So once again, with wife's Elantra nearing 200k miles in a few weeks, thoughts about putting money into it to keep it in good/safe running condition VS new car discussions are emerging...
To keep the Elantra hwy safe, (wife drives to work 50 min each way, and takes long-ish trips pretty often on interstate to see fam/friends which are normally 6-7 hr interstate trips), the amount of money needed (replace a bent wheel/wheels, numerous suspension parts, etc etc.) is clearly more than the car's value at this point.
Lack of cruise control is also becoming a concern on those long trips...
Dash has a big crack developing... yrs of sitting outside since 2003 has done that, and the paint/clear coat is peeling in several places on all horizontal surfaces.
she doesn't complain, but that's because she's a good sport and she doesn't feel everything i feel when I drive it at 65 mph...it just needs a good amount of work to be solid and safe right now. I have told her to rent a car for her next trip to Knoxville TN to see her mom - I just worry.
SO, with all this, I showed a few cars that might interest her.
(NO HONDA OR TOYOTA in our household - ever! not because they're bad - even if wife doesn't care much about what brand/make, ** I ** want something that has a BIT of exclusivity)
She won't drive anything that looks "weird or outlandish" and needs to be "sedate or normal" looking.
so few cars passed her test there by looking at images online:
Her family has 3 Subarus - all Forresters of different generations - and they've been great. So as wife doesn't want anything SUV/wagon shaped, I thought the current Legacy might interest her. AWD is a plus...
She also seems to be like the Passat - I am esp. interested about the TDI as she's MPG conscious.
Then she says a friend has a Volovo S60 ... says it's "kinda ok" so i put that into the mix too.... i know nothing about Volvos - so people still consider them reliable and safe? Is there any danger of the company going belly-up? i just heard someone say that at work...
My (half-joking) suggestion of a BMW 128i coupe didn't sit well with her - she sort of giggled as if she was embarrassed (she does like driving my 3-series ZHP though...)
she thinks they're cute, and I suspect she secretly likes them...( more expensive than above choices though, although CPO can get around $25k or so...)
But before we go out and test drive some cars in the near future, i wanted to see if there are any owners of above cars have any feedback that might help eliminate one or the other automatically...
Thanks IA.
To keep the Elantra hwy safe, (wife drives to work 50 min each way, and takes long-ish trips pretty often on interstate to see fam/friends which are normally 6-7 hr interstate trips), the amount of money needed (replace a bent wheel/wheels, numerous suspension parts, etc etc.) is clearly more than the car's value at this point.
Lack of cruise control is also becoming a concern on those long trips...
Dash has a big crack developing... yrs of sitting outside since 2003 has done that, and the paint/clear coat is peeling in several places on all horizontal surfaces.
she doesn't complain, but that's because she's a good sport and she doesn't feel everything i feel when I drive it at 65 mph...it just needs a good amount of work to be solid and safe right now. I have told her to rent a car for her next trip to Knoxville TN to see her mom - I just worry.
SO, with all this, I showed a few cars that might interest her.
(NO HONDA OR TOYOTA in our household - ever! not because they're bad - even if wife doesn't care much about what brand/make, ** I ** want something that has a BIT of exclusivity)
She won't drive anything that looks "weird or outlandish" and needs to be "sedate or normal" looking.
so few cars passed her test there by looking at images online:
Her family has 3 Subarus - all Forresters of different generations - and they've been great. So as wife doesn't want anything SUV/wagon shaped, I thought the current Legacy might interest her. AWD is a plus...
She also seems to be like the Passat - I am esp. interested about the TDI as she's MPG conscious.
Then she says a friend has a Volovo S60 ... says it's "kinda ok" so i put that into the mix too.... i know nothing about Volvos - so people still consider them reliable and safe? Is there any danger of the company going belly-up? i just heard someone say that at work...
My (half-joking) suggestion of a BMW 128i coupe didn't sit well with her - she sort of giggled as if she was embarrassed (she does like driving my 3-series ZHP though...)
she thinks they're cute, and I suspect she secretly likes them...( more expensive than above choices though, although CPO can get around $25k or so...)
But before we go out and test drive some cars in the near future, i wanted to see if there are any owners of above cars have any feedback that might help eliminate one or the other automatically...
Thanks IA.
