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On 1/31/2020 at 8:02 AM, theJ said:

Well you guys are no help.

I did find this website: http://www.dashboard-light.com/

Comparing against cars in my price range in my area, best bang for the buck seems to be Volkswagon Jetta's or Passat's, Buick Verano's or Nissan Altima's.

I'm test driving a Jetta today.  No it doesn't have tiger stripes.

Some good sites to check out are:

carvana.com
cars.com
cargurus.com
carsforsale.com
carsoup.com

Depending on what you are looking for, you can find just about anything on at least one of these sites.  Good luck!

 

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12 hours ago, Uncle Buck said:

It's tough to go wrong with a Toyota Camry.  They are excellent cars.

I like the Camry, test drove the 300hp model - I felt the Maxima drove faster, but don't have anything to substantiate that with.

I was about to get the Maxima SL this weekend, but I couldn't get enough on my trade (a 2017 Ford Fiesta - very long story, involves Hurricane Harvey and my absolutely irresponsible Mother in Law). I'm going to give it a week, get closer to month end to get the dealership calling me. 

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12 hours ago, Uncle Buck said:

carvana.com
cars.com
cargurus.com
carsforsale.com
carsoup.com

@theJ - I highly recommend cargurus.com; I've looked into used cars here and found some gems to look at. 

Most of my used car searches had me looking into a local site - https://www.texasdirectauto.com/

This place is about four miles from me, but I heard they deal all over the US. Might be a good idea to look into here?

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Thanks guys.  I ended using all of the sites you listed (except for the texasdirectauto one).  I ended up purchasing a VW Jetta, 2017 with 25k miles on it.  I could have went for a higher mileage Toyota or Lexus, but wanted something newer with low miles for the first time in my life.  This particular model run seems more reliable than their previous offerings.

So far i'm really liking it.  It handles and accelerates much better than my previous two cars, and doesn't have any rust! :D

The goal would be to get 7-10 years out of this one.  Since i'll probably only be putting 10k or so miles on it per year.

 

I know my purchase flew in the face of some of the recommendations here, but i was cash buyer and didn't have a 25k range.  Someday, someday...

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1 hour ago, theJ said:

It handles and accelerates much better than my previous two cars,

Jetta's are a blast to drive.
We had one of the cheatin' diesels so we traded it in for the cash during the emissions scandal  - but that car was awesome.
I loved driving it.
 

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7 minutes ago, Shanedorf said:

Jetta's are a blast to drive.
We had one of the cheatin' diesels so we traded it in for the cash during the emissions scandal  - but that car was awesome.
I loved driving it.
 

It does have quite a bit of acceleration for a 1.4L.  When i test drove it i may have slammed my own head into the head rest at the first red light.  I can't remember because i blacked out a little.  I was used to needing to floor it with my little civic hybrid to get to 40 mph in less than 12 seconds.

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On 2/13/2020 at 8:51 AM, ET80 said:

I like the Camry, test drove the 300hp model - I felt the Maxima drove faster, but don't have anything to substantiate that with.

I was about to get the Maxima SL this weekend, but I couldn't get enough on my trade (a 2017 Ford Fiesta - very long story, involves Hurricane Harvey and my absolutely irresponsible Mother in Law). I'm going to give it a week, get closer to month end to get the dealership calling me. 

My womans been driving a 2019 Maxima loaner for a few days since some deer lead a guerrilla assault against her Lincoln Nautilus.

 Id recommend anyone around 5'10 or under to check out if buying a large car. If over that. You will have difficulties and issues.

 

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On 12/02/2020 at 5:47 PM, Uncle Buck said:

I recently got to check an entry off of my bucket list.  I've been wanting one of these since they first came out way back in 1992.  It's a 1998 Mercedes-Benz S320.  Yeah, it's an old guy's car, but I'm an old guy, so it works for me.   Unfortunately, it only has an inline 6-cylinder engine, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it.  One of these days I'm hoping to get the same model with a V-12 engine.  :)

45Lg6CH.jpg

You can always rest easy knowing that an I6 engine is better that pretty much anything, other than that actual V12 holy grail.

