new car time

early next year I am buying a new daily driver and work car.
I put around 1k miles a week so I need something that will last. Requirements are reliable reputation, I would like 25+ mpg hwy, and it needs to be 4WD or AWD I have to drive all over Co, WY, NE, and SD for work so I need it.
I am not looking at brand new cars really, but a nice low milage used one. My budget is going to be around 15k or less it depends, I will have to play that by ear until the time comes.

Here are the ones I have been looking at, there are a few Subarus that I like and fit my needs well.
Subaru Baja (kinda underpowered but fits my needs perfect)
Subaru Forester (these ride the best that I have looked at so far)
Subaru Outback
Subaru 2.5 RS (these are hard to find low milage and in good shape)
Honda CRV (used to own one and liked it a lot)
Toyota Rav4
Suzuki SX4 (I like these but haven't drove one yet)

Any one have some suggestions or opinions?

If you buy a suzuki I will be forced to shoot you at the next shoot. :P They are the biggest POS cars made and they cost three times as much as any other car to repair. [poke]

Out of all your given choices and the fact I work on this stuff all day I would buy a subaru. [wink]

You'd probably spend a little more up front, but look into an AWD VW or Audi. Germans do two things well: cars and guns.

The diesel versions (aka TDi) tend to get crazy good mileage (40mpg+) and will last 200k mi or better if you take care of them.

I have worked on my friends audi's to much. A4 audis are around 8k but they are not as reliable as i need

If you're not in need of a ton of cargo space get the Subi.. they really are damn fine cars, even if the rainbow coalition in Boulder have the corner on the metro area market :)

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Originally Posted by HunterCO

If you buy a Subaru I will be forced to shoot you at the next shoot. :P They are the biggest POS cars made and they cost three times as much as any other car to repair. [poke]

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Fixed it for ya.
I hate Subaru's and all bikers should. The only thing slower is the VW mini-bus
Any given time, driving down the road, you get stuck in a long line of traffic going 10 under the speed limit.
You finally get to the front and what's there? 90% of the time it's a Subaru
Evil cars, evil.

Get a truck, be a man. :mrgreen:

subaru well worth the money.
whatever you settle on, your biggest buying point will be the warranty.
averaging 48K yr you need a 100K bumper-bumper out of the gate.

BMW

http://www.bmw.fi/kuvat/ajoneuvot/x5.jpg

+1 on the Subaru.

I own a Volvo repair shop, and with many people disillusioned with newer Volvos (high cost of repair, reliability) , we see a bunch of our customers replacing then with Subarus. So we service those too. We do way more maintenence than repairs on Subarus.

I personally don't like them that much, but for your purposes, that sounds like a great option.

what kind of work do you do? if you need to haul stuff and need storage room, you might want to look at a honda element... 4wd storage room and durable interior...

I do low voltage installation and service. the most I carry around is my tools and a duffle bag if I am staying the night where I am going. Sometimes will carry a 6ft or 4ft ladder which fits in a car if the back seat lays down or just about any wagon.

I have 2 trucks right now and its killing me in gas. One is still under the knife for a winter project. and the 4x4 S10 is is about to break 100k miles in the next couple weeks. I trade/borrow my dads Kia Sportage at times which gets decent milage.

and i forgot about the element, I will check into those. I like honda I have owned 2 and they run forever. I had a civic and a CRV a few years ago.

I forgot about the element too.

I have a friend that's a computer tech/webhost that lugs all sortsa gear around in the back of his and he lives in Ottawa and doesn't complain about it's abilities in the sn00.

Plus, according to James May of Top Gear "It's funky like combat trousers" :P

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Originally Posted by JohnTRourke

Fixed it for ya.
I hate Prius's and everybody should. The only thing slower is the VW mini-bus
Any given time, driving down the road, you get stuck in a long line of traffic going 10 under the speed limit.
You finally get to the front and what's there? 90% of the time it's a Prius.
Evil cars, evil.

Get a truck, be a man. :mrgreen:

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Fixed it for ya. :mrgreen:

Another vote for the Subaru. I'm working with a guy right now who has an '01 Legacy wagon with 110,000 and it's been absolutely flawless for him.

OMG.. I am soooo disappointed in ALL of you.. Support America, buy an American made car! gees..

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Originally Posted by GearHead

OMG.. I am soooo disappointed in ALL of you.. Support America, buy an American made car! gees..

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ermmmm - Honda?

Subaru, Honda, or Toyota. Change oil every 3000 miles with regular oil or 4-5000 miles with synthetic. Completely flush coolant every 2 years, use regular green ethylene glycol(check compatability with cooling system). Take care of the small problems as they occour so you don't have a big bill all at once.

Subarus don't have much coolant capacity so make sure its full and not leaking. They are all-wheel drive so thats a plus.

I haven't worked on Suzukis, but I can say that Mitsubishis are expensive to repair. The other cheaper cars usually don't last as long.
For example Kia Sephia with a bad heater core at 30,000 miles. It can be hard to get things covered under their warrenties. "Acceptible oil leakage" What the hey?

German cars have nice features but are high maintenance and have constant small and medium sized problems. VW TDI diesels get great mpg but take special oil and don't have a spin on oil filter. The splash pan under the engine is a PITA to R&R.

These are a few observations from 20+ years of twisting wrenches for a living. Good Luck!

Yea, sad to say, more of a chance of a Toyota or Subaru being American made than Ford,Mopar or GM anymore.

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Originally Posted by GearHead

OMG.. I am soooo disappointed in ALL of you.. Support America, buy an American made car! gees..

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you tell me one car that is completely made in the US produced today. Here is a hint YOU CAN'T
Most of the forign cars here in the US are assembled here or Canada.

