A friend of the family had an early 2000's S60. She just recently sold it and bought a brand new Accord. According to her it was the biggest mistake she ever made. The Volvo was way more comfortable, quieter on the road and she says it just drove better and felt like it was built better. It was also very reliably while she had it.
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looks like there are a bazillion bunch of trims for the S40. Which one is the "money" one?

I was looking at the T5 because the S40R are too new and expensive, so that's later AWD model.

Test drive a G35 Coupe. Thank me later.

I ALWAYS loved these cars.....until I drove one. :td:

When I went car shopping with my gf a dealer just got one in and they let us take it out. It was fun no doubt, but other than the exhaust tone I really didn't like it. The interior didn't match the price tag at all, and it didn't have the power I expected.

They still look sexy as fuck, and sound perfect, but once I drove it I stopped noticing them as much.

what about the new kia forte coupe?

http://www.thetorquereport.com/kia_koup3.jpg

For a kia that is sexy. If I removed the Kia badge.

Teh suzuki sx4 actually also sounds interesting.

I really need to get my miata back on the road. I want to look at '10 mazdaspeed3s :( $23,000 :( :( :(

when i first seen the commercial for the kia i was thinking to myself holy shit that is a good lookin car! then i was even moar shocked when i saw kia make it! :giggle: they are really steppin there game up.

I rock a Taurus wagon. Automatic, cheap to purchase, maintain, and insure, boring, quiet, fast enough, comfy, reliable, lots of room for stuff. The wagons get the "big" transmission with the regular engine and standard rear disc brakes. For a while I was driving it minimum 600 miles/week. Always gets 24-25 mpg. $21,000 less than a new MS3.

There is even a community of people who "tune" these things and vendors who sell various bits. The PCM is cracked. I've got a Duratec throttle body for mine that's supposed to ad some power, and have been thinking about a rear mount turbo.

My sister had a 2004 1.9 S40 and in my opinion that thing was a turd. Maybe it was her trim level but everthing in the car felt cheap.

I am in love with the Legacy GT and if I didn't have to drive an F350 for work, then I would be driving that or a Corolla. I don't know why I love corolla's so much, but I really do. not even the new ones, but the ones that went from 1997ish -2002. So simple and dead reliable.

The SX4 should be a reliable car. And it sseems quite practical.

Hmmm tonight I drove a decent forester xt 2004 auto with 115K miles. Asking price is $11.5. I actually liked it a lot. It didn't exactly feel nimble but it was surprisingly quick and handled decently.

I tried to drive an '10 mazdaspeed3 but the dealer said they didn't allow it without a credit check first. Bleghhhh


Gonna go look at an '07 mazdaspeed3 tomorrow with 53k miles, asking price is $15.5. Manual :(

Ours has been bulletproof. It's an '06 with like ~70k on it.

Probably because it all was cheap. The '04s were crap - the 05+ is a totally different car.

If you're looking at a speed3, why not a regular 3 with a hatch and GT package? Not as quick as a speed, but other than that they're mostly the same to drive, and you get your slushbox.

When I was out looking at cars with my girlfriend, we did drive a regular 3 GT hatch albeit with a stick. It was indeed quite a nice car. The "gearbox" did suck but that is immaterial now. She ended up going with an perfect cali ownded 04 mazdaspeed miata with 20K miles for $11k out the door.

Hmm, yes a MSM is certainly a "boring automatic daily."

Nono, the MSM was for her. I'm the one that needs the booring automatic :jerkit: Still looking.

Here in Oz i just bought my wife a cj (08) lancer, im not sure if they come in a luxury pack in the states but they are a bloody nice car for the money & i love driving it when ever i get the chance, not sure if they are considered rice there but we have them here for under 20k & they have plenty of features & cool stuff like a 6 speed auto which gives us an average of 8.5L to 100km (nfi what that is in mpg) but really good for us.

my 2 cents ;)

You'd be better off buying the root vehicle, a Toyota Corolla..



On another note, while you're specifically looking for an automatic... I happen to have a 2006 MS6GT in perfect condition that I'm looking at selling here pretty soon... I might make ya a deal.. ;) 28k miles.... Black Cherry...

Price? I am in Kansas all the time.