UTMC

anyone have one? what's the good, the bad, and the ugly about it?



my grandfather wants to buy me a new car and the cap is $20,000.

20 grand for a ford? i'm not sure i would do that. then again, i'm an idiot. this is what i would buy with 20 grand.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-M3-_ ... sQ5fTrucks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-BMW ... 45f2b4de79

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-Mazda ... 1e5bebda42

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/400hp-LS ... 414f46333b


These are all fantastic cars, i'm sure they are all very expensive to repair, and break down frequently. I don't really care though, but remember, i'm an idiot.

As for the ford, its a ford. remember to get it in tan.

i already have a 2002 mustang(v6). with about 250,000 miles. (i have taken REALLY good care of it, so it runs almost like new still.)

i was thinking higher fuel economy this time around since i have two more years of school left and i can't afford to move closer to school...

My parents have one, and I've driven it plenty enough. It's a great little car.

It's Motor Trend's 2010 car of the year.

http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car ... index.html

If you are a Ford fan, sure why not, I hear Ford quality is at the all time high, now that they stopped bragging about it, but if you looking to spend 20K and get good MPG base model Accord is $21,800 which means you can get it for just about 20K and it's rated 31mph highway (a friend has one and he gets 35 because he never speeds) Civic starts at $16,400 which means you can get it for 15K, we got our middle of the road model for $16,200 and even though it's rated 34mpg highway consistently getting 34 all around. My wife drove it to school for 2 years, 45K miles, nothing but gas and oil changes, when it needed tires and some other work we traded it in.

I like Honda and the big reason is resale value, 5 y/o Ford is worth alot less than 5 y/o Honda. Our car depreciated $6000 in 2 years and part of it was that it needed all 4 tires and bumpers were scuffed. We got $10k for it while Retail Book value was $14k (paid 16,200 two years ago), with Ford you stand to loose more than that in 2 years.

about civics, i don't know why i thought they were more expensive than they are. i will look into one of those.

Sensible, solid, reliable:



I'm a little biased in that I feel almost any USA made car after 1969 should be thrown off a cliff.

Lisa and I have been pondering a new car for a bit (waiting for our house to sell first), and she's really hooked on Mazdas and Subarus. I don't think we test drove anything American, although I had a hard time staying away from...



It looks like a beautiful car until you add up how many Ducatis you could get with the same cash.

yeah, those ruskies know how to make rugged stuff. like that truck in that vampire movie.

there is a place up in fort worth that does sell the occasional Ural...

The Fusion is a solid car, one of the best high volume low cost Fords they have made in a while. That said, resale value will (as mentioned above) drop like a brick compared to competing Hondas and Toyotas.

Test drive the Fusion, a new Civic and a Honda Fit and see which one you like better. The Fit is an excellent car and comes in well under $20k while being fun to drive, cheap to run and stone-axe reliable. It might be a little small if you're hauling the kids around a lot though. The Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe twin wagons are also excellent cars.

The Fusion Hybrid has an Atikinson-Cycle combustion engine, doesn't it? That would at least be...highly interesting...

I (my wifey) currently have a Fit and we traded the 2 y/o Civic for it.

The main reason not to get another Civic was to try something different and Fit is built in Japan so all the techs at my former employer Honda dealership were raving about it, so I convinced my wife to give it a try.

Here are few things, Fit is underpowered and noisy compared to the Civic but for the price of LX Civic we got top of the line Fit Sport which is about same option level as EX Civic ($20K sticker), missing only a sun roof, which I could care less about since I quit smoking.

Both get about same all around gas mileage, but Fit's mpg's drop off considerably over 75 MPH, from about 38 to 33, where Civic was good for 36 mpg doing 80+ with AC on! I should mention that both Fit and Civic are EPA rated for 33 mpg highway, we get 33 average city/highway and upwards of 40 highway if I obey the speed limit.

On our last camping trip our entire set-up with my giant foam mattress was fitted in to the back seat floor, it has that awesome convertible back seat set up that allows you to have some large items in the back and still have a trunk sapce, and only thing in the trunk was a giant cooler. Civic was also roomy but for the lack of height in the trunk we were packed to the roof going camping with JR.

Did I mention I used to sell Honda's?

i'm leaning toward a civic at the moment, but i am currently surfing the top gear website for their auto reviews. they make it a little easier because they group similar cars together so you know what you can compare them with.

I'm a Ford guy and probably always will be because of all the cars I've ever owned (a considerable number) the Fords have been the most dependable and well built.

But I'd say go drive them both and make your decision then. If you're not one of those people who trades their car in every year or two (and therefore wants that couple of extra grand in trade in value) and will probably stick with your choice for a long time, then the feel of the car is the most important thing. Honda and Ford both build good reliable cars, it's just what feels better to you.

Go drive 'em.

drift, you are right.

i don't do the trade in thing as my 2002 mustang was the first "new" (lease return) car i've ever had. my mustang has been incredibly reliable and has only had a few issues and those related to wear and tear due to the excessive mileage.

I'm just trying to be efficient, really, as my grandfather will want to ride along and he just doesn't have the energy to go to numerous places to try out every possible car.

