Helping a friend pick a car.
 

So my roommate is in the market right now for a new car. Its going to be a daily driver, and he will NOT be modifying it in any way.

His commute to work is richmond to langley daily, he will be fiancing the car, so interest rate will make a difference. Some of his criterias are the car needs to be reliable, good on gas and relatively quiet on highways.

His currently looking at the VW Golf (I belive a mid trim model), or an almost loaded Hyundai Elantra. He asked me for my advice, but I'm not too familiar with either cars. My understanding of him picking those two as opposed to the corrolla and civics is due to the better interest rate offered on the elantra and golf at the moment (3.9% I believe).

Just wanted to get you guy's opinion on these two cars, or if there is another car he should look at?

Thanks in advance!
Posted via RS Mobile

From my personal experience with a 2008 Beetle, I would not touch a VW with a 10 foot pole.

2011 VW Jetta.

Safe
Reliable
Good Warranty
Good Fuel Economy
German Engineering

maybe he can even get a amazing deal on the MK5 2010 Jettas, most dealerships have alot of them.

Chevy cruze. No I'm not joking. Reasonably priced, good rates, why not?

I would stay away from the Golf simply due to high maintenance costs. The elantra's not bad the new model looks really good as well.

Take the elantra and the cruze for a test drive and see for yourself.
Posted via RS Mobile

Elantra is good too.

one car from the brand does not mean that all the cars from that brand sucks.
"oh i had such a bad experience from the audi a4, the r8 must be a bad car too" :blueguy:




:troll:

Why not finance a better looking used car? Like an NSX

fiesta ftw! but seriously there are a lot of cars with 0% financing right now. I would look into some of those options. my opinion would be to look at fords but that is simply because i work there and know what current deals are on right now

^^ :facepalm:
Is an NSX "good on gas"? Not likely. You still haven't learned. Get your head out of your ass and stop putting form over function.

That aside, Hyundai has been coming into its own as fairly decent economy cars. It's adequate enough. The Chevy Cruze has also had praise in Europe, and seems to be a great car. I would get the VW myself, despite the slightly higher maintenance costs. If you can somehow point your friend towards a reputable private shop that can do it for less, that can lower the cost of maintenance a bit.

edit//ford fiesta is a sweet option too. reasonably priced and probably decent. I'm a bit surprised that I haven't seen many around though.

ROFL oh shit... who gave Arash that avatar? i cant imagine it was him... :rofl:


My gut says the VW however if i didn't have a bias against Hyundai i would likely go with it especially if Interest rates are a concern 2.9% for the Hyundai (shame they were offering 0% i think before the new years)

I hate how people base most of there car buying off who gives the best interest rates.....

Unfortunately when you have to fiance a car, the interest rate makes a big differance on the total price, and cost does make a differance to a lot of people.
Posted via RS Mobile

Yea I know... I finance for a living...

The way I see it is (And people may not agree with this but): Check out/research cars that you can see yourself driving. Weigh the pros and cons of each car. Warranty, reliabililty, saftey, features, performance etc. Completely ad every cent up, price, fees, taxes, interest until you have a final number. Then compare this number with the numbers from the other similar cars, and then weigh you options. Is $24,000 for the extra performance worth it? Is $20,000 for a safer drive a better option? Etc...

Every manufacturer marks their vehicles up differently, from the parts they use, from the factory and from the dealership. I find it weird that people will consider a car because, "oh shit, the current rate is 3.9%!" On a $20,000 car, thats approx. a savings of like $1500 maybe compared to a normal rate., if you pay it off within a reasonable amount of time. The majority of companies just ad in a couple grand to the bottom line, and then pay the bank to give the specials rates anyways.

Hell if you guys just want to save money off the sticker price I can mark my cars up $10 grand more before you come in if it makes you feel a bit better.....

Choose the one with the built in Blue Tooth! :haha:

Maybe OP's friend see's automobiles as an appliance... it will do the horse work for a good 5 -10 years and will be disposed of for another new one after. Gone are the days where people save up cash to buy a car that they're passionate about.

