Paco
Well-Known Member
Shortly after I got my license, my mother bought an 03 Audi A4 1.8t (great car). Before that she drove a 92 plymouth voyager se which she gave to me. I've been tooling around in this lump of crap for the past 6 years. She's up to 160,000 miles now and I can feel her falling apart. I won't go into all the things that are wrong with the van, but it's time for a new car.
I was wondering if you guys could offer some opinions as to what my new car should be. There are a few specifics that I have to have.
Firstly is AWD. I would love to get RWD, but it snows too much where I live to go RWD. Also, I understand the whole business about most AWD cars being predominately FWD, and I know there are lots of great FWD cars out there, but I want AWD.
Next is an automatic style transmission. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not a real man if I don?t drive a stick, blah blah blah. I live near Pittsburgh and we have too many hills for me to learn to drive a stick with a brand new car. Also, I?m lazy. I say automatic style, because I would prefer a tiptronic/DSG transmission to a traditional automatic, but would be willing to sacrifice if the price is substantially lower.
Finally, I need an engine with at least 200hp+. I'm tired of having to stomp the throttle to get onto the highway, or get moving period. I accept the fact that whatever I'm going to buy, it's going to require premium gas, so 4cyl turbo or v6 would be great.
My job requires I drive about 60 miles a day (~30 there and back) of highway miles, so better mpg would be nice. By my calculations the van is currently getting around 18-19mph highway, which is terrible for a 3.3l v6 which produced ~160hp well over a decade ago. So anything above that would be welcomed.
As far as styling goes, I prefer an unsuspecting car than one with tons of wings and wheel flares. Driving a van has also meant that I end up driving everybody everywhere because it's been easier to fit 15 people into the van rather than take multiple cars. I'm done carting people around, and since it's just me on the ride to work I would prefer a coupe or otherwise smaller car to a big sedan.
I'm also trying to get money together for a house in the near future, so $30-35k is going to be pushing the upper limit. I'd like to get something in the 20k range, but I'd rather spend more to have a nice car than buy something I'm going to be disappointed with in the future.
After searching the internets for what is available in the US new car market I have narrowed it down between a Subaru Legacy GT or a Volkswagen R32. I?m strongly leaning toward the R32 for a smattering of reasons, but I?m open to any suggestions, including searching for something used.
So? any recommendations you can think of?
Thanks much for any feedback
UDATE:
I pulled the trigger on a gorgeous 08 VW R32 friday afternoon.
I'll be headed down to the park this Sunday for some piccies and I'll make a big ole post sometime next week.
After the weekend I can safely say that I am absolutely enamored with this car!
Only 1 more hour til 5 and I get to drive her home from work, w00t!
I was wondering if you guys could offer some opinions as to what my new car should be. There are a few specifics that I have to have.
Firstly is AWD. I would love to get RWD, but it snows too much where I live to go RWD. Also, I understand the whole business about most AWD cars being predominately FWD, and I know there are lots of great FWD cars out there, but I want AWD.
Next is an automatic style transmission. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not a real man if I don?t drive a stick, blah blah blah. I live near Pittsburgh and we have too many hills for me to learn to drive a stick with a brand new car. Also, I?m lazy. I say automatic style, because I would prefer a tiptronic/DSG transmission to a traditional automatic, but would be willing to sacrifice if the price is substantially lower.
Finally, I need an engine with at least 200hp+. I'm tired of having to stomp the throttle to get onto the highway, or get moving period. I accept the fact that whatever I'm going to buy, it's going to require premium gas, so 4cyl turbo or v6 would be great.
My job requires I drive about 60 miles a day (~30 there and back) of highway miles, so better mpg would be nice. By my calculations the van is currently getting around 18-19mph highway, which is terrible for a 3.3l v6 which produced ~160hp well over a decade ago. So anything above that would be welcomed.
As far as styling goes, I prefer an unsuspecting car than one with tons of wings and wheel flares. Driving a van has also meant that I end up driving everybody everywhere because it's been easier to fit 15 people into the van rather than take multiple cars. I'm done carting people around, and since it's just me on the ride to work I would prefer a coupe or otherwise smaller car to a big sedan.
I'm also trying to get money together for a house in the near future, so $30-35k is going to be pushing the upper limit. I'd like to get something in the 20k range, but I'd rather spend more to have a nice car than buy something I'm going to be disappointed with in the future.
After searching the internets for what is available in the US new car market I have narrowed it down between a Subaru Legacy GT or a Volkswagen R32. I?m strongly leaning toward the R32 for a smattering of reasons, but I?m open to any suggestions, including searching for something used.
So? any recommendations you can think of?
Thanks much for any feedback
UDATE:
I pulled the trigger on a gorgeous 08 VW R32 friday afternoon.
I'll be headed down to the park this Sunday for some piccies and I'll make a big ole post sometime next week.
After the weekend I can safely say that I am absolutely enamored with this car!
Only 1 more hour til 5 and I get to drive her home from work, w00t!
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