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Car shopping - first round
Jun. 5th, 2011 11:26 pmI took the day off work last Wednesday, planning to do a few errands and then pack for my long weekend motorcycle ride. I had a few extra hours in the middle of the day so I looked at some cars.
I need to decide how small I want to go. I could either go to the extreme small end and get a little hatchback or even a Smart. Or I could go a little larger and have more cargo space and enough horsepower to pull a motorcycle trailer. I do NOT want to go as large as the F-150 I just got rid of. I did not like how large it was; it was hard to park, hard to drive in traffic. And I don't want another truck - I am too tempted to lend them, because I like to help my friends and I hate saying no, but people leave trash in them, fail to put gas in them, and damage them, sometimes pretty badly.
One of the things that gets a lot of weight in my decision tree, is how well I can see out of the vehicle. Say I am trying to merge onto the freeway - do I have gigantic blind spots? The F-150 did and I hated that. Full size vans could hide in its blind spots, let alone motorcycles or Scions. I think wagons and hatchbacks are easier to see out of, except when they have giant rear pillars, which seems to be a trend lately. And what is up with this decorative paint/tint on the windows, further shrinking the visibility? Hate it.
This is going to be mainly a winter car, so it needs to have heated seats.
Fuel economy is mainly important because I have a philosophical belief in it. I don't drive enough miles to truly save money by saving gas.
So I looked at these cars:
Mazda 2. This car is in my "small" category. It fits me pretty well and is the only car I looked at that comes in a color I like. Love the green. I didn't get to drive it because its battery was dead.
Mazda 5. This car is in my "large" category - a small minivan. I don't know if it will pull a trailer. It's got a very small exterior footprint, for a vehicle that seats six people. It fit me well and was reasonably easy to drive.
I do like Mazdas; I had my Mazda truck for a long time and had very little trouble with it. The Mazda saleswoman said that they can put heated seats in any car for $300; I don't have to restrict myself to the ones that have it as a factory option.
VW Jetta Sportwagon. I thought I would like this more than I did. It just didn't seem as comfortable. But it does get the best mileage of the "large" cars I checked out that day, and it comes with the heated seats I want. I would choose the gasoline version rather than the TDI diesel version - I drive so little that it would take decades to save enough on gas, to pay the extra cost. And diesel is slicker than snot when it is spilled.
Subarus: I looked at an Impreza wagon and a Forester. With both these vehicles, their gas mileage and exterior footprint put them in my "large" category. The saleswoman says you can't pull a trailer with an Impreza, only a Forester. Yet the Forester actually gets slightly higher fuel mileage than the Impreza, so it's not like I'd be trading away mileage if I went with the Forester. The all-wheel drive would be good for winter. The oil filter is in the easiest spot to reach, that I have ever seen on a car. And I am suspecting that there are Subaru enthusiast forums that can help me instead of drowning me in drivel like the F-150 forums do. Subaru has loyalists.
All the "large" cars I looked at, cost about the same. The Jetta wagon wins on gas mileage, the Forester wins on horsepower, and the Mazda 5 wins on my good prior experience with Mazdas. I could probably be happy in any of them - I'm not that picky about cars and it's silly to overthink this. And I have all summer to decide.
I need to decide whether to get a new or used car, and whether to go smaller or slightly larger, and then go on from there, I think. I have all summer to do it, so no rush. So far I like the Forester best, but it is definitely at the very largest size I'm willing to horse around.
The quest will continue...
I need to decide how small I want to go. I could either go to the extreme small end and get a little hatchback or even a Smart. Or I could go a little larger and have more cargo space and enough horsepower to pull a motorcycle trailer. I do NOT want to go as large as the F-150 I just got rid of. I did not like how large it was; it was hard to park, hard to drive in traffic. And I don't want another truck - I am too tempted to lend them, because I like to help my friends and I hate saying no, but people leave trash in them, fail to put gas in them, and damage them, sometimes pretty badly.
One of the things that gets a lot of weight in my decision tree, is how well I can see out of the vehicle. Say I am trying to merge onto the freeway - do I have gigantic blind spots? The F-150 did and I hated that. Full size vans could hide in its blind spots, let alone motorcycles or Scions. I think wagons and hatchbacks are easier to see out of, except when they have giant rear pillars, which seems to be a trend lately. And what is up with this decorative paint/tint on the windows, further shrinking the visibility? Hate it.
This is going to be mainly a winter car, so it needs to have heated seats.
Fuel economy is mainly important because I have a philosophical belief in it. I don't drive enough miles to truly save money by saving gas.
So I looked at these cars:
Mazda 2. This car is in my "small" category. It fits me pretty well and is the only car I looked at that comes in a color I like. Love the green. I didn't get to drive it because its battery was dead.
Mazda 5. This car is in my "large" category - a small minivan. I don't know if it will pull a trailer. It's got a very small exterior footprint, for a vehicle that seats six people. It fit me well and was reasonably easy to drive.
I do like Mazdas; I had my Mazda truck for a long time and had very little trouble with it. The Mazda saleswoman said that they can put heated seats in any car for $300; I don't have to restrict myself to the ones that have it as a factory option.
VW Jetta Sportwagon. I thought I would like this more than I did. It just didn't seem as comfortable. But it does get the best mileage of the "large" cars I checked out that day, and it comes with the heated seats I want. I would choose the gasoline version rather than the TDI diesel version - I drive so little that it would take decades to save enough on gas, to pay the extra cost. And diesel is slicker than snot when it is spilled.
Subarus: I looked at an Impreza wagon and a Forester. With both these vehicles, their gas mileage and exterior footprint put them in my "large" category. The saleswoman says you can't pull a trailer with an Impreza, only a Forester. Yet the Forester actually gets slightly higher fuel mileage than the Impreza, so it's not like I'd be trading away mileage if I went with the Forester. The all-wheel drive would be good for winter. The oil filter is in the easiest spot to reach, that I have ever seen on a car. And I am suspecting that there are Subaru enthusiast forums that can help me instead of drowning me in drivel like the F-150 forums do. Subaru has loyalists.
All the "large" cars I looked at, cost about the same. The Jetta wagon wins on gas mileage, the Forester wins on horsepower, and the Mazda 5 wins on my good prior experience with Mazdas. I could probably be happy in any of them - I'm not that picky about cars and it's silly to overthink this. And I have all summer to decide.
I need to decide whether to get a new or used car, and whether to go smaller or slightly larger, and then go on from there, I think. I have all summer to do it, so no rush. So far I like the Forester best, but it is definitely at the very largest size I'm willing to horse around.
The quest will continue...
