Help with Buying a Car....

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#21

I agree with Darqangelle in many ways. I do want to make one thing VERY clear though. I am a very big car-enthusiest. I love cars more than I can say about most things, which could be a bad thing, I suppose. So I do not want people thinking that I would buy a BMW for the “upper-class” type, “Hey, I am cool” looks. I would buy one because they are truely wonderful machines. Take for example these new BMW M3s (even though I am not considering one). They are putting out 333hp out of the factory, and get from 0-60 in 4.8 seconds. That is quite impressive considering you can have 4 REAL people in the car with you. I know most of you are gonna say “Why would someone need to get a car from a standstill to 60mph in under 5 seconds?”…this is a very good question and I do not hate people for asking that. But I do have an answer. Serious car enthusiests (though I am only 17 I am budding into quite the automobile lover) say that driving a car like a BMW, Porsche or Ferrari is like an extension of their own will. They want to feel nearly a G pulling at their skin while rounding a courner. This, however, is not for everyone. BMWs also run for very long periods. There is a small club of people who have BMWs in one of the cities in my area, and some of these are from the early 80s and are stuill running like new. I love cars…

My uncle has a small exotic car dealership and they carry 2 or 3 BMWs at a time. This is where it all started for me. He drove me around in a Porsche Carrera a couple years back. We spent nearly 4 hours just driving the winding curves of the Blueridge Parkway. I love him for it. Although he wouldn’t let me drive (with good reason) I am a changed person for it. I love cars…

But, to get back on subject, I have been considering a Jetta for a while. They have great styling, and are pretty nice cars as well.

I was wondering, do you have any experience with the VR6s? I have heard many good things about these, and the never cease to amaze me with their price.

#22

Evnglion, you’re preaching to the choir. fondly gazes out at her squeaky-clean '00 Z3 parked outside her office window Car threads tend to attract car enthusiasts. Have fun with the Jetta! They are really nice cars - if I were in the market for that type of car, I’d definitely think about a Jetta. What color you thinking of?

#23

Not to lecture you even further (but it’s so fun :)), but I have known four people who owned Jettas, all early-mid 90’s models, and they all had problems. Expensive problems. Jettas have a history of electrical problems, and they’re built pretty cheaply (rattling, etc.). I suggest going for a car with a better history of reliability. If you must go for a Jetta, stay away from anything before 1998.

#24

I was looking at either a silver or navy Blue. I like the body shaping on the 2000 and up.

Notta problem man. I only like the pre-2000 ones so~so anyway. I was wondering though. Has anyone tried out the jetta VR6s? I have heard they are very ast for this price range. I need some recommendations on what the best models are and which packages an enthusiest would like or possibly even need.

#25

Evnglion, I love cars.

The VR6…

http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/anderson/99Volkswagen.Jetta.GLS.VR6.rt.html

The repair costs on Volkswagons are astronomical, our friend is a service writer at a dealership and I shudder when she tells me how much it costs to repair simple components or do routine maintainence.

Unless you can write it off a lease is a huge waste of money as you end up with nothing in the end.

My advice would be to look at what you’re driving now, if your car is in good shape just keep driving it until the wheels fall off and save your money for better things. Save that $1250.00 for 6 months and you’ll have enough to buy a really nice used car and have some extra money for insurance / fuel / and maintainence.

I also understand the need to go from 0-60 in five flat. I am with you on that.

#26

hmm…thanks for the link. i have heard a lot of bad things about repair costs on these puppies over the last week. If not a Jetta (the idea of interior nosie bothers me as well) then what woud you suggest I go with? I almost refuse to buy an American car because of the lack of styling, but if worst comes to worst, I suppose I could. I was looking at the new Celicas as well, but I am not sure of any of the performance specs on it.

#27

Try researching at Consumer Reports.