta and he now drives the 96 jetta.
Yes, the door trim may have issues. Simply use 2 part epoxy to stick it back on. Many cars use adhesive that melts after enough summers. It took about 5 years for it to get loose. I never washed or waxed the replacement jetta, and the finish is just fine. It has a few scratches and such from parking lot encounters.
My 2002 jetta has more scratches than the 96, but I am pretty sure the person lived in the city of hartford and had more exposure to parking lots. The finish is still a nice deep black, and there is a little buit of wear on the interior [one reason i hate leather, it shows wear worse than fabric.]
I have been very happy with it [also the 1971 not-a-super beetle that we had up until just recently. SOld it to make room in the driveway and reduce car costs.]
Interesting. I have a friend who has a 1970 Beetle that she’s owned since six months after her brother bought it new. She points out that it’s not a Super Beetle too.
I’m actually buying a 2005.5 diesel Jetta tomorrow. In 2005 they made the older body style but started the newer one as well.
While shopping, I noticed the difference between a relative good 2005 and a relatively good 2005.5 was only about $1500 or so. With the 2005.5, you get the newer body style and quite a few more options, including one of those fancy computers that tells you how good your mileage is, how many miles until empty, etc.
I’m kind of a “bargain hunter” when it comes to cars, so I looked far and wide for a good deal. The one I’m picking up tomorrow I bought for $19,500, but it could have been cheaper if I went with a standard gas engine instead of diesel. It’s also not “loaded” as far as options, but it has “package one”, which is fancier than I’m used to with heated seats, alloy wheels, and moon roof.
There is no TDI Jetta for the 2007 model year, but they’re bringing it back for 2008 if you care at all about getting a diesel one.
Yah - I’m wondering about diesel, but I think it’s a bad idea around these parts. It gets down to -40 at least once a year and that lasts for at least a week - I’m going to be parking outside - even with the new fangled “cold weather diesel” systems that just seems like a nightmare waiting to happen.
If other people have different experience, I’d be interested to hear it. There aren’t too many diesel drivers around for me to ask (I’m assuming for the same reason I’m cautious).