G8's are nice

Sonata's are nice

The new Focus coming out looks REALLY nice. Friend had an FSVT3 and it was a blast. It went toe to toe with the Miata and did 33-34mpg on the highway.

I would rock this bitch, gas mileage be damned. I found an 84 AMG on cl I am thinking about actually.

I would skip the family and convert the miata into an airplane.

great. start a thread about it.

Lol. I was thinking about buying a huffy today....

Why not Ford Fiesta?

I get huge bonus points for price, and the bonus points for near 40mpg, only issues are the rear seat room is bordering on too little, and the p/w ratio is .0465 instead of your desired .05.

Super secret bonus points because Jeremy Clarkson likes it.

Fiesta... The Focus looks like its heading to the same design.

http://www.motorward.com/wp-content/...ock-fiesta.jpg

Oh, don't get fussy. What is the "Insert BS here" section for if not to encourage thread drift?

Jetta wagon TDi with a chip and suspension mods.

You have to admit you laughed....

Easy, JSW TDi. Meets or exceeds all criteria. Mine was $26k new and gets > 46 mpg hwy without really trying. Fit and finish is superb and it carts around my kids with aplomb.

Excitement? It's no sports car, but it's a station wagon with a 6-speed manual and a turbo. That should count for something.

Bonus - 10k between services. 500+ mile range (did an 8 hour drive in Texas without stopping for fuel). No battery packs to replace. In automotive periodicals, is routinely put up against cars half its size and wins.

I guess if I had to think of one downfall, it's that the power curve is so different from the (relatively) peaky Miata that I have to remember to adjust if I go back and forth between them.

Agree, although IIRC the Jetta sedan is the one that's been crapified, and the '11 JSW is a carryover.

Normally I don't believe and/or agree with a word he says. But yes. This.

I'm surprised at all the VW recommendations. Aren't they basically one big MIL on wheels?

MIL? Mother-in-law?

VAG NA just moved their offices basically across the freeway from my work. perhaps they would perform the scheduled maintenance there.

JD Power ranks them at or near last in total quality and initial quality. that's disconcerting no matter how much of an outlier the sportwagon might be.

Malfunction Indicator Lamp.

Also known as a CEL (Check Engine Light).

I don't see how, from what I've seen so far.

Oh, you meant a CEL... No issues yet. Got around 30k miles on it so far.

BTW - someone mentioned Acura. Pictured below is the odo on my dad's '05 TL. Original clutch still...

If you want space combined with mileage, you have only two options if you're being sensible.

1.
A car made by VAG, hence Audi, VW, Skoda or Seat. Diesel ofc.
I drive a Audi A6 2.5 TDI myself, but I recommend the 1.9 or 2.0 TDI engine for mileage. If you want horsepower, you can easily get a bigger engine and outrun most of the turbo Miatas you know ;)
http://cache.finn.no/mmo/2011/3/14/9...1531305635.jpg

2.
Ford Mondeo 2.0TDI Ghia/Titanium X. It's the most sporty of the big ones, according to the car tests. I've only driven the 2005, but the 2008+ looks a lot better, and probably rides better too.
http://cache.finn.no/mmo/2011/3/14/5..._-17443121.jpg

With both these you get a highway mileage of 5 litres pr 100 km (fuck if I know this silly mpg measure of yours, get used to the one the rest of the world uses. Metric>yours) and cars that will last forever. The Mondeo is cheaper to service/repair, but the Audi is just heaven to ride.

Not available in U.S.

What an awful country. But then again, you chose Bush 4 times..

Too bad about the Skoda and Seat, since they're basically and Audi in a less pricy shell.

Since the car in question is a family car, stay away from the MINI. It is fucking SMALL, the Clubman - their station wagon - is the same length as the Miata.
You'll end up getting annoyed, and wishing you bought a bigger car.
And the quality is as shitty as they get, it seems like BMW picked up all the parts that weren't good enough for their cars, and thought "hmm.. we've got so many shitty parts here, what to do with them? - Aha! Let's make a new brand!!". And then they made the MINI..

So all in all, go for the Audi or VW.
As for CEL, Mercedes is the winner in Europe, and I can't remember VAG cars being below average in build quality. They have their issues ofc, but all brands do.
Their engines are amazing though, and it's the reason I ended up getting the Audi.