New car advice

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ReformedWretch

Puritan Board Doctor
Ok, my wife and I purchased a 2004 Ford Escape. We have been "Ford" people forever. Over our married years (15 years) we owned new Fords consisting of Escort, Mustang, and Escape. We liked them all, but had at least one significant issue with each of them having to use the warranty to fix.

Now, gas prices are KILLING us! We spend over 100 dollars a month in gas! That doesn't include the money we give our daughter for gas for her 1993 Ford Tempo!

We looked for the first time, at Japanese models. I have decided that I do not, and am not going to feel guilty about this. We want to save money on the monthly payment and GAS! We're looking for a payment at around 300 a month and a monthly gas bill of 50 a month for a total savings of 170 dollars a month!

The cars we are looking at:

2005 (all of them)

-Toyota Echo

-Nissan Sentra

-Mazda EX

-Honda Civic Coupe

From the research I have done all seem to be in the price range for a 300 a month payment, and all get MUCH better gas mileage than we have gotten in anything we have ever owned.

From the reviews I have read I am almost certain that we should go with the Honda Civic Coupe. I have not found one review below an 8/10 and the gas mileage and reliability seem to be AMAZING. I have found 3-4 reviews where owners have claimed to have over 300,000 miles on theirs!!!!! (WOW)

Does anyone here have a Civic, or know someone who does? How about any of the three cars?

Just looking for any opinions. Remember, I am just looking at ECONOMY here. A decent payment with very good fuel economy.

Thanks!


[Edited on 2-11-2004 by houseparent]

[Edited on 2-11-2004 by houseparent]
 
Adam,

What are you doing with the Escape? Won't you lose more in trade in depreciation than you could ever save in gas? Don't get caught up in the monthly payment.
 
We would have 1500 added onto the car we buy. Not bad at all in my opinion. We would save 100 a month in the payment and 60 dollars or so in gas a month.
 
Adam, I have a 2000 Civic. It's a great little car. As much as I'd like to stick with American, our Civic has been trouble free since day one. I just did a road trip last week and got 40 miles a gallon, which is much better than our mini-van which only gets about 20 miles/gallon. My gas bill for that 1700 mile trip was about $85. I would not have a problem buying another one. You just can't beat the savings. I think our payment was around $300-ish too when we initially bought it but we paid it off early because you save money in the long run when you do that.
I also had a Ford Ranger which was also extremely reliable. I owned it for 9 years and just recently sold it. But gas mileage was only around 20/gallon. There's something to say about good low maintenance cars. But the gas mileage also hits you where it hurts too, especially these days.
 
Adam,
Honda is the way to go; I've had 3 Civic coupes and 1 Accord sedan. The Accord is more car than the civic. And you know what they say, "Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
 
I gave up on the big 3 back in 95' with the purchase of my very first ever foreign car; it is a Toyota Camry and I still have it. It has 168,000+ on it right now, with the only big money spent was on CV-joints. So, I bought another, and then I bought a Honda Accord for my son. The Honda has 128,000+ and needs a new CV joint. That is it. I never had a US made car in my life that was any good beyond 75,000 and I have owned my fair share.
 
I don't know how the space in the Echo compares with the Civic. As general purpose cars both are the low end of the line, but the Civic might be more like the Corolla in size.

I bought my first Toyota in 1980 for my wife. After trading an Audi Fox for a Celica in 82, I have only owned Toyotas since then. They have been reliable. During those 2 and a half decades, my father switched to Toyota, inturrupted only by getting an American made van for mom's wheel chair. Also my brother has switched to Toyota in steps. The last replacing an RX-7 with a Prius.

My son has had more problems that I would like with his Civic. However, he is into customizing it and half of the problems my be him rather than the car.
 
Originally posted by Scott Bushey
Adam,
Honda is the way to go; I've had 3 Civic coupes and 1 Accord sedan. The Accord is more car than the civic. And you know what they say, "Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."

:bigsmile::bigsmile::bigsmile:
 
lol @ Scott. I heard that before and have used it before but it remains funny!

I have it narrowed down to either the Honda Civic or the Nissan Sentra. The Civic rates higher at car and driver magazine in every catagory so I may get that. But it may just come down to which dealer makes us the better deal, especially on the trade.
 
Just to finish this thread up, my wife just left to get our new Honda Civic sedan.(Not coupe) We got it LOADED for only 16,500. With a deal on financing they are running, the payments are 300 a month! It get's 32-38 MPG as well.

With the reviews I have read and the money saved (we carried NO equity over from our Ford Escape) I am very pleased. This is what happens when you know how to make 2 dealerships work against each other.
 
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