I am now in the market for my 4th car purchase this year. I am actually going to push this off until after Jan 1 as my current car will be compliant until then. My company pays for most of my car so long as it falls within certain parameters. Those are:
Must be under 3 years old. This means that I only want a 2010-2011 as my 2008 Edge will now fall out of compliance as of Jan 1 2012.
Car must have or had a sticker value of $20K minimum.
Now What I am looking for:
I would prefer a used car unless new is too good to pass up.
b) I am open to both Car and SUV. I have 2 SUV’s currently, and will be keeping the edge as it is the newer and nicer vehicle. My trade is a 2005 Pacifica which I am not going to make a penny off of. It is worth what I owe since I bought it like 6 weeks ago and and didn’t spend too much of my own cash as a down payment.
III) My fun side wants power and RWD, my practical side knows that I will be driving over 20K per year and since I get reimbursed for mileage as well, better on gas = more money in my pocket.
Four) I don’t really want to spend more than $28K due to taxes pushing that number up quickly, but I would be willing to look up to $30K if it was absolutely worth it.
) I am in sales and it is usually frowned upon to roll up in a Mercedes or the like so lets try to avoid that path.
All of this has dropped the Hyundai Genesis 4.6 and the GMC Acadia in my lap as viable options. Any feedback on these or what you would buy is appreciated.
A friend of my just bought an Acadia. It’s huge, it’s horrible on gas, and it’s not at all fun to drive. If you’re looking for a huge SUV that rides really nice though it’s a fine option. As someone who drives 20k a year and wants something a little fun to drive it’s probably a bad choice. It was perfect for his wife who doesn’t have an ounce of auto enthusiast blood in her system.
If you’ve already got 2 SUV’s at home I’d cross SUV off the list. I’ll put a little more thought into it in a bit and post.
VW CC. not v8 or RWD, but great gas mileage ( I got 35 mpg on a trip to NJ this pat weekend) and it looks professional without being a BMW or Mercedes. It’s still a fun car, but not a very powerful car. A tune adds about 38 HP and 76 Ft/lbs of torque making it quite a bit more reasonable on power. http://www.goapr.com/products/ecu_upgrade_20tsi_trans.html
I have looked at the CC as well. I should also clarify that leather and heated seats are a must. All of my vehicles to date have always been the top trim level but 3-4 years old… Now it needs to be 1-2 years old and it is harder to afford the top trim level.
I am getting rid of the pacifica but keeping the Edge as it is a kick ass truck. So I will only have one SUV, but I may be buying a beater pickup next year assuming I can buy the land I want.
What about snow driving? Is your job related driving something that will require you to go regardless of weather conditions or do you get the option of saying, “fuck this, it’s too bad out, I’m working from the office today”?
If I had to drive 20k a year regardless of weather conditions it would put SUV’s back on the table. AWD cars with snows are good but once you run out of ground clearance it doesn’t really matter how much tire you have.
BMW 335D? I dont’ know if they are quite in your price range just yet but I was thinking diesel if you are getting reimbursed for miles.
ford Fusion sport. Their price is in the high teens to mid twenties depending on year. Can be optioned FWD or AWD 3.5L V6 with good power and there is a tuner in rochester that can tune these to pick up a bit of power and transform the transmission from a slush box into something that is really fun to drive.
I was going to suggest the pontiac G8 but I guess they stopped making them in 09? That would have been a super fun DD
Ford mustang. Prices are all over the place on these. I know you could get a 11 in your price range if you search around a bit (the 11 got the new engine so it is much faster) Great drivers car for your price point. minimal baller status probably so so fuel economy
Right. I really do want another BMW, but I was asked to avoid it.
I know. Worse is that I am dealing with Union contractors and I should really be buying a built in China ford, but fuck em. I thought about a G37, but for my budget it looks like the G25 and meh to that.
and just because I am a taurus guy (lets face it you knew this was coming)
The new SHO. They are near the top of your price point but are comfy as hell, but it is a BIG car. One the up side you can tune it and run low 12’s in the 1/4 with no other mods but on the down side they are not so great on fuel. I am not convinced that anyone on SHOforum ever drives out of boost though based on how they talk about instant off the line power and such. So far reliability has been very good on these from my understanding reading on the forums.
If you get a CC don’t get a dsg, go for the manual. The DSG has some really soft shifts, and kind of a lag when you first hit the gas from a stop. It doesn’t have launch control like the gti’s DSG, and it doesn’t seem to get as good gas mileage.
I will be spending a lot of time in both my office and my home office, so I always have the option of saying no, but if there is a large job bidding I would venture out in any weather. I will still have the AWD edge that I can take if need be and leave this car in the garage. I just don’t get company mileage for that, rather tax return mileage.
How is the interior and the driveability? I like something that is comfortable but can get the fuck out of its own way (hence the 540)
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------
This answer was expected, I actually posted this and wondered how fast it would happen… That said, I sort of dig it:
The fusion sport is a step above the regular V6. it is a 3.5 instead of a 3.0 and that extra grunt is very welcome. I don’t know if you have driven one but I enjoyed the way it drove but it left me feeling that it just didn’t quite have that special something to tickle my fancy. I really think it was the horrible factory programing for the transmission, knowing there is a solution for that now makes me want one. I did a pretty nasty burnout in one and I was waiting for the AWD to “kick in” and when I told the sales guy who is a friend of mine he laughed and said that one was FWD so that might have something to do with the rear wheel drive not working. That is how I know they can be optioned non AWD on the sport.
Lincoln MKZ! If the fusion is a strong contender you might consider taking a look at one of these. The Lincoln has the same engine and trans as the fusion sport (3.5L V6) but the interior is better quality and it can be optioned with a fantastic THX certified audio package. On a quick check they run about the same as the fusion sport. FYI the blue fusion sports get a little special something in the interior that is worth checking out if you like blue. The interior build quality on both is very nice.
The SHO: I love them and what they can do. The only thing that holds me back from buying one is their size. They are huge, but they are also very fast. There is a performance package. The key part in that is the altered final drive ratio. It makes about a half a second difference in the 1/4 mile. So keep that in mind when looking. With that improved speed is a slight hit in fuel economy. If you get one tune it. Livernoise stage 3 or 4. stage 4 removes torque management so you get harder shifts. Many guys on the forum report that at full throttle it was consistantly bark the tires going into 2nd and will sometimes chirp 3rd. So far the transmission is shaping up to be a pretty stout unit. The transmission in the fusion/MKZ/mazda6 is nearly the same unit. The SHO got slightly larger clutches but the case is the same. I know way too much about these cars.
If you get one I want a ride
edit:
I would avoid Acadia. They are nice trucks but they suffer from typical GM shitty wheel bearing and tierod failure. 20-30K replcae the front end. With the driving you do you would want to keep a warranty on it if you had one. Which I guess you would in those years.
The CC is super nice! Fun and good mpg! Also very classy looking.
The genesis sedans are actually very very nice! I drove one from buffalo to Rochester and back before and was shocked at how good it was. Awesome highway cruiser. I wasn’t paying for gas so I wasn’t that concerned with mpg. The 4.6 gets up and goes pretty good too.
) I am in sales and it is usually frowned upon to roll up in a Mercedes or the like so lets try to avoid that path.
