Trade in for a BMW or Mercedes?

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I agree - base cars with little options and MT only.

So that leaves out MB, unless he goes for the SLK.

 

[SatinSilver]

I was moon walking through the Fiat dealer and saw either a 2012 or 2013 with very low miles for $12,500. New ones similiar to it were stickering for around 21-22k. Car looked to be in excellent shape. I was very surprised at the low price. At first I thought it was a demo since it was parked with all the new Fiats.

 

[afoulk]

If you want fun to drive and reliability, how about something from Mazda? The new 6's are cool looking, as are the new 3's, me being partial to the hatchback.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Historically, european cars are poor on reliability. You may be trading one problem car for another problem car.



That's the old way of thinking. The Europeans produce reliable cars now. Honda and Toyota, the long-standing pillars of reliability, are actually suffering in the past few years.


OP: do your research. There are many reliable German cars. Audi has very recently moved to top 5.

 

[cmorr]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: 79sunrunner
The CLA is neat, but it's a bit juvenile, and makes me look too young,

Can't the same be said about your current car?

Honestly, I think the CLA is a great looking car.



+ 1 am in my mid fifties and would have no problem with a CLA, the 500, no way.

To the OP you need to get your records together and determine quickly if you want to pursue a Lemon Law claim, seek legal help as needed.

You'll get hosed on a trade-in especially with the above mentioned prices on year old models

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Historically, european cars are poor on reliability. You may be trading one problem car for another problem car.


I don't think I agree with this at all. At least not MY 1990 on cars.

I'm sure there are Euro nightmares, and the new Italian wave may be the source of a lot of them. But I've never had one. Now, my Honda .....

 

[Mykl]

I think the question as to reliability and European cars comes down to how far up the model/options ladder you go and simply avoiding specific models that have shown themselves to be trouble-prone. I also think one part of the reliability reputation of certain makes has to do with how hard they hit your wallet when something does break.

I can't say if your Fiat is more or less reliable than the average BMW or Mercedes, but I wouldn't be looking at those makes if I wanted to lower my cost of ownership.

Personally, for a small and sporty car with a relatively low cost to maintain the first cars I'd look at...

Mini Cooper (S)
Volkswagen GTI
Ford Focus ST
Honda Civic Si

As much as I like the Mini, I vectored away from it when I bought my GTI because of the limited dealership network and the funky interior styling, but it was a fun car to drive. But if you insist upon owning a car with style and personality that rivals your Fiat it's the way to go.

 

[79sunrunner]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: 79sunrunner
The CLA is neat, but it's a bit juvenile, and makes me look too young,

Can't the same be said about your current car?

good point

 

[79sunrunner]

Originally Posted By: Mykl
I think the question as to reliability and European cars comes down to how far up the model/options ladder you go and simply avoiding specific models that have shown themselves to be trouble-prone. I also think one part of the reliability reputation of certain makes has to do with how hard they hit your wallet when something does break.

I can't say if your Fiat is more or less reliable than the average BMW or Mercedes, but I wouldn't be looking at those makes if I wanted to lower my cost of ownership.

Personally, for a small and sporty car with a relatively low cost to maintain the first cars I'd look at...

Mini Cooper (S)
Volkswagen GTI
Ford Focus ST
Honda Civic Si

As much as I like the Mini, I vectored away from it when I bought my GTI because of the limited dealership network and the funky interior styling, but it was a fun car to drive. But if you insist upon owning a car with style and personality that rivals your Fiat it's the way to go.


My sister has the Cooper S, and the suspension is rough and the seats are uncomfortable. There is too much noise too, and hers has 20,000 miles. I don't want a ford or Honda, simply because they are too common.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

From my perspective I found the 4 cylinder C-class to be much too sluggish when compared to the 328. Conversely the 328 suspension is a little floaty for my taste.

The new BMWs have electric steering which some find too light (myself included).

The 328 is full of tech and it's hard to avoid it.

BMW has modified their OCI closer to 10k miles.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: 79sunrunner
My sister has the Cooper S, and the suspension is rough and the seats are uncomfortable. There is too much noise too, and hers has 20,000 miles. I don't want a ford or Honda, simply because they are too common.


