I Feel... Dirty.

Get a nice Accord V6 or Toyota Solara. According to the 83-87 CRX book, Car and Driver had a 84 or 85 CRX in their test fleet, had no bugs. In fact, they liked the car so much they put rims on it and one of the editors wives got to keep it. Our family had several Fords. Taurus wagon (sucked), Aerostar (sucked and leaked water), my wife had an Escort (sucked, should have been a warning for me), my 94 Escort LX (didn't have long enough), my 94 Escort GT (2nd biggest peice of shit ever. Auto tranny had to be rebuilt 3 times in less than 90k, rear discs seized up,electrical system all f'd up, dash worked erratically), and the #1 POS 93 Escort wagon (2 engines, 2 trannies, rear suspension arm rusted and came off while driving, MAF sensor died, coil pack died, inertial fuel cutoff would trip on the highway some times if you hit a bump or pothole killing the engine power). My grandmother has a dodge neon, less than 70k, driven very gently. Everything on it is falling apart. On the other side out 77 Toyota pick up had 279k with original engine/tranny when donated, 78 Corrolla over 200k when I totalled it, original engine/tranny. My 1st 87 Crx went to 239k, was hit about 8 times before it gave out. No major problems. I look at a manufacturers small cars to judge what their larger cars may be like. If they put a lot of thought and effort into the small cars, they surely will do more in the larger cars. I will NEVER buy another domestic. Hell, more Japanese brands are built here than US brands now, being built in Mexico. I am sorry all the American workers are losing their jobs,but when I lose time off work due to their crappy build quality and reliability from my car breaking down, I loose a litle compassion. Stu, get what you want. It looks like a nice car, I think it shares the Mazda 6 platform (beware, Mazda can't make an automatic transmission worth a shit though) so it should handle well, but get the stick.Good lluck. You're keeping a CRX though right?

I knew I'd get the right ammount of hate here for even considering it

Here's the thing though: I'm looking for a 4 door sedan, getting by with a pair of rex's isn't cutting it anymore. I got a state job not long ago (another post about that coming on or about April 19th/20th but here's a hint) and when you've got a little to burn you do start looking at new stuff. So yeah, wanted a 4 door with a moonroof, airbags, no ABS, and a manual transmission. No way was I going to consider anthing that looked like an Aveo/Matrix/xB/fatass hatch crossover crap. You would NOT BELIEVE how many cars nowadays just don't come in manual (especially for a 4door). Nissan gone. Mitsubishi gone. It smacked Toyota out of the park since the Corolla was the only thing you could get in manual but has no sunroof option. I don't overly mind VW's but I don't like German overengineering and to get the sunroof is part of a $1300 extra package, most of which I don't need. Subies were generally too expensive (I have a $21k cap) and their new front grille's look aweful. Chevy had nothing acceptable with a manual. Wouldn't even look at Dodge. The Mazda3 didn't quite tickle me. If I was to go with Saturn, the temptation would be for the Quadcoupe Redline with the 205hp supercharged engine and the extra LSD package... oooooooh.... I'm actually going to test drive a quad coupe on monday just to see. But still..
Normally I would jump at a Honda, but my pastor's fiancee got one of them and when I got to actually LOOKING at it... I was unimpressed! And it has such a long dashboard with that cab foreward design crap... worst driving experience I had was when I had to pull a NewBeetle out of the shop I was working at. Dashboard a mile long, and it made the car feel like it was about as long as an old Delta88. Plus, equipped similarly to the Fusion it's just as expensive (EX with MP3CD player and 8 disc in dash changer, and forces the ABS onto me). Plus it's good ol' Macpheerson struts. I wanted a TSX so bad... but it's so far out of my pricerange it isn't funny. Maybe by midlife crisis.
Believe it or not, the Fusion has double wishbone front suspension. When you get the 16in alloys instead of the steelies with covers, they throw in a 6 disc changer practically for free. I can get it without the ABS, use that to help cover the cost of the moonroof, and still have enough left over for the side airbag curtains (which is a necessity because I did hear of bad side crash test ratings without them). Again, an awesome sounding system, comfy seat, roomy interior, just a very pleasurable driving experience. Believe me, I'm suprised as hell I'm defending the fact that I want a Ford too, but nothing out there's quite stacked up with it. And yes, chances are I'm going for an '07 model only because what I want would have to be ordered anyway, so getting an '07 fresh off the assembly line isn't that much of a problem.

