posted
It approaches that time, when a beloved vehicle must be terminated due to age and maintenance costs. I will be selling my Jeep at the end of July, and my three top contendors to replace it are:
Volkswagen Jetta Honda Civic Toyota Celica
I'm looking for pros and cons on all. I will be purchasing used, and whatever I go with, I'm looking for: silver/black exterior, manual transmission, under 20k miles, cost under $16,000.
posted
Jetta has quality, Civic has cheap price, and Celica has the sportiness. I guess it just depends what you want the most. I think the Jetta would be the most practical.
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Checked out CarMax? Their site says that in MD there is a 2001 Civic, 10k miles, manual, black, two-door for $15,000, a 2002 silver with 16k for $15,000, and a 2001 silver four-door for $13,600 with 18k miles. If you don't see something you like, I think you can set up some sort of alert that tells you when the car you want shows up. CarMax is a great place to buy used cars. I've found my family's last two cars online at their site, and within 24 hours we've driven 'em home.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I've been checking Carmax for the last two weeks, actually, and it is where I plan to buy (and I have a buyer alert for a Celica). Ask Liz, I'm always like, "ooooh, oooh, look."
But what I'm looking for are pros/cons with the vehicles. I'm leaning towards the Celica, even if it does have "Devil's" headlights.
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
You'll be hard-pressed to find a Civic or Celica coupe with (a) less than 40K miles on its odometer and that (b) hasn't been motorically tortured by its previous owner. Those cars are aggressive driving magnets, man.
Of course, the mileage put on them is partially offset by the fact that (a) they never break down no matter how much abuse they've taken, and (b) cheap maintenance & spare parts (except for Honda's VTEC Civics).
Which models (year & engine) are you looking for, specifically? There's a major difference between a 1991 3d and a 2001 5d Civic...
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
What other cars have you looked at besides these three?
As for Pros/Cons...
Celica: Pros - Sporty, 180hp in the GT-S, durable engine, wide availablity of parts, 5-speed or 6-speed available on GT-S. Cons - Strict 2-seater with little storage space, looks take some getting used to, 27/33mpg in GT, 23/32 in GT-S, poor rear visiblity.
Civic: Pros - Economical, 32/38mpg, decent amount of room even in the coupe, large abundance of parts and service, easily repaired since there are so many, most mechanics would know how to work on them, cheaper so you can get a newer model then the other two Cons - Driving something exactly like thousands of other people have, not very sporty, small engine, 127hp the top of the line in EX, 5-speed only manual available.
Jetta: Pros - Roomy since its a 4-door only, incredible build quality so less likely to break down, optional 190hp 2.8L V6 over Turbo Inline-4. Cons - Volkswagen notorious for having poor mechanics and service, larger car without much sport in the design, poor gas mileage, 20/28 on V6, 22/31 on Turbo Inline-4, optional 4MOTION 4WD but only available with automatic, 5-speed only.
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Good luck to you, Snay. My family just got our third car, mainly for my sister (who will be driving back and forth from the University of Kentucky during the year). It's a '97 Subaru Impreza, one of their "mini Outback" models. Haven't gotten a look at it yet, since they drove home with it only last night after dark, and seeing a black car by starlight isn't the most exciting thing to see.
I'm probably going to be buying a car that's all my own in a couple of months. But I don't need it as much just yet because I go to UD, only 20 minutes away from home.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
To add on to 359's notes...
Celica: My ex Heather drove a Celica. So did my freidns Mary & Keia. None of them liked it & drove them because it was what was bought for them. They complained of insufficient room, poor engine efficiencies, & an inability to keep things from falling apart.
Civic: Well, a lot of people I know have driven or do drive Civics, Most of them like it except for the fact that they feel the car is woefully underpowered & that the maintenance is annoying since the car is so finicky & has a "fragile" nature.
Jetta: I still don't understand why people buy these things. They break down all the time, they get horrible mileage, they have the aerodynamics of a brick. Parts are expensive & vary from model year to model year in tiny annoying differences. Plus I'm told that you basically HAVE to put in high-test gas or the engine can be damaged. Last time I was in Towson, I think I say high-test for what, $1.83-9?
To end, I'd like to say that the Civics are ok-ish if you just want to tool around, Celicas are useless for what you plan to do, & Jettas are utter SHITE. In fact, of the 15 people I've knwon in the past 5 years with Jettas, 9 of them have given up, thrown in the towel, & bought new cars. And of those 9, 5 bought Saturns.
So nyah.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
"they get horrible mileage, they have the aerodynamics of a brick"
Much like a certain deer combine. 8)
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Shik: In fact, of the 15 people I've knwon in the past 5 years with Jettas, 9 of them have given up, thrown in the towel, & bought new cars. And of those 9, 5 bought Saturns.
Ick, I'd avoid Saturns. The newer ones are turning kind of crappy, break down easily, and parts aren't easily available since they don't share much of their componants with the rest of GM (the brand new ones do though). Plus they're so bland it's not even funny.
As for the premium gas for a Jetta, I haven't heard that before. It might just be for the W8 or V6, the Turbo I-4 most likely runs on regular. Maybe you could try a Golf/GTI? Same thing as a Passat except a 5-door hatch.
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Well, Saturn isn't technically part of GM, anyway. And I don;t know how one would define "bland," although I will admit that I'm not fond at all fo the reworked grilling & some of the interiors on the 2003 L-Series. But everyone I've ever talked to who's owned a Saturn at any point has had nothing but praise. Including me.
The only thing bad (& it's not even really "bad") I could say is that they made the "mistake" of going for function over form; that is to say, reliability, safety, service, & customer satisfaction over aesthetics. But my Sheyja still looks like a gorgeous silverblue shark. So nayh. Again.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Saturn is completely part of GM, they were just different from Chevy/Pontiac/Olds/Buick/Caddy in that they were allowed to be independently run and do their own thing basically. Their cars weren't just rebadges of other GM products, their engines were unique, their plants are unique. That is no longer true though, the new Saturn ION is the same as the upcoming Cobalt/Astra/Sunfire/CTS/SRX, and their 2.2L Ecotec Inline-4 is used in basically every GM small car around the world.
As for bland, Saturns just have nothing really special about them. The SC2s were nice, but thats it. People also aren't buying the new IONs, GM had to shut down their plant for 2 weeks because they had so many in stock and no one was buying them. Aztek-syndrome strikes again.
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Darth Jetta?
Darth Celica?
Darth Civic?
Which one sounds more threatening?
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
If you're looking at Jettas, might as well check out the Golf as well. It's got various models with extra letters on the end of the name that clearly make it accelerate faster and corner easier.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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