Then give the GTI a shot. The MKVII is getting some really good reviews, performance is very good, and they're surprisingly comfortable. VW has also made great strides in the durability/reliability department and have recently shown that they're willing to stand by their engineering shortcomings. Recently they extended the warranty on the two most common failure prone parts, the intake manifold and fuel injectors, to ten years or 120k miles (on models built on or before the 2011 model year, parts were updated for later models).

The primary annoyance is the carbon build-up on the intake valves that occurs due to direct injection. Otherwise it's gas and go. Since many of the cars you're likely to consider have direct injection, this may be something you're going to have to deal with anyway.

 

[79sunrunner]

Originally Posted By: gofast182
This is perplexing! You drive a little Fiat 500 but would like to drive a massive A8 if it were affordable. You don't like the 500 because of unreliability and instead want a German car to gain reliability but won't consider a Japanese-branded car. Do I have all of that right?


Well yes, a car under $20,000 should be cheap to maintain and run, a car over $50,000 could be more to operate. I'll pay extra. However I bought the Fiat, because I love old Fiats, and their rally cars. I like driving down the road, and see another Fiat and wave to them as they wave back. Not to mention the great Fiat clubs in the area. You don't get that in Audis, and in the Jag, no one wanted to have a conversation about cars, the majority bought them simply because thats what the neighbor had, or it was directly proportionate to their social status and income. Fortunately I have one other Jaguar collecting friend. I wanted an Audi, BMW, Jag simply for their attention to detail, and artistic shape and complexity.

and the Fiat was fun to drive, and seemed to tick what I was looking for at the time. No the A8 is affordable, but an A4 is, and the A8 or S-class Merc is still a car to look forward to in the future. But a 328 or small Merc is. It is true I had a strange perspective on cars, yet I have not over done myself as I'm putting money away for retirement, and other savings.

The Japanese cars it my opinion lack soul, and if anyone else likes them, please buy and own them, but my strange outlook carries me on to different things.

 

[Mykl]

Japanese cars have plenty of soul. I think you simply don't like the flavor, which is fine.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Mykl
Japanese cars have plenty of soul.

Also, the Koreans have a Soul.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Mykl
Japanese cars have plenty of soul.

Also, the Koreans have a Soul.

ZING!

On that note, the redesigned Soul actually does look like an attractive little car to me.

 

[NHGUY]

I guess that must be the reason for FIAT sales going flat this year...unreliability.Much like GMs X cars,the 57 Chrysler "fin" cars,and the Edsel,it takes a while for word to spread but when it does it kills sales.

 

[Brybo86]

For a base model MT I would go get a new Mazda 6 without thinking twice.
Just promise yourself that you will test drive one before you make any decisions you will regret later.

 

[cptbarkey]

the CLA as a mid 30s guy is gorgeous. I dislike most german cars except for my brief ownership of an E39 540i. Dump the 500 because its hardly practical, if you are searching for more reasons.

 

[ram_man]

if your car is truly that bad cant you utilize lemon laws? I wouldn't buy a bmw or a Mercedes if I wanted low maintenance and trouble free.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted By: 79sunrunner
Originally Posted By: Mykl
I think the question as to reliability and European cars comes down to how far up the model/options ladder you go and simply avoiding specific models that have shown themselves to be trouble-prone. I also think one part of the reliability reputation of certain makes has to do with how hard they hit your wallet when something does break.

I can't say if your Fiat is more or less reliable than the average BMW or Mercedes, but I wouldn't be looking at those makes if I wanted to lower my cost of ownership.

Personally, for a small and sporty car with a relatively low cost to maintain the first cars I'd look at...

Mini Cooper (S)
Volkswagen GTI
Ford Focus ST
Honda Civic Si

As much as I like the Mini, I vectored away from it when I bought my GTI because of the limited dealership network and the funky interior styling, but it was a fun car to drive. But if you insist upon owning a car with style and personality that rivals your Fiat it's the way to go.


My sister has the Cooper S, and the suspension is rough and the seats are uncomfortable. There is too much noise too, and hers has 20,000 miles. I don't want a ford or Honda, simply because they are too common.


you do realize common is a good thing it usually = lower ownership cost as well as the bugs get worked out.