Random Thoughts

[champ11]

4 minutes ago, iLikeDefense said:

Have you drove any of them? When my wife and I bought out SUV, we test drove the Highlander and Pilot which easily made our choice for us and we went with a smoother ride in the Highlander.

Oh, I used to have a 2011 Civic SI and I loved it so I am a bit biased there.

Yeah I did. I honestly need to test drive them again bc it was my first day shopping and I hadn't zoned in on what I want to do. Think I'll do one more session of test drives to decide 

 

Really like the look of the new civic the most. Jetta is the best deal. Kinda think the golf would be the coolest/trendiest lol 

Edited September 27, 2017 by champ11

[Broncofan]

6 minutes ago, champ11 said:

Yeah I did. I honestly need to test drive them again bc it was my first day shopping and I hadn't zoned in on what I want to do. Think I'll do one more session of test drives to decide 

 

Really like the look of the new civic the most. Jetta is the best deal. Kinda think the golf would be the coolest/trendiest lol 

VW is hurting with the whole Diesel scandal.   They're a good carmaker though.  Wife had the Jetta forever in school.

Civic is the most reliable, but yeah, the price matters.  If you intend to drive it to the ground, then get the best value.   Comfort and bells/whistles you need matter, but I think they're comparable, just make sure to get everything you'd want included in quote - they will jack up the price after you start haggling on extras, the markup is insane.

I think it would be the golf or Civic if I were to relive my school days.   Definitely test drive more than 1 and always appear conflicted...don't get your heart set on 1, the dealers smell that desperation like a predator hunting prey lol.

[AnAngryAmerican]

3 hours ago, champ11 said:

So the used car market in Texas is pretty dry...and honestly w/ good financing on new cars im okay paying 5-6 k more for a new car. 

I'm deciding between the new civic (20k), new golf (18k), new jetta (15k) and new mazda3 (17k). If anyone has any recommendations similar to those cars let me know. In a position where I don't have to put much money down and get really low interest rates so I think I'm gonna make a decision before the end of the month  

Those cars are all awfully metro, no offense, lol. 

But I would go with the Jetta if you put a gun to my head. Can't go wrong with German engineering. 

If you're looking for a compact car I would recommend a BMW 3 series. Yes it's going to be a little more expensive and when BMWs break they cost an arm and a leg to fix, but you're getting enormously better vehicle. And once you go Bimmer, you can never go back. 

[broncosfan07]

4 hours ago, champ11 said:

Yeah I did. I honestly need to test drive them again bc it was my first day shopping and I hadn't zoned in on what I want to do. Think I'll do one more session of test drives to decide 

 

Really like the look of the new civic the most. Jetta is the best deal. Kinda think the golf would be the coolest/trendiest lol 

I've had my Golf GTI for a year now and absolutely love it, nothing it isn't great at and it's a lot of fun to drive. There's a good reason why it's sold 25+ million.

[AKRNA]

So champ11, looks like you"'ve done your homework. All reliable, efficient transportation. Hard to go wrong.

IMO though the low end HP (150+-) is pretty borderline. Get them out on the highway and find out what they do when you punch it at 70.

They'll all be great in town but buy the one that you want to drive from Austin to Denver.

Just my 2 cents

 

[champ11]

22 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

Those cars are all awfully metro, no offense, lol. 

But I would go with the Jetta if you put a gun to my head. Can't go wrong with German engineering. 

If you're looking for a compact car I would recommend a BMW 3 series. Yes it's going to be a little more expensive and when BMWs break they cost an arm and a leg to fix, but you're getting enormously better vehicle. And once you go Bimmer, you can never go back. 

lol you know me man. i'm a simple guy and women know what's good no matter what vehicle I drive!!!!

 

@AKRNA appreciate the input. i've been looking at the subaru crosstrek a little bit too and it has worse HP than the Civic so I don't know if that would be a smart route to go. I really don't leave the city too much, but if I'm buying a new car who knows how long I will have it and what the future holds. Good to know about the HP. The Jetta felt like the best engine to me tbh, but im going back to test drive them all over the next couple days. 

 

This decision is so tough!!!!!!!!!

[AKRNA]

All except the Golf (170hp) have engine upgrades available. With the Civic you can go from the base 158hp up to 306 with a 180 hp Turbo in the middle. the Mazda from 155 to 184 and the Jetta from 150 to 210.

Basically they all offer a Turbo version of their basic small block 4 cylinder increasing HP by about 20%. 

