I need YOUR suggestions!

[JusFlyinBy]

You may or may not know, but my recent purchase of an '07 Legacy GT has proven to be a big mistake. I can no longer deal with the frustration this car causes me. I need something else. This is where you come in. I honestly can't find another car "worthy" of taking my POS cars place witout me paying out the @ss for it. Im hoping someone suggests something I haven't thought of.

The GT was ~30+ sticker.
5 spd, AWD, Turbo H4 243 Hp / 241 ft-lbs.
26 mpg, all the features (Power, Leather, Dual Zone Climate, Heated everything, 6 Disc CD/Mp3, Every option but GPS, right down to all weather mats and wheel locks).

I don't mind buying used. I want 30 thousand to be my limit. This will be my winter/commuter car, and I really don't want anything that gets worse than 26 mpg. Even with the fact it snows as much as it does here, I have no preference if its RWD, FWD or AWD. Would prefer it is similarly equipped and DEF NOT a Subaru.

Im strapped for ideas. I'll take any and all suggestions. I like the '08 CTS's, but one similarly equipped to my car will run me 40 g's.

Hokie, what the hell did you cross shop when you bought your Subie?

The car to compare:

[stevethepirate]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

v6 Accord. inexpensive, so comfortable, great gas mileage, quick for what it is, etc.
the EX-L v6 comes out to about 28,000... i can vouch for the i-4 accords (have an 04 and an 05), its what i drive in the winter and i love it.

[JusFlyinBy]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

v6 Accord. inexpensive, so comfortable, great gas mileage, quick for what it is, etc.
the EX-L v6 comes out to about 28,000... i can vouch for the i-4 accords (have an 04 and an 05), its what i drive in the winter and i love it.

And this is why I posted. I never even thought about an Accord. ~28,000... for a loaded '08?

[UDLOSE98]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

I have narrowed it down to 4 myself

07 G35 coupe
06 Lexus IS 350
06 CTS-v
and 05 Lotus Elise

[DAS BOOT]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

yeah you can get alot of stuff for the under $30k level...


whats your big issues, I think I remember you having horrid reliability issues, I actually considered those thinkgin I could sneak into a used one for cheap.


Not sure if its a good car and never looked into it, but I considered Saabs as being similar. Audis? high cost of maintenance, but AWD, nice, etc...

[kala]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

I have narrowed it down to 4 myself

07 G35 coupe
06 Lexus IS 350
05 Lotus Elise

^^^ very nice choices .. I would hit any of those cars ..... I think G35 is g37 now... DO not buy camry ... altima looks funky.... I was always an Accord fan (winter/beater wise) ....so, you can't go wrong with Accord...BUT IMO I think you can get a slightly used 07 g37 or 06 g35 with very low miles with that price....those cars are :drool: ... you gotta drive one and you'll be in love ....




:)

[JusFlyinBy]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

In an effort not to post whore:

I have narrowed it down to 4 myself

07 G35 coupe
06 Lexus IS 350
06 CTS-v
and 05 Lotus Elise

G35 - I'm sure for the price the 07's are going for, I may as well just buy a G37. But, they still run about 35K. It seems in order to get a G35 for just about an even trade with my Subie, I'd have to get approx an '05. Those coupes hold their value very well.

IS-350, also very nice, but same situation as above. Plus they pull, what, 23 mpg RWD? It's not that I can't afford the sh*ttier gas mileage, Im just trying to force myself to make a smart decision, rather then just go for it.

Elise - Ever since you posted about it, I've been looking haha. But I would swap that with the goat though. I couldn't use an Elise as my daily driver. If you wouldn't mind, I'd be interested in knowing how much your insurance quote went up from the Cobra.

yeah you can get alot of stuff for the under $30k level...

whats your big issues, I think I remember you having horrid reliability issues, I actually considered those thinkgin I could sneak into a used one for cheap.

Not sure if its a good car and never looked into it, but I considered Saabs as being similar. Audis? high cost of maintenance, but AWD, nice, etc...

Right, the car has many minor quirks that are just amplified to me because of the major issue: The acceleration studder. Sometimes its tough to pass even a conversion van it gets so bad. Test drive one, if there's no studder, you may as well get one. It's really too bad, It's a great car, if it runs like it should... Hokie has one, and I'll let him speak for himself, but I think he's perfectly happy with his.

I don't know anything about Audi's or Saabs. I just assumed high cost and maintanence. If you know of any particular models I should look into, let me know.

BUT IMO I think you can get a slightly used 07 g37 or 06 g35 with very low miles with that price....those cars are :drool: ... you gotta drive one and you'll be in love ....:)

I love the G35's. I almost bought one, then I smartened up and bought my goat instead... ;) But I can't find one newer than an 04 for sale in this area! It's ridiculous. An occasional 05 here or there.

[HokieBird]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

I feel bad you have had such a crappy experience with the car/subaru.

I'm really happy with mine. I'm actually going to be doing some suspension mods to it next week. It has things that could be improved, but it works well for me and I don't care about gas mileage. The manual transmissions have a studder that can only be removed with aftermarket tuning. I have a auto so mine isn't affected and I can understand why he doesn't want to spend more money to fix something on a new car that shouldn't be a problem. I test drove a few with the studder and it's bad.

Off the top of my head I would look at the altima, maxima, mazda6, new accord, acura tl (regular and type-s), acura tsx, and lexus is250.

My roommate just got a base model is250 two weeks ago and it's really nice. It's isn't powerful, but it has a sporty suspension (a lot tighter than the scuby), awd, leather, heated seats, a/c seats as an option (if you haven't used a/c seats you haven't lived), proximity key, projector lights, 6 disc cd changer, etc. His is a really nice dark blue, it looks almost black until the sun hits it.

[JusFlyinBy]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

My roommate just got a base model is250 two weeks ago and it's really nice. It's isn't powerful, but it has a sporty suspension (a lot tighter than the scuby), awd, leather, heated seats, a/c seats as an option (if you haven't used a/c seats you haven't lived), proximity key, projector lights, 6 disc cd changer, etc. His is a really nice dark blue, it looks almost black until the sun hits it.

Do you know what he paid by any chance?

[ZO6vette037]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

You can never go wrong with a Caddy.

[stevethepirate]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

yeah, the loaded 08 accord is less than 30k. the EX-L (most luxurious model) was 28,xxx on the honda website. I just took my 04 accord EX out, and forgot how nice it was! packed 5 of us in there, nice heated leather seats, badass sound system, etc.


Audis are great. we used to have an A6. then again, whenever we had a problem with it, my dad's driver would get it taken care of for us. A lot of dead window motors and electrical problems, but when it was in commission it was an amazing car!

[vanbibber]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

what about a mazda 6? they get around 27 or so mpg highway and should be mid 20k range.

[stevethepirate]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

what about a mazda 6? they get around 27 or so mpg highway and should be mid 20k range.

yeah, theyre fun cars. one of my good friends in highschool had one, and it was pretty quick.

[HokieBird]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

Sent you a PM...

[DAS BOOT]

Re: I need YOUR suggestions!

If your going into the mazda 5 range...

look at the fusion, basically a mazda 6, but an assload cheaper, and more updated.


then there is the good ole G6/Aura/malibu... definitely not as nice, but get the gas, have the power you want, but cost asstons less.