Did you buy or plan to buy a new car?

In My Humble Opinion
21

A friend’s boat is named Escape. I pronounce it S-ca-pay.

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22

Last vehicle purchase I was involved in was my mom’s Mazda 5. Her Sienna was dying and she really hated her local Toyota dealer (I don’t blame her - they were horrible!) She wanted good gas mileage and the ability to take a bunch of people with her, which is why she had the minivan. The Mazda 5 will hold 6, altho the 2 in the back row of seats don’t have a lot of leg room, but she doesn’t do long hauls. At most, she and her retired buds will drive half an hour into town, tho the majority of the time, it’s just her and maybe one other.

I’d done some online research for her, and the Mazda 5 seemed to fit the bill, and she’s been quite happy with it. I’m just glad she got rid of her van - it was more of a pain than it was worth.

I’m hoping we won’t need a vehicle for at least 5 more years - our ride is a 2012 Sonata with 105K miles. We like it fine and we’ve had no problems with it at all. We have decided in our old age that comfort is more important to us than fuel economy, within reason. So no more econoboxes! We shall see what the market has after 2020.

23

I have a VW diesel that I’m going to unload at the first opportunity and get a new car probably in the next few months. Keeping lots of options open.

I helped someone buy a new car a little while back, and the salesman did the whole, “Boy, you really need an extended warranty… we’ve had people come back the day after the factory warranty expired with huge problems!”

If they do this when I buy my next car, I’m just going to say, “Are you telling me that you’re selling me a piece of shit? Well, then I’m going to go across the street to the Toyota/Honda/BMW dealer and ask if they sell shitty cars. I might be back, maybe not.”

24

ESCAPAY!

25

We just got a Toyota Sienna (XLE, AWD) last Wednesday! It is pretty sweet! It’s my wife’s vehicle. She was also considering a Ford Explorer, but the minivan won out.

26

I have a newly long commute and am totally not used to having to fill up every weekend; therefore, I plan to get a hybrid. Since you have undoubtedly done the research, can the Fusion Energi be used in much the same way as the regular Fusion hybrid? The Energi is a far better deal after tax breaks, but I’m not sure how I feel about a plug-in.

27

bought a 2016 Mazda3 in December. Love it. Now I’m driving it for Uber, and if I knew how much money I would be making with it, I probably would have bought a fully loaded Mazda6.

28

I only buy used. Picked up a Jeep Cherokee last April for cheap. Yeah, I know. I’m a glutton for punishment.

29

It seems you’re not sure yet. Have you checked out the 2016 Honda HRV? My wife is picky and we both recommend it! I wanted red, but got her color, white, which is my 2nd choice.

30

Any reason why you wouldn’t consider a something like the X1 or the 3 Series wagon? Best of both worlds then…:smiley:

31

I made my plan last winter after sliding off the driveway, not for the first time, in my 2WD (Corolla). I got a Subaru last May and then this past winter did not cooperate with enough snow to prove I could make it up the driveway in bad conditions. Oh well, maybe next winter.

It’s a Subaru Impreza hatchback and I love it.

32

I won’t go back to Honda. Last time I went to them, they refused to negotiate on price. Deal killer for me.

33

I know what you mean, but just because you had one bad experience at one Honda dealership, doesn’t mean that all Honda dealerships are bad. Don’t generalize. Try another. They have good reliable cars. We had a bad experience at one dealership. But we really like the HRV, so we went to another. We had a rare great experience buying ours at Marin Honda!

34

I’m looking for longevity not power. My experience has been that a four cylinder engine starts having problems around 50,000 miles while a six cylinder will go over 100,000 miles without problems.

35

One of my cars is a 4 cyclinder (2000 civic) with over 175k and still no problems. You probably had a Cavalier or something. What kind was it?

36

Ha funny; even funnier for those who got the extended warranty.

37

Also if I go by your logic, you would have moved on to another brand and to another and to another if the previous one didn’t negotiate on price until you end up with a dodge. They are desperate to sell.

38

I don’t do station wagons (or minivans) in any form so a BMW station wagon is right out. The X1 looks fine but is smaller than than a Mazda CX-5 with slightly worse reviews (both are very good though). If I am going to get a BMW, it is going to be a one of their higher 3-series sedans like a 325i and maybe even a performance version like an M3. I love BMW’s in general but the 5 series always seemed a little frumpy to me so I am not interested in them either. The 7 series is great as a personal limo but I am not old enough and don’t have the driving habits to justify one of those. I like their larger SUV’s like the X5 but my ex-wife has one an I don’t really need one that large so that kills that idea.

Small SUV’s and crossovers seem to be where it’s at for me at this stage in my life. My current vehicle is a 6-cylinder Toyota Rav4. It has been great and very reliable but I am running up miles on it quickly because of a long commute. However, like Little Nemo, I don’t understand why they discontinued the 6-cylinder option. With 269hp and all wheel drive, that thing has no problem overtaking or passing almost any non-sports car on the road easily and it can tow fairly heavy loads if needed although I never do that. That is the main reason that I bought it but I don’t see a reason to get another Rav4 now that option is gone.

39

Only once per week fill-up? You lucky devil! I used to think 19 mpg was pretty good, and had to fill up twice per week for my 30 mile commute.

For general usage, the only real different would be that the PHEV has a smaller trunk than the standard HEV, because of the larger battery pack. This doesn’t really affect me because I would only routinely carry groceries. I still have my gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, behemoth Expedition stored at my old house if I really need the room (16 to 18 mpg at best, though).

I believe that the HEV achieves a 1 MPG better fuel economy than the PHEV, but you might want to double check. I suppose this means that if you buy the Energi and never plug it in, you would be very slightly worse off. On the other hand, even in the Motor City there are free plug in chargers available at places like shopping malls.

I chose the Energi because it’s cheaper, but also specifically because it’s plug-in. I project that I will live 22 miles from work which is within the electric-only range (depending on my driving habits). We also have chargers at work, but as I’m not there I don’t know how available they’ll really be. If I can use them fairly regularly, then my commute home will be free.

I estimate that if I still had the Continental, it would cost me about $1565 per year for commuting fuel (at 22 miles distance). With just the hybrid (never charging) it should cost me $726 per year, and if I’m able to commute on pure electricity including free electricity at work, then only $316 per year! I think the non-plugin gets the same or better gasoline fuel economy. At 41 mpg I estimate $726 per year.

This assume $2.60 per gallon, but I have no idea what fuel costs right now. If I tweak my spreadsheet to $2.25 per gallon, it looks like gasoline is cheaper than electricity (but, again, I count on getting free electricity at work). My total electric rate is $0.15139 per KWH after the first 17 KWH, and that’s the flat rate without TOD or green car incentives.

And of course, I’m only looking at commuting costs, not vacations, errands, or fun.

The Energi comes with a 120 VAC charger, so no special 220 VAC lines are needed in your garage. It only takes 4 to 8 hours to charge completely because it has a small battery compared to, say, a Tesla or Focus or Bolt. Commercial chargers are faster, of course (my “free” electricity at work costs me $0.50 if I don’t unplug within the allotted free time). If you have TOD metering, you can program the car to charge whenever the cheap rate comes into effect.

40

I’ve owned Hondas in the past and liked them, but not negotiating on price is like saying “fuck you” to the consumer. It’s one reason I wouldn’t buy a Saturn with their ridiculous no-negotiating sales tactic. There are plenty of good car brands out there without having to deal with manufacturer arrogance.