So, my mom asked me to start looking for new cars for her. She wants one reasonably soon, so holding out for an upcoming car is probably not an option. She would like to keep it under or around $40k, wants a smaller 4 door car, with AWD or FWD. My suggestions thus far have included:

Lexus IS250

Acura TL/TSX

Volvo S40/S60

BMW 325xi

Audi A4

MazdaSpeed 6

Saab 93

Any other ideas or input?

 

IS250 and BMW325xi would be the ones I'd suggest she look into if she's looking for AWD... But that's only because the IS and 3 series are cars that I'm also interested it (had the cl for 3 years now, and I'm getting "itchy").

The other cars you list are all good canidates too.

 

Yea I like the IS a lot, and the 325 is obviously a great car....but those babies get real expensive real fast! I was able to get one up to $48k on the BMW site!

 

IS250 is a great small car for chicks.

 

Perfect! Although I can't really think of my mom as a chick

 

I think the TSX would be a handy choice. It has most of the features of the TL, and I don't expect your mom cares about driving fast and hard. My mom test drove the 5AT TSX and loved it (but didn't like Navi because it was too confusing to her). What she especially liked was the price!

Plus, with the slight power boost for 06, the 5AT is a little better according to Jeff over at Temple of VTEC.

 

Yes she does like the TSX a lot because she can get the MT, and it was a four cylinder instead of the 6 in the TL (she's a bit of the green peace type ). Her main gripe with the IS was the auto only option.

 

How about Subaru Legacy? I've heard a lot of good things about that car.

 

Awd 300C

 

Very nice, not expensive, not hard to drive or figure out the controls.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I added a few to the list. I'm getting home on Tuesday (hopefully ) and we'll probably go look at a few this week.

 

G35x