what car to buy

[michlong]

hey all,

i am thinking about swapping my car, i currently run the blue focus svt.

wanting something a bit newer, more realiable etc etc etc and there are some criteria it needs to meet, since its going to be more of a daily driver for me and the wife as well.

needs to be a four door and automatic (argh!!!)

currently looking at 2009 VW GTI 4-door DSG
or 2006 bmw 330i sedan

any thoughts, any other suggestions.

thanks

[chimmike]

If you can, 335i sedan. 330 should be very nice. My only concern is the rumor I've heard about bimmers not having oil dipsticks anymore, forcing you to dealer oil changes? Just hearsay on my part.

How about the new Sentra Spec V auto w/paddle shifters? I'm not a fan of the QR25 motor, but it's a sedan.

My personal experience with VW's has been terrible, and I've heard more horror stories, sadly.

Can you get the Civic Si in auto?

[Alizarin]

Mitsubishi Evo with their paddle shifters?

Of course I would suggest an automatic WRX if you can find one (the 09 models are called the 2.5GT). Some simple mods and it would be a decent auto-x car.

[leftandright]

Mike,
My GTI is a fine, fine daily driver. It feels like a much more expensive car tha its price point. It has great seats, the controls, switch gear and all are very German and pleasing to the touch. It also hauls a ton of stuff; inside it is bigger than the Focus. You will find all the safety stuff, ESP and all, and niceties such as bizenon lights.
Mine has DSG, which has proven to be a fine thing. On 275 in the afternoon, I put it in drive and forget about it. On Williams road, however, drop it into S and it screams to redline, then shifts instantly. The paddles work great, much better than others I've tried.
The car has lotsa torque and hp, can light the tyres easily, and blast to a hundred very quickly...very quickly. As for handling...well, you've seen it. On a tight AX it pushes pretty good, but is still a ton of fun. On a cloverleaf on ramp however, you would be amazed. it is a fine steering road car with high limits.
I appreciate its germaness, serious, precise, powerful. I find it an excellent bang for the buck.

On the downside, I've had a good bit of trouble. I bought the car off a lease with 20K a year ago and have put 30K on her. She just went out of warranty last week at 50k, and I'm quite worried. I had a lot of time in the shop on warranty. The DSG failed! Also, I had trouble with fuel injectors. Having said all that, Reeves treated me right - no complaints wit htem. I'd suggest if you go that way, get one new or in warranty.
Anyway, I drove it hard, when she runs, she runs good.

"Would you reccomend one to a friend?" Yeah I would! I really dig the car. When I think of what else i might buy, I think it'll take about 50 to get the same enjoyment- I paid 18 for my 06.Hmmmm.

I think you should ask Aaron about his Mspeed 3. It hauls balls and has four doors.

I have a bud with BMW 335i. It is a brilliant car. Swift like an M3 but with a light turbo motor. I like the way it handles, steers, and goes.
But...it's 50.

Hope these thoughts help. get with me at the next AX,
; we'll go for a ride.

Mike Chawk

[leftandright]

Mike,
My GTI is a fine, fine daily driver. It feels like a much more expensive car tha its price point. It has great seats, the controls, switch gear and all are very German and pleasing to the touch. It also hauls a ton of stuff; inside it is bigger than the Focus. You will find all the safety stuff, ESP and all, and niceties such as bizenon lights.
Mine has DSG, which has proven to be a fine thing. On 275 in the afternoon, I put it in drive and forget about it. On Williams road, however, drop it into S and it screams to redline, then shifts instantly. The paddles work great, much better than others I've tried.
The car has lotsa torque and hp, can light the tyres easily, and blast to a hundred very quickly...very quickly. As for handling...well, you've seen it. On a tight AX it pushes pretty good, but is still a ton of fun. On a cloverleaf on ramp however, you would be amazed. it is a fine steering road car with high limits.
I appreciate its germaness, serious, precise, powerful. I find it an excellent bang for the buck.

