A commute car for a mersenneforumer
 

Suppose you'd need a commute car (after the old steer died).
What would you buy?

Just voted on that one with my feet...an older Toyota Tercel, 1993...should stay on the road for a year or three...came cheap, $800, put in another $1200 in repairs to get it past inspection. Should get 30+ mpg.

Still deciding whether to attempt transmission diagnosis on the 94 civic with the stolen engine computer.

But in general, Honda, Toyota, or Kia. Civic Hybrid is pretty nice if the price of gas stays up.

I quite like the new Hyundais, though I'd go for a Sonata rather than an Elantra. My wife has an Elantra Touring and we're happy with it.

[QUOTE=Batalov;270513]Suppose you'd need a commute car (after the old steer died).
What would you buy?[/QUOTE]A bicycle.

[size=1]Really! I have never owned a car. And probably never will.[/size]

By "American" do you mean the name or the actual manufacture of the car.

[QUOTE=retina;270527]A bicycle.

[size=1]Really! I have never owned a car. And probably never will.[/size][/QUOTE]

Where does mini-me sit?

[QUOTE=Flatlander;270556]Where does mini-me sit?[/QUOTE]At the back in a mini-seat. I had to build a special holder for chocolate else he is constantly disturbing the pedestrians with rude gestures. [size=1]The little bugger.[/size]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;270535]By "American" do you mean the name or the actual manufacture of the car.[/QUOTE]
Indeed, this situation has seemed rather reversed of late...many of the "Asian" companies build most of their American-sold cars here now, and the "American" companies do most production elsewhere (in Canada or Mexico if not actually overseas). :rolleyes:

Looking at the poll options, it appears that Batalov is looking for something in the small-sedan class. Based on what I've read in [I]Consumer Reports[/I]*, the Hyundai Elantra and Mazda3 would both be excellent choices; the former having nabbed the "best small sedan" spot for the last few years and the latter having been consistently recommended as a slightly less-refined, but very "sporty", choice. The upgraded Ford Focus also did well on the whole, though with some shortcomings (in particular a less-than-smooth automatic transmission) that put it somewhat behind the leaders. As for the Honda Civic, the word is that it went seriously downhill in the 2012 redesign; but used models <=2011 have very highly recommended.

If you are open to considering a subcompact as well, the Honda Fit is very highly recommended, as is the Nissan Versa; both are said to rival "full" small sedans in roominess and can be somewhat better on price and gas.

[SIZE=1]*I should disclaim that, having not personally been in the market for a car lately, I have not actually driven any of these; but I have found that [I]Consumer Reports[/I]' reviews and descriptions of vehicles generally tally well with the actual driving experience, based on their reviews of vehicles that I have actually driven.[/SIZE]

One thing with the Elantra that I find personally somewhat detracting (though others may not mind it so much) is that, in the typical style these days, the car's "belt line" (where the metal part of the door stops and the window begins) swoops up somewhat sharply towards the rear. Being not the tallest person out there, whenever I have occasion to sit in the back seat of such a vehicle, I find that my view out the sides is rather restricted, giving rise to a certain feeling of claustrophobia. If you don't plan on using the back seat for people on a regular basis, this won't be much of a problem (it does have some effect on driver visibility, though less dramatically than on back-seat visibility); but if you have kids I would recommend, for their sake, going with something that one can see better out of. :smile: This is not solely a problem of the Elantra (most all sedans/wagons out there in the last couple of years have it to some degree--it seems to be a general style trend), though it and the late-model Sonata are particularly egregious in their "swoop" effects compared to others.

All of my life, I've only wanted two things: 1) learn to create polls and 2) have a Trabant. And now, it seems like I have no choice but to succeed with both.
...Well, maybe [FONT=Courier New]s/Trabant/Smart Fortwo/g[/FONT];
Thanks for all the [strike]fish[/strike]^H^H^H^Hfood for thought!

I won't buy any. Already owning an CNG/NGV car and if the infrastructure in your area allows it (Methane refueling stations?), and your budget too, I would definitively go for a CNG/NGV car. This is the combustible of the future (trust me, I did a lot of research on it!). Up to 3 to 6 times cheaper then conventional gasoline/diesel, you recover your money difference in a few years (as I drive 90-120 km/day that would be less then 2 years for me, and in fact in 6 years I "could" save the money to buy a new car only from the price difference between methane and gasoline). Also, not only cheaper to drive, but more powerful (for new cars, I own an Altis). Also, more abundant then all the other fossil fuels (the bottom of the oceans is full of it). etc. etc. In fact the only problem with methane is storing it, as it can not be liquified at normal conditions (by compression) and the molecule is so small it escapes through the thinnest holes, especially at high pressures. People are working now to store it in carbon powders (same as storing hydrogen ions in metal powders in Ni-MH batteries).

I see a future when all the cars on street have carbon-powder methane batteries and can drive thousands of kilometers without refueling. Don't laugh. Do a little research on the web.

The most profitable two deals I did in all my life were by far: 1. installing LPG on my old car, and 2. buying a new CNG car. I bought my old car 11 year ago for about 4000 bucks (second hand) and drove it for about 8 years on gasoline. When the LPG infrastructure started to develop few years ago, I installed LPG on it. It was the most profitable deal in my life. After 3 years of LPG driving (for about 1/3rd of the gasoline price I was paying) I plenty got all my money back from the price difference between LPG and gasoline. I was so found of it that I got this "fixed idea" in my brain, that if I buy a new car, it has to be a LPG or CNG car. Which I did this year in February, paying almost 40k for it. I did a lot of research before deciding. Excel sheets with prices to pay when buy it, prices to get when sell it after the car is 5-6 years old, consumption in this period, spare parts, maintenance, taxes for each type of car, fuel availability, etc, etc. Already drove almost 12k km in this period, and "saved" about 1000 bucks (gasoline price here $1.45 per liter, consumption about 6-7 liters per 100km, CNG price about $0.35 per kilogram, consumption about 6 kg/100 km for the same power of the car, or 7-8kg/100km for a more powerful car - I can adjust this if I connect the laptop to the car's central unit, it has OBD/USB interface from which I can set all the parameters of the car).

I like those hydrogen/carbon bonds holding my gasoline in the liquid state, especially in an accident.....

Now, give me and edison car, 100MPG or so, I'll be in business....