Friday, December 19, 2008

Recommend a car?

My 10 yr old American sedan is showing its age. The power windows fail yearly ($400 to replace each motor), the paint is faded, the suspension bounces like a Jumpy Castle, and the mileage (21 city) is criminal for a midsize car. Plus, no recent safety features like side airbags or anti-lock brakes.

Replacement suggestions? Breaking from my past as a loyal Big 3 customer, I'm willing to buy a Japanese car if >50% is manufactured in the US.

Needs to be a wagon or hatchback with folding seats, for surfboard & crap-hauling.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No suggestions yet? Well, my Honda Fit may not fill all your requirements, but it gets very good mileage, and you can fold the seats down in many different ways. In particular, I had no difficulty putting 8-foot two-by-fours in and closing the hatch.

Foobar said...

Ah, if only the Honda Fit could tow a small utility trailer... Too much to ask, I suppose.

Anonymous said...

We've been very happy with our Toyota Matrix. [We're in Canada and the car was made here; dunno if it's made in the US.] Gets about 33 mpg city, essentially no repairs in the first 18 months. Plus you can lend it to your tech-y friends and ask them "please don't invert the Matrix".

Foobar said...

We've test-driven a matrix, liked it, despite the inevitable matrix jokes.

Salesmen get flummoxed when asked, "Where are the Ford Foci?" or "Where are the Matrices?" But I can't bring myself to say the plurals wrong.