On the downside, I've had a good bit of trouble. I bought the car off a lease with 20K a year ago and have put 30K on her. She just went out of warranty last week at 50k, and I'm quite worried. I had a lot of time in the shop on warranty. The DSG failed! Also, I had trouble with fuel injectors. Having said all that, Reeves treated me right - no complaints wit htem. I'd suggest if you go that way, get one new or in warranty.
Anyway, I drove it hard, when she runs, she runs good.

"Would you reccomend one to a friend?" Yeah I would! I really dig the car. When I think of what else i might buy, I think it'll take about 50 to get the same enjoyment- I paid 18 for my 06.Hmmmm.

I think you should ask Aaron about his Mspeed 3. It hauls balls and has four doors.

I have a bud with BMW 335i. It is a brilliant car. Swift like an M3 but with a light turbo motor. I like the way it handles, steers, and goes.
But...it's 50.

Hope these thoughts help. get with me at the next AX,
; we'll go for a ride.

Mike Chawk

[leftandright]

Mike,
My GTI is a fine, fine daily driver. It feels like a much more expensive car tha its price point. It has great seats, the controls, switch gear and all are very German and pleasing to the touch. It also hauls a ton of stuff; inside it is bigger than the Focus. You will find all the safety stuff, ESP and all, and niceties such as bizenon lights.
Mine has DSG, which has proven to be a fine thing. On 275 in the afternoon, I put it in drive and forget about it. On Williams road, however, drop it into S and it screams to redline, then shifts instantly. The paddles work great, much better than others I've tried.
The car has lotsa torque and hp, can light the tyres easily, and blast to a hundred very quickly...very quickly. As for handling...well, you've seen it. On a tight AX it pushes pretty good, but is still a ton of fun. On a cloverleaf on ramp however, you would be amazed. it is a fine steering road car with high limits.
I appreciate its germaness, serious, precise, powerful. I find it an excellent bang for the buck.

On the downside, I've had a good bit of trouble. I bought the car off a lease with 20K a year ago and have put 30K on her. She just went out of warranty last week at 50k, and I'm quite worried. I had a lot of time in the shop on warranty. The DSG failed! Also, I had trouble with fuel injectors. Having said all that, Reeves treated me right - no complaints wit htem. I'd suggest if you go that way, get one new or in warranty.
Anyway, I drove it hard, when she runs, she runs good.

"Would you reccomend one to a friend?" Yeah I would! I really dig the car. When I think of what else i might buy, I think it'll take about 50 to get the same enjoyment- I paid 18 for my 06.Hmmmm.

I think you should ask Aaron about his Mspeed 3. It hauls balls and has four doors.

I have a bud with BMW 335i. It is a brilliant car. Swift like an M3 but with a light turbo motor. I like the way it handles, steers, and goes.
But...it's 50.

Hope these thoughts help. get with me at the next AX,
; we'll go for a ride.

Mike Chawk

[leftandright]

Mike,
My GTI is a fine, fine daily driver. It feels like a much more expensive car tha its price point. It has great seats, the controls, switch gear and all are very German and pleasing to the touch. It also hauls a ton of stuff; inside it is bigger than the Focus. You will find all the safety stuff, ESP and all, and niceties such as bizenon lights.
Mine has DSG, which has proven to be a fine thing. On 275 in the afternoon, I put it in drive and forget about it. On Williams road, however, drop it into S and it screams to redline, then shifts instantly. The paddles work great, much better than others I've tried.
The car has lotsa torque and hp, can light the tyres easily, and blast to a hundred very quickly...very quickly. As for handling...well, you've seen it. On a tight AX it pushes pretty good, but is still a ton of fun. On a cloverleaf on ramp however, you would be amazed. it is a fine steering road car with high limits.
I appreciate its germaness, serious, precise, powerful. I find it an excellent bang for the buck.

On the downside, I've had a good bit of trouble. I bought the car off a lease with 20K a year ago and have put 30K on her. She just went out of warranty last week at 50k, and I'm quite worried. I had a lot of time in the shop on warranty. The DSG failed! Also, I had trouble with fuel injectors. Having said all that, Reeves treated me right - no complaints wit htem. I'd suggest if you go that way, get one new or in warranty.
Anyway, I drove it hard, when she runs, she runs good.

