Help Me Choose a New Car- Honda,Toyota, or VW?

1.5, same engine as the scion xA/xB, and echo. in fact, its the echo's
replacement.

supposedly, the 1.5 has been in use for almost 20 years, in tercels and
whatnot.

 

And you'll pay $5K or more for the privilege?[/QUOTE]

more like $25k. course, any 2-wheeler is allowed, and thats what ive
been doing. for about $20k less.

people are. this is the state that retards will pay $800/mo for a tahoe
that has a cadillac badge.


and i dont think just ANY hybrid is allowed into the lanes. so SUV
hybrids are still assed out.

 

what were the "disastrous results"? no way to tell a regular civic from
a hybrid?

 

surprisingly enough, last time i checked they were built in 2 different
plants.

vibe- NUMMI, fremont, california (same plant as tacoma)
matrix- canada

 

any ex-owner, ya mean

when i was a watercooled vdubophile, there were a lot of people with
high mileage cars. they were extremely pampered, though. 3000 mile oil
changes with 20w50, etc.

 

I stand corrected by both you and Timothy J Lee. It isn't like the
old Corolla/Prism where they were both made in the Nummi (Fremont,
CA) plant. But I do think they both (Matrix/Vibe) have been
at/near the tops of the CR reliability charts.

Totally agree with the extended drive comment from another poster.

Any yeah, even with my original comments, I'm not partial to a VW,
especially in its first year.

How many of you really like the new dash layout and steering wheel
in the Civic? I can't stand either.

 

And the Corolla is built at both of these plants.

 

Everyone went out and bought hybrids. The HOV lanes in Virginia got
congested, making them just as slow as the regular lanes. Hence, there
was no incentive to carpool either. Everyone was mad: hybrids,
non-hybrids, especially carpoolers. That's why Virginia is ending the
experiment when it expires in July this year.

Because of Virginia's experience, California decided to cap the number
at 75,000 registered hybrids and required 45 mpg to qualify. I still
think it's a terrible idea. Think about this: 5 people in a Hummer
saves more gas than 5 solo hybrids, but only causes 1/5 of the
congestion.

 

Toyotas also are more likely to fail emission tests after you have had them
a few years. It seems as if they engineer them closer to the "edge" to
maximize performance.

Prious <sp> has a critical electrical problem, I have heard. Goes brain dead
around 50k miles.... central computer.

Yes, VWs are the plague. Have not been good for YEARS (and I currently drive
a '65 Beetle, so I am not biased against the brand... just the crappy
quality of the more recent cars).

 

Are you proposing that Hummers be allowed on highways ONLY IF they
carry 5 people?

Seems like gas prices still aren't high enough for folks to consider
car pooling.

 

I call bullshit on this one. Where is your proof of this?

If you're talking about the sudden shutdown, they issued a recall to apply
a fix for that.

 

This is my idealistic but impractical idea. Make the HOV lane
requirement to be something like 60 mpg per person. So if you're in a
30+ mpg car, then you need 2 people. If you're in a large SUV, then
you'll need 5 people. =)

Numerous studies have been done on how high gas prices would have to
climb before it would actually cause a change in driving habits (such
as driving slower on freeways, carpooling). I think I have read that it
would have to rise to about $5-6 for the majority of drivers to change
their habits.

 

When I have the time I will dig the information back up. It was a
combination of reports on recalls, settlement for Govt lawsuit, and
(undocumentable) discussions with various emissions test folks while getting
my older cars tested (non-toyota) centering around the trends noticed in
higher-emissions from older vehicles.... which, interestingly, fit well with
the EPA and recall information I came across.

Why didn't I "document it" at the time? Because I never have enjoyed the
road feel of Toyotas and thus knew it would be a long time before I would
ever consider one. To each his own. I like a firmer, more connected ride.
Just like some might go for the old Misubishi electronic shifting (still
used in Hyundai's) but it never felt "right" to me.

 

Good point R.E. extensive driving! Also extensively drive the one they
assign to you... not just the demo car. We drove one new car years ago and
the AC seemed to be acting oddly. Too cold, and I noticed that the
compressor sounded a bit weird. They checked it and immediately got another
car from their storage lot (across town)... seems somebody had WAY
overpressurized the AC during "prep".

Another vehicle purchase we made, one of the vehicles seemed just a little
weird when it went slowly over speedbumps at an angle. The subsequent
rocking was not symetrical between one direction and the other. We liked
the color but went with a different one instead ... this one did not have
that suspension anomaly and it has lasted great at 159k miles and still
going. (January special on previous model year "new" cars (less than 50
miles on any of them)... only 4 left.)