 

It's so wicked that you got to buy a car straight off your bucket list.  I doubt i'll be so lucky, even if i don't think my bucket list of cars is that ridiculous...they just keep going up in price.

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4 hours ago, Tugboat said:

It's so wicked that you got to buy a car straight off your bucket list.  I doubt i'll be so lucky, even if i don't think my bucket list of cars is that ridiculous...they just keep going up in price.

I feel the same. Fast and Furious ruined a lot of my chances to get a car I've always wanted because the price has gone up so far, and people absolutely ruin them trying to get them to look like they do in the movies. The dream of an unmolested FD RX-7 is pretty much dead, so now I want weird stuff like an Autozam AZ-1.

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1 hour ago, MrDrew said:

I feel the same. Fast and Furious ruined a lot of my chances to get a car I've always wanted because the price has gone up so far, and people absolutely ruin them trying to get them to look like they do in the movies. The dream of an unmolested FD RX-7 is pretty much dead, so now I want weird stuff like an Autozam AZ-1.

Yeah.  It did a weird thing, where suddenly everyone thought their Honda Civic was gonna be this sleeper superstar.

 

So we got to listen to lots of like fartcan 4-bangers for...forever probably.

But people don't realize that even fast cars from back then, are slow normal now.

 

It's the whole auto industry, that's lost its mind in pursuit of 0-60, and handling has be left by the wayside.  It's gross.  But dang a brand new Sports Package Camry will blow the doors off an old BMW 3-series from the 80s or 90s, but if you put them around a track with a competent driver, fates will reverse HARD.

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9 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

Yeah.  It did a weird thing, where suddenly everyone thought their Honda Civic was gonna be this sleeper superstar.

So we got to listen to lots of like fartcan 4-bangers for...forever probably.

Taking slower cars and making them faster has always been a thing. You had Model A's getting a V8, and turned into a hot rod back in the 50's. I'm actually ok with the person that wants to have some fun working on their car, and making it more fun to drive, especially if they're going for the sleeper. It's the guy that puts a 4ft wing on the back, a body kit on the front that has a giant opening, and then thinks it's making his car faster that bothers me. I want the companies that make that trash to actually make it functional, just so I can see the confusion of the drivers that can't figure out why they're slowing down because they don't understand downforce.

The RX-7 upgrades, any of them, just make me sad. You have one of the best looking cars of all time, and then you make it look like a fish eating something with wing so big F1 cars are jealous. Then you take a twin turbo system designed to get rid of lag, and make it one giant turbo that you have to be at 7k RPMs just to get the turbine to move. Anybody that does any of that should be severely punished for their sins. Same can go fore the Supra, Z, and 200/240SX.

 

31 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

It's the whole auto industry, that's lost its mind in pursuit of 0-60, and handling has be left by the wayside.  It's gross.  But dang a brand new Sports Package Camry will blow the doors off an old BMW 3-series from the 80s or 90s, but if you put them around a track with a competent driver, fates will reverse HARD.

There's still some small cars that are fun to drive out there. You're going to have a hard time finding them in RWD, but they still make them to handle. Unfortunately, a lot are Europe/Asia. The GTI, Civic Si, Mini Cooper S, 500 Abarth (Terrible car, but definitely fits), 86/BRZ all still fit that category. Even though they weren't good cars, Chevy and Ford had good things going with the Cobalt SS and Fiesta ST, but they completely dropped out of the car game.

I think the bigger problem is how big cars are getting. A new Corolla is actually bigger than '99 Camry, and a new Camry is bigger than an Avalon was. Your small commuter cars are bigger than than the mid-size cars back then. We're getting way more power, better gas mileage, but the cars are getting so heavy that it's killing that extra performance. The crossover craze is even worse. If people were smart we'd use the Japanese model, smaller lightweight cars that have a ton of space inside. Add an engine that can handle North American highways, and we'd be moving in a better direction for drivers, and the environment. Instead people are buying the biggest monsters possible that are built on a car platform, and don't have the extra power to handle the added weight. A new Camry should be able to smoke an early 90's 3 Series on a track, but they made it 4-6" bigger in every direction, and 400-700lbs heavier.

