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Comments
The only thing I'd really enjoy on the limited would be the leather. The climate control and CD changer I can live without. You're right, the SE's a great value... $3500 below invoice was impossible to say no to.
-juice
Your price was about $3-400 lower than Fitz, good job wheeling and dealing!
-juice
Such a bahgain.
-juice
Payments total $91,135. Residual - and here's the kicker - is only $39,800. That's a 33% residual in 4 years. That's Kia territory.
Heck, I could afford a 4 YO Quottroporte!!
That's the kicker. You have to be ready for a $4000 repair bill at any given time.
-juice
Killjoy.
John
Jim
The president of one of our divisions has a white Quattro-whatever. I'd rather have an S class, but whatever.
~Colin
And to be built in Oklahoma!
http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/1239
Bob
Scary.
-juice
-juice
Having said that, predicting Yugo-like reliability may be going a bit far. I'm sure the Chinese have learned that to be successful in the US market, you have to offer bulletproof products. If they put forth a clunker, it will be a HUGE setback the Chinese auto industry. It will just confirm old stereotypes—and that's the last thing they want.
Bob
-juice
Jim
The computer I use at home was made in Kansas
~Colin
PF Flyer
Host
Wagons, & Hybrid Vehicles
The Subaru Crew Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
-juice
Congrats on the new car, Jeff. Atlantic Blue is my favorite color.
Sorry on the ding on the new car Tom. The first one hurts the most.
Speaking about dings on the car, I was unfortunately caught in a hail storm of record proportions in Exeter, NH last week. My Legacy GT now has dents in every body panel.
Sorry Rob. It must be painful to look at.
Hope you get a new car out of it though.
tom
Yeah, go to Exeter Subaru and get a brand new Subie (also with hail damge).
Bob
LOL at Exeter Subaru, Bob! The car dealer on Epping Road is having a 'hail sale'. 5k off for dents and dings.
Toyota Yaris
It is an echo hatchback and it shows. I could not accept the center-mounted speedometer no matter what, but the vehicle is too small anyway. It is very similar to the Scion xA, with minor differences in exterior and interior styling. Honestly I didn't look that close because of the space deficiency in the rear seat and hatch.
Scion xA
See above-- 'nuff said.
Scion xB
Great head, leg, hip and shoulder room front and rear! The hatch is shallow but tall, and the overall cargo area is large with the seats folded flat; even bigger with them completely removed. very well equipped for $15,500*-- abs, traction control, limited stability management, mp3/wma cd player, direct iPod control and aux input for other players, workable but not impressive speakers. Great visibility for a 5'4" tall box. Cruise is a dealer-installed accessory costing ~$275. I drove a manual and the power is fine in town but seriously lacking for passing especially at highway speeds. I've seen reviews complaining about the ride, but I thought it was fine. I'm comparing to my Evo however, so perhaps it is a bit choppy for general consumption. Since I made such a big deal about the center speedo in the Yaris: the xB's is left-center, a good 18" from where it ought to be, but it is somewhat on the driver's side and it is in my primary field of vision instead of on my periphery like the Echo's. It is a huge round dial, so I found it easy to read even the small tach in the lower right.
* Some/most of you know this, but Scion has fixed no-haggle pricing just like Saturn. This actually increases resale because there is no invoice price from which to base the starting value on. It is $15,500 for a Scion xB with the stuff I mentioned, period.
Toyota Matrix
I looked at the base and XR 2WD models. This dealer does not even stock the XRS because of low demand, which is fine by me because a high-strung, torqueless 1.8L makes no sense to me in this type of vehicle. I also do not value their kludgey 4WD, but that's my opinion. The base model is price competitive with the Scion xB but it is larger in nearly all aspects. The functional advantage of this size is mostly felt in the hatch which is noticeably larger than the Scion. The hatch area and backs of the rear seats are also molded with rugged plastic which would resist wear, damage and certainly staining much better than the fabric found in all other vehicles I looked at. The 126 HP 1.8L feels much more potent than the 1.5L 105-110 HP engines used in all other cars, and I again was driving a 5 speed manual. However the bigger engine and bigger car does cost a few MPG from the city and highway ratings; still much better than my observed 22 MPG in mixed driving and 27 MPG highway in the Evo, though. My test drive car (5spd XR with light options) stickered around $18,000 but its feature list fell well short of the xB; it did have ABS, at least.
