Topic: Choosing a new small zippy affordable car

[evanphi]

Honda Fit.  I loved mine.  But, sounds like you're already settled on the V Dub.  The problem I had with our Jetta was - take it in for a minor service and 20 other things needed adjusting.  Fun car to drive tho.

COngrats on the VW choice, vames.

I would also have seconded the fit, even though it is slightly underpowered. But it is a wicked Honda.

My wife and I need a size upgrade from our 08 Yaris, so we are going to lease the Honda HRV (also a fan of not inheriting issues down the road). A mini-SUV. With another tried-and-tested SOHC engine, too! The same 1.8 that is in the Civics. Looking forward to it. 6spd manual, too!

[vames]

Yeah, if you are leasing go with the VW over the Al Bundy car of choice. 

Easy there my friend. You never know what's sitting in my garage.....



The 318 in there has about 250K miles on it. Runs fine but the valve seals are toast so I put up smoke screens at stoplights. I'm saving my pennies to put a rebuilt 360 in it.

[Duanob]

I always here this complaint:   "Foreign car parts are very expensive."

After owning a  Ford F150 I would say that's an old wives tale. I couldn't believe the cost of some of the parts and having to wait two weeks to get into the local dealer parts dept. I asked one parts guy "is mercedes making fords these days?" A rear left hard brakeline: $50 and a 2 weeks wait time. Heck BMW parts aren't even that expensive and hard to get. Of course I buy everything online these days but still when my F150 was up on blocks and I needed it to get to work the next day I needed the part fast. Good thing a local junk yard had a lot of fords trucks.

Back on topic I would go for the VW GTI, you're only leasing it for a couple of years and they are super fun to drive. Or a Mini Cooper S, better chance of getting it in a stick trans. My family quit being Chrysler fans about 35 years ago when the caravan came out. The trans fell out of them at 25K. All Chrysler did to rectify the proble was offer a super deal on the K-car which was another POS.

[Duke McDukiedook]

No way. That crazy 2016 Ford Focus RS is the spirit animal you want to drive. 

[flybox1]

No way. That crazy 2016 Ford Focus RS is the spirit animal you want to drive. 

Ohhhyeah!
MSRP: From $35,900
MPG: 19 city / 25 highway
Horsepower: 350 hp
Engine: 2.3 L 4-cylinder
Torque: 350 lb-ft

[Mantree]

My wife has a 2000 2.0 beetle and it is really snappy

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[Terry in Australia]

As far as reliability goes, if you are leasing a new car, any new car should be pretty good. Over here Jeep have a terrible name, I was going to lease a new Jeep until just about every second person in my work area had a first hand bad experience with them to tell me, so I leased a new Ford instead and so far it's been fantastic, and it's always nice to just drive it and not worry about budgeting for fuel, servicing etc.

One thing I need to sort out though, is changing the insurance so that if the car is written off during the life of the lease, I get another new car, and not someone else's problem. My current policy will only replace the car if it's written off in the first 12 months, so I need to find an insurer with a policy that will replace the car with another new car if it's written off over the life of the lease. Cheers, Terry.  

[Mantree]

Here ford has a bad name.  We all joke that it's an acronym for fix or repair dayly.  We also say Kia stands for killed in action

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[Mantree]

I always here this complaint:   "Foreign car parts are very expensive."

After owning a  Ford F150 I would say that's an old wives tale. I couldn't believe the cost of some of the parts and having to wait two weeks to get into the local dealer parts dept. I asked one parts guy "is mercedes making fords these days?" A rear left hard brakeline: $50 and a 2 weeks wait time. Heck BMW parts aren't even that expensive and hard to get. Of course I buy everything online these days but still when my F150 was up on blocks and I needed it to get to work the next day I needed the part fast. Good thing a local junk yard had a lot of fords trucks.

Back on topic I would go for the VW GTI, you're only leasing it for a couple of years and they are super fun to drive. Or a Mini Cooper S, better chance of getting it in a stick trans. My family quit being Chrysler fans about 35 years ago when the caravan came out. The trans fell out of them at 25K. All Chrysler did to rectify the proble was offer a super deal on the K-car which was another POS.

I never spent more that $150 on a part for my legacy and that was a new clutch with a new fork since it was starting to Crack where it rides on the pivot

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