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4 hours ago, MrDrew said:

Taking slower cars and making them faster has always been a thing. You had Model A's getting a V8, and turned into a hot rod back in the 50's. I'm actually ok with the person that wants to have some fun working on their car, and making it more fun to drive, especially if they're going for the sleeper. It's the guy that puts a 4ft wing on the back, a body kit on the front that has a giant opening, and then thinks it's making his car faster that bothers me. I want the companies that make that trash to actually make it functional, just so I can see the confusion of the drivers that can't figure out why they're slowing down because they don't understand downforce.

The RX-7 upgrades, any of them, just make me sad. You have one of the best looking cars of all time, and then you make it look like a fish eating something with wing so big F1 cars are jealous. Then you take a twin turbo system designed to get rid of lag, and make it one giant turbo that you have to be at 7k RPMs just to get the turbine to move. Anybody that does any of that should be severely punished for their sins. Same can go fore the Supra, Z, and 200/240SX.

 

There's still some small cars that are fun to drive out there. You're going to have a hard time finding them in RWD, but they still make them to handle. Unfortunately, a lot are Europe/Asia. The GTI, Civic Si, Mini Cooper S, 500 Abarth (Terrible car, but definitely fits), 86/BRZ all still fit that category. Even though they weren't good cars, Chevy and Ford had good things going with the Cobalt SS and Fiesta ST, but they completely dropped out of the car game.

I think the bigger problem is how big cars are getting. A new Corolla is actually bigger than '99 Camry, and a new Camry is bigger than an Avalon was. Your small commuter cars are bigger than than the mid-size cars back then. We're getting way more power, better gas mileage, but the cars are getting so heavy that it's killing that extra performance. The crossover craze is even worse. If people were smart we'd use the Japanese model, smaller lightweight cars that have a ton of space inside. Add an engine that can handle North American highways, and we'd be moving in a better direction for drivers, and the environment. Instead people are buying the biggest monsters possible that are built on a car platform, and don't have the extra power to handle the added weight. A new Camry should be able to smoke an early 90's 3 Series on a track, but they made it 4-6" bigger in every direction, and 400-700lbs heavier.

Yeah.  That bloating is the biggest problem, all around.  Cars are just getting...kinda huge.

I know part of it is just the progression of built in safety systems, including the high waistline dictated by pedestrian impact laws now...but cars just don't need to be as big and heavy as they generally are becoming.  They still make tiny "city cars" for Europe that meet crash test regulations and don't weight 4,000lbs.  It can be done.

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10 hours ago, MrDrew said:

I feel the same. Fast and Furious ruined a lot of my chances to get a car I've always wanted because the price has gone up so far, and people absolutely ruin them trying to get them to look like they do in the movies. The dream of an unmolested FD RX-7 is pretty much dead, so now I want weird stuff like an Autozam AZ-1.

Don't give up on the dreams you guys.  Prices are going crazy right now, but 10-15 years from now styles will have changed and everybody will be looking for something else.  Who knows?  Maybe the "cool" thing will be to trade in the street racer for an electric car or something like that.  Eventually, the cars you like will come down in price a little bit, and more importantly, your income will go up.  Either that or if you wait long enough, you can get it for next to nothing as I did for the one I posted above.  I only paid $3,500 for it.  It's one of the least expensive cars I've ever bought, but because I wanted one so badly back when they were new, it still makes me smile every time I open the door to go out into the garage.  I guess that's one of the perks to getting older.  There are things that I want just because I like them, and I don't have to chase things and pay big bucks for "the new style." 

Some day you will walk out into the garage and you will have that FD RX-7 that you always wanted.  :)

 

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