Gonna have to hit up the Forester when I get to the Subaru dealer for sure.

 

I agree with everyone saying audi my granddad has a 99 A6 with almost 100k and that thing still runs awesome.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention the sunroof in the Subaru Forester....HOLY FREAKING COW, I can't think of a car with a bigger sunroof than this. If completely uncovers the driver and the back passengers. It's HUGE! Like having a freaking convertible than a Sunroof.

 

SRT-8 ftw!

 

Speedy...just showed my wife your avatar. I may have to steal it as we have a male cat that looks just like this, and behaves just like this. I swear when I look at it I am looking at our cat "Jack."

Is this your cat?

 

Speedy, Thanks for the PM and your blessing on the avatar!

 

Best looking wagon of all time:


you could get a pretty stripped down RT (5.7L Hemi V8, not SRT) in your price range, around 25.

Mike

 

i would say Legacy Wagon, A3, or wait for the new Jetta/Rabbit wagon...

 

GET THE A3!!!!!

I love that car!!!!

I've been looking at wagons since last year. I was hoping to get an A3 at the end of '06 but some financial obligations kept me from it. In the end it was a good thing, because I'm considering getting the A4 avant instaed primarily because of all the extra room compared to the A3. But I love the A3 so much it's a damn hard decision.

i've driven the A3 DSG and it's solid, very perky and great response. haven't driven the 6spd though. I've also driven the a4 sedan 3.2 6spd and it's a great car too. Although I would personally take the a4 2.0t 6spd over the 3.2 anyday.

 

My mom had an A6 Avant, and at 50k, the entire electrical system went, and her rearview mirror fell out of the window. Of course, conviently when the warranty was up. She got a C320 4matic in black, and LOVES it. Only issue is that the trunk area is not big enough for her dalmation. I've taken the MB out in about a foot of snow, and its a beast in bad weather. I really really like the idea of a wagon, and especially a sporty wagon at that.

 

Thats nuts and very vague. How does the whole electrical go out? What exactly happened and what they do to fix it? (assuming you didnt sell it with nothing working)

 

I wasn't around when it happened, but from what I know, she was driving down to my dad's office, turned the corner, and the entire car died. She was in the middle of an intersection, and she and her friend had to push the car to the side. She had no power steering, no brakes, nothing and the car wouldn't turn over at all. It was towed the 1/2 a mile to Audi, diagnosed and never saw it again, and a day later, she had the MB. I have no idea what they did with it

 

The blind spots alone make me shudder

 

Maybe could have been as simple as the battery coming unplugged but i'd be interested in what Audi did to the fixed.

Anywho, this is why i hate "my xxx has issues with their xxx" no one ever knows the whole story.

If people are concerned about audi reliability then visit their forums. We all know forums are filled with most complaints about the cars. So it would give you an idea of worst case scenario when buying something. IMO

 

one can't simply bitch about a problem and write it off as being a fault of the entire brand.

it very very well could have been as simple as a bad battery, bad alternator not charging the battery so the car died. so many possibilities. Hell the same happened to my wife's car, but it was a fuel pump, but I didn't write it off as a fault of the entire Nissan brand.

 

I rented one of these while in Hawaii and at 6'2" I felt like the roof was coming down on me or something. The windows aren't very big anywhere and I felt like when I wanted to look out I was looking at the top of the door trim. I couldn't see stop lights without stopping way back from them.

The car drove just fine, but I never felt comfortable. So I am with you on the blind spots.

 

I've had three friends with Audi's and have had so many problems they have written the Audi brand off and they were die hard fans. Everything from blowing the engine and transmission, to brake failure, electrical gremlins, you name it. When my neighbor buys a brand new A4 cabrio for his wife, and an A8L for himself for Christmas, and two weeks later, one is back at Audi for an engine light, and the other won't start and has to be towed to Audi, you can be sure that Audi isn't on a list of cars I would look at. From what I was told, they aren't certain why the check engine light was on the cabrio, and the A8 had something wrong with the electrical system

 

I thought long and hard about a Volkswagen, I just can't get myself past the styling and, I admit, the image.

I'm looking at the A3 right now. It's not looking good. Seems like the base model, stripped out, is in the $25K range. Then I'd have to add all the options I'd want, like the sunroof and assorted other packages, and the price goes well beyond what I can afford right now.

Last night I found a nice '04 TSX with a decent price, sure I can talk them down to the $20K range. I also drove an '07 Civic. Wow. It really won me over with how it drives. The EX with all the goodies comes in around $19K, but with Navi, probably $22K. That makes it harder.

So far the top candidates are the TSX, the Civic, and the IS 300.

Of course, I still need to get myself to the Subaru dealership. There's still hope for getting a wagon.

 

Yea well i have 10,000 friends who have only minor issues with Audi. Hows that.

Guess you missed the point of my post i made earlier. If you dont know the details of each story then dont bother to talk about them.

Thats like telling people Acura sucks for having transmission problems but forgetting to mention that it has a warranty to 100k miles.

 

I'd say go for the TSX! How many miles does it have?

