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Duck

Next Car

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If we were to buy something used, I'd prefer to keep it under 10k (which knocks out the B, and I'm afraid I'm not a fan of the styling - plus it's larger than what we're looking for). 15-16k is about as high as I'm willing to go for something new. I'm not interested in financing/leasing, so it's somewhat limiting - but it keeps things within reach.-Iain

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Again - great car, but I'm afraid I don't care for the styling at all. :) I'm really picky... I'd have a Suzuki Wagon R in a heartbeat if it were offered here! They're everywhere in Wales (but driven by folks 3 times my age ;) )-Iain

Edited by Duck

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I honestly don't know what you'll find -- that you'll want to drive -- in that price range. The Fit sounds like it would be perfect for you, but a new one with options is perhaps $22K. Maybe a two-year-old Fit Sport could be had for $14K or so.

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Come to think of it, I agree with the posters above: a low-mileage 450 in good shape can be had for dirt cheap. Chances are if it has been trouble-free for the first owner -- get a service history, of course! -- it will continue to be trouble-free for a long time to come.

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So the Fiat 500 I thought we were getting turned into a Fiat Punto (yawn), and the Renault Twingo RHD we were supposed to have in the UK/Wales turned out to be a Chevy (Daewoo) Matiz. I can now probably quite truthfully say I've driven the worst car in the world. :) It's only redeeming quality is that it is NARROW which is a requirement in Wales. I'm still trying to clutch and shift with my left hand. :)Quite happy to be back in the smart. Putting on a couple thousand km in something else puts things back in perspective at how solid our little cars really are. The Versa/Punto are about the same size and I really hated how big it was. :/We saw more Toyota iQ's than smarts on this trip - the iQ seems to be quite popular, and man is it ever sharp looking.-Iain

.....................Not sure you would have liked the Fiat 500 anyway. I doubt it would have been the souped up model and the 1.2 litre one we had last year in France was baffed. I liked the Aygo betterBobb

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"Dirt cheap" isn't ~6-8k for a used smart, though. :) That's still a lot of money! Dirt cheap would be a grand or two, in my mind. I really wonder where that phrase originated, actually!I bought my first car around 1999 for $1 350 ('85 Toyota Corolla liftback), with about 230 000 km on it. It was a fantastic car...-Iain

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I'm sure you could find a used '85 Corolla with more miles than that, for less money than that, especially with their reputation now. :D

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Not a very safe car though, by today's standards!-Iain

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I've gotta go look up Duck's reply to me driving a Matiz, which is arguably (indeed) nothing to write home about.

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In St. Martin we rented a Hyundai Getz for the week. Not exactly an inspiring ride, but damn was it a tough little car. We had the edge of a hurricane slip through and wash out the road to our hotel, but that thing went through like a champ. Others weren't so lucky...

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What about Scion? And you say you like the iQ... both are coming fast.

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One thing that was good on it: The A/C. It's either "On" or "Off" but jesus when it's on my hands turned to ice. I don't think I've ever felt a more powerful air conditioner on a vehicle!-Iain

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When I went to Europe last fall the rental agency tried to give us a MINI cabriolet instead of a Peugeot 207 CC but we insisted on the Peugeot and got it. This happened to me in 1985 in Britain too, they tried to give us a Fiesta instead of a Peugeot 205, but I got what I wanted then too.

Edited by Mike T

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You're more assertive than I; any time I've ever rented it just comes down to what they have left, really. I ordered a hatchback and got a pickup truck in Kansas once!They just didn't have any cars left, so we got what we got.-Iain

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Well I guess if that's all they have......How was good old Europe?

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I had a Versa for a rental briefly, and didn't care much for it. The interior felt pretty cheap, and it wasn't very powerful for a vehicle that's less compromised than a smart. The Insight for under $20k seems like a really good deal, though i've read terrible things about the ride and handling. I really like the new Fit's styling and versatility. One of our neighbours just got a new Golf TDI, and it's stunning. Makes me really miss our Golf. But he was disappointed that quite a few options were not available on the TDI, such as HID headlamps.What's your list of wants and needs in your next vehicle, Iain?

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I'd personally rather buy a used VW TDI with 60 or 80,000 kms than a new crappy econobox for $15,000. The TDI would probably get better fuel economy and also likely live longer.

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...or a TDI. Maybe one of those Nissan Cubes? They are plain weird.

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The army green cube looks just great, I think - but Phil's not into it, unfortunately. :) His choice is TDI Golf.

It's a bit disheartening because the smart runs so well when it's hot! I really missed it while we were gone and when we came back from our trip I just kept saying how tight and solid the smart really is. It's a little heavy chunk of tight car.

-Iain

Edited by Duck

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What about waiting a bit longer for the release of the Fiat 500?I really want to test one of those when they arrive at the end of this year (I called two Chrysler dealerships to check in and that was the estimated time).post-7297-1275268647_thumb.jpg

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One of our former members has suggested that my smart's cold-starting troubles could be as simple as changing the battery. I'd like to give that a try... albeit I'm not sure how to verify that until it gets cold - and by then, it's really too late. Hmm.We are still trying to narrow down the choices. We've both made lists of our top 13 choices for "new cars" and knocked off the bottom 5 of both our lists, and ranking the remaining ones... the Prius comes out pretty high, so does the Versa and Yaris. These are strictly brown trowsers decisions and don't factor in test drives. Every day when I wake up I think we should go a different way. For me, it'd probably be a used, low-mileage off-lease Yaris, because I'm cheap and I like the styling of it - but my other half absolutely hates it (and Toyota, in general) which I have to consider. I don't feel like I deserve to go out and write a cheque for a new car just yet because I don't think I've got enough years out of the smart. About Toyota - I've just been so burned with maintenance on the smart that going back to a zero-effort, zero-repairs car from Toyota is really what I want, like what I had before (Corolla liftback, then a Tercel)....I really wish the smart would have lasted another year, at least. I gotta go digging around all the battery threads to see what is the best one, and where to get it, I guess (or maybe someone could kindly provide that information here?)It's going to make me absolutely sick to my stomach to park the smart when the time comes.-Iain

Edited by Duck

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