Modern Attainable Cars

Russell Street

Russell Street

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ITT we discuss new cars that are within the average budget that one might actually want to buy and drive.
I'm rather at a loss. I had high hopes for the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ, but the engine is apparently a dud with a giant flat spot in the power curve right where you can't avoid it.
I'm seriously hoping that Elio Motors comes through and is not an uninspired penalty box.
elio6rgb2-483x406.jpg
 
If you are looking for a functional everday car, get a Ford Focus or Fusion and call it a day.
 
doghouse said:
If you are looking for a functional everday car, get a Ford Focus or Fusion and call it a day.
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Ha, I currently have a beat up decade-old Focus that drives well and is cheap as dirt to maintain. I'd have little hesitation in doing a direct replacement to a Fiesta/Focus if I wrecked today. I inherited my father's preference for smaller cars, so the Fusion is a bit on the large side, and it has the modern high-beltline issue that leaves insufficient greenhouse, I fear.
 
I'm sure I'd like how most VWs drive, but their reliability is just above British cars. Well, there is a great debate over whether the cars suck or if the dealers are utterly inept, but the conventional wisdom seems to be that you'll be dropping the car off way too much. This goes back a long way since my Dad complained ~25 years ago that the dealership would replace one glow plug instead of all four, and then next month another would fail and you'd be in there again...

My first two cars were German and, to be quite blunt, they need to put out much more reliable products for a good long time before I ever consider one again.
 
A VW is an electrical issue waiting to happen. Plus they make you look like a 22 year Community College attendee.
 
doghouse said:
A VW is an electrical issue waiting to happen. Plus they make you look like a 22 year Community College attendee.
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I'm fine with being perceived as a deliquent Euro-snob boy-racer, but I have a theory about the Germans being steampunks that don't really understand electricity all that well.
In fairness, the 1st generation Focus was the most recalled car ever, so me griping over the coil pack failures of VW of the same era is a bit unfair. However... the Krauts are also notorious for not acknowledging and fixing known problems.
 
Russell Street said:
I'm fine with being perceived as a deliquent Euro-snob boy-racer, but I have a theory about the Germans being steampunks that don't really understand electricity all that well.
In fairness, the 1st generation Focus was the most recalled car ever, so me griping over the coil pack failures of VW of the same era is a bit unfair. However... the Krauts are also notorious for not acknowledging and fixing known problems.
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Last sentence is true, but German cars are just engineered better.
 
They are more durable and solid. VWs are way heavier than similarly sized cars. The amount of redundancy in my old BMW was great. You could lose half the screws and it would all still work fine when reassembled. In a cheapo Focus, you break a plastic tab and it's time for duct tape.
I feel that Detroit has largely caught up with Euro dynamics, while the Krauts have Mo-towned theirs.
 
Every VW I have driven has driven like dogshit. Pretty much like every American car from 1971 to 2008 or so, barring the Corvette. The new Ford platforms are pretty much the only ones that drive worth a damn currently.


All that said, you can get a totally functional car from many places that will get you A to B efficiently. As far as new and economical, Ford is pretty much it since the Japs have gone off the reservation. The Nissian Versa my wife has isn't too shabby though. Has a hamster for a motor, but whatever, gets like infinty miles to a gallon.
 
Russell Street said:
They are more durable and solid. VWs are way heavier than similarly sized cars. The amount of redundancy in my old BMW was great. You could lose half the screws and it would all still work fine when reassembled. In a cheapo Focus, you break a plastic tab and it's time for duct tape.
I feel that Detroit has largely caught up with Euro dynamics, while the Krauts have Mo-towned theirs.
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Perhaps Furd has improved, but the remainder of the US car industry has lagged.

Kraut rides have had to plasticize a little to stay competitive with price, agreed.
 
JimmyRustler said:
Ford Focus is a good choice. Toyota Camry is also respectable, and it is available with a manual transmission, always a plus.
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Yeah, so many cars are dealbreakers for not being available with a clutch pedal. Supposedly the current Camry has drastically improved dynamics. The damn Corolla, I've heard no such thing about.
 
The current generation Camary's are absolute garbage. Can personally attest to this
 
LOL. Yeah, we aren't gonna find common ground.

Suzuki Smart over a Aston, you probably aren't gonna find common ground with many people.
 
