Trying To Decide On A New Car, suggestions on what to buy, and how to buy Options

[lostboyz]

I finally got a job after graduating this past summer, and after student loans are done (soon), I will be looking at buying a car.

Potentially I might ride out a year on a ford company lease vehicle, which is nice because my drive to work will be about 100+ miles/day, and would be put on a car I dont own.

Main choices

2009+ subaru wrx.
Pro: 265 hp, awd, lots of stuff to mess around with
Con: its not an sti, I utterly hate the impreza fanboys

2009+ subaru wrx sti
Pro:305 hp, 6spd, better breaks and driving options
Con: its almost 10k more than the wrx

Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Pro: cheap, fun to drive (a friend owns one), did I say cheap?
Con: its a hyundai


Im curious to see the subaru/toyota's ft86 vehicle actually turn out to be, or to see if the the wrx/sti get a facelift in 2011 model year.

Any other cars I have missed or any other suggestions would be great.

[twistedsymphony]

I would buy an Evo over a WRX... the new WRXs just arn't what they used to be...

EVO has evolved into more of a powerhouse performance car... WRX has devolved into a "sporty sedan"

case and point: it has a push button e-brake

I do love the boxer motor but... the rest of the car has been ruined IMO.

What about a 370Z? out of all the "new" cars on the market, that and the Evo are the only two I would consider buying personally. The Genesis coupe is ok but it just seems like a fat Tiburon to me.

I'm also patiently waiting to see what happens with the FT-86, it looks like it could turn out to be a fantastic car.


any reason you want a 2009? you dip into the past a little and there are lots more options... the eco-friendly movement has killed off most of the good performance vehicles.

[lostboyz]

2008 was terrible, they fixed a lot of the problems in 2009, just do some youtube searches. That might also go with the comparison of the evo/raliart to sti/wrx, in 2008 mitsubishi definitely had a huge edge on subaru.

I will consider the evo a little more, and the 370z is more expensive and less practical

[twistedsymphony]

Well one of my closest friends is a Subaru technician, so I get all the gritty details of the changes they've made to the WRX/STi with every model year.

if I were ever to buy one again i would go with an older GC style, or maybe another GD. But since they went to the hatch the platform has gone way downhill IMO.

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I agree that the 370Z isn't exactly a "practical" car... but it's no less practical than a Genesis Coupe.



you know you can always get a 240... they're cheap AND capable the S13 hatchbacks are not only easy to find but they're also extremely practical when you consider the storage capacity. lots of guys in my club have used their own 240 hatch to pickup their engine swaps or even haul complete body kits/ladders/etc.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Dec 29 2009, 04:21 AM

[lostboyz]

If and when I have my own garage and collection of tools, I will consider a 240. I think first project car will be a first gen focus, strip it and have it rally ready. This past season there were a couple focii in rally-america that were fairly impressive. There is just something about that weenie little econo-hatch that I like..... and with no cat or muffler at full rev it sounds like an f1 engine.

I am going to look more into the mitsu, I just dont like the idea of pushing 300hp from a 2.0l engine as a DD. That and they cost more than the subaru.

That and hearing about the 2011 mustangs, i might have to consider it. The V6 is 305 hp and 30mpg, V8 is the new 5.0 and 412hp

This post has been edited by lostboyz: Dec 29 2009, 06:44 AM

[twistedsymphony]

YUCK... the mustang is garbage IMO. I had an 09 as a rental car when i was out in Las Vegas and it was quite possibly one of the worst cars I'd ever driven. we had a choice between that and some Kia and the whole week we were joking that we should have got the Kia.

Now on the other hand the new Camaro would be something to consider, it makes the same power from the V6, and beats the crap out of the mustang in nearly every aspect of performance as well as comfort and looks.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Dec 29 2009, 03:02 PM

[lostboyz]

While you might be right the camaro is better than the mustang, you can't really get a sense of a car based off of a rental. I have ridden in plenty of 2010 GTs and have been quite satisfied.

I personally don't like the camaro, it looks like a cartoon to me. Maybe the next model year, because the power and price seem very competitive (I'm sure that taxpayer money helps it to be)

I guess I have more to go test drive, such a shame

[twistedsymphony]

nothing uncomfortable about the GT... it was just the fit/finish/driving feel of the car...

if I didn't know it was a ford I would have sworn the thing was designed and built in China... the whole thing just felt cheap and plasticy.


