[Magick Man]

You couldn't GIVE ME a Subaru or Scion.

It's a Toyota with a boxer engine, you can almost drive it forever.

 

[obobskivich]

It's a Toyota with a boxer engine, you can almost drive it forever.

Couldn't give me one of those either - I want brakes that actually stop the car when I hit the pedal, and a transmission that will actually engage gears that I want it to engage, yadda yadda yadda.

What other jokes can I make? Hrmm..OH I GOT SOME: If by forever, you mean for a few weeks until the next recall, then sure you can! -or try- Yeah, or until the Universe ends in three months! -or try- I want to get there, but I want to get there alive! :tongue_smile:

Now, does this mean that specific car will suck huge eggs? Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn't want to test it. Just not a manufacturer that I even begin to associate with reliability.

Oh I have an idea - billybob, get you a Lexus, and join the club of awesome! :veryevil:

Okay I'll be serious:

Subaru engines tend to run forever, it's the rest of the car that doesn't seem to keep up (but if you don't let tigers fight to death inside of it, it might fare pretty well). Toyota is not a mfgr I want to touch with a 10' pole.

 

[bizkit]

.

 

[Magick Man]

Yeah, I dig the HE60s, these are great from the GES. I'd put them right behind the top Stax, they aren't as crisp and they're more colored, but they aren't $2600-$5000 either. Very comfortable too. It's a crying shame Sennheiser didn't keep making these.

Obobs, bite me. Yeah, it's a Toyota (great cars with weak-*** engines), with a Subaru boxer engine (which are known to last for 300-400k miles). It's a solid car and it's fast.

If I were buying a car, in that price range, it's what I'd buy.


Oh, and the Corniche is leaving Cali today, woohoo!

 

[billybob_jcv]

obob - are you talking about the Chevy Cruze? That seems to be the GM vehicle in the Civic/Jetta/Focus class. Size-wise, I think Chevy goes Sonic->Cruze->Malibu->Impala. That's not counting the hybrids.

I drove both a Focus & a Cruze before I bought the Hyiundai Elantra. The Focus was OK, but the engine was a bit whiny and seemed to screech in protest when I accelerated. The Cruze drove well, but the interior seemed very cheap - It's much better than the really bad Chevy's of several years ago - and it was the best Chevy I have driven in years, but the Hyundai was tighter, quieter and drove smoother. Plus, I couldn't get past the fact that I felt like I was driving a rental car (I get a lot of Fords &Chevy's as rentals when I travel)

I was hoping for something a little more comfortable than the Elantra. Ours is a mid-model (an ex-rental!) and I miss the leather/power seats, bluetooth, etc that is in my wife's Bimmer and my old Infinity.

I had not considered the Scion - I will have to check those out.

Diesel *can* be more reliable than gas - but I don't know anything about the new diesels on the market - and my wife's previous experience with the early 80s VW diesel was not good - that thing couldn't get out of its own way. I was driving an RX-7 at the time, and to go from my car to her car was like switching the record player from 78 to 33. On two-lane roads, I prayed for turnouts - NOT so I could pass the motor homes, but so the motor homes could pass me!!

 

[obobskivich]

Magick - yeah I know subie engines will give you a hojillion miles, its the rest of the car I'm thinking about...

Billybob - yeah, what about another Hyundai then? Maybe the Genesis? Also I'd try the Chrysler 200 out - they don't feel bad.

Other guy - I think you've misunderstood me. And yeah Malibu sucks - I don't want a custom user title to demonstrate that point though.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

I'm not aware of a VW/Audi turbo that breaks 150k with grace. Diesel either. You're talking both in one.

 
Okay, but to be fair, we don't know that the latest generation powerplants perform miserably in that department either.  It wasn't that long ago that the latest TDI systems were being carted around LeMans (and they did "okay" there). 

  What I'm saying is that neither politics nor petroleum are very stable atm, and so it might be fair to consider the short term cost of ownership as well.  I realize that is just an additional complication, and that I'm not exactly simplifying the matter, but yeah. 