Shes got her knickers in a bunch I tell ya, and its not the way you would think :eek1:

How about a Mazda 3? Economical, reliable, good build quality. Drives pretty well too! AND finance rates are 0% right now, according to: http://www.mazda.ca/root.asp?path=en...sport-offers--. However it's not the quietest car...

Definitely give it some consideration! :fullofwin:

well why not go for a kia since there cheap & really good on gas, plus they have really stepped up there game

(i might get a lot of fails for this)

Tell your friend to go for a test drive. It will definitely help him with his decision making process.


Edit: I just checked out Hyundai's website and the 2011 Elantra definitely looks way way way better than the 2010 one. It's not butt ugly anymore and actually looks decent. I'm not sure how the 2011 one drives compare to the 2010 one. It's amazing how much Hyundai changed on a car in just a year's time.

I had a 2010 one for a loaner vehicle when my car was in the shop getting fixed and it was HORRIBLE. I'm not sure how a fully loaded one compares with the base, but the base Elantra I had is cheap looking, butt ugly IMO, acceleration is horrible, the (plastic?) steering wheel feels uncomfortable, the sound system is a joke (You have to sit in one and turn it up to understand what I mean).

When I picked it up from rental, it had 1/4 gas left in the tank, after two days of driving (which is no more than 80 kms) I had to fill it back up to 1/4 to return the car and it costed me a whopping $16!! Granted, the car only had 6k on it and probably was still in the break-in period (if that even applies anymore to modern cars), but it definitely was an horrible experience for me.

No offense to anyone with an Elantra, this is only my PERSONAL experience and opinion of this car.

Yea he test drove the elantra and golf today, he said the golf "felt" better, but the elantra was better equiped.

But I'll probably go with him to the automall in the next week or two, and I will test drive a few cars with him, and I'll definately pass on all your suggestions.

I personally told him mazda 3 as well, but I never thought about the cruze or fiesta, will definately have to tell him about those two. (Question, is a fiesta on the same chassie/platform as the mazda 2?, and is the cruze in the same class as the elantra/corolla/civic? Or is the cruze more in the same class as the fit/versa/yaris etc)
Posted via RS Mobile

Cruze i beleive is built on the sonata chassis and shares the same engine as the elantra?, im pretty sure i read somewhere that the cruze was engineered by kia motor company.



on a unrelated note...


props to arash for staying on revscene after endless amount of hate and fails.

Has he considered a Mitsubishi Lancer? I think they have been doing 0% finance for quite a while now. They also offer the best warranty program which eliminates his concern for reliability given that mitsubishi vehicles don't break down that often.

Edit: One more suggestion. 2011 Scion tC? Seems to be around the price of a semi-loaded elantra. Has looks, horsepower, and the reliability of a toyota.

This is intelligent.
Saving a bit of money by not buying a new car and picking up a lightly used 2008+ GTI, Sonota, Mazda 3 wouldn't be a bad idea.

This is idiotic.
An NSX is one of the least practical cars I can ever imagine being a daily driver.


+1 Arash keeps the site amusing with his occasional strange posts, and when he gets failed for making them he takes it like a man. No, threats of legal action action against rs members lol

:troll:


Ive been thinking about it and yes you guys are right, it would be impractical because attractive women would be constantly messaging you trying to get your attention, looking and smiling in the streets distracting you from driving and where would op's friend put his golf clubs?

I dare someone to make an account on an NSX forum on which to purchase, a "practical" new car or a used NSX. These forum members should be level headed, mature and middle class individuals who would give better advice then the younger crowd here.

The things with VW, it's hit and miss. I know a few owners who love them to death. and a few who curse them to hell.

Your friend seems like one who want a nice, practical, no pain-in-the-ass car.
The Cruze is a good contendor, and I personally like the Mazda3.
The Ford Fiesta is quite a good package, recommend looking into that one as well. (hatch version preferably)

An Imprezza is also a great car, with a relatively low starting price.


I'd create a thread on Honda-Tech asking about an NSX being a DD, but I'd probably get banned. People lucky enough to own an NSX use it as a weekend car.

How many NSX's are there in Vancouver, a dozen?
You can't just go to a scrap yard or the dealership to buy parts, if you need something it will take a couple weeks to get it and during that time you won't have a car. The parts are also extremely expensive.