The girlfriends car died today......FINALLY!!!!
 

Yup, Holly's car siezed the motor today. Full of oil so that's not it. It WAS a 1997 Pontiac Sunfire with the POS 4 banger in it. Ugly as sin, drove like shat, didn't get the best mileage, needed tires and brakes, ugly, POS car, ugly....did I say it was ugly?? :rolleyes: Anyway, salvage yard is giving her $500 for it (body is o.k. but not perfect) and it only has about 90,000 miles on it. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but from what she said I'm thinking she lost a head gasket. Been there, dont that.

So now the fun part.....car shopping!!!!! We both like the new Kia Sorrento (looks like a small Lexus SUV). She want's something small (not a big truck or car).....decent on gas, safe (4 wheel drive), and a good warrantee. Every time we see one she says she likes it. Anyone have any experience with this SUV????? Or can anyone make any recomendations on a small SUV or car that might fit these criteria? Say, under $17,000????? Used or new.

Thanks.

Mike

HEY WATERFOUL...I bought my wife a HYUNDAI SANTA FE last year...(Don't laugh)...I did ALL the homework & it was DEFINITELY the most SUV/trucklet for the money(at THAT time..2001)...You get a LOADED awd, V6, 4w discs, "shiftronic" auto stick, power everything, 22mpg, 10 year/100k warranty,etc., for around $18,000K. It has been totally trouble free(19,000k) so far. She is VERY happy with it & I'm not embarrassed to be seen in it either...You mentioned the SORRENTO...I really like the looks & if it stacks up to the SANTA FE I would definitely put it on my list of possibilities...I think the build quality issues are pretty much a thing of the past & it's pretty hard to get a POS these days by ANY of the manufacturers, so get what you like....

Mike~ Check out this site for almost every question you have!!

http://www.edmunds.com/

Good luck to Holly! And HAVE FUN!! (Getting a new car is soooo exciting!!)

Tracy

Don't know if she'll like the looks of them or not, but you can get a Subaru Legacy in that price range. Been looking at them myself for the wife's next ride. She actually wants a wagon.
I like the Audi All-Road, but that would take away serious boat $$.

You'll also see on that site, vehicles that are comparable to whatever vehicle you are interested in.
It's an awesome site!!

Mike,

Have a 2000 Pontiac Grand AM GT, 47000mi, Black w/ Charcoal interior, Air, Auto, Power Windows, Power locks, Power drivers side seat, AM/FM/CD, V6 $10K

Keith

Mike, I have a pair of roller skates for sale:D

GFB

The PONTIAC VIBE is a pretty cool lookin ride...

You guys buying all those foreign cars make me sick !!:mad:

Of course , Mercedes,BMW, Ferrari, and Lamborgini's are excluded from the "foreign" comment.:)

Hey Chuck, I own two American vehicles (yes, my HONDA was built in the USA). You work in the Auto Industry, so you should know it's getting harder and harder to buy a "foreign" car these days. Besides, I do my part to support the American commerce level fixing my boat all the time!!! LOL!!!

BMW X-5 SUV......South Carolina, as is their small sports convertible.
Honda (nearly EVERY Honda in the U.S.) is built here (in the south mostly).
Mercedes ML 340, 430, and the AMG version are built in Cottondale, Alabama (A plant I have spent considerable time at).
Mazda, Flatrock Michigan
Camery, USA
In fact, there are more American cars built in Mexico and Canada than there are "Import" cars from Asia these days. Dodge Trucks, mostly Mexico. Chevy 1500, 2500 series pickups and SUV's, nearly ALL in Mexico. A lot GM midsize cars are built in Canada. The now defunct F-body (Camaro, Firebird) were ALL built in Canada. As were the Lumina sedans (another plant I've been to on occasion).

And what does Ford, GM, or Chrysler build that can compete with the Santa Fe or the Sorento in price, content, warrantee, and build quality? The tracker? I don't think so!!!! Escape, more $$ than either (in fact, they seem really pricey to me). PT Cruiser? Yup, but she doesn't like them (I do, but oh well I got out voted :rolleyes: ). The new Blazers are big money.....Durango is too big. Doesn't like the Explorer.

I do like the Subarus....gonna try to steer her to that dealer too. I'm shooting for an all out SRX version!!!!!!!

Would she consider a Subaru? They've been around forever and have a reliable product. I'd just hate to buy a imported car that could bail on the market in a few years. Remember the Renault Alliance? The Wrx is a really nice car. I'm not sure about the bug eye thing, but the car handles very well and is rather quick. Because the gearing is deep the engine does spin going down the highway though. Milage is in the lower 20's. The nicest thing is that there a couple of different body styles that she can pick from. Either that or she should just buy our Blazer. :D Rather than the new Blazer would she consider the older body style? They were a really nice truck on the inside-especially the LT version. With the new car market pushing the used cars down and a new body style out, they should be fairly affordable. Milage would be in the mid to upper teens.

Merry Christmas Mike,

We sell kia's were i work and while they are a entry level car they dont have many problems with them, they have a great warranty 10yrs and 100,000 miles they are what we call throw away cars once you by it use it to the end because they have no resale value, and they depreciate rapidly, the sorrento is their new model and we sell the heck out of them, the first few we got in had some problems, but so do most of the new lines when first introduced. good luck on your car hunt i'll see you at loto this year some time

later

SATURN VUE?

