I'm getting a new car...help me make my decision

I used to own a Caliber and it was a great car. What do you find wrong with it? It ran great, was a little lacking in balls in that it didn't get up hills that great, but it had solid gas mileage and the perks were awesome for it.

 

I found out that I might be able to get on my uncle's Ford X Plan, which are discounts for friends and family of Ford workers (his father-in-law worked at a plant). Apparently you get a pretty good deal with them, like below anything you'd get from haggling. And my haggling attempts usually end in fail. Does anyone know about it? If it's a good deal, I'll probably start looking closer at Ford product, particularly the F-150 and the Edge, which I can pretend is named for the wrestler.

 

My Altima just turned over 120,000. I love it. Very few problems. That said, don't lease. You're just paying the interest on the loan, then you're stuck with leasing for the rest of your life because you never have a car when you're done. Also, most people exceed the mileage limits and have to pay out the ass for the overage.

I'd go with the Sentra, or a Corolla or Civic. Any of those three will last 150,000 or more.

Somewhere on here I posted some car-buying tips. If I'm motivated, I'll try to dig them up.

 

mltrutx, I can think of one more car you should consider: the Scion tC. Not the boxy xB (although the new version of the xB is an improvement), but this car:



Much to recommend it --- the Camry's excellent 4-cylinder engine, decent mileage, 160-watt Pioneer stereo, lots of power stuff standard (windows, locks, cruise control,) two big glass sunroofs (one of which slides). Price comes in under $20K nicely loaded.

And it's a Toyota; it took the Celica's spot in the American lineup.

 

I didn't realize Scion was Toyota-made. I wonder if I could fit in one of those.

 

Toyota's dependability is a non-issue. A maxed-out Celica didn't impress me in the least when I was looking years back, basically finalizing my decision.

Having said that, I can't imagine the Scion tC being a bad choice. I just wonder if there's a better bang for the buck among the Japanese vehicles. Consider the Civic Si with the 197-horsepower engine ... can't imagine it would cost much more and should have a bit more punch.

 

After my Mercury and two Lincolns, you couldn't pay me to drive a Ford product ever again. Actually, my 1987 Cougar was a good car and cheap to maintain. Ford's aren't bad when they're designed simple electronically. My two Continentals were fucking nightmares, as were all of the Continentals made between 1988-1994.

 

Since I've shifted some of my focus (well, most of it) to newer used cars, here are some examples I've found in the classifieds of today's paper...

2002 Accord, "low miles, nice" $9,988
2003 Accord LX, "loaded" 47k miles, $11,950
2004 Accord EX, navigation system, "loaded", 41k miles, $12,400
2003 Camry LE, 37k miles, $10,800
2004 Camry SE, 41k miles, $12,500
2005 Camry LE, one owner, warranty, $12,900
2006 Corolla, 28k miles, warranty, one owner, $11,950
2006 Corolla, 4k miles, auto, all power, $11,950
2006 Camry LE, 13k miles, $12,950

 

I'm okay with Fords, though that comes from being in a family that's been heavy into Fords for at least 30 years.

That said, my first car was a 1989 Continental that we got for pretty damn cheap (something like $2,500 back in 1996). Great car, decent acceleration, great brakes, paint was worn in spots but I liked it ... for about a month. Then the air conditioner died on me. Shitbag garage said they can either replace the A/C for something like a thousand dollars, or reroute the serpentine belt that runs most of the major organs of that car for 200 bucks (apparently you couldn't just not have the A/C).

We chose the cheaper option. Got the car back, drove it for 15 minutes, then saw white smoke coming out of the hood. I assumed it was burning something off the engine, so I pulled into a U-Haul, right next to a big 'ol propane tank, one that Hank Hill would be proud to wipe. Pop the hood, and we've got a fire. Called 911, they put the fire out, the city was saved, but the car was a total loss.

Sounds like it spared me a couple years of assholeness, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

 

Without seeing the cars or knowing what other crap they have, the Camry at 12,950 sounds like a fine deal.

 

How tall are you?

 

The downside to that Civic --- and in fact, to all the highpowered VTEC engines --- is that traditionally all their production is at the very top end of the powerband. Extremely short on usable torque in city driving, but can be made to howl like a banshee at high RPM. The engine in the tc and Camry (and in the new version of the xB) makes lots of torque compared to the other Japanese four-bangers.