The new-car dance

M

mwerner

Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
5,354
Have not purchased a new car since 1973. Loaded Buick Century, 3500.00 out the door. No kidding.

A long succession of junkers and slightly-better-than junkers.
Present ride is a 92 Tempo we bought in a hurry after my Escort was totalled by a nice Oriental lady who didn't quite understand that left-turn "yield" thing.

So, the Tempo is nickle-and diming me, and we decided to see if we could bring in a new car on our budjet. (not a very big one, mind.)

Started out looking at Focus and PT cruiser. Very nice, but can't get em' down to where I need to be. (did I say not very big?)

So, we lower the sights. Internet research, reviews, hoofing it around to local dealers, etc. Cavalier is cheap, common, badly reviewed by the experts. Neon...my kid had one; fell apart.

Think we've decided to go Korean. The Hyundai Elantra can be had on our budjet, and it's an impressively equipped little devil, well reviewed by Edmunds and Cars.com. Good owner reviews too. 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, and even longer on the powertrain.

And the dealer...Extended service hours, with free loaner, free weekly car-wash service, free road service, and the salesman bought us dinner. Hehe.

With my luck, the North Koreans will launch right after I sign the papers.
 
The newer Hyundai's are much better cars when we are talking about current 2003/2004 models. The older ones were P.O.S. (or any other derogatory comment you care for).

The new ones also fair much better in crashes then the old ones.

For someone on a really tight budget, I would consider them. Also, I would consider the entry level Honda Civic and Toyota Echo. They may not be in the same bottom dollar class though, so.... in the end, you have to stay within your budget whatever it is and some cars just can't be purchased as that level.

Good luck with your choices :)
 
A PT Cruiser is essentially a Neon with a new body. If you don't like the neon for its mechanical soundness you wont like a PT.
 
Have you looked into a Kia? Korean as well and in the same price range. A buddy recently picked up thier SUV model (can't think of the name) and I had a chance to look at some of thier other vehicles while at the dealership. I was surprised by thier fit and finish as well as the 10 year, 100k mile warranty. Just food for though if you hadn't already made a decision.

Dayuhan
 
Originally posted by dayuhan13
Have you looked into a Kia? Korean as well and in the same price range. A buddy recently picked up thier SUV model (can't think of the name) and I had a chance to look at some of thier other vehicles while at the dealership. I was surprised by thier fit and finish as well as the 10 year, 100k mile warranty. Just food for though if you hadn't already made a decision.

Dayuhan
Click to expand...

oooh, gotta watch KIA, my finacee works for a Kia dealership here. I heard they are crap, they get alot of disatisfied customers, the cars just fall apart, thats why they offer the big warranty. Back when Hyundai was crap they had that same huge warranty.

Just a little warning.;) And I hope your buddies Kia works out for him.
 
Best value for the money will probably be a Honda Civic. But if that still breaks the budget, definitely consider the Hyundai! Of all the imports, they've probably improved the most since their introduction. I worked on the media campaign when the first Hyundais were brought to North America - and those cars were basically 8-year old Fiats; a collection of junk on wheels. And for quite a few years after that.

But in the past 10 years, their quality control has improved dramatically. Their warranty is outstanding. Lots of standard features. In fact, last fall I bought an Accent for my daughter at college and when the woman dealer from whom I purchase/lease all my vehicles delivered the car to me she said, "Wow, this is a lot of car for the money!" High praise from a car person who deals mostly in Jags, Bimmers, and Mercedes!
 
Originally posted by Icon of Sin
oooh, gotta watch KIA, my finacee works for a Kia dealership here. I heard they are crap, they get alot of disatisfied customers, the cars just fall apart, thats why they offer the big warranty. Back when Hyundai was crap they had that same huge warranty.

Just a little warning.;) And I hope your buddies Kia works out for him.
Click to expand...

Icon,

Thanks for the heads up. I'll pass this info along to him. So far he's had nothing but good to say about his, but we'll see a tear down the road.

Dayuhan
 
Hehe- signed off on the Elantra.

I listen to "The Car Guys" on NPR every week. At least once a week, someone will call in with a line like..."I have this 75 Toyota Camry, and it's got 275,000 miles on it, and it's starting to run a little rough. You think I should get the oil changed?"

I've never had a car go much over 150K in my life...
 
I've had a Kia Sportage for going on 8 years. Been a great car for the money and does well off road. Hyundai owns Kia now so their quality is about equal.

Phil
 
My commuter car is an '85 Honda Accord SE-i, with 292,000 on the original motor, transmission, ect.

Thing runs like a top, and doesn't burn a single drop of oil.
 
I've got 2 words for ya, Honda, and Toyota : ) You get what you pay for, and as you heard from other owners, they last and last. I am on my second Toyo (Tacoma) not perfect, but much fewer problems than other brands. The dealers suck, but there are ways around that. Buddy had a Hyundai (1 yr old) small sedan, had weird problems, headlights shorting, from the begining.
 
Toyota and Honda - absolutely. In the long run, they are MUCH better cars than any of the Korean built vehicles.

Bite the bullet and spend the few extra $$, in a year you'll be glad you did it. The cost difference isn't that significant over a 3 or 4 year loan, and there's not much reason to pay cash with all the low finance rates available.

Hehe- signed off on the Elantra.
Click to expand...

Shoulda read the whole thread first. Good luck with your Hyundai!
 
As always, one must balance the "bottom line"....My CFO (the wife) said flatly, "this is how much we can pay per month". The Hyundai guy was the one that made the cut.

I have owned a Honda, a 1980's-ish Accord that was pretty badly rusted. Ran fine for three years, though, finally expiring due to frame rust. They told me it had originally come from Alaska.

Years ago, our department (apparently on an economy binge) aquired a pair of Toyotas, the little two-door models. They were absolutley awful as police cars; way too small even for our "campus" use. But, they were wonderful cars; dead reliable, sturdy, peppy, good-handling...we never had em'in the shop. The chief wanted to replace them with one of the larger models, which we were all in favor of, but someone in the administration got on a "buy American" kick, and we went to Ford.
 
My experience with both Toyota Camry's and Nissan Pickup's has been outstanding. Neither are in the price class or format to be appropriate here but, they are certainly good values in the long run.

Most people don't want to own the same car for more then 10 years or 100K miles but, if you figure the cost of long term ownership, you would be surprised what is CHEAP and what is EXPENSIVE.
 
I don't know about the US but back in Malaysia Honda's maintenance cost is as high as a BMW. Not really good value nowadays even though they offer outstanding quality.

Kia and Hyundai are good value cars. Not great, but for budget buyers you can't beat 'em. I think reliabiity is good but of course with cars like these there's just small stuff happening like some plastics falling off or something like that.

If you can stretch your budget to a Toyota, get that. Tops in reliability and performance. Nissan is a good brand too. Throughout their lines they maintain their quality so you know if you get a toyota, big or small you'll get a good quality car.

Back in Malaysia i drive a 3-Series BMW but here in the UK it's just a '98 Nissan Almera and i couldn't be happier. It starts on the coldest winter days and is cheap to service. It's noisier than the BMW on concrete motorways but that's a small matter considering how much i paid for the car.

So in conclusion, if you can, get Japanese (Toyota or Nissan or Honda), if you can't afford it, get Korean (Kia or Hyundai)....

BUT DON'T EVER EVER EVER BUY ANY CAR REMOTELY ASSOCIATED WITH MALAYSIA (IE PROTON OR PERODUA)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top