 
Quote:

Oh, and the Corniche is leaving Cali today, woohoo!

 
It's starting off in Cali?  Heck, I could've driven it over for ya... 

 
Quote:

Diesel *can* be more reliable than gas - but I don't know anything about the new diesels on the market - and my wife's previous experience with the early 80s VW diesel was not good - that thing couldn't get out of its own way. I was driving an RX-7 at the time, and to go from my car to her car was like switching the record player from 78 to 33. On two-lane roads, I prayed for turnouts - NOT so I could pass the motor homes, but so the motor homes could pass me!!

 
Old diesels (and sometimes Asian women) are the original impetus for the road rage movement.  Believe you me, I'd never suggest one of those.  Diesels I mean.  I married an Asian woman so they're alright. 

 
Quote:

Other guy - I think you've misunderstood me. And yeah Malibu sucks - I don't want a custom user title to demonstrate that point though.

 
Hey, since when am I just the "other guy"?  Oh, you meant bizkit...
 
Okay, so I've been giving this more thought.  Honestly billybob, if it were me, here's what I would do.  I'd track down a used Mustang GT ('05~'09) and mod it.  Basic crap (intake, exhause, hi-flow cat, headers and such if you want, etc.) so that it runs much leaner.  Basically, free up the aspiration.  I mention the GT - as opposed to a V6 - because if you're really going to be cruising along at 80 mph, you want to find a car that is EXTREMELY comfortable just sipping gas at that speed.  For all the crap that V8s get, one of the things they do extremely well is just cruise at speed (because it's like nothing for them).
 
Combine that with disciplined driving and rigorous maintenance (proper tire inflation, spark plugs, etc.) - and don't carry excess junk in the car - and you should get pretty far.  Honestly, don't even carry a full sized spare (or even a spare at all).  Probably cheaper on the old wallet to just get towed in the rather rare instance of a blowout.  You won't get many takers for a carpool to split gas with, but you also "shed" weight that way. 
 
An older Mustang GT in good condtion can easily be had for about $12K if you look around (usually from our fine men and women in the military who need to relocate or what not).  A large percentage of used GTs seem to be out in the Riverside/Corona/Chino area so make sure to widen your autotrader search to find them.  And TBH, those folks in the service have usually done a lot of the required mods for ya.  Once you're in better conditions, get something that really strikes your fancy, and then go balls out with the GT by turning it into a track days car.  Or sell it then, but I doubt you'll get much for it.
 
As far as comfort, that's a different story.  That live rear axle is gonna mess with you a bit.  But let's be honest, the 405 (I'm assuming) isn't that bad.  it's more monotonous than anything else.
 
My two cents anyway, but I think obobs would concur with at least some of the above. 

 

[obobskivich]

Yes I meant bizkit - I was on phone so scrolling up was not really easy.

And yeah I agree fairly well - my big V8 does better than 20mpg if it could just run 75mph in OD-Cruise all day long, it's just when you come down off it and want to tool around town it will drop into that 8-12mpg realm. But I prefer my car at 75 than most of the modern compacts you see out there.

Also to bizkit:

I'll agree that the Frontier is a great truck - my cousin has a bit older model, and it should clear 500,000 this winter (and he's not the only Frontier owner I know who's driven around the planet a few times). It's probably one of the best Nissan trucks (or small trucks in general) ever built. But they get like 15mpg and aren't what I'd consider a cruiser. Still, a well put together truck. Don't get me wrong, F-150 and F-250 are nice too (you're the first person I've heard complain about an F-250 to be honest, the T&C from the 90's is a nightmare though lol), but half a million miles (or your own 350k) is nothing to shake a stick at.

 

[warrenpchi]

Hey, here's an interesting thought...
 
Rent the said Mustang for a weekend and actually do a commute (yes I realize you're off on the weekend) with some local driving.  I'm just saying that you can simulate some common drives with a rental to see if it would be good for you.  it wouldn't cost that much to rent, and it would yield some valuable data.  Plus, there are worse things in the world than driving a GT around for a weekend.
 

