If you were buying a new car tomorrow...

[nelsapbm]

I love my current vehicle and can highly recommend if anyone is in the market.....I have a 2007 Honda CRV EX. It's got real time AWD. I get 26 mpg on my commute (local/state roads, no stop & go), 29-30 on the interestate. When you throw on the snow tires the mileage drops by a mile or 2. The car kicks butt in the snow. Love it. The local Honda dealer here in Burlington could not keep them on the lot when I bought mine last summer.

http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-v/

http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-v/price.aspx?Model=RE4858JW

 

[andyzee]

I'd probably go with the Toyota FJ Cruiser:

 

[ed-drum]

My Mercedes diesel ALWAYS started. It started at minus 15 degrees with a click. You have to change the glow plugs in a diesel or it will not start in the cold. The diesel fuel has a winter additive in it now so it won't gel from the cold. But, the 6 cylinder 602 motor in it was a dog. It was great until the cylinder head cracked. In that motor they all cracked. So I have a 4 cylinder gas now. I will never buy a new car. I don't want to be a bank slave. Ed.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Toyota Tacoma

 

[bvibert]

Audi A4 Avant 2.0T

 

[mondeo]

Probably another STI, maybe the Lancer Evo. I don't like that the new STIs have added comfort without any better performance, but still more to my liking than any other car on the market. Impractical, yes. Fun as hell, absolutely.

You can sleep in a car, but you can't drive a house.

 

[mondeo]

It's got real time AWD.http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-v/price.aspx?Model=RE4858JW

On a tangent here, I love all the marketing gimmicks that go along with the different AWD systems. Real time AWD? So, basically, it's a mechanical AWD system, where differentials react to wheel slippage instantaneously, just like almost every other AWD system out there? Almost as good as Subaru's "Symmetrical" AWD. I'd love to see an AWD system that actually treated the left wheels differently from the right.

 

[deadheadskier]

I'd love to see an AWD system that actually treated the left wheels differently from the right.

Isn't that the concept behind Quattro?? It treats all four wheels differently depending on slippage?

Asking, I don't know this to be true.

 

[mondeo]

Isn't that the concept behind Quattro?? It treats all four wheels differently depending on slippage?

Asking, I don't know this to be true.

All that refers to is a Limited_slip_differential

What a limited slip differential does is split torque between two wheels when they are rotating at different speeds. The only type I'm even decently familiar with is a Torsen (used for the center diffs in Audis), which will provide about 3x (this amount is variable) the torque of the slipping wheel to the slower spinning wheel; so if the slipping wheel is taking up, say, 10 ft-lb of torque, the one that isn't slipping will get 30 ft-lb. An open differential will send all the torque to the wheel that is slipping, thus the advantage of the limited slip.

Still, this is symmetric. If the right wheel is slipping, the left wheel gets more torque. Left wheel slips, right gets more torque, and it's the same multiplier each way.

How do limited slip diffs work? Black magic, I say. Pure wizardry.

 

[wa-loaf]

Here's a question. Hybrids are best for stop and go city driving where you can run the electric motor a lot and recharge the batteries with breaking. What vehicles do that the most? Minivans. How come car companies are wasting their time with hybrid SUVs? Put that technology and all the environmentally conscious stay at home moms would be snapping them up. I haven't even read about any in the planning stages, it's all little cars and SUVs. I think the car companies are really dropping the ball on this.

 

[deadheadskier]

Here's a question. Hybrids are best for stop and go city driving where you can run the electric motor a lot and recharge the batteries with breaking. What vehicles do that the most? Minivans. How come car companies are wasting their time with hybrid SUVs? Put that technology and all the environmentally conscious stay at home moms would be snapping them up. I haven't even read about any in the planning stages, it's all little cars and SUVs. I think the car companies are really dropping the ball on this.

you just want another reason to get your wife to buy a mini van so you can get an suv

 

[wa-loaf]

you just want another reason to get your wife to buy a mini van so you can get an suv

Nah, we're getting a Minivan at some point anyway. I'd just like to have that option. And yes I'd like to make the outback my day to day vehicle. :-D

 

[BeanoNYC]

In February I bought the car I would buy tomorrow. I want two now!

 

[BeanoNYC]

Here's a question. Hybrids are best for stop and go city driving where you can run the electric motor a lot and recharge the batteries with breaking. What vehicles do that the most? Minivans. How come car companies are wasting their time with hybrid SUVs? Put that technology and all the environmentally conscious stay at home moms would be snapping them up. I haven't even read about any in the planning stages, it's all little cars and SUVs. I think the car companies are really dropping the ball on this.

That's actually quite ingenious....

