Audi, Subaru, BMW, Infiniti, or Lexus?

[donaldb]

couple pic's

 

[worldbound4now]

Volvo - BTDT, high maintenance costs. ditto for Audi. Subi's I've had better luck with, but the high end ones seem to be more maintenance intensive than the plain jane ones.

Your first three years of Volvo ownership include complimentary maintenance (though limited to 36,000 miles). I believe BMW has a similar program as well, so maintenance is a null point if you buy new.

I can't argue against Subaru either.... they seem to make great cars that can really rack up the miles with little issues.

 

[FJReady]

donald

Good sporty looking model you got there. Like the Subie too!

 

[rickcorwn]

SAAB now has an AWD version of the 9-3 Sport Sedan called the Turbo X. It might be a bit too small for you based on your criteria.
I own an '03 9-3 Vector (Aero). It is a very nice car. I haven't driven the new AWD yet, but hope to soon. Gotta love the SAAB turbos!!

[edit] I love that I get great performance and still manage 33-34mpg on the interstate (when I'm not boosting in the orange)

I too noticed Saab missing from your list. I just picked up my eleventh Saab a 9-3 Sport Combi, that be a wagon for you non-Saabists. Personally I don't buy the whole 4WD or AWD trend. Even living in Minnesota there's only a couple or time a year that it might come in handy. Then when ever you need parts or service they always nick you for extra $$ because it's AWD. I find good set of hi-performance snow and ice tires more useful. YMMV.

 

[donaldb]

donald
Good sporty looking model you got there. Like the Subie too!

that's the high maintenance part

 

[kansas transit]

Well, since you asked. The sub and the lexus both great choices. STAY the hell way from audi and vw, unless you live acros the street from the dealer and don't drive further than there local wrecker service radius, I know this from experience. If you are looking at a lexus I will recommend one that you have not mentioned, the Cadillac CTS awd killer car 300hp v6,decent rebates, good fuel mileage,handles and rides like it's on rails. I myself am waiting for the CTS-V coupe due out in march 09. 6 speed paddle shift auto or stick with 556 HP. Now that's a car, but I won't let my wife drive it LOl. Stan

 

[user 213]

Volvo - BTDT, high maintenance costs. ditto for Audi. Subi's I've had better luck with, but the high end ones seem to be more maintenance intensive than the plain jane ones.

Your first three years of Volvo ownership include complimentary maintenance (though limited to 36,000 miles). I believe BMW has a similar program as well, so maintenance is a null point if you buy new.

I can't argue against Subaru either.... they seem to make great cars that can really rack up the miles with little issues.

If you plan on not keeping it more than 3-4 years, that does remove some of the concern. Still, having your car in the shop, even for warranty work, sort of sucks after a while. The Subi's from the '90s were awesome, reliable vehicles. They got more bling, and steeper prices and the reliability started to drop off.

Audi had a big problem with power window regulators and instrument clusters for a while. Don't know if those are still issues now. I know people that were selling their Audis just before the warranty ran out just because they didn't want to pay for the next failure after suffering multiple ones under warranty.

Volvo - Great designs, but IMHO, Ford is killing them and Mazda. Volvo parts have always been gold plated. Again, not a big issue if you don't keep it after the warranty expires and buy new cars. You pay a price for that though.

Fun to buy a new, last year's model sometimes. You can beat them up big time and pay less than dealer cost in some cases if you haggle long enough or hard enough. Done that a couple of times. Don't forget to talk to the fleet rep too. Sometimes they have an account for individual sales and often sell for $300-500 over invoice w/o any BS.

 

[radman]

Or, you could save some dough, scrap the AWD complexity and dubious value, and get a new Mustang GT. But, that's me. Best bang for the buck out there, and just a shitload of fun. 'Specially with the stick.

 

[Bike Effects]

For '09 Acura has a TL with SH-AWD (Super handling all wheel drive). I own 2 TL's and they are great cars. My wife has an '01 with 118,000 miles on it and it is still smooth, quiet and powerful. The SH-AWD TL hits the showrooms on the 5th of November. The 2WD models are out now.

 

[Fairlaner]

R, bout time you chimed in. 24MPG at what speed

I got 23.9 mpg going from La to Golden last July, i was averaging in the 80's is my guess.

R

 

[dwhartwell]

For safety and AWD that works well while maintaining a user-friendly interior, check out Volvo as well. The S40, S60 and S80 all are available in AWD.

Volvo residuals are the worst in the car industry. Old body, nothing new for at least 10 years. S-80 T6 is nice but the car business is doing bad. I'm in the same boat as you. Coming out of a G35X, low lease payment. Looking at subaru and possably Honda CRV for the wife.

just my .02

And since 1998, loaded with cheaper Ford parts. Volvo's are not what they used to be. :angry2:

 

[dwhartwell]

I bought an 03 CPO BMW 530. High points are the driving experience. Nothing else like it. After 1 year it still puts a smile on my face every day. Fuel mileage is awesome if you keep the foot out of the pedal. If I set the cruise control to 65, I can reliably hit 32-34MPG every time. This with a 3.0 Liter engine. Low points are service. It is very expensive compared to American iron UNLESS you do the work yourself. Needless to say, I do my own work but enjoy doing my own work. A new BMW comes with free maintenance for 4 years/50 K miles. You pay nothing. You can opt to extend this to 6 years/100K miles for a few dollars more. This works well if you plan to sell/trade at 4 or 6 years. If you plan to keep the car, then pay for an oil change and filter every other oil change. BMW engineers have set the oil change interval to around 15K miles per change. (depending upon your driving) This is way too long and the result is varnish buildup in the engine.

I drove a Lexus GS series before the BMW. Boring, but functional, and the BMW was quieter on the highway. I then drove the BMW and the rest is history. I would expect the Lexus to be more reliable than the BMW but who knows.

Every once in awhile ludicrous speed on an exit or entrance ramp is quite fun. Especially when some jerk WAS on your tail.

 

[fhaze]

Don't forget about the MazdaSpeed6. 274hp 280lb/ft AWD 6 speed, with good MPG. 06 or 07 can be had for 20k or less. I loves mines.

 

[caryt]

If you have 60k get a new CTS V..kills anything in its class and above. Bud has a 2 year old one and even tho I am a BMW and Porsche fanatic ,it just is a much better car. Fit and finish is good but not quite up to the best that the Europeans or Japanese have.

Cary

 

[rnees]

Hey buddy, if I lived in the town of winter ice storms I would think of 4wd first and narrow it down from there.

Mercedes C300 4 matic , I have the C300 and LOVE the car.

+1

I've got the smaller version: C230. And love it as well. C280 has AWD.

my C has RWD, and there has been one occasion where I wished I had AWD. A 12" snowstorm that closed everything, including the school where I teach at. Of course, they didn't inform me of that until I had gotten there. Imagine my joy (it's a 35 mile drive). Other than that, with decent tires it handles everything.

Best thing, as far as I'm concerned: I call to schedule an oil change (no more expensive than other imports), the first question is "will you be needing a car?"

It's a beautiful thing. That, and heated seats.