 

[billybob_jcv]

So - here's another problem...

If I come home with a Mustang, Camaro or Challenger, my wife will assume I'm having a male menopause crisis and that I'm probably going to use it to go trolling at the beach. You know, like this guy...




And my commute is straight up the 101 - if it was on the 405 I wouldn't have to worry about a car that can do 80, I would be lucky to ever see 30.
..
:rolleyes:

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

So - here's another problem...
If I come home with a Mustang, Camaro or Challenger, my wife will assume I'm having a male menopause crisis and that I'm probably going to use it to go trolling at the beach. You know, like this guy...

And my commute is straight up the 101 - if it was on the 405 I wouldn't have to worry about a car that can do 80, I would be lucky to ever see 30.
..

 
So, a station wagon then? 

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

So - here's another problem...
If I come home with a Mustang, Camaro or Challenger, my wife will assume I'm having a male menopause crisis and that I'm probably going to use it to go trolling at the beach.

 
Keeps her on her toes!  LOL, seriously - just tell her that the passenger seat is for her. 

 
Quote:

And my commute is straight up the 101 - if it was on the 405 I wouldn't have to worry about a car that can do 80, I would be lucky to ever see 30.
..

 
Actually I go 405 S in the mornings.  Easy 90 mph.  Feel bad for all the stiffs trying to come north into L.A. though.
 
Quote:

So, a station wagon then? 

 
True story, my wife said that if I ever thought about getting a minivan or station wagon (Audi aside) she would KICK MY ASS.  God I love that woman!

 

[Magick Man]

Magick - yeah I know subie engines will give you a hojillion miles, its the rest of the car I'm thinking about...

I be busting your barnacles, I think ye had too much grog last night and was bein' more cantankerous than usual. Arrr!

It's starting off in Cali?  Heck, I could've driven it over for ya... 

Yar! It be shippin' out today, already set sail prob'ly! Arrr!

An older Mustang GT in good condtion can easily be had for about $12K if you look around (usually from our fine men and women in the military who need to relocate or what not).  A large percentage of used GTs seem to be out in the Riverside/Corona/Chino area so make sure to widen your autotrader search to find them.  And TBH, those folks in the service have usually done a lot of the required mods for ya.  Once you're in better conditions, get something that really strikes your fancy, and then go balls out with the GT by turning it into a track days car.  Or sell it then, but I doubt you'll get much for it.

The new V6 do be a whale of a motor, and sails at high speed with no effort at'all! Arrr!



(It's Speak like a Pirate Day, but I'm done now. Just wanted to do it once.)

 

[warrenpchi]

Was about to say you've been spending too much time with purrin...
 

 

[billybob_jcv]

My wife also hates minivans and wagons - but that doesn't mean she wants me to have a corvette...

I have gotten the sh!tty end of the stick in every car purchase we have made since we got together. Before we were married, I was driving an RX-7. My next car was a Mazda B2200 pickup because our first house was a fixer and I spent every weekend doing runs to Home Depot. My wife's next car was a Nissan Maxima (5 speed SE version - that was a fun car), and I continued to drive the pick-up until the block cracked and the clutch was gone. Then she got a another Nissan Maxima SE (automatic, but still fun) and I got her old Maxima (which was now a wore out POS). Then she got an Infinity I30 (just like the Maxima, only with very nice leather seats), and I got her old Maxima (which was now a wore out POS - seeing a trend here?). Then she got a BMW 530 (great car), and I got her old Infinity (you guessed it - it was a wore out POS). The only reason I got the Hyundai was that the I30 had 185K miles and the transmission was shot and could no longer be trusted to do 130 miles a day.

Isn't it time for me to get a car *I* want?? Every car I have been handed has already lived a hard life of wife, kids & dog - and then I drove it into the ground and said a prayer over its dead rotting corpse.

But I'm not bitter...