I'd do the rentacar thing, but I don't think the local Enterprises have picked up any Fusions for fleet use.

Go Look at a Nissan Sentra Spec-V, the first years had some bugs, but they have a LSD, 175hp, a sunroof for 18 grand. My buddy had one and it was an awesome car.

NOOOO!!!!!!! Dont buy a ford!!!! Anything but that......

it sounds to me like you can get everything you want plus a longer life expectancy and less maintenance in a hyundai sonota.....

thats what i dont get. you never once mentioned maintenance or reliability. me personally, i would sacrafice a sunroof for less maintenance and more reliability any day.

all of this is void if you just plan to lease till warranty is over because when you RENT a car like that then it dont matter how scrappy a car is.

Here's a joke about fords
Why did Ford create the rear window defroster? To keep the pushers hands warm haha

Ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
If it wasn't for Fords,
our tools would rust.

Buy a Ford and you buy the best.
Drive the first mile and walk the rest.

Friend of mine got a Hyundai. Nice car and all, but wasn't too overall impressed with it. I do plan on buying, not just leasing because I don't like another company saying I can't drive it more than a certain ammount of miles a year. If I want to drive that thing 'round the world, damnit I will.
Reliability is an issue, another reason I'm waiting for the 07's. Car only comes with a three year warranty, but you can get extended warranty's once it's up.

I will say that I grew up in a Ford household, and my family had good luck with the ones of my childhood (very fond memories of a 63 Country Squire wagon, in fact). I don't think much of any of the US car companies are currently making anything that is worth its weight in owl snot. I do like my SO's Chevy Aveo, but that's actually made by Daihatsu.
As far as Ford acronyms, I haven't seen this one yet:

Final
Outpost of
Rear-wheel
Drive

I am going to have to add to the reply for the Sonota. My buddy just bought an LX and paid $22k out the door. That's the one with everything, including the sunroof. Sound system is very good and the reliability of Hyundai is drastically improved from years past.

EVERYONE KNOWS THATS A DAMN MAZDA 6, RIGHT? GOOD..

ok then..

Edited by E-AT_me, 10 April 2006 - 12:00 PM.

The smartest shoppers lease......only two reasons you wouldnt lease:

You dont have good enough credit
You put too many miles on cars

Everyone else gets tired of their vehicles after 1 yr, 2yrs, 3yrs etc....why buy it when you can just give it back and not have to worry about anything?

This allows you to get nicer cars....for the same payments i would pay for half the car if i were purchasing it




For instance, i want to lease a 5 series bmw later this year......payments should be about 500-700

If i bought it, id be paying over 1200 to own the thing....for a longer time. Id get tired of it, and would be wishing id get the newest thing when that comes out. Ill probably only lease for 1 yr

Actualy Ive havd Both a ford and a GM car and the Chevy so far has 124,000miles and runs like new and my dads ford has 232,000 miles on it and still runs good...It just all depends on how well you maitain your car. Most of the guys here will not agree with me but they have been owning hondas most of their lifes and are bias in thinking that only hondas are the best...but cars these days are being made much morereliable and if you think the car fits your needs then by all means go for it!

THAAAAAAAANK YOU.
It's even cheaper than the Mazda6 depending on the options and such, AND I get to cut out the ABS on the Fusion.

I don't know what my credit score is, shouldn't be too bad since I usually pay my bills promptly (plus with the state job that should count for something too). Again, I just don't like the idea of leasing. When I get something, I like it being mine, not just borrowing or renting it for awhile.

I wanted a Honda... but again they just haven't rubbed me the right way since the 92-95 models. Up to 2000 was kinda tolerable, that's about it.

Stu, if you have triple A you can get on their fleet program and pay even less for what you are wanting.