And it proves the addage...It's more fun to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow. We took many IKEA trips with our multiple Fit cars and it handled almost everything we threw at it. Loved the manual transmission also in both.
And there are limits to the whole her car thing. The Aztek incident will never happen again. Upside to the econo box stuff is if she gets one the Jeep is going in the garage
Cool for sure but even the clubman would be too small for her, me, and the pups. Here's the new pup at 5.5 months -
Something made in Japan for sure. I have had a good and a bad experience with Mazda. Older ones are fine, but the newer ones are not Mazda entirely. The driveline in our Mazdaspeed 6 was all Ford, and it was absolute junk. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, just pick the one you like and go with it.
Sportwagen Golf R. Sadly not coming to our shores http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2016-volkswagen-golf-r-sportwagen-first-drive-review
A Golf sportwagon would haul dogs, mongo and it sorta fun to drive. I think it starts at like $22K but that's bare. Too bad, the 1.8T is a good engine and the car is a looker.
This is the reason I won't go econobox any longer. I have a decent number of miles in the Mazda 3 and 6, and the Corolla and Camry. To me, it is always worth the additional cost of buying the midsize car over the economy. The seats are more comfortable, the drivetrain feels more solid, the component level feels more refined and your total cost of ownership is likely the same.
Yup. I have two HUGE dogs too, and that was exactly what I was lined up to buy before I got a promotion that came with a company truck. Plus my dogs are old so the wagon's (wagen's) low entry height is a huge plus.
The wife's 2009 Mazda 6 was dead reliable from when we bought it with 30k miles until we sold it with 80k miles. I don't have a single complaint about that car. My cousin just bought a new one in the last year or two, and it seems like they've made it even nicer than the one we had. I counter that with the Mazda3 she replaced her 6 with, which I'm not a big fan of. The transmission was replaced in the first 30k miles (or had an extreme overhaul, I don't remember the specifics.) The seats feel very cheap, where you can fell them flex as you adjust your weight. The transmission searches for gears and it is far from quiet/smooth on the interstate.
Let's not pretend the reason it will never happen again is because you decided to assert your authority. We both know that every time the Aztek your mind, you see my hologram up in the sky between Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi and it scares the crap out of you.
The new Sonata is very nice too. It's very similar to the Optima. My friend has the Sonata Sport with the 2.0T engine and it's a lot of car for the money and build quality is getting very close to the Japanese equivalents, but standard equipment is much better.
So many votes for a Corolla? We had nothing but trouble with our last one which was a 2000,that we bought new.Maybe they have seriously improved,but that thing burned oil like a Kawasaki triple, all the belt bearings squeeled like heck when it rained,both the driver side door and passenger door handles broke off,leaked through the floor when it rained,a/c was total garbage. Im a bigtime 'Yota guy,but I would never recommend a Corolla after that one,which was also my 3rd. Other guys I know that had that generation of Corolla had all the same issues as we did.For a car,not a pickup truck,I go with Subaru nowadays.
