Suggestions for a vehicle?

Figured I would give my 2cents into this.

Firstly, I would shop around for insurance to see what kind of prices you can get. Being that you are male and under the age of 25 *in some places, the fact that you are single/married also plays a part*, and probably never insured before is really going to hurt you. How long you've had your license is also a factor.

As an example, I am turning 24 this summer, been driving for 7 years, insured the whole time, with a perfect record *no speeding tickets, collisions etc..*, and Government 404 driving training *to drive DND vehicles*, and I am still paying an arm and a leg for insurance. I've been looking at buying a used car *around 2003-2004*, and for say a Nissan Sentra/Corolla *neither of which are sports cars*, i'm looking at $180/mnth. This is Canada though, as our motorcycle prices do seem to differ by a lot *A female friend of mine pays $375 a month for hers*, as motorcycles are considered very unsafe. The golden rule i've been told is that if you are male and under 25, do not buy a car less than 5 years old.

As for the car itself, it really comes down to preference. My mechanic friend will talk your ear off about how reliable Ford's are and how much better they are than dodge etc.. oddly enough my father had nothing BUT problems with Ford's in the past. I currently drive a little 92 plymouth sundance that i bought 5 years ago for $2500. Every mechanic i talked to said how horrible of a car it was, but i've driven it for 5 years and only had to fix some seal that was 5$ to buy *it was about 3 hours of labour, but my mechanic friend did it for free*. The car now has 376,000km on it, is 15 years old and still starts when it's -40.

Basically, a lot of it has to do with luck and how the car was maintained *my 92 sundance belonged to the wife of a mechanic*. Every company has it's models that are known for reliability *well.. except mabye dodge..*, and those with a bad name.

I would stay away from the cheap cars that are catered towards the younger audience, such as the Pontiac Sunfire, Chevy Cavalier, Dodge Neon *at least any before 2001*, The older Sebrings and breez's etc, and never look at the Hyundai Tiburon *mostly insurance reasons*.. . Some well known reliable cars are the Civic,Accord,Corolla,Sentra,Protege, a few VW models, even a few of the focus, and many more.

Your best bet would to probably scope out deals around where you live, then research the cars. Check forums, consumer report also has some good reviews on cars *pre 2004 are available to the public on their site for free*, and if you do end up test driving a car, have a mechanic look at it, and checkup the history on carfax *it's a one time $30 fee, but that gives you unlimited search's for life*.

Oh, and i would go with a car over a motorcycle simply because if you are going to put out the money to give you more travel and storage ability over your bicycle, might as well go the whole way.

How ya doing, buddy?

While criticism is always accepted, your post is nothing that could not have been sent as a pm. Instead, you chose to post information that has nothing to do with the topic, in what appears to be an attempt to try and publicly insult another member. I refer to people such as yourself as trolls, individuals who go around pointing out simple mistakes of others in hopes of gaining attention and recognition.

I could have sent this message as a pm, but I figured I would aid your quest for recognition by publicly posting this response. You would have a ball day over at DailyTech.


Anyways..... *oops, am i allowed to use that many periods? DAMN! Asterisks again! What cruel fate be this?!*

The type of driving you do should also play a part in your car decision. If you will be doing a lot of city driving.. something small like a echo/yaris or accent etc., will save you cash in a world of ever increasing gas prices. On the other hand, if you do more highway/cruise driving, then the slightly larger cars such as civics/elentra's offer the same fuel economy due to slightly larger engines which do not work as hard. If you go look at Toyota or Honda, the yaris is rated for about the same highway mpg as the corolla, and same with the fit and civic.

As Zephyrin pointed out, just grab a simple reliable car with descent mileage that is within your budget.

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Nah, I completely admit that I butchered that post with all the asterisks, not to mention i wrote that response while in a bad mood due to only 4 hours of sleep and a headache. So I do apologize Koi, although I still stand by the argument that your post was out of place.

Second, If you know how to drive stick and do plan to drive a lot of city miles, i might suggest that you look at getting a manual transmission. Not only because of the gas savings, but also since it's one less thing to go wrong. HOw you drive the car though is always the biggest factor. My Sundance was only rated for 24/27 with it's little 3-speed transmission, but by not slamming down the gas pedal when the light turns green and actually thinking ahead, i typically get 29/34. I've seen people with heavy foots get worst mileage on their civics than i do in my sundance.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.