 

IS300 is expensive to insure, FYI.

 

40K miles, IIRC. White on tan.

Another dealer had an '04 TSX, silver on black. I asked and he blurted out "$18.5". I can't remember what kind of miles it had. Seemed too good to be true, the salesguy was creepy, and I wasn't crazy about the color combination. Maybe I'll go back and get a better look, we'll see.

 

i say go for the new civic - if you like the interior/exterior styling. Its brand new as opposed to the others being used

 

I mean, we have an Audi and it's been awesome. My neighbor's have a newer (2005?) A6, no problems. There are also a few other neighbors who have 2004 Audi A4's... no problems. And a buddy of mine in NY has a 2006 A4... no problems.

So yeah, everyone has stories about people they know having problems or not having problems.... so it really doesn't mean shit. The facts are that Audi's, especially the A3/A4 have come a long way and have moved up the list as far as reliable vehicles. Are they on Toyota/Lexus levels? No, not yet, but pick up any mag that rates these things and you'd be surprised how far Audi has moved up the list...

 

Well, regardless of the route you go...I'd recommend going pre-owned. You'll save a bunch and some other sucker will have taken the depreciation hit

 

i couldn't buy brand new...i'll let somebody else take that depreciation hit, a year old with a few thousand on the clock plus a 100k mile extended warranty is fine with me.

 

A buddy of mine uses the new 9-3 as a commuter. It's pretty nice, a little small when we put 4 people in it to go to lunch, but nice overall for something to get around in.

 

x 2348924

They have beefed up their quality standards over the years to put the reliability woes they had in the past to rest. And the newer models are performing great.

My best friend's 3.2 A4 6spd has been flawless and he's had it for at least 6 months now.

 

To many benefits to buying used. But damn, the new car smell and the newness of it all...gaah, hard to pull away from.

IS 300 is out. As someone said, they're a lot to insure. My agent just called me with how much, like $1.5K more than my old 2000 TL. Geez. Surprisingly, it only runs me like $15 extra dollars a month to insure a 2004 TSX.

I'm finding better and better deals on TSXs online, it's looking better and better.

Did I read some blurb right, the TSX has a timing chain and not a belt?

 

yea tsx has a chain.

i'd go with the tsx then.

 

So I went to CarMax just for grins and they had the car I've always wanted: 1999 3.0 CL, gold, 80K miles, and cherry. They wanted $10.5K for it. You can't negotiate with CarMax can you? I was excited about that price at first, but when I got home here I see that it's about $3K too high.

 

You all over the place

Nothing wrong with a CL. Hell i would even pick up an 01 CLS if you wanted to save some money while still having some fun.

 

Considering the cars I admire and have owned, the new Dodge/Chrysler cars are polar opposites.

My ideal view from the inside of a car is something like what a 3rd generation Prelude has. The design chiefs at Daimler Chrysler seem to have the perception that American drivers want a view from a Panzer and not a car.

 

You can pick up a '01-'02 CL Type-S for that price/mileage

 

^^^ transmission failures optional (or mandatory, depending on nothing in particular)

 

Yeah I know, bare with me.

I probably would get that '99 CL, but as others have confirmed the price is ridiculous.

So I feel like I've driven dan near everything and assuming I don't go nuts and just buy a Yaris, I feel like the '04 TSX is the best choice. I'm gonna start wheeling and dealing today to see what I can do. Need to decide on a color - the best ones available to me are white and glacier blue.

And one last stop - Subaru dealer.

 

So I was at another dealership tonight looking at another '04 TSX, and you'll never guess what was next to it:

2001 BMW 525i Touring (the wagon), metallic grey/blue, 80K miles.

$13K Could probably get them to 12 tomorrow night.

I drove it - never been behind the wheel of a 5 series before. I didn't feel comfortable opening her up around the tail end of rush hour and all, but it felt really heavy. At least, more effort to drive than my TL or the TSX.

Seemed like it was loaded to the gills, all sorts of gadgets. Park sensors front and back. Even had all the keys with their leather pouches and all. Only thing that was missing were HIDs.

Someone talk me out of this.

 

Wow, good deal! If you can afford $1k in maintenance/month go for it.

 

Really, $1K maintenance a month? That's what I was worried about, considering I know nothing about BMWs (other than what I read off-hand). What I appreciate the most about Hondas is just changing the oil and otherwise forgetting about it.

I just read about why it was so heavy - I didn't realize the 525 was the slowest of the bunch. Only like 183 hp? Out of an inline 6?

I know E39s are supposed to be "the best BMWs ever" and all, and this seems like a good deal on a rare car, but I dunno, I'm talking myself out of this already.

Also went to the Subaru dealer next door - hardly any used models available, hard to find regular Legacies that aren't Outbacks or something. I'm sure I could probably track something down on AutoTrader or something, but I don't have time to cruise the whole city. Drove a new Impreza that was nice, but it wasn't a WRX (so why bother?), so I figure if I go new it's still the Civic.

 

The 525 is the slowest 5-Series. Probably why it felt so heavy. Get it if you don't mind a slow BMW.