Drift wrote:I'm a Ford guy and probably always will be because of all the cars I've ever owned (a considerable number) the Fords have been the most dependable and well built..

thats funny (odd, not humour) as my experiences have been exactly the opposite. i've found roughly 50% of my Ford experiences to be rather disappointing.

that said, it really comes down to

Drift wrote:,what feels better to you.
Go drive 'em.

+1 !

If you going to test drive Civic take a 5 speed, let it rip above 5K so the v-tech kicks in (make sure engine is warm or it will not activate) take some fast corners too.

I'm pretty sure Ford is no slouch with a V-6 but a 4 cylinder might be a bit slow (I assume the V-6 is not in the budget)

Make sure you take all cars you test driving on some bumpy roads, try making a u-turn, some other every day stuff like parking and backing up or the first time you parallel park the car and find out that you can't see shit out the back window you will be pissed!

I'm on my second civic EX. Great car. Drive the Ford, drive the Civic, I bet you buy the Civic.

test drive day #1.

i went to the ford stealership and test drove three cars.
1. the focus
2. the fusion
3. the new v6 mustang
4. <s>the fiesta</s> not out yet

the focus is apparently meant for city driving. i nearly redlined it just getting up to 60. and the red is at 7000 rpm. and i didn't quite make it to 60 in that burst.

the fusion was nice. however the hybrid is not for me since most of my miles are highway and it's outstanding eco-performance is meant for city driving. seriously, who cares if you get 40 mpg in the city if your highway miles only get 30, maybe. i almost get that in the mustang. but i drove the 4cyl non-hybrid and it did very well performance wise with a sedanish feel and better than 30mpg highway.

the big surprise was the new mustang. as in big disappointment. the price you pay for that boxier cool looking front end is a smaller driver area. and the smaller doors make getting in and out not nearly as easy as you would think. and the seat sucked. the only plus would be fewer parking issues concerning those doors.

the fiesta isn't out yet however, so i couldn't test drive one.

Isn't the Fusion built on the same (but stretched?) chassis and driveline as the Mazda 6?

I decided to google it myself, yep, same chassis/drivetrain:

http://www.fordfusionforum.com/index.ph ... -platform/

So check out the Mazda 6 as well. Maybe a MazdaSpeed6† can be found for under $20k? NOW you're talkin' Turbo, 6sp, even available w/ AWD.

Not sure how Mazda's resale value holds up vs. Fords...

sun rat wrote:the focus is apparently meant for city driving. i nearly redlined it just getting up to 60. and the red is at 7000 rpm. and i didn't quite make it to 60 in that burst.

But it is great for city driving, at least my 2001 1.6 Automatic is.
Unless I hit the autobahn, I never need to go over 4000 rpm and will still flow nicely with traffic.

DerGolgo wrote:

sun rat wrote:the focus is apparently meant for city driving. i nearly redlined it just getting up to 60. and the red is at 7000 rpm. and i didn't quite make it to 60 in that burst.

But it is great for city driving, at least my 2001 1.6 Automatic is.
Unless I hit the autobahn, I never need to go over 4000 rpm and will still flow nicely with traffic.

if i lived close to the university i would get it(well no, i would ride a bicycle). unfortunately i can't afford to so i have to choose a more highway able car.

sun rat wrote:if i lived close to the university i would get it(well no, i would ride a bicycle). unfortunately i can't afford to so i have to choose a more highway able car.

Highway, that's like 65 mph, right?
Overdrive should kick in if you keep a constant speed and just hum along at no more than 3k and change. At least mine does, with it's meager 100 ponies. Then again, they might have changed the transmission.
Enough Ford Focus propaganda.

DerGolgo wrote:

sun rat wrote:if i lived close to the university i would get it(well no, i would ride a bicycle). unfortunately i can't afford to so i have to choose a more highway able car.

Highway, that's like 65 mph, right?
Overdrive should kick in if you keep a constant speed and just hum along at no more than 3k and change. At least mine does, with it's meager 100 ponies. Then again, they might have changed the transmission.
Enough Ford Focus propaganda.

65!? not in the states, my friend. if you wanna drive the expressways of america, you need to be able to do more like 80-85mph.....not that any of the vehicles described here would fail at that.

poop

What about
http://cars.about.com/od/kia/fr/10_forte_sedan.htm
?
USB interface, Electronic Stability Control...5 years/60,000 mile warranty on the whole car and 10 years/100,000 miles on the powertrain.

you all will find this entertaining. i haven't even picked out the new car and already my adult kids are all trying to make me offers and claim extreme need for the mustang.

AS IF!

there has been so much connected with my grandmother's passing that i have put off the purchase of the car.

i don't even want it, really. i don't even care what "it" is.

summer school starts monday for me and my grandfather is putting himself into an assisted living facility on monday also. there's just too much going on.

aside from the stuff i've been doing with/for my grandfather, all i've been able to accomplish this 3 week summer break is to watch old tv shows on dvd. i suck.

The Suzuki SX4 caught my eye when it first came out, and would be comparable to the Fit or hatchback Civic.

Those things have a pretty impressive variable/all wheel drive system that optimizes per driving conditions, a terrific warranty, and got some great reviews.

They're pretty small, but it's probably what I spring for in that price range.

That said, I paid just under 10k for my Hyundai Accent, new in 2005, with a 10 year warranty, and It's served me just fine, 35k in so far.

It's nothing special performance wise, but it's comfortable, roomy (for a hatchback) and gets good mileage.