"Would you reccomend one to a friend?" Yeah I would! I really dig the car. When I think of what else i might buy, I think it'll take about 50 to get the same enjoyment- I paid 18 for my 06.Hmmmm.

I think you should ask Aaron about his Mspeed 3. It hauls balls and has four doors.

I have a bud with BMW 335i. It is a brilliant car. Swift like an M3 but with a light turbo motor. I like the way it handles, steers, and goes.
But...it's 50.

Hope these thoughts help. get with me at the next AX,
; we'll go for a ride.

Mike Chawk

[Dave-ROR]

repost lately?

[leftandright]

yikes! what did I do?
Sorry about that.

[chimmike]

that's exactly my point about the reliability aspect though.

Sure, you had warranty. But who wants to really use their warranty? Not me!

I know they run great when they're running. Mine rode great when they weren't F.O.R.D.

Our last one, a 2002 golf. 2.0 auto. Crank windows. Driver's side crank window broke. plastic clips were holding the window glass to the track! Of course, at one point VW figured out how bad this was and the replacement part had metal clips. Would they replace the part under warranty? Nope. $150 for the clip/track portion, on a CRANK WINDOW!

Fast forward to the end of the 5yr warranty. Literally, days before, the auto trans starts the grind/whining sound. Terrible sound. Take it to a VW specialist, he says the spider gears in the auto were gone. Trans could last a week or 10 years, he doesn't know. $2700 to replace.

I take it to the dealer a week after the warranty expired. No dig. Car had 42k on it, my wife drove it. Gingerly. Went all the way up the ladder to VW corporate, went thru them to executive customer support. Nothing.
Then, as we were trying to sell it for $5k under NADA private party value due to the trans, the frigging a/c gave out. At 42,000 miles!


Swore I would never buy another one again. Great looking cars, and they run great when they're running. But I've had nissans and hondas spend zero time in the shop for warranty work. I'll stick with what's been good to me.

Mazdaspeed3 is a beast, as is the evo. Of course, you could get the Lancer Ralliart......basically a detuned evo motor in it, and comes automatic. Still is AWD (more of a WRX-fighter)

[Native]

Infiniti G sedan?
Lexus IS250/350?
Audi A4?

all in the Bimmer $$ range, all reasonably sporty, and I believe all available with paddle-shifted auto trannys.

[snookwheel]

Love the Mazdaspeed 3, but I am pretty sure it only comes with a manual transmission.

[impalanut]

cobalt ss , has 4 doors, auto or stick. Did extremely well at nationals , good on gas, easy to park. No, I don't sell them.

[Dave-ROR]

cobalt ss , has 4 doors, auto or stick. Did extremely well at nationals , good on gas, easy to park. No, I don't sell them.

:thumbup: not sure on reliability though.

Do they still have the Recaro seat option? Those were some nice OEM seats...

[chimmike]

reliability on the SS shouldn't be an issue. It's a typical bulletproof Ecotech motor, just like are used in all other 4 banger GM's and Saabs, and the trans is built by GM powertrain Sweden, apparently a very, very good unit.

Dunno if the SS comes in automatic though?

I'm trying to think of autocross-worthy cars. Not sure if a G-sedan is tossable enough to be remotely competitive in a similar class.

[Mars or Germ]

G8 GXP?

[michlong]

now i am more confused than ever


thats the problem with choice, its like new tv's anyone tried to buy one of them recently....... been debating that for months!

[chimmike]

G8 GXP?

sweeeeeeeeeet ride. If you can autocross it without drifting, you're a good driver

[Mars or Germ]

LS3 and a 6 speed

[WAFlowers]

Think outside the box! Get one basic 4-door vehicle for family duty but don't spend too much on it. Then pick up a used Miata. Total price would be less than many suggested and best of both worlds.

Plus, I happen to have a used Miata for sale.