It’s time to replace the ol’ G20 after 13 ½ years of faithful service
. We finally set foot in a few dealerships this week as we get more serious about this. This car will be the primary family duty vehicle that my wife will drive most of the time. It will see DSW clone distribution duty; household consumable and non-consumable goods reconnaissance duty, long-suffering DSW copilot escape route duty, and possibly Griswald-esque road trip duty (depending on GTI replacement in June). She’d prefer to have a manual transmission (ain’t she sweet?
). We’re trying to keep the cost in the high 20s low 30s range. Also on the wish list: heated seats (it gets frickin’ cold here!) and leather (we find it easier to keep looking clean than cloth – I think we’re willing to pony up a bit of extra dough for it).
Here’s the progress so far:
Hyundai – I did a solo fly-by of the Tuscon at a neighboring dealership while I was waiting for the V-dub to have an oil change. I didn’t take it for a spin, but I poked around it for a bit. It was fairly impressive room- and feature-wise and I like it’s stance better than the competing X-Trail. Seems like good value for the dollar, especially when you factor in the warranty. We’ll take a closer look at it later.
Subaru – We both looked at, but didn’t drive, the 2005 Forester, Impreza, and Legacy Outback. She liked the Impreza RS and might be interested in taking one for a spin. She likes the Outbacks too, but they’re out of the price range by quite a bit. I’m leaving the Legacy GT (wagon or sedan depending on what transpires now
) on my list for later.
Mazda – Looked at the wagon and hatchback of variants of the Mazda6 as well as the MPV. Not that we are shopping for a minivan, but it was in the showroom and she does sometimes drop serious hints about wanting 7-passenger seating
. We took a 6 sedan for a spin. I really like the interior layout of the 6. The quality of some of the materials isn’t what I’ve been used to in the GTI, but was certainly acceptable. The wagon has a nifty way to release the rear seatbacks to fold them flat while standing at the rear hatch. It was easy for us both to find a comfortable driving position with the tilt-telescoping wheel and height adjustable drivers seat. The rear seat had oodles of leg room even with the front seats quite far back. No center head rest for the rear seat, though. That’s a small deduction in our books. The driving impression was very good although I didn’t get an opportunity to really press it. It didn’t have quite the sprightly feel I’m used to with the GTI, but it was probably just as quick. I found the shifter didn’t fall quite as easily to hand as I would like. It seemed to be positioned a little too far back. But again, that’s something I (or she…ahem) could probably adjust to.
Up next….
Nissan – We’ll look at the Altima and the X-Trail (probably the Quest, too
). And we’ll revisit Subaru and Hyundai.
For some strange reason, neither of us have considered Honda or Toyota. I’m not really sure why. From a due diligence point of view, we should probably pay them a visit as well. I also think we should look at the Mailibu Maxx, but that might be a harder sell at home.
It’s a strange cross-shopping list, I know, but it’s been a while since we’ve both done this seriously and the market has changed a lot in 14 years.
I'll keep you posted. Thoughts, advice, ridicule, abuse, etc. are welcome.