FWIW I get that same impression from a lot of US built vehicles... though that's not to say there aren't some that don't have a higher quality feel to them.

the Ford Focus, and the Edge both feel like proper vehicles, some of their pickups look and feel well put together too.

90% of GM's output was GARBAGE up until the 08-09 model years when they miraculously snapped out of it and started producing good cars again.

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I'm not talking crash tests, handling, or engine acceleration...

I'm talking about how the car feels when you get in and manipulate the controls... are they crisp, smooth, appropriate? do they fit your hand well, are they located and sized appropriately? do the trim panels fit together with laser precision? do they look high quality?

go take a few test drives in new BMWs and Audi's to know what I'm talking about... If you want some specific examples checkout a Cooper S or an Audi S3

That aspect of a car is what those two companies do better than anyone else... that's not to say anything of their ACTUAL quality... but just feel the controls and look at the details in the cabin when you get in the car... then compare it to what you get in a mustang.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Jan 11 2010, 03:58 PM

[yaazz]

I thought the exact same thing when I test drove an 09 stang. It just doesn't "feel" right. The exterior is awesome, but the interior is cheap and it wasn't a whole lot of fun to drive.

That said, the price is right

[lordvader129]

i have to disagree on the mustang interior, i have an 06 GT and the only part of it i dont like is the gear selector (auto, and the lever is plastic, not leather-wrapped like my 98)

that said, i get the most compliments on the interior, but it also has the premium interior package upgrade, im not sure what the stock interior is like

[twistedsymphony]

it's possible that the interior is completely different on the high level packages... my father got a "new" mustang when they first started doing the "classic" style and while I never rode in the car I do remember thinking the interior looked pretty nice... the interior on the one I drove in Vegas was very similar to the 2007 Chevy Malibu I got as a rental a few years back

plastic garbage on top of plastic garbage

searching around I can't find a picture that looks like the mustang interior I sat in...

the auto shifter was literally a cheap black plastic bar with a button on the end and it was so lose it would rattle against the center console, everything else was just a monotone gray with no accents or chrome trim or anything... it didn't even have fabric on the doors the panels were just a solid hunk of plain gray squeaky plastic.


I guess I'm used to car with foam dashboards that at least LOOK like they're actually covered in fabric, with trim that is either painted, real metal, or real fabric.

I mean the interior in my 1995 Nissan is nothing to write home about, but at least they try to hide the plastic, or at least spruce it up and there's no fake metal or fake trim seams.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Jan 13 2010, 11:13 PM

[lordvader129]

yeah that does sound pretty shitty, mine is definitely not like that, get what you pay for i suppose, although the base package isnt exactly an economy car, lol

[lostboyz]

Living in michigan, a rwd car would be fun for awhile then annoying for the remainder of the winter (what seems like 11 months of the year). Thats really where the awd is coming into play, that and being a fan of rally.



Random info:
I got a job working for chrysler, though I am on contract and therefore have no obligation nor intension to buy one. Though today I did find out that the current mitsu lancer and dodge caliber share platforms, my god how could they screw it up so poorly. I found a little gem in one of the lots today that is a "caliber ext" that closely resembles the lancer rather than this piece of crap.


I'm going to ask a few people wtf happened, or what drugs the designers were smoking to end that way.

[twistedsymphony]

wow seriously? the caliber could have been cool!

the new lancers are friggin sweet though, one got traded in at a Nissan dealership near me, black on black, slammed with a huge HKS intercooler in the front, the thing looks like it would devour other cars for fuel

The whole winter thing is why I now have multiple cars.

the WRX I had was awesome in the snow but at the end of the day it pained me to trash the car every winter... so I bought a pickup to get me around during the salt months....

After that I started questioning if the WRX was really worth it if it wasn't an all year car and the answer was a clear: NO.

[lostboyz]

I randomly ran into a guy that has an old dodge lancer turbo and we went out and looked at this lancer/caliber thing in the lot. His guess is that it was a could have been before the bankruptcy and that the fiat partnership probably killed off the remaining joint ventures with mitsubishi. I would have loved to see an srt4 caliber that was even closely comparable to the evo X. A car like that would make a lot of people think highly of the brand, but instead we get bloated sedans with either under or overpowered drivetrains.


Though I am really getting excited for the FT86. It would really be the perfect car to fit what I want, boxer engine 6 speed manual, and rwd. A new video came out today from the tokyo auto salon for a special version of the concept car(didnt know they made sales packages of concept cars). I am also curious to see what the subie version ends up looking like.

video of the toyota
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQjRK8-kXQ4