No.. You can't but a large percentage is made here.. We have thousand of US worker counting on us to support them. Or, you can support an Asian country. Continue doing that and don't bitc when our economy falls apart, the democrats take over, and US workers start to migrate over the Mexican border looking for work.

Might as well, That's where 90% of my CHEVY thruck was made.

Should've bought the Toyota, It's all made in the US. :roll:

my isuzu is 100% US.

there are fewer and fewer GOOD options for buying a US car now days.


US automakers are to the auto industry what Sears is to tools.

(lots of choices, but lots of crap)
(not refering to the basic hand tools (Craftsman), I'm talking about the gimmic-y crap that only the weekend warrior/mechanicly inclined wanna be types are drawn to.)

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Originally Posted by GearHead

No.. You can't but a large percentage is made here.. We have thousand of US worker counting on us to support them. Or, you can support an Asian country. Continue doing that and don't bitc when our economy falls apart, the democrats take over, and US workers start to migrate over the Mexican border looking for work.

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I am all for supporting american workers, I own 2 GM's GMC Sonoma and a Chevy S10, and for what its worth I sold my last chevy and it was made in mexico, how is that supporting american workers. I have been building cars and trucks since I was a kid and have owned mostly American cars. But they are behind the power curve when it comes to reliable, good MPG smaller cars.
Most imported cars are made right here by american workers because its more cost efficient for them. I have a good friend that works at the BMW plant in SC building BMW's. So if you buy one of those that is made here in America how is that not supporting American workers.
And you tell me what American car company has a car that competes with a Subaru AWD car for the same price range, reliability, and gas mileage and I will look at them.

Anthony you might be very surprised to find out most of them are assembled here. I am a die hard patriot but if you think that buying an American car means you are supporting America VS buying a foreign car you are sadly mistaken.

Give me the first number of the VIN of your vehicles and I can tell which country they where made in I bet you will not like it. [wink]

Will 2 auto shop owners say subaru for what you want ....price range ...reliability ect.. let me know what you decide.

will do hunter i have a couple months. I will proabaly be buying something around Feb/mar when I get my return back. That gives me plenty of time to shop around and see what I want. Thats also about the time I plan on having my Sonoma running as well, then it comes apart again and goes to paint shop.

If i can get something halfway decent on gas I can actually make money on my milage expense at work. :mrgreen:

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Originally Posted by GearHead

No.. You can't but a large percentage is made here.. We have thousand of US worker counting on us to support them. Or, you can support an Asian country. Continue doing that and don't bitc when our economy falls apart, the democrats take over, and US workers start to migrate over the Mexican border looking for work.

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sorry to veer OT

having worked within the motorcycle industry for over 20 years i can say while you make a good point. it is one that is no longer valid.
1) Made In America means using north american assembly plants. mexico and canada are considered "AMERICAN" by industry standards
2) 60% of replacement parts for H-D are mfg in (GASP) CHINA!! says so right on the package
3) replacement parts for my R1100RT are german mfg not china as a
"TRUE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE" LIKE HARLEY IS
4) the old agage of "Buy American" is no more.
we are considering a new vehicle soon. i doubt it will be a "U.S" mfg from the big 3 truck. i can get a better warranty from "foregin" car makers w/out having to pay for an extended warranty. i can get a better designed, longer lasting, higher resale truck by not purchasing a big 3 vehicle.
GM is now offering an X year 100K warranty. why because they realized in order to stay revelant (and in business) they needed to offer the same incentive as the 'foregin" mfg do.

5) i have had more minor issues with both of our 02 chevy trucks then any other vehicle's we have owned (30 years of driving)
while it is hard for us to not "buy american" it is as hard to keep supporting a less then stellar product

To add gasoline to the fire:

Aren't most cars built in the US (whether Fords from Michigan, Hondas from Ohio, or Toyotas/GMs from the NUMI plant in California) built by union labor?

Presuming the above is true; don't most unions strongly support those towards the left side of the political spectrum?

Presuming both of the above are true: wouldn't buying US made cars be supporting those that would infringe on the very activities most of this message board/club is about?


Don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting the US economy instead of other countries' economies, but this one particular case of "Buy American!!!!!1111oneone" has always seemed odd to me.


For the record: My 1991 Ford Escort was Hecho en Mexico. Better to support them down there than have to support them up here, I guess. Then again the car was a gift so :-p

As much as I'd like the FJ Cruiser / Tacoma / Xterra....

I think my next vehicle will be a Subaru.

Mike

I like my Mustangs to play with, but my daily driver is a 4Runner. Build quality and mechanical quality FAR outstrip any domestic of similar or even newer vintage. If the domestic Big 3 could make something that wasn't a complete piece of shit anymore, it might be a viable option, but poor business practices and the socialist UAW are killing the American automotive industry and I for one am not willing to buy a shitty car just to say "I buy American". Ditch the union and bring the quality up even close to Japanese standards and maybe domestics will be a good option again.

That said, I detest Honda, am not a big fan of Mitsubishi or Nissan, and I don't even like Toyota cars much, while the new Mustang and a lot of Daimler/Chrysler offerings really turn me on. I have VERY specific opinions about cars. :mrgreen:

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Originally Posted by mr_will

And you tell me what American car company has a car that competes with a Subaru AWD car for the same price range, reliability, and gas mileage and I will look at them.

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The Ford Focus RS would be right up there with the STi/EVO, except that Ford is stupid and doesn't market them in the US. :( 300hp 5-cylinder turbo, AWD, hatchback.......oh yes.....

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Originally Posted by Asha'man

That said, I detest Honda,

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Why may I ask?

If you say it's because they are like vanilla and have no soul I'd have to agree with you.

That said, our other major line we work on is Honda, and I must say their reliability is very very good.

Would I drive one? Well, no, but they do very well for what they're built for. Mindless as it seems, it's like a point and shoot car.