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What Car?


Arumakani

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At the moment I'm driving a Saab 9-3:

 

saab_93_aero_01_03_05.jpg

 

I'm giving that to my father and am looking for a good car in the small executive sector. I've narrowed it down to either the BMW 3 series:

 

2006.bmw.3.series.jpg

 

I'm looking at either 318i, 320 i or the 320d

 

And the new Lexus IS250:

 

lexus-is250-is350-front.jpg

 

Has anyone got these and can tell me their experiences or anything that may be of use? I know all the car sites like Parkers' etc, just want to know personal experience.

ZylonBane's confession about himself:

"What can I say, I'm a jerk. A three times all American Jerk, from Jerksville, Kentucky. Yee Haw"

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My father had the C class Kompressor and it was really nice. Very smooth gear changes from the automatic gearbox. My brother bought it off him. Thing is I prefered driving the SAAB. The BMW is very responsive. Not as smooth gear changes as the Mercedes. The Lexus looks beautiful in the flesh and it's even more reliable then the German Cars. I prefer the last generation 3 series to the new one.

ZylonBane's confession about himself:

"What can I say, I'm a jerk. A three times all American Jerk, from Jerksville, Kentucky. Yee Haw"

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From the images the Lexus also looks fine. I think the BMW feels more like a sportscar, which I don't particularly like. I'm more with limousines, trucks, pickup or cross country style cars. :) Currently I have a Nissan bus because of the kids, which is great. I always like it to sit higher then my fellow car drivers. Feels more comfortable this way.

I once drove a Citroen CX (like this one http://www.caradisiac.com/media/images/col.../citroen_cx.jpg ). The one which is lowering itself down even more when the engine is stopped. Can't say that I liked this. It always felt as if I have to roll on the floor just to get in or out. Some people like this kind of placement, but I don't. The car that I really would like to buy next would be a Nissan Pajero, Terrano or similar, like a Ranger. My favourite is the Pathfinder. :)

 

Edit: Now that you mention it, I had both of the 300 Diesel. One with automatic and one with manual gear (it was my first car). But I never really liked the automatic on the Diesel. On the normal fuel it was quite smooth, but the diesel engine was more poerfull and when it switched gear it usually was pretty hard. But this was about 15 years ago, so I guess this has changed by now as well.

Gerhard

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I too love the Pathfinder, really rugged, muscular looking vehicle. I like most 4X4's. I just have no use for it. British roads are small, don't go across country and the fuel here is a rip off. I was considering a Audi A4 quattro, but thought against it.

 

You ever drove a Saab? The mid range pull is phenomenal. I had the 150 BHP one and it really goes like mad. The Aero goes from 40 to 70 faster than a Porsche 911 apparently !!!

ZylonBane's confession about himself:

"What can I say, I'm a jerk. A three times all American Jerk, from Jerksville, Kentucky. Yee Haw"

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The mechanicals of the Saab are excellent, it's only let down by the electrics, but it's not a huge problem. Apparently future Saab cars are going to be made in Germany. What's a Nissan Bus?

ZylonBane's confession about himself:

"What can I say, I'm a jerk. A three times all American Jerk, from Jerksville, Kentucky. Yee Haw"

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Being just a poor wage slave, I have a Ford Fiesta. I'd quite like a Jaguar X type but even if I could justify the purchase expense, I wouldn't be happy with the much lower fuel efficiency I would get out of it.

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With the recent price gouging, I've kinda grown tired of the gas guzzling of my current ride (and no, that's not a scratch on the door, it's a reflection off my damn neighbor's lame piece of crap which he always parks too close to my spot). Besides, it seems so... compensatory.

 

I need to tighten my belt a bit. Besides, anyone with any skill at all knows it's not the car, it's the driver. So naturally, I've got my eyes on this upgrade! (image shrunken so that no one scoops my find... hands off, kk?).

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Scratch those crappy cars, get a Toyota Camry hybrid, or just about any other hybrid electric car for that matter. Toyotas are the most reliable cars you can get (in my experience). Don't get a Prius though, as they are poorly designed in terms of rear window visibility.

 

If you have loads (and I mean loads) of money to splash out, get one of these: http://www.venturi.fr/us/fetish/specs/specs.php3

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Diesel cars are VERY rare but a few are around. I don't think any cars made here use deisel, so the only ones around are imports, but I could be wrong (I'm not talking about big pickup trucks - we have some of those using deisel)

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All gas is cheap in the US, they complain about having to pay 2 dollars a GALLON (equivalent to about 28p a litre here if I've done the maths right). However their cars are notoriously inefficient -- the advantage of diesel is that it gives you about 40% more miles to the gallon than petrol.

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$3, actually, and that's up from $1 just years ago; that's why it gets so much complaint. A 200% increase over a few years is significant. What are gas prices over there (whatever "there" might be)? I really have no idea for comparison.

 

You can bet we will be seeing much more efficient american cars soon though, because the monkey in charge recently said so! :rolleyes: Over here, it's just bigger and bigger and bigger... everyone has a $50k+ monster sized SUV which gets 12 miles a gallon, so everyone else has to get one too, of course, or they'll be the one killed in the accident. <_< I hate going down the turnpike to get to work and driving past 103-pound woman, driving alone, in a Cadillac Escalade (what is that thing, 5 tons? seats 9 comfortably without using the cargo space?), going down the HOV lane at 85 MPH. She might as well just rent a Greyhound bus to go buy some milk. This is not only not rare, not only common - it is the norm.

 

I'd say diesel is available at maybe 20% of stations. Then again, maybe I just don't notice it much, as it is shuffled off to the back, on hidden, old pumps. The only diesel cars I can think of on the road are the very few pre-80's mercedes, but then again I'm probably wrong - I'm going on sound alone.

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$3, actually, and that's up from $1 just years ago; that's why it gets so much complaint. A 200% increase over a few years is significant. What are gas prices over there (whatever "there" might be)? I really have no idea for comparison.

 

I filled up this morning and the prices was £0.88/litre, which works out at $6.26 for a US gallon. Most of that is tax, which I support as long as it is used for environmental purposes.

 

In addition to the fuel tax, we also have an emissions tax which is based on the amount of CO2 emitted per mile. This means that a standard annual tax of around £110 ($206) can become £210 ($395) if you insist on driving a gas guzzler (with hints that this could increase significantly in the future).

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Holy shit. There'd be rioting in the streets at that price.*

 

That emissions tax is a neat idea. I await the day when they start making sensible luxury penalties. Expect no good programs over here. Our government is just a bunch of monkeys. :mellow:

 

 

*Not really. People would be "outraged!!!", bitch about it for a while, and then bend over and accept it. Worse, there is an attitude of "let someone else worry about fixing it, I can afford it." Which is why nothing is done right and nothing ever gets fixed, but that's a whole different topic...

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I see deisel offered most places, probably 2/3 of stations I think.

 

I don't mind gas prices of $3. People complain a lot since it was about $2 just a year or two ago. (plus my motorcycle gets about 75 mpg, and I ride it a lot instead of the car)

 

My older sister and her family now spend about $450 a month on gas, when it used to be around $300. So I'm thinking, if $150/mo is breaking your bank, then you are living too closee to the edge of your means!

 

If you make $4000/mo you shouldn't be spending $3800 of it. You should be spending more like $3000 and investing/saving the other $1000. That way when gas goes up you can easily absorb the extra $150.

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