If you were in the market for a sedan

turnkey4099 · Nov 8, 2005

Both of us are getting up in years. The drawback to our 2001 Taurus was the problem of crawling down into it and up out of it. Went shopping and every sedan, including foreigners had the same problem. Except one.

Ford 500. I am with the others who have them, it is (so far) a great car at reasonable price. And you just sit down into them, there is no side box at the bottom of the door to crawl over, the car itself sets higher but not noticeably so unless parked next to another car. One thing the others didn't mention was the space. The 500 is HUGE inside and that includes the trunk. I swear there is more space inside than the outside can hold.

We (well I) bought the 2wd version. That has a 6 spd (or more) auto tranny, CVT is not an option with 2wd. I am still getting used to that tranny. One very nice part about it is engine braking on downgrades. Cruising at 65, hit a down grade and unless it is very steep (at least 6%) the car doesn't pick up speed. One drive I make regularly has a 6 mile (no let-up) downgrade posted 6 and 7 percent. In my Taurus, come out of OD and still be hitting the brakes regualarly. In the 500, leave in OD and only hit the brakes at most 3 times on the way down. Not like all the other cars I had where you had to come out of OD to get engine braking.

Tranny speeds - seems to have 6 geared speeds (2 of them OD) but then the torque converter also does some things so...

Sticker on mine said 29 mpg on highway. Yep, and I have a ocean view lot in arizona...but... they are very close to right. I am pulling about 28 mpg.

For sure at least test drive the 500 before deciding.

Harry K

aardvark · Nov 8, 2005

I bought a 2004 Pontiac GTO about three or four months ago as a brand new 2004 left over. It was $24k, the left over 2005's should hit that price range pretty soon. It's a really nice and comfortable car, however, the back seats are hard to get into. Once you are in the back seat though, it is comfortable.

I swore I would never buy a Pontiac, since they make about the ugliest cars on the planet. However, the 2004-2006 GTO was styled and built by Holden in Australia, which makes it not really a Pontiac to me. I'd never buy another Pontiac, but this car was pretty impressive when I rode/drove in it prior to buying. I suspect it's the only nice sedan GM makes (or is it a coupe?), but I bet people will argue with me on that.

jim_wilson · Nov 8, 2005

I think your choice is going to depend on what you are looking to get out of the car. I have owned two Honda's and they are rock solid reliable. Each one has gone over 165,000 miles with what I would consider to be only normal maintainence with no unusual failures. If you are looking for reliability I think you can't go wrong with either an Accord or Toyota equivalent. A couple of years ago we bought a Volkswagen Passat - it is a very nice car and drives well, has a nice interior and handles really well - but, we have had what I would consider to be reliability problems. In two years we have gone thru 1 battery ($200 from the VW dealer because it is a special size), and 3 headlight bulbs. Right now we are driving the car on the foglights because the headlights are both burned out until we can get it into the dealer. This may be considered a minor annoyance but in this day and age I also consider it bordering on inexcusable. The Civic that I drive every day burned out it's first headlight bulb at around 163,000 miles and the original battery just went last week at around 169,000. I am sure there is something actually wrong with the VW but trying to get the dealer to fix it I am sure will be an exercise in futility.

hazmat · Nov 10, 2005

I love my accord. I have the 4cyl model 30mpg in mixed driving. By mixed I mean - stuck in a traffic jam or 70+ when the traffic clears. I gave $23K for a loaded EX leather version (sunroof XM radio etc...) The V6 takes a hit on the mpg, but is a real hot rod.

The accord has been on the Car & Driver 10 best list for 19 of 23 years - pretty impressive. Here's a recent comparison of "midsize" sedans car and driver midsize Want to guess who wins?

It seems the auto mfgs have recently figured out how to make big HP & still be smog compliant. I think most of the 6 & 8 cylinder sedans are overpowered. Compare the HP & 0-60 times with 5 & 10 years ago. People wonder why the average MPG isn't going up - it's because the vehicles keep getting more HP...

You're not selling your tractor to buy the car are you?

