[VLOCT]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Upgrades, you can get good deals, i think.
I am looking at a downgrade here.

How about the discontinued Pontiac GTO? They go for a song nowadays. Plenty of power to keep you happy. They look pretty mundane, though.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

How about the discontinued Pontiac GTO? They go for a song nowadays. Plenty of power to keep you happy. They look pretty mundane, though.

Those GTOs are awesome in terms of power. But from Charger to GTO would be more of the same, no?
The car that replaces charger would need to have a manual transmission, a turbo and tight handling. It should still be able to seat two adults and two kids. And should give some relief to my bank balance.
I drove a mustang once and my knees kept hitting the dash. So it should still have enough leg room in the front.
The GTI ticks all the boxes except the money part for which i need to hit the ground.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Those GTOs are awesome in terms of power. But from Charger to GTO would be more of the same, no?
The car that replaces charger would need to have a manual transmission, a turbo and tight handling. It should still be able to seat two adults and two kids. And should give some relief to my bank balance.
I drove a mustang once and my knees kept hitting the dash. So it should still have enough leg room in the front.
The GTI ticks all the boxes except the money part for which i need to hit the ground.

Let me throw in a couple more options -
How about the Focus ST? Have used cars started showing up on the market? What about a used base 320i or so - it is a fun little engine, can be had in a manual with a sport package.

Autoguide.com has a under 30k fun car shootout series going on - take a look. The Fiesta ST (not the Focus ST), seems to do rather well.

Road Test Comparison

Track Test

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

Let me throw in a couple more options -
How about the Focus ST? Have used cars started showing up on the market? What about a used base 320i or so - it is a fun little engine, can be had in a manual with a sport package.

Autoguide.com has a under 30k fun car shootout series going on - take a look. The Fiesta ST (not the Focus ST), seems to do rather well.

Nice suggestions, both of them! But Focus STs have barely started to come into the used car market and the Bimmers under 20K are all high mileage.

Having said that, there is ONE 2013 Focus ST with less than 30k miles on it, selling for 21K. It is at a Chrysler dealership, so will that work to my advantage given that i will be trading in a Chrysler car?

Btw, Fiesta ST seems to be becoming the darling of the critics really fast!

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Upgrades, you can get good deals, i think.
I am looking at a downgrade here.

Like I said too many variables, one of which is whether I should upgrade or keep current car & get myself a pocket rocket(FR-S/BRZ/Mustang/370Z etc etc). The fact that I don't drive to work makes the 2 car proposition non practical. Decisions decisions sigh.

[amitoj]

Does anyone else have issues with the distance shown in Autotrader.com?
I find that it is always on the lower side by a huge margin! For example, there is this dealer, Kelly Jeep Chrysler in Lynnfield, MA, which autotrader says is "29 miles from 03062"
But when i check in google maps, the distance is 43 miles!! How can it be so inaccurate??

[sajo]

Thanks guys.
We are thinking of going in for 2005 Accord Coupe , but the seller is asking for $8k non-negotiable. With tax it would be in the region of 9k , kinda high for an individual purchase.

Pros :
- Honda
- Low Miles
- My friend examined it and found no issues

Cons -
- Price. KBB pegs its value at ~5.8k.
- Coupes difficult to sell off compared to Sedans ?

What do you think ?

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by sajo

Cons -
- Price. KBB pegs its value at ~5.8k.

What do you think ?

If KBB value of this car is 5.8K, then you should be able to get it at a rate below that. The seller is asking too much. May be you should show him the KBB values.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Does anyone else have issues with the distance shown in Autotrader.com?
I find that it is always on the lower side by a huge margin! For example, there is this dealer, Kelly Jeep Chrysler in Lynnfield, MA, which autotrader says is "29 miles from 03062"
But when i check in google maps, the distance is 43 miles!! How can it be so inaccurate??

The distance calculation maybe inaccurate - the service they must have used would have given wrong results.

I have noticed it too. Maybe 29 miles is the distance between the closest points in those two zip codes.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Nice suggestions, both of them!

My suggestions may go all over the place but kindly bear with me

Miata
S2000 (the above two can be kicked out due to 2 seater only option)

Jeep wrangler if you got the offroad bug
F150 pickup i believe can be kicked out due to mileage and no use for it

The following are the only logical ones which come to my mind
Ford Fiesta or focus
Subaru ( i love the way the hatch looks)
Mazda 3(the reds really look good)
VW Golf


On a side note after a lot of search my friend finally found a hyundai sonata 2003 with 84k miles. Got it for 3550. Taking it to a mechanic today to get all the fluids changed, air filters changed and the tires rotation and balancing done. Should i be looking at any other preventive maintenance?