Funny, I was in traffic today and wondered why VW drivers - at least here - drive like fucktards. It has been something I have been noticing for some time. These are not kids in hopped up Golf's driving aggressively. Actually the opposite: old, plodding, hesitant old snuffers and/or women. Makes me feel ashamed to have driven a VW once.

My son-in-law works at a VW dealership. would not buy or drive one based on the malfunctioning pieces of shit that rate brought in on a daily basis.

but, i (my wife) have a land rover so what the fuck do i know. but touch wood, it hasn't broken yet. course, it is parked much of the time.
 
thruth said:
Funny, I was in traffic today and wondered why VW drivers - at least here - drive like fucktards. It has been something I have been noticing for some time. These are not kids in hopped up Golf's driving aggressively. Actually the opposite: old, plodding, hesitant old snuffers and/or women. Makes me feel ashamed to have driven a VW once.

My son-in-law works at a VW dealership. would not buy or drive one based on the malfunctioning pieces of shit that rate brought in on a daily basis.

but, i (my wife) have a land rover so what the fuck do i know. but touch wood, it hasn't broken yet. course, it is parked much of the time.
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Funny how car brands engender driver behavior across different countries. In the US, we don't see to many of those types in VW, at least where I live.
 
OfficePants said:
Funny how car brands engender driver behavior across different countries. In the US, we don't see to many of those types in VW, at least where I live.
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This may very well be true. I think a certain demographic buys them here. More expensive than in the US so older and stupider classifies the owners here.
 
Russell Street said:
ITT we discuss new cars that are within the average budget that one might actually want to buy and drive.
I'm rather at a loss. I had high hopes for the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ, but the engine is apparently a dud with a giant flat spot in the power curve right where you can't avoid it.
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Get a Mazda MX-5/Miata instead - preferably one of the earlier models. Slap a hard-top on it and drive the heck out of it.

Doesn't have that much power, but the engine (particular the original 1.6l version made from 1989 to 1993) loves to rev and the manual transmission is absolutely fantastic. Short, slick, sharp throws that slot in precisely with a flick of the wrist.
 
Journeyman said:
Get a Mazda MX-5/Miata instead - preferably one of the earlier models. Slap a hard-top on it and drive the heck out of it.

Doesn't have that much power, but the engine (particular the original 1.6l version made from 1989 to 1993) loves to rev and the manual transmission is absolutely fantastic. Short, slick, sharp throws that slot in precisely with a flick of the wrist.
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A very nice Honda S2000 can be had for less than 20k, and it's a very nice car to drive.
 
I've heard that in Europe the Jetta is the pensioner's car, whereas in the States it's for twentysomethings that couldn't quite stretch for the BMW. The classic example is the Opel Manta, which was just an odd little economy car in the US but in Germany it was the equivalent of a Camaro, complete with reckless underclass driver stereotype.

The one car that I largely avoided due to the owner identity was the Mini Cooper. I mean the interior was way too cutesy as well, but almost every (male) driver looks like a smug hipster douchebag and I didn't want to be counted in their ranks.

I pray for the fixed roof MX-5. If I ran across a decently maintained original at a good price, I might be swayed.

Some people see the S2000 as fabulous, but my knowledge of it is that it has a torqueless engine* and the claim that "if you actually drive them hard the transmissions explode." The styling does nothing for me either.
My favorite caption ever.
VTEC_50.jpg

Hey, next time let's use a car engine!
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2004/07/honda-s2000/

And of course the preceding Jack Baruth quote...
The S2000 is a torqueless piece of shit that looks like a Pinewood Derby car, doesn’t fit anybody bigger than an Oompa-Loompa, and has an interior that makes the Boxster’s look like it was milled from titanium.
 
That "Truth About Cars" article on the S2000 is quite funny.

I liked this quote:

And what it lacks it aural appeal, it makes up for with sheer volume. I reckon only a stone deaf driver could withstand the brutal din coming from the S2000's engine at full chat.
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One of the members of the MX-5 car club that I used to belong to was a retired architect who used to race Ferraris on weekends and, when he retired, he turned to modifying and racing MX-5s. He was then one of the first people in Australia to get an S2000 when they were released.

He was in his seventies by the time I knew him and, perhaps because of his former hobby of racing Ferraris, was a bit deaf and had a hearing aid for each ear. When he took his S2000 to the track, he'd simply turn off his hearing aids until he was finished, and then turn them back on again!
 
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