Choosing a car? (1 Viewer)

[one time]

Went to 2 places today and so far liked ford fusion > chevy malibu. I tossed out any interest in the Chevy impala. Just too much of a price increase.

Chevy salesman was super annoying. Told him about 100 times I'm not buying for atleast a number of weeks, 0% chance, but he kept hard selling a 2015 Impala. Told him I only wanted to test drive them, get a feel for them and leave. Ford let me do just that. Chevy not so much.

Hoping to have the others looked at in the next week.

Edit: From my understanding the Mazda 6 is only manual which doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

I'm sensing sarcasm here

That's good, cuz he's laying it on pretty thick.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

For me I like total cost of ownership and interior/trunk space.  That is how I narrow down similar cars in similar price range.  Interior space can vary widely even if they look the same size externally.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Yeah the 6 is an automatic most of the time.  both of mine were 6-speeds.

When I think of Manual Trans Mazdas I think of the Miata though they do offer it in automatic.

Perhaps it was manual only in a specific trim?  i know that was true of say the SVT edition of the Ford Contour.

-QG

 

[pollardsvision]

This is what I'm worried about.  My 2000 Accord has 215k miles on it now.

Oh, that thing is just now getting broken in.

 

[Spike]

Oh, that thing is just now getting broken in.

At issue is the timing chain.  I replaced it the first time, when it was scheduled, at 108k.  (Yeah, I also thought 108k, for when Honda said it should be done, was a very strange number of miles as well.)

Not sure I want to sink 1000-1500 in a car this old.

 

[BowieMercs]

At issue is the timing chain.  I replaced it the first time, when it was scheduled, at 108k.  (Yeah, I also thought 108k, for when Honda said it should be done, was a very strange number of miles as well.)

Not sure I want to sink 1000-1500 in a car this old.

The question is, can you get a replacement for $1500? If you get one year out of the car after replacing the timing belt, you are ahead of the game in my book.

 

[QuizGuy66]

At issue is the timing chain.  I replaced it the first time, when it was scheduled, at 108k.  (Yeah, I also thought 108k, for when Honda said it should be done, was a very strange number of miles as well.)

Not sure I want to sink 1000-1500 in a car this old.

you had to replace a timing CHAIN?

surprised at this as I thought the main advantage of chain over belt was that you don't have to replace a chain (at least not on a schedule).  Both of my 05 Mazda 6s had a timing chain and I didn't have to replace either of them (252k miles and 230k miles)

-QG

 

[BowieMercs]

you had to replace a timing CHAIN?

surprised at this as I thought the main advantage of chain over belt was that you don't have to replace a chain (at least not on a schedule).  Both of my 05 Mazda 6s had a timing chain and I didn't have to replace either of them (252k miles and 230k miles)

-QG

He meant timing belt

 

[QuizGuy66]

He meant timing belt

was gonna say - that must be a pretty crappy chain

-QG

 

[pollardsvision]

At issue is the timing chain.  I replaced it the first time, when it was scheduled, at 108k.  (Yeah, I also thought 108k, for when Honda said it should be done, was a very strange number of miles as well.)

Not sure I want to sink 1000-1500 in a car this old.

It's a personal choice for you, obviously, but I tend to agree with BowieMercs. If it's been a good car for you, and an expensive repair will likely extend the life for a while, I typically lean towards doing the repair and keeping the car. Particularly for a car that you've had for a long time and know pretty well. I don't have a problem buying used cars, but when you do there's always a chance somebody's dumping one off on you that's about to need some big repairs. I'd rather spend that money on a car I know has been solid.

Take that for what you will, as I drive beaters that no self-respecting FBG would be caught dead in.