Chuck52 · Nov 10, 2005

The '03 Impala I bought with about 18K miles in late '03 for $12,500 now has 55K miles on it. It has the 2.4 liter v6, and we have gotten a measured 32 mpg on the highway. We routinely get mid 20's mpg in our normal driving, which includes our 10 mile round trips to work, mainly on the interstate, and lots of town driving. As others have said, the trunk is huge, and it has plenty of room inside for four adults to ride comfortably. I didn't shop around much because I liked it on the first test drive I did. I did try a Taurus, but found that the Impala just felt more natural to me. I have recently heard commercials for similar 2005 "program" cars locally giving prices of about $11K. Pretty good deal.

Chuck

Bob_Skurka · Nov 10, 2005

_RaT_
I just bought a car for my sales manger. I looked at Honda Accord, it came very highly recommended by a lot of people. I looked at Toyota Camry, also very popular. Also on the list were the VW, Chrysler, Dodge and Chevy.

2 days ago I bought the VW Passat. Paid $23,300 for a new 2005, had a couple bids on similarly equipped 2006 models for about $26,750. Leather seats, seat heaters (nice in this climate), Sun Roof, power windows, manual seats, turbo engine, same gas mileage rating as the Accord but in a car with a more solid feel. Edmonds.com had it rated slightly higher than the Accord by actual users. Consumer reports rates it as a best buy over Accord and Camry. After it got here I took it out for a test drive and was very impressed with the fit, finish and handling.

Shawk · Dec 3, 2007

_RaT_ said:
Our Minivan is going, we would like to replace it with a sedan type car, or even a small SUV, 2WD is fine. I have investigated on the internet a Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon, Acura, Lexus, Subaru, Honda and of course all the American cars. Any advice or recommendations? I have not paid much attention to cars so I'm counting on others to advise me about this "unknown" area. Our goal is to stay around $30K or less.

PS Kubota L3830 HST for sale /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

All the cars you've mentioned are really nice. My last 3 cars have been a Camry, Acura TL and now have a Subaru Legacy GT Ltd. I almost bought a Infiniti G35x but the Subaru seemed to have a touch more of the "fun factor" and was a slightly better value IMO (also no Infiniti service centers close). I wanted AWD so that limited my search a bit in cars. I fell in love with my Subaru from the 1st day I drove it. I needed something that would seat our family of five... good in the snow... and something a little sporty. The one knock against it is the mpg is only mid 20's on the hwy compared to my previous TL's upper 20's. However I gained AWD which is wonderful.... and a little engine bolt on... called a turbocharger.

You can also get a Subaru Legacy GT-i which doesn't have the turbocharger and gets better mpg.

I'm a SUV guy but have converted to car with the price of gas. My wife drives a Honda Pilot still mainly for the room and safety during our winter months. We LOVE our Pilot and recommend them to everyone. In fact for a while we had two in our garage.
IF you're looking smaller than a Pilot.... then I would suggest looking at the Rav4's. They now offer a 3rd row which isn't much... but would work for smaller kids. The Rav4 will likely be my next vehicle for myself.
That said... there are so many good vehicles out there now. Tough to go wrong.

cp1969 · Dec 3, 2007

A Pontiac dealer near me runs an ad in the paper for 2007 Gran Prix's for a little under $12K. "Program Cars" says the ad; most likely loaners from the service department. A lease car would not be back that quick.

You can also get Crown Vic's and Grand Marquis for not much more. I've seen brand new ones advertised at $17K. Lots of room, comfortable and still get 25+ mpg on the highway (so says a friend who has one).

These are pretty solid cars for about half what you'd pay for a Toyota or Honda.

Podunkadunk · Dec 4, 2007

_RaT_ said:
Our Minivan is going, we would like to replace it with a sedan type car, or even a small SUV, 2WD is fine. I have investigated on the internet a Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon, Acura, Lexus, Subaru, Honda and of course all the American cars. Any advice or recommendations? I have not paid much attention to cars so I'm counting on others to advise me about this "unknown" area. Our goal is to stay around $30K or less.

Hey Rat...

I did a little research for you on Consumer Reports (pay edition). Here's what I found on the two you SPECIFICALLY mentioned. If you want more info on a particular model, let me know.

Nissan Maxima: