Help me pick a car

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The Buick Enclave is a beautiful car, but it is quite pricey. I'm also a fan of the Mazda5, very cool looking vehicle and seems pretty functional. Mazda3 5-door is also a pretty nice little car.

If you're buying a big sedan and you don't have some unreasonable attachment to a given automaker, you'd be silly not to buy an off-rent or off-lease Impala. While probably not the most exciting vehicle on the road, it will last a long time, hold 5 or 6 people, haul a ton of stuff, and get 33 mpg; and you can get one for $11K and up with under 30K miles. That said, I wouldn't buy a new one. Actually there is basically no car I would buy new.
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I'm also fond of the Mazda6 5-door, but it's no where near the value of the Impala. Certainly a bit more fun to drive, though.
 
And Subaru...

It tickles me that I had to buy a blower motor speed controller for my Mercury..."Made in Mexico" it says...so did the original one. Reminds me of the Made in Finland and other Made in Non-USA places on so many of the Harley-Davidson parts.

Actually, it is very American to have parts/assemblies made outside the USA...
 
Oops, I forgot to actually make a recommendation. How about a Mazdaspeed 6? Might not quite get 30mpg though... then again, it's nice and quick and handles great
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Guess that's a tradeoff you'd have to make. It's estimated for 19/25 but I bet you could beat that. My car's only rated for 21/29 and I consistently beat that, without even trying. The Mazdaspeed 3 would be another good choice, along with a Subaru Outback, or Subaru Impreza Hatchback. There's also the new Altima (4-cylinder would probably fit your bill fine) but I don't know if they're as reliable as the older ones were.
 
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I own a Mazda3 hatch so my recommendation of it is admittedly biased. I routinely get 33-35 mpg and it handles great, so there's two of your requirements. Cargo room is good and it will seat five but seating five and room for all the stuff you listed will be a stretch.

Plus they look hot:
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Okay that's the speed3 but the regular looks almost as good.
 
Originally Posted By: msparks
Originally Posted By: rjundi
VW Passat wagon with 1.8t or 2.0T fits the bill.


For some reason I keep looking at this one.

I guess after owning 2 jetta's. Also available with a 6spd, and has great handling. Will have to go test one out. I also want to look at the Subaru's and possibly the malibu?


Subaru is great my wife owns a 2005 Legacy GT wagon 5 speed(rare model). However if you don't need or desire AWD you do pay a fuel mileage penalty even in the non-turbo engine. I will say my wife and I absolutely love our Legacy with nothing negative to say about it.
 
Originally Posted By: DrinkDuff77
I own a Mazda3 hatch so my recommendation of it is admittedly biased. I routinely get 33-35 mpg and it handles great, so there's two of your requirements. Cargo room is good and it will seat five but seating five and room for all the stuff you listed will be a stretch.

Plus they look hot:
333.jpg


Okay that's the speed3 but the regular looks almost as good.



I love the looks of this car, if they would have just made it about 4 feet longer in the back, I would be sold. I need more room than a little hatchback can give.
 
Originally Posted By: msparks

I think I'm going to "want" a new car next year. I'm sick of driving this darned Nissan Frontier. It's just not comfortable, it has limited passenger room (1 passenger and 2 midgets) and It rides and handles like a truck.

So here is what I want.

Something that gets decent fuel economy around 30mpg.

Seating for 5 comfortably

Ability to carry good amount of cargo. Say a folding table, EZ up Tent, and 4 cargo boxes with trade show gear in it.

Something that rides nice, and handles well. Not a sports car but something that is fun.

I want something unique that I could possibly put in car shows with it all detailed up and that would be different than all the other cars there.

I'll add more as I think about it.

Let me know what you all think




Impala:

I have an'06 with the 3.5 V6. I believe that it meets or exceeds all of those criteria except for maybe the "unique" part.
33 Mpg on the highway, spirited performance, and room for 6 adults and their luggage. At 36 thousand miles I am still a satisfied customer. No problems at all.

Enjoy your purchasing experience.

Rickey.
 
When fueling my truck up a couple of years ago a lady pulled up in car and also started fueling with diesel. I noticed she had a Passat. She said that it was a couple of years old, she hadn't had any problems with it, and got 48 to 52 mpg.
 
Dodge Magnum. They are going to quit production of them, which means killer deals on them, they come with the bullet proof 3.5 engine, runs well with decent fuel milelage, can haul as much as a small truck, classy and sporty enough to modify into a hot rod for car shows. As far as that guy that said He wouldnt buy any car made in the U.S, wonder why all the American car companies are laying off and cutting back, I have always bought American simply because of the Principle. They may make them in Canada or Mexico but the money always finds its way back to Detroit. Whatever happened to be American, buy American, it may only be a name plate, buts its a American nameplate, people like you I wish would just buy a one way ticket to Europe or Japan or China or whereever you prefer their product. I dont bash on Foriegn cars, but I will stand up for American cars and feel they make a very competive product in the market and too many hippies like yourself are still living in the seventies and bashing the Capitlist American cars, there wasnt too many Toyota engines put in Sherman tanks and now we are buying Zero fighter engines in our Dodges.
 
JustinH, I've owned everything from Isuzu to Buick over the 45 years I've been driving and have finally settled on Mopar (Chrysler) products only for the last 12 years or so. The reason being that I've gotten better service out of them than anything else, so I wouldn't be afraid to buy a Magnum. The truth is that almost all makes are pretty good these days. The difference between Porsche (top of latest J.D Power surveys) to Hummer (bottom) is only about one half of a problem per vehicle!
My mother-in-law has owned only Toyota Corollas for the last 15 years buying each one new (5 at last count). We've had Dodges for most of that time period and have had fewer problems with our Dodges than she has had with her Toyotas so don't believe all the hype about Toyota, Honda, etc.
 
Stopped by the VW dealer. They had a nice white (favorite color) Passat Wagon.

Nice. I'm going to have to take one for a test drive, which would include loading up with some gear like I'm going to a show. Then see how it works.
 
How 'bout a Mazda 5? It's sort of like a miniature minivan/hatchback. It has room for six if needed, and I think the seating can be arranged to provide decent cargo space when needed too.

Here is a link:

Mazda 5
 
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