$30-40k: Best New or Lightly Used Vehicles

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Originally Posted By: SEMI_287
CTS-V?
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CTS-V shooting brake
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Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The wagon is sexy.

I still think a CTSV wagon with a 6spd manual is close to the perfect family car.


LOL, wish I could agree, but life has taught me otherwise over the last year... Good luck fitting rear facing car seats and a jogging stroller, plus all your other stuff in there. Slightly better than a sedan, but hardly.

One kid, OK, perhaps. Two? yikes!
 
CTS-V has that little interior space?

When my teenagers were little, I fit a rear-facing car seat behind the driver's seat, a front-facing car seat behind the front passenger's seat, and a double stroller in the trunk of a Mercury Tracer.
 
You don't mention this in your criteria, but do you plan on doing maintenance and some repairs yourself, or will you be leaving it to the dealer and shops? If you plan on doing any oil changes, trans fluid changes, diff fluid changes, etc. yourself, scope out component/access/drain locations before hand. As a rule of thumb, Infinitis are easy, Acuras are okay, and Lexus can rot in [censored]. Kind of surprising, but as simple as some Toyotas are, I find Lexus vehicles to be an all around pain in the [censored] waiting to burn you, cut you, scrape you, or generally be aggravating. Infinities are pretty service-friendly though, I like them. I too would have major reservations about the steer by wire in the Q50 though. It has a safety feature so that you should have direct steering if it fails, but I can't imagine the driving experience to be that wonderful with it. Maybe numb, but probably not good.

I can kind of see where brand growth would be a concern for resale/service, but probably not in a 7-10 year time frame, even if you wait a couple years to get the car. Parts will be available for any Infiniti or Acura 7-10 years down the road. People will still pay good money for clean ones, even if the brand shrinks. Not a good reason to pick a Lexus instead.
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy


If you can't tell the difference get the Ford.

I'll take the Italian though, because I can tell the difference.


The Maserati Giblet will share a platform with the next Dodge Charger, so you could just get that instead and put some Pilot fender vents on it.
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Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve
CTS-V has that little interior space?

When my teenagers were little, I fit a rear-facing car seat behind the driver's seat, a front-facing car seat behind the front passenger's seat, and a double stroller in the trunk of a Mercury Tracer.


Maybe youre much shorter than me...

I have multiple cars, I fit in none of them if I have a rear facing (fixed) seat behind me. The infant bucket in rear-facing arrangement is worse.

Ditto in friends' vehicles - 2010 CRV, 2012 Jetta Wagon, etc. Friends just bought a 7-passenger infiniti (pathfinder equivalent) - put their double stroller in the back and dont plan on using the third row seats!

Im 6 ft 4.

Then if you actually want to go anyplace, taking a pack and play, booster/portable high chair, and a half-decent stroller, there goes your space.

Didnt say that CTS has no space. Just saying that "family" vehicles quickly are too small, short of a minivan. Going through this right now.

Seats are also bigger then they were 13+ years ago.

But not sure that concerns Critic right now... Just had to laugh because we are going through this right now... Space and planning for multi-kids and how much space it takes when they are young.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The wagon is sexy.

I still think a CTSV wagon with a 6spd manual is close to the perfect family car.


LOL, wish I could agree, but life has taught me otherwise over the last year... Good luck fitting rear facing car seats and a jogging stroller, plus all your other stuff in there. Slightly better than a sedan, but hardly.

One kid, OK, perhaps. Two? yikes!


I shopped hard for a CTS-V a few years ago, IMO the interior is downright cramped. It is simply not a big car inside or out. The newer CTS is improved but still like a shoe, you 'slip right in'.

Not my cup of tea personally, love the dynamics but wouldn't trade the equipment package for the space and stuff I get right where I am...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve
CTS-V has that little interior space?

When my teenagers were little, I fit a rear-facing car seat behind the driver's seat, a front-facing car seat behind the front passenger's seat, and a double stroller in the trunk of a Mercury Tracer.