Honda Fit
The Fit is very similar in all dimensions to the Scion xB, but I immediately noticed that the hatch was deeper. Did this come at the cost of rear legroom? --Yes, unfortunately it does. I am 6'0" with a 33" inseam and when I adjusted the front seats of the Fit appropriately and then got out to take a seat in the back, my knees did hit. This definitely did not happen in the xB or Matrix.. Bad move, Honda.
Next up: Mazda 3 5-door hatch. Bigger engine, same MPG ratings at the Matrix.
Heh heh... if you're a member of the "Service Roundtable Association", "Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Association" or "Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association", you could get another $500 rebate. :P
EPA rating with MT is a couple marks better than your Evo, 22 city/29 highway, but you'd have more utility, AWD(!!) and still have a pretty sporty ride.
I'm excited to hear how you like the Mazda 3!
I can get almost any Ford or GM for $100 over invoice, including Mazda but excluding a few specific models such as a Corvette or a Mustang GT500. So the Mazda 3 is appealing from that standpoint too but I won't be able to drive the trim level I want (5dr with 5 speed, cloth, no sunroof) until the '07 models arrive in a few months.
~Colin
Whoa! Did I miss something? ;-)
Ken
How bad is traffic going from BWI airport to Wilmington on a Friday morning?
I've got a real short in-and-out trip next week. My flight gets in around midnight to BWI and need to be in Wilmington the next morning. I'm planning on staying at the airport then driving up the following morning. Unforutnatley, I can't hang afterwards since my wife will be fending for herself with baby and toddler.
I was told about 1.5 hours, but is that with/without traffic?
Ken
Why are you not flying into Philly's airport, as that is much closer?
Bob
Yes, Wilmington DE. Flights to Philly were sold out, unfortunatley. That's where I would have prefered to fly into since it's only about 40 min away.
Ken
Jim
http://www.subaru-global.com/about/boxer40th/index.html
The final segment has a neat timeline showing how the Subaru emblem has changed through the years (11 times!) and the vehicle lines created under each emblem. It's a shame they didn't include B9 Tribeca, though!
Mark
Cheers!
Paul
BTW, how hot is it out there? It's supposed to hit 90 here in Seattle!
tom
Last summer was overall record cool.. we had only 5 days all year over 99 degrees in 2005. So, I don't buy the "world is gonna end due to global warming" BS. It's just hot right now, it happens.
~Colin
It's way hot here, Tom... currently 96, 17% humidity. Forecast 98 today, 103 tomorrow, 104 Sunday, 102 Monday. We're staying inside as much as we can, catching up on DVD movies, BBQing on the deck to minimize heat load in the house, and keeping the fluid intake up. Mowed the lawn Wednesday so i'm off the hook there for another week.
Might need this guys ice bag here! :sick:
Cheers!
Paul
Brenda (who'd like to keep reading this thread but wants to be sure it's ok with the DH!)
seriously lacking for passing especially at highway speeds
Too bad about that, the 1.5l may not be enough to move the weight I'd put in it (give it the 1.8l at least), plus aerodynamics just aren't a part of the experience.
Matrix - how'd you like the seating position? A lot of folks complain it's too upright, not comfy for longer trips.
Mazda3s - bet that's what you end up with. You can even get GPS on those.
-juice
http://www.dpcars.net/scion/sc1.htm
It's a private person's web site featuring the cars he owns or has owned, so I think the link is Edmunds-safe.
-juice
-juice