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Comments
Yep Juice or Bob still pose the $100k wish list every holiday season
-Frank
I can't believe anyone would pay $42k for an Evo, though. That's totally insane.
My initial list would be:
- New WRX 5 door. Looks pretty good on paper. My Subaru experience was mostly positive and the negatives were mostly my own doing.
- New Jetta TDI. Great gas mileage, well reviewed, a lot of car for the money. I'd be a bit nervous about German cars Hecho en Mexico, though.
- Used BMW 335i... maybe. Might be able to get a 2007 CPO for under $30k. And under $30k is definitely where I would want to be.
Let's see, in the past 2 years we've purchased 3 new cars, so my entire fleet has changed.
98 Forester -> 07 Sienna
Had to get a van as a trip/family car. Don't regret it, either, as it just carried 2 familes to the beach, New York, Philly, all over the place in comfort and silence. The engine's a gem, though I wish the tranny would keep up with it, and the steering is more isolated than Antarctica, but it has 3 acres of space. Add a DVD player for the kids and it's the ideal family van. I especially love the power sliding doors.
02 Legacy -> 09 Forester 2.5i Limited
This is the wife's car. She actually never loved the Legacy, but ironically I applied no pressure at all this time, and this was her choice, plus she LOVES it. The 09 has about a foot more rear leg room than my 98 had.
93 Miata -> 08 Miata PRHT Touring
Could have used your advice a few months ago, but I think you'd be proud of me - I got the sportiest Miata you can get, basically. The PRHT has fatter sway bars standard, plus I got the close-ratio 6 speed, summer gumball tires, and the Torsen LSD. There's still too much body roll but that's OK for DC's potholes, much stiffer and I don't think I could drive it daily.
I still miss the 93, the plain old simplicity. But it was aging. It would have need new carpeting, new top, and shocks. The big rebates came and I caved.
No more new cars for a decade or so, we hope.
I toyed with the idea of a CPO Bimmer too, but then I remembered the maintenance costs on your M3. It was an M of course, but still. I'm not sure the car wouldn't end up soaking me in the long run.
WRX.....so nice. But I drive a lot, and the mileage is a downer.
Now, coming from the "fun to drive slow cars fast" approach, the Honda Fit has much going for it. IF one can get past the idea of being a honda owner. quick, nicely weighted steering, direct point-and-shoot demeanor, frugal, versatile, and inexpensive.
We could end up needing 2 cars in the next 2 years, and right now I'd say it would be 2010 Fit, 2012 Outback. Time (and the economy) will tell.
Mobil1 10w30 every 5k (or so
Purolator PureOne OE-type filter
Had a HKS drop-in foam air filter for >50k-- went back to paper after the AccessPort
NGK Iridium plugs every 25k--ish
And that's it. Absolutely nothing electronical, mechanical, or spiritual has gone wrong in 78k miles.
Meanwhile, between 58k when I bought it and 78k by this point with my E36 M3, I would have already been to the shop at least 4 times for an average of $500 a whack. Course, my Evo doesn't have a trip computer, seat heater, or even variable valve timing.
Juice-- hope you do get those 10 years. But anything over 4 is gravy, right?
I actually don't have a website, how weird is that in this day & age. I put some pics on my CarSpace profile, but I'm not sure if I can get away with a few kiddo pics there. (It's not really about cars at that point, eh.)
I'll see what I can do..
Time to bring the Subie diesel over, me thinks...
Bob
Let's see, I got 7 out of an Escort GT, 9 out of a Forester, maybe 10 is a bit optimistic. Though I am splitting the mileage between two new cars, and my wife is now working from home, so her miles dropped a lot.
First, this probably assumes current pricing, yet diesel usually cost more, at times a lot more. Plus if diesels become popular, demand increases, as do prices. Around me when gas hit $3.50 diesel was well over $4 per gallon. I saw differences of close to $1/gallon.
Second, I wonder if they are considering the cost of clean diesels with urea injection technology, which costs a bit more than some of today's not-quite-as-clean diesels.
Looking at real-world examples, a Jetta costs more than a Prius, and the Prius' regular fuel is cheaper to boot. Spend less now and less to fuel it while getting higher mileage the entire time.
I'm sure the Jetta is more fun, but remember, we're looking strictly at costs.
Then look at the BMW 335d and it's price. It performs like a 330i but costs the same as a 335i. I believe the price is some $8 grand higher than the identical 0-60 performing 330i, so there may not ever be a pay-back.
I calculated a break-even for a diesel Forester (with lots of assumptions) and I think it was 8 years or so, but it would be even longer now because fuel prices dropped.
The average diesel-engine premium, meanwhile, currently is just $2,360
Maybe but most of those are not the latest urea-injection clean diesels, the amount will increase when we get those.
Also, they compare a Benz with a V6 diesel to a V8? C'mon, performance costs money. That does explain why the "premium" is so low, though.
2.53 per gallon for gasoline and $2.54 for diesel
Not around me. Maybe in other parts of the county but I still see anywhere from 10-80 cents premium per gallon of diesel. There must be places where diesel is actually cheaper, bringing down the average, but here in the Mid-atlantic I haven't seen that.
BMW's 335d, at 5.6 years to pay back a $2,558 premium
I bet they are comparing to a 335i, and not a 330i, which is what they should be comparing it too.
They sure do make a whole bunch of diesel-biased assumptions. Funny thing is, they really don't need to. The numbers may still be favorable even if they were completely fair.
The 335d is actually $10,300 more costly than the 328i (I said 330i earlier, so I got the model name wrong).
Note that C&D tested both and 0-60 was identical, exactly the same down to the 10th of a second.
Yet Edmunds is comparing the 335d to the 335i, which is a whole lot quicker.
