What car should I buy?

[monster]

I think you should get a three wheel drive car, lola. You only need three points of contact to level an object (three points to describe a plane). Four is too many, and invariably one doesn't actually make contact, but will if pressure is applied at the right point causing the object to wobble -like a table or a chair. if we redesigned furniture with three legs, we'd nevery need to wedge wonky legs again. they don't make three wheel cars any more -and they look stupid, but if you have three wheel drive, it's effectively the same. plus you can bling out the fourth wheel or use it as a lazy Susan. You definitely want Abs, but you can always ad them afterwards using an intense workout program.

[lumberjim]

Do you like the GTi?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

... you see the wheels stretch down to stay in contact with the ground...

I saw a tow truck the other day. I was really annoyed with it because I was waiting to jaywalk, and it was the only car on the road, but it was going really slow, so I had to wait a long time. It was towing a van, and wasn't a very big tow truck. When it got in front of me, I realized why it was going so slowly. the pavement had slight ripples to it, and every time it hit a ripple, the tow truck's front wheels bounced off the pavement and lingered in the air a few inches above the pavement for at least a few seconds. This was at about 10 mph. Almost no weight on those front wheels. I watched it for as long as I could, because I figured it was going to smash in to something, but it was going straight, and had no trouble doing that. I wish I could have seen it try to turn.

[glatt]

Lola,
more important to you than the ABS and AWD debates is the radio.

I'm not being patronizing. I'm dead serious. Many new cars have very difficult to operate radios, controlled by touch screens. You cant' just reach over with your eyes on the road and turn the knobs by feel or push the familiar buttons. You need to pull over to operate the damn things. It's a safety issue. When you get in any of these cars to try them out, see if you can operate the radio while driving. Also see if you can adjust the climate control. Turn on the defrost. These should be very simple things, and some cars get them wrong. It's a trendy thing now to put touch screens in cars and I'm dismayed by it. Touch screens have no business in cars. If you can't operate it by feel with a split second glance, it shouldn't be in a car.

You may find that an otherwise great car is dead to you because you can't operate the radio or turn on the defrost without pulling over.

Having said that, based mainly on the consumer report ratings and my own gut feelings and preferences, I would say that if money is of little concern, you should get the CR top rated Hybrid Camry XLE for $29K. If money is of great concern, you should get the Hyundai Sonata GLS for $22K. If you fall somewhere in the middle, you should look at the Honda Accord LX for $23K and the Camry LE for $23K. I'd also look at the Mazda 6 Sport for $24k and the Nissan Altima 2.5 S for $23K. All are excellent choices.

I'm not generally a fan of 6 cylinder engines. They have more power, which comes in handy about 1% of the time you are driving, but is never absolutely necessary. And they get poor to mediocre fuel economy 100% of the time you are driving. I'd focus on the 4 cylinder models. They all go fast enough to get you a speeding ticket and will keep up with traffic.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by glatt

You cant' just reach over with your eyes on the road and turn the knobs by feel or push the familiar buttons. You need to pull over to operate the damn things. It's a safety issue.

Just turn on the cruise control, that way the car drives itself and you can devote your full attention to the radio... or making a sandwich.

[footfootfoot]

Maybe sixes aren't needed where YOU live Glatt, but around here with micro short passing lanes, curvy roads, and a preponderance of cotton tops and seasonal tourists, not having six cylinders adds 15 minutes to a commute.

[glatt]

It's true that more power can come in handy. But it comes with a tradeoff.

YMMV, literally.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I don't call trading safety for savings a good deal.

[glatt]

I'd be curious to see any studies that show cars with 6 cylinder engines are safer than cars with 4 cylinder engines.

I would expect insurance rates to be higher on cars with 6 cylinder engines based on them being more likely to be involved in accidents because there's more power in a 6 cylinder engine for a driver to abuse.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I would like to see a study showing 6 cylinder cars have more accidents than 4 cylinder cars. I think that's complete bullshit, along with the idea that drivers of 6 cylinder cars drive faster, or more recklessly. You said yourself speed is limited by the rest of the traffic.

I will agree however, if your situational awareness, and driving skills suck, having the power to evade and avoid is useless to you. You might as well get a 4 cylinder and spend the time until somebody nails you, daydreaming about how you'll spend that 12 cents you saved on gas this week.

[glatt]

It's amazing how much our sense of identity gets wrapped up in cars. Myself included.

Kids today don't even really want cars. Not in the cities anyway. Car club memberships like zip cars are all the rage. We've got 3 car sharing companies in DC.

[footfootfoot]

I was just as much of an asshole driver when I had 4 cylinders as I am now. Maybe more so. Being stuck behind someone, unable to pass for 45 minutes because they wouldn't pull over and my 4 cylinder car unable to over take them and get back into my lane led to me taking risks so I didn't have to get stuck like that again. I also got one of the two tickets I've gotten in my life for unsafe passing because I couldn't get back into my lane before the stripes changed.

My mileage is usually 26mpg, but I have a sticky caliper and haven't had a chance to fix it so my mpg has dropped to about 20. It's taking about 100 miles of travel from a tank of gas. (about $20 bucks - I need to fix that asap)

I admit to being impatient when I am going to an appointment, I can be perfectly chill otherwise. Still, slow driving, e.g., 40 in a 55 frosts me. Especially when the driver is blissfully unaware of other cars and is marveling at the local splendor.

[glatt]

40 in a 55 is completely unreasonable. Unless there's ice on the road or something. Even then, you should pull over and let cars pass.

I can only think of a couple times in my life where I really wished I had that extra power. And one time was in a rental car. I had pulled over at some roadside vendor north of Toronto on Canadian thanksgiving weekend. Traffic was extremely heavy with absolutely no breaks and the ramp to get up to speed was relatively short with no merge lane. After waiting several minutes for any break, I just pulled an asshole move where I got up to speed and barged my way in. Somebody let me in. Come to think of it, accelerating wasn't the problem, it was simply finding a gap to coincide with the end of the ramp. I didn't like that.

[orthodoc]

You're right, it wasn't the rental car - it was the insane traffic and bad design of Hwys 400 and 11, north of Toronto. (And Hwy 69, which is a death trap.) Driving there anytime is hair-raising. In winter, just to add spice, Hwy 400 routinely gets white-outs.

[lumberjim]

It helps though, if you're able to accelerate fast enough to be going faster than traffic by the time you get to the end of the merge lane.

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