Buy the Turbo and you'll always be glad you did. Still great economy but much better performance.

[broncosfan07]

19 minutes ago, AKRNA said:

All except the Golf (170hp) have engine upgrades available. With the Civic you can go from the base 158hp up to 306 with a 180 hp Turbo in the middle. the Mazda from 155 to 184 and the Jetta from 150 to 210.

Basically they all offer a Turbo version of their basic small block 4 cylinder increasing HP by about 20%. 

Buy the Turbo and you'll always be glad you did. Still great economy but much better performance.

The base Golf has 170, the GTI has 210 and the R has 300. 

[AKRNA]

You're right, I missed that.

Anyway, point being these 4 cars are almost clones. FWD, 3000 LBS, 1.8L naturally aspirated, 4 cyl, 150+ HP engines. 

That's a very low power/weight ratio. Simply put, a dog on the highway. The 200hp+- turbo version would be much better on the highway.

Trust me champ11, you'd never regret it

 

[germ-x]

I'm car shopping as well.  My 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee is running on fumes+found out the wife is pregnant so we need something reliable.

My wife's uncle owns a GMC dealership, but they can find us about anything.  Test drove a crap load of cars last Saturday.  All something with 4 or AWD and with solid backseat room.

Gotta say, don't think I drove anything better than the Toyato RAV 4, well I shouldn't say that the Forerunner was unreal but not in our price range.  The RAV4 was smooth, tons of room, and all the amenities and reasonable at 24.5K at 0% interest.

[iLikeDefense]

2 hours ago, germ-x said:

I'm car shopping as well.  My 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee is running on fumes+found out the wife is pregnant so we need something reliable.

My wife's uncle owns a GMC dealership, but they can find us about anything.  Test drove a crap load of cars last Saturday.  All something with 4 or AWD and with solid backseat room.

Gotta say, don't think I drove anything better than the Toyato RAV 4, well I shouldn't say that the Forerunner was unreal but not in our price range.  The RAV4 was smooth, tons of room, and all the amenities and reasonable at 24.5K at 0% interest.

The Rav4 is definitely nice, we went with the highlander w/ pilot seats since we have two kids and the wife wanted something bigger. You are right about the 4Runner, very nice vehicle.

[champ11]

I know a lot of people are anti-leasing but I think it could make sense in my situation.

I test drove the Civic EXT (nicer trim w the turbo after @AKRNA suggestion) and it definitely is way nicer than the basic model. I understand why buying is better and paying to own is an advantage. The thing that worries me and has stressed me out car shopping is I'm not sure I'm going to be wanting to be in a civic until I'm 30. I'm 25, single, may leave ATX and move back to Denver or another city, may get a different type of job/career etc. So leasing is somewhat appealing because of the lack of commitment. It's cheaper and I can buy the car after three years at fair market value if I love it. Gap insurance included. The mileage thing is definitely the one downside to me because going over and paying another 1k to 2k would suck. 

But you don't have the title of the car if you finance it either. So I really wouldn't own the car until 5 years down the road and idk if I'm in a situation where I know what I want to own in 3 years, let alone 5. 

Anyways, I know buying is the smartest option bc you own it eventually. I just don't know if that's that important for me since I'm unsure what I want. Don't see too many downsides to the lease. But it's tough with all the pros and cons of car shopping man. 

[Broncofan]

The big reason to own is that if your car is high quality you have resale value.   If you lease at 3 years the sale value they offer is nowhere close to fair market bargained value.    So you either pay through the nose at that time or you walk away having spent $ with no regained value back.  

I get that if it’s financed it seems like less of a deal but you give back or pay back more $ if you lease vs. if you buy.  

[Broncofan]

With the Falcons RT Ryan Schraeder out for this week at home vs. Buffalo, they will be starting Ty Sambrailo on Sunday.  Should be interesting to see if their ZBS can use him more effectively than our line coach and Kubiak.

[paul-mac]

2 hours ago, Broncofan said:

With the Falcons RT Ryan Schraeder out for this week at home vs. Buffalo, they will be starting Ty Sambrailo on Sunday.  Should be interesting to see if their ZBS can use him more effectively than our line coach and Kubiak.

 

Hes already played at least once for them and was terrible.

 

The one guy I kinda wish we’d kept is Michael Schofield. He was below average but not terrible at Guard last year and he actually played alright at RT in the Super Bowl run. Certainly better than we’ve seen from Sambrailo, Stephenson and Watson.