I'm sure if you adjust for content and factor the rebates the differene is more like $8 grand, which is what I predicted in the first place, but most certainly not the $2,588 that was mentioned in the article, not by a long shot.
...And yes, AWD will be available as an option
...And yes, this could put a hurting on the new Legacy sedan.
The question is will this be the "Hail Mary" that saves Suzuki here in the USA? It's got the looks, and the specs (so far) look good as well. Man... this soooooo much better looking than the Legacy it's scary.
Bob
But it sure feels like their small cars and cute-utes are doing quite well, and compare favorably against most competitors in terms of features vs. price. In March I helped my girlfriend shop for a new small SUV and she bought an unsold '08 Grand Vitara base 4x4 for $16k out the door after all incentives. Not shabby for a vehicle with a $23k sticker.
Everyone is getting creamed right now, however, that's totally true. And Suzuki has no hybrid or diesel.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/10/report-analysts-urge-mitsubishi-suzuki-to-exi- - t-u-s-market/
It's a bummer, as I've always liked the new Grand Vitara SUV and their new SX4.
Bob
I guess we're a significant outlier and the rest of the country isn't buying them.
They have a ways to go. Most Subies are in the 50s, a Forester holds a 59% residual on a 3 year lease even with 45k miles! Over 60% with fewer miles.
Of course when you pay $16k on a $23k sticker it doesn't matter. 48% of 23k is only about 11 grand, and I'm sure Colin's girlfriend would be thrilled to recoup 69% of what she actually paid after 3 years. A bargain is a bargain.
Plus the 7/100 warranty.
They went to Nurburgring with a 2.4l 4 banger? Okee-dokee.
The Kizashi is cute but I don't like it as much as Bob does. It's very derivate outside. Take a Fusion greenhouse, add a Hyundai Genesis headlight and a VW grille.
The rear end is all unique, though, but not my favorite angle. It looks hump-backed. The Infiniti G37 has a similar shape but was executed better. The exhaust outlets (diffusers?) are oddly shaped.
Those wheels have far too many spokes, too.
I like the interior more, but again no double-DIN opening. Good luck with an aftermarket stereo. And they say sport seats are standard but they look very flat to me, with small bolsters. The dash and center console design are nice, and flow well. Much nicer than the Legacy's, IMO.
Seems a bit smaller than the new Legacy, maybe about the size of the 05-09 model.
The real problem for Suzuki, though, is visibility. They come out with a competent, attractive mid-sizer, but I'm not sure it'll stand out enough that people will even be able to identify it.
That can be said for any mainstream car. There's no way—if you want to appeal to the masses—to not make it look like something else already on the market, and to have it sell. Suzuki did an "excellent" job here. There are only a few cars on the road that I would not change a single line or detail, to make the exterior look better. This is one of them.
Bob
The Lexus SC430 has that same hump due to the hardtop, and I don't like that Lexus' styling, either.
Btw I have a CarSpace album that shows a few pics of the G-V after it got smacked last month by a 2010 Mustang GT. Ended up being $8400 in repairs! They aren't kidding when they say rear-door mounted spare tires cause a lot of damage. I don't know for sure what the Mustang cost to repair, but I'd be it was easily $10k. Oh and the Mustang still had the 30 day tags on it. :surprise:
My white Miata was hit by a Saab with temporary tags. The worst part was it was the dad driving a car he'd purchased for his daughter.
Sorry honey!
Official numbers to come Monday.
Bob
Hey Loosh: Just saw a TV commercial on the Stoney Creek Inn a couple of days ago—and the voiceover was done by that AWFUL Scott Donahue of Donahue Ford fame!
Bob
C4C was 15% of that; still, pretty impressive.
Bob
http://media.subaru.com/index.php?s=43&item=99
Bob
**2008 total does not include 1 Baja sale in 2008
One? Seriously?
Probably a very old left over.
What was its last year, MY2004? Or did it go on past that generation Outback?
I should talk, I bought a 2008 model a year after I bought a 2009.
Bob
And I bought my 2003 Evo in July 2004. It had 4 miles on it before my test drive.
You saw the Baja ... 3-4 years later they still sold one.
I always thought that was misleading, because they counted Legacy wagon sales in the Legacy totals and in the Outback totals. That's very misleading.
Now they won't have to, so the Outback will be just Outbacks.
Wow... Tribeca sales are 44% down on the year from 2008. That must hurt, especially since the sales were so low last year. Honestly, I cannot see the reason to buy one; sure, you can get a 7-seater, but I cannot see how it could be practical considering the overall size of the vehicle.
The CARS program has my wife talking about saying goodbye to the Caravan, but I really do not want a car payment right now, regardless of how much we could "save" by buying now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=difhDlFm5-o&feature=player_embedded
I saw the roller coaster one on TV last night.
Bob
..Mike
..Mike
..Mike
My girlfriend doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission. I warned her that if she didn't learn, it was likely that she'd be forever 'stuck' in a wagon / minivan / SUV, while I drove a nice MT sedan, sportscar, etc.
She didn't seem fazed. I seriously think that as long as the kidhauler has a good stereo, she won't complain.
DOH!
I love stories like that.
Bob
Now I'm paying for that lesson..
..Mike
..Mike
Bob
I'd prefer it if the roll bars were exposed. And those don't look tall enough - nor as strong as a Hard Dog double diagonal.
Good as a concept, though.
I'd like to see a new MazdaSpeed with the 2.3l DI turbo.
When I go out on a dual-sport bike with no windscreen, I'm reminded why they exist. It's really loud and really fatiguing with no wind protection whatsoever and I usually don't go faster than 80 or so.
I'd absolutely hate driving a car with no windshield on a track.