Mike
what about the Saturn Sport Ute ( Vue?)

she may get 0% financing. Linda and I looked at them

or hey!!!!!!!! how about Linda's 98 Blazer. leather, seater heaters, 59,000 miles. for you mike..........$10,500 out the door

then you can say "my girl's car is a truck!!" and it would pull your boat in the event the Dodge is down ...again.....

don't tell me in won't cause a birdy told me an s10 pickup used to pull ol' Waterfoul.;)

Mike,
I,m with Cord check out the Subaru. For Michigan weather it would be a great car. It would hold some resale value as well. Sure the Kia has a ten year warrenty but you know what, the company still has to be around to take advantage of that. Go check out the Subaru she might find out that she likes it. Besides AWD for the upcoming months is the way to go.

Just my .02
Russ

Mike,
why don't you pick one of the cars that you mentioned that are built in the US.
I don't think KIA's are.
I'm really surprised that you aren't preaching the American car thing with where you work. The next time there is a lay off or you have to take a paycut you can thank someone who bought foreign.:)
I do like the Subaru WRX but I just couldn't bring myself to buy foreign.

Recently went through the "let's buy a car" thing. Couldn't afford new, so looked at used. The most interesting thing I found was that there weren't many Subarus around (it was one of my choices), and the few available were still worth $4,000 with 195,000 miles on them.

Neighbor down the street just got an Outback and loves it.

Mike, let me know if the junk yard backs out of giving her what she wants for the Sunbird.....would make a good kids car....Fred

Subaru --My wife has one she love it ,Great in the snow and rain

Mike~

Three words for you RAV-RAV-RAV!!! Toyota RAV4! The new ones are the chit! A good friend of mine owns a fairly large Toyota dealer here in MA. My wife wanted to get rid of her 99 VW Jetta GLX (damn that little sucker was quick!), but at 45K miles it was falling apart. So, went to his dealership where I bought my 4-Runner Ltd., she got in it, drove it and would not give him the keys back... So, we took it home! It has all wheel / 4wd drive, leather, moonroof, cd... all that BS and MSRP was $23,xxx. You pay a bit more for the Toyotas, but you get what you pay for!! Quality, durability and resale. It has more room in it than it looks like it would and it gets 28mpg on the highway. :)

Buy this gem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Get her my work truck for Christmas,
1988 Chevy S-10, with only 294,000
miles, 28 mph on hi-way, make you a
special Christmas deal, 800.00 and if
she's real cute I won't charge to teach
her how to drive a stick shift, let me
know if your interested............LOL

Hey Foul ,
that truck sounds like a sweet deal ... better than that foreign scrap !!!:D :D

Also empty your PM box

"if she's real cute I won't charge"

Oh, Mike. You're in trouble now! Heh, heh

Mike,

I dunno if you're looking for new or used, but I'm selling my 1999 Grand Cherokee with 45,000 miles and the balance of the 7/70,000 transferrrable warranty. The truck is absolutely showroom condition. I'll make you a great deal on it...prolly around 14K

Spoken like someone who has lived and worked in Detriot all his life :) :) I looked around our plant today......3 full shifts on 3 lines building Honda parts 6 days a week. 4 full shifts running Camrey parts 6 days a week. The line I run sends it's parts to England for Land Rover. We build Subaru parts, Mercedes, BMW, and soon Volkswagon in my plant. Of the 20 or so assembly lines in my plant, more build of the so called "foreign" parts than American.

Not trying to start the USA vz. the Import debate here (really, I'm not). I just see where my company makes most of it's money. It's with GM of course. But after that, it's with the Asian and European automakers.....we are HUGE with Honda and Toyota. Very big with Land Rover and Mercedes. And VW is beating down our door these days. So I guess my bread is buttered on both sides.:D :D I'd bet if you looked at where your Canadien company ships it's components, youd see a similar pattern.

Trust me fellas, I'm gonna try to steer her towards a decent used Subaru. I really don't think she want's the payment that comes with a new car. Neither do I, less gas money for the 'Foul come summer!! LOL!!!! I had an old Sub for a while.....beat the crap out of it, peices fell off it, but it ran like a watch. Ticked like one too!! LOL!!!

Mike

WE went through the same thing with my wife a year ago. Test drove the Sante Fe, Rav4, and Forester before my wife decided she wanted a sports car. The Sante Fe won the comparo in my book. Bigger than the others and a great warranty. I have talked to a few people with them since and everyone had rave reviews.

I was looking at a new Subaru a few years ago and was told they had the worst resale value of any car made. If she wants a good reliable used car, look at a Lexus certified pre-owned RX300. I know they cost more than she wants to spend ($25,000+), but Lexus has killer financing (3.9%/60 months) and a 100,000 mile warranty on their certified pre-owned cars. She would be the king of the neighborhood in her new Lexus!

Mike

With her driving record ( a FEW tickets) she wouldn't be able to afford the insurance on a Lexus. And she's not kind enough to her vehicles to warrant owning a vehicle of the calibre of Lexus!!!

Mike,

I send you an email

KIA Killed In Action

I just gotta put in my 2 cents. American car profits go to American companies. And they are american engineered. All the worst POS's GM has sold are rebadged foriegn cars. Foriegn cars assembled here still send the profits overseas. Buy a VUE @ 0%. Don't bother with the AWD, spend half the money ($1200) on snow tires and do just as well or better.
Don't buy anything that doesn't offer you 0%.
Have fun looking Mike. I'll be happy to answer any Saturn questions or most GM questions.-Chris

TWO WORDS

BUY AMERICAN!!!!!!!!

That's what we do in Michigan!!!!!!

Hey, get this, my girlfriends car was STOLLEN last night!!!
But its all good, fully insured, hope they just drive it off a cliff or take it to mexico!!:D :D :D :D

Although I agree with buying American. All these companies are public therefore profits go to shareholders which can be from any country. Nothing is as simple as it seems and I would rather employ American workers than worry about who gets a dividend.

Steve