Maybe youre much shorter than me...

I have multiple cars, I fit in none of them if I have a rear facing (fixed) seat behind me. The infant bucket in rear-facing arrangement is worse.

Ditto in friends' vehicles - 2010 CRV, 2012 Jetta Wagon, etc. Friends just bought a 7-passenger infiniti (pathfinder equivalent) - put their double stroller in the back and dont plan on using the third row seats!

Im 6 ft 4.

Then if you actually want to go anyplace, taking a pack and play, booster/portable high chair, and a half-decent stroller, there goes your space.

Didnt say that CTS has no space. Just saying that "family" vehicles quickly are too small, short of a minivan. Going through this right now.

Seats are also bigger then they were 13+ years ago.

But not sure that concerns Critic right now... Just had to laugh because we are going through this right now... Space and planning for multi-kids and how much space it takes when they are young.


At 6' 4", I understand. I'm 5' 11".
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The wagon is sexy.

I still think a CTSV wagon with a 6spd manual is close to the perfect family car.


LOL, wish I could agree, but life has taught me otherwise over the last year... Good luck fitting rear facing car seats and a jogging stroller, plus all your other stuff in there. Slightly better than a sedan, but hardly.

One kid, OK, perhaps. Two? yikes!


I shopped hard for a CTS-V a few years ago, IMO the interior is downright cramped. It is simply not a big car inside or out. The newer CTS is improved but still like a shoe, you 'slip right in'.

Not my cup of tea personally, love the dynamics but wouldn't trade the equipment package for the space and stuff I get right where I am...


I found them comparable to any midsize car, not a LWB full size sedan but decent.

If interior seat space is a concern a LWB full size sedan is ideal. I find most smaller (ie BMW 3 series size) and mid size sedans (ie CTS and E class) to have pretty poor rear seat space. I found the wagon to have the best site lines and be the most comfortable out of all the CTS series vehicles. The coupe sucks, and the sedan is blind spot city.
 
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Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
If you can't tell the difference get the Ford.

I'll take the Italian though, because I can tell the difference.


You and me both.

The day I can't tell the difference between an American family sedan and an Italian luxury sedan, that's the day I do to the eye doctor and get my prescription for my glasses rechecked.

BC.
 
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The car needs to have a design that ages well and can be kept for seven to ten years.
Ha! Ha!! Anybody taking bets? I know he is not as bad as Nick but I can't fathom he willingly driving a 7 year old car! What would other people think???
 
CPO 5 series. Some of the new Mercedes look pretty slick and the prices drop pretty quickly.

I agree w/ the Q50 - not as concerned with the price (which is too high), but I would want the sport package w/o the steer by wire. Not that I have any doubts about the reliability of the system, I just prefer a regular direct connection. I am hoping that in a year or so they offer a sport package without it.

The new Audi's look and drive great (aside from being biased towards FWD), and the reliability is supposed to be much better than in the past.
 
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Seconded on the CPO 5 series suggestion. It is amazingly fast and fun car to drive, especially if you opt for the 535 one. For under $35, you should be able to nicely equipped CPO with couple of years of warranty left on it.

Audi's look stunning but are they really as fun to drive as the 5 series?
 
The only problem with the newer 5er is that it has grown in size and weight substantially (4100 lbs now) and from what I understand, it has detracted from the "fun car to drive" factor. The current 3er is the size of an older 5er and should be more agile.

Alas, the OP hasn't even mentioned that the car needs to be fun to drive, so maybe it's not an issue. Coming from a Prius, pretty much anything should be more fun to drive.
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A5? S5? used Last year made E39 would be great, if looking for a 5-series.
Except 335i/335is, 135i/is, 128i, M3, pretty much all current BMWs have lost the fun factor. But like QP said, they impress some people even without it, but one might need to look at what type of people one wants to impress.
 
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