Maddy

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

Maybe 29 miles is the distance between the closest points in those two zip codes.

That is quite possible but what is the purpose? To show as many results as they can? Many times i give a search limit of 75 miles and it gives me results that are way over the limit.

Originally Posted by maddy42

My suggestions may go all over the place but kindly bear with me

Miata
S2000 (the above two can be kicked out due to 2 seater only option)

Jeep wrangler if you got the offroad bug
F150 pickup i believe can be kicked out due to mileage and no use for it

The following are the only logical ones which come to my mind
Ford Fiesta or focus
Subaru ( i love the way the hatch looks)
Mazda 3(the reds really look good)
VW Golf


On a side note after a lot of search my friend finally found a hyundai sonata 2003 with 84k miles. Got it for 3550. Taking it to a mechanic today to get all the fluids changed, air filters changed and the tires rotation and balancing done. Should i be looking at any other preventive maintenance?

Maddy

Good luck with the Sonata!

Regarding the suggestions, you are right about the Miata and S2000. I need a 4 seater for the regular trips to the YMCA.

I wont mind the F150 but yeah mileage will suck. Wrangler is a good choice even though I dont go offroading. It's not as if every SUV owner goes offroading or every Subaru driver goes road coursing Although, it might be true for the latter.

Between Fiesta and Focus, I'd go with Focus because it is slightly more roomy and more importantly, there are some available in the used car market.

Mazda3speed also suffers from poor mileage compared to Focus and GTI. But yes, that car looks naughty!!

That leaves me with WRX. Here i need some more advice. In terms of mileage, what would be an acceptable number? I mean, at what point would you say that is too high a mileage to consider the car? 40?60? Higher or lower?

Cheers
Amitoj

[Jomz]

WRX??

Most 2nd owner WRX's might be modded. Some might have crazy tunes and the reliablity of the EJ25 is not that great. It is always better to buy new or from a 1st owner who is an older gentleman kind of - whatever be the mileage.

The resale value is also crazy high - even with all the reliability issues. So I would suggest get a new one and mod slightly. You end up losing only very little.

Try to stay away from the base WRX used. Those are bought to be modded.
Some mods might be tasteful, but given that this is one of the first car for any Boy racer, it is not uncommon to have crazy mods.

The pre 2008 WRX's are known to be bulletproof though.
This thread would help you on WRX's - has a link to the Subaru forum
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums//sho....php?t=1169984

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jomz

The resale value is also crazy high - even with all the reliability issues. So I would suggest get a new one and mod slightly. You end up losing only very little.

Yeah I don't understand why their resale is so high! For example there is a 2011 WRX Limited 57,732 miles, listed at 23,334!!
2015 models are at 29K. So, in 4 years, it lost less than 6K?? Oh I forgot. New England is crazy about Subaru By the way, that car has been available for sale since May of this year. I should be able to use that to my advantage, right?

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amitoj

That is quite possible but what is the purpose? To show as many results as they can? Many times i give a search limit of 75 miles and it gives me results that are way over the limit.

Yes, and more. While you as the end customer is happy seeing more results, the listing owners are happy because they are "surfaced" more number of times, possibly "viewed" more number of times too. In the end it is just more money for Autotrader whenever there are views/clicks. A work around maybe put 50 miles instead of 75, when you actually want to search for 75

Originally Posted by Jomz

WRX??

Most 2nd owner WRX's might be modded.


Some mods might be tasteful, but given that this is one of the first car for any Boy racer, it is not uncommon to have crazy mods.

Agreed on the mod part - it is a very mod friendly car, being turbo out of the door and a bunch of performance parts available even straight out of the dealer.

Originally Posted by amitoj

Yeah I don't understand why their resale is so high! By the way, that car has been available for sale since May of this year. I should be able to use that to my advantage, right?

Try to get a single owner, like Jomz says, older gentleman owned WRX. The likelihood of tons of mods, regular abuse etc - are all very high with the WRX. But that said, I do think it is a robust car and can take good amount of abuse.

Are you sure the 2011 WRX is not an STi?

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

Try to get a single owner, like Jomz says, older gentleman owned WRX. The likelihood of tons of mods, regular abuse etc - are all very high with the WRX. But that said, I do think it is a robust car and can take good amount of abuse.

Are you sure the 2011 WRX is not an STi?

I am not so sure about the age part. I know a few older gentlemen who have modded the crap out of their cars!

Yeah that 2011 is not an STI. Here is the link
http://click.messages.autotrader.com...8ca0e6d0710215