Help me choose a new car

[DeniseinNS]

After looking at many vehicles we bought a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe in March and it has been a GREAT vehicle and for an SUV it is really good on gas.

 

[Desiree]

Jumping in on this thread to give us some ideas as well. We're leaning towards Nissan Xterra, Ford Edge, or the Kia Sorrento.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/fusion/Ford Fussion.

 

[MissUndastood]

I recently bought the Lexus RX300 and have been very happy. It rides like a dream.

 

[Darsa]

We had to replace a vehicle just the weekend before last; we tried the Fusion (hated the look of the interior, lol), and the Hyundai Elantra (LOVED it but the incentives weren't as good as we really needed), The Nissan Altima (GORGEOUS, nice, same issue as the Hyundai), the Chevy Malibu (loaded model with 4k miles on it, reallyreally nice but no incentives) and finally the Toyota Camry. This car is the one we bought; it looks really sharp with the new styling, and rides beautifully; quiet and smooth. The available incentives were fantastic, and the ratings were great.

 

[golfgal]

I would look at the Toyota Avalon. They are VERY roomy, pretty good gas mileage (30-33 highway) and very reliable. I would also consider getting a car that is a year or two old to save money.

 

[Scurvy]

I would recommend checking out the ratings on edmunds.com and Consumer Reports. They are usually very reliable and both provide detailed reasons for the ratings, breaking the score down into many different categories so you can see which car scored higher in the categories that are most important to you. (For instance, some cars with the overall high score might have a slightly lower safety score than their competition but a higher score in comfort, which is a very subjective category.) In the vehicle classes I was checking when I was car shopping earlier this year, Toyota and Honda were outscoring most other brands.

Buying American is great but when it comes to cars there are very few that don't have American components or assembly plants. Both Toyota and Honda have plants in the US and employee quite a few American workers.

For the specific cars you mentioned I only have personal experience with the Honday CR-V, and I can highly recommend it.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm a big fan of the website InformedForLife.org. It aggregates data from the insurance companies and the government crash tests to rank cars by safety. Car accidents still account for a frighteningly high number of deaths, so getting a safer car is a good idea. Big and heavy correlates with safety, but there are plenty of big heavy cars that aren't nearly as safe as people assume.

As for the "Buy American" thing, if you really want to buy from a particular country, research the specific car you want. As has been said, lots of "foreign" car makers make cars in the US and lots of "American" cars are built outside of the US. Personally, I'm a big fan of people everywhere so I focus on getting the best value, regardless of their nationality. If that means that a designer in Italy, an engineer in Japan, a steel worker in China, a rubber maker in Brazil, an assembly plant worker in Alabama, and a shareholder in California benefit, that's OK with me.

 

[vicb]

I know I will get flamed for this but, please buy American. I was laid off for 8 months and thought I'd never got back to work. But the "Cash for clunker" program brought back the American auto industry and put me back to work. (I work in a steel mill suppling the auto industry). I know it's your money and you can spend it as you please, but, the American economy revolves around the American auto industry, so please, if all things are equal, buy from one of the big three.

I bought a Chevy Equinox this past June and I am very happy with my choice. Runs well, I like the dash, spacious enough ( I'm 6 ft) and we got it for 23,500 before taxes, doc fee, etc.

I drive an equinox (2 years old) and love it. My friend bought one of the newly redesigned equinoxes and has been very happy. When my lease expires next fall I will probably go equinox again.

Toyota and Honda are built in plants in the U.S.

It really isn't the same as the profits go back to their home countries and don't stay here. JMHO

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I drive an equinox (2 years old) and love it. My friend bought one of the newly redesigned equinoxes and has been very happy. When my lease expires next fall I will probably go equinox again.

It really isn't the same as the profits go back to their home countries and don't stay here. JMHO

The profits go to the shareholders. Shareholders are all over the world. I used to be a Honda shareholder.

The Equinox is a good example of a car built by an American car company (in fact a US government owned car company), but built outside of the US. Like I said, I'm a fan of people all over the world, so I don't mind buying cars built in other countries, but I think it makes most sense for those that want to "Buy American" to focus on cars actually built in the US.

 

[golfgal]

A lot of "American" cars are assembled in Mexico and Canada so why are they better than a Japanese car assembled in Kentucky?