 

[snoseek]

Early 2000's civic hx or 90's civic vx with cold hard cash.

 

[riverc0il]

I'm OK - scratched arm... Car totaled... Still spent the next 3 days at Tuckerman...

Was on Rt2 heading to Tucks - it was dark - i was being careful... Passed through some random street light - when I came out of the light a bull moose was trotting across the road..

Damn, glad to hear you are okay. At 45 MPH, that could have been a lot worse. Route 2 is ridiculous. When I lived along Route 2 in VT and it was foggy, I used to slow down to between 20-30 MPH. Never got up to the speed limit at night time.

 

[dmc]

Damn, glad to hear you are okay. At 45 MPH, that could have been a lot worse. Route 2 is ridiculous. When I lived along Route 2 in VT and it was foggy, I used to slow down to between 20-30 MPH. Never got up to the speed limit at night time.

I was totally clear - 45 was what I going when I saw the moose...
I was being careful..I never speed on a road like that..

 

[riverc0il]

Here's a question. Hybrids are best for stop and go city driving where you can run the electric motor a lot and recharge the batteries with breaking. What vehicles do that the most? Minivans. How come car companies are wasting their time with hybrid SUVs? Put that technology and all the environmentally conscious stay at home moms would be snapping them up. I haven't even read about any in the planning stages, it's all little cars and SUVs. I think the car companies are really dropping the ball on this.

The real answer to why car companies are wasting their time with hybrid SUVs is that customers really really really like SUVs and car companies make a crap load of money off them. But gas is getting expensive so a hybrid SUV that gets 23 MPG is a major improvement. It also helps hypocrites that are concerned about their carbon foot print but still want a SUV life with themselves. That is the real and practical answer, but I ask myself the same question all the time. Hybrids are not targeted towards the markets in which they can make the greatest amount of impact but rather where the market is demanding them (and that is popular models by people that can afford to spend a lot of money on a car). The average hybrid still is not worth it financially, IMO, much as I wish that were not true. Really, only the Prius is close, and only then for the right driver.

Regarding "it's all little cars and SUVs, that is 100% untrue. Very very very few sub-economy and economy cars have hybrid alternatives currently (trust me, I've looked for them). The Prius was one of the first but few have followed in that size car. I think the Civic has a Hybrid but I can't think of any other smaller cars that do. Most hybrids seem bent on full size sedans and SUVs. The full size sedan is a case in which people want the full size model but want it with an economy car's gas mileage. I say a big whatever to that. I scoff when I see "hybrid" sedans that still get worse MPG than economy cars.

Regardless of how you slice it, the market is not stepping it up quick enough due to the long turn around time on models which are going to be slow in catching up to expectations now that gas is heading for four dollars and more.

 

[riverc0il]

I have been up in the air between a Legacy sedan vs the wagon. Pluses and minuses on both sides but I lean towards the sedan. My Saturn is only at 138k or so, so it still has another two full years before I am willing to trade it in (fully paid for a while now, why go into debt with financing when I could be saving up a down payment?). 2010 supposedly sees the new boxer diesel engine in the stateside Legacy, that might be an option. Maybe Subaru can get their gas mileage up by then. It really saddens me to be taking an average 6 MPG drop from my current vehicle. The diesel would get better mileage but at a higher price so I would probably pay about the same at the pump as I do now but the car would also cost an extra 2k or what not. There really are no good affordable and high MPG AWD options on the market. Considered the Impreza wagon as an alternative but with a full sized puppy on its way and us wanting to do some trips, I am all for a size upgrade compared to my current low volume sub-compact.

campgottagopee- Does Sub have any hybrids up its sleeves?

 

[Philpug]

Somebody posted some pics of the new Forester and it got me thinking so I looked it up. The 2.5XT with the turbo looks really nice and while not great on gas, it gets 50% better mileage than any of our Jeeps. I'm okay with that given it has 224 HP. My wife liked the look of it. We just might have to test drive one. I'm not big on buying first year model cars though and we're not due for a new car until next June so we probably won't pull the trigger until the 2010s come out if we go this route. Pretty rad though:

Picking up a 2009 Forester tonight...

My Forester didn't make it back from NH last week...

Radical! Keep me posted. What are you getting? And how long did your previous one last you?

Edit: Just saw the pic. Ouch. Everyone okay?

2009 Subaru Forester 2.5X with Premium Package and VDC

It's bigger then the old one... But i like the ground clearence and that it's short for parking in NYC...

I picked up an 09 Forester a month ago, Prem pkg w/ VDC. So far pretty happy. MPG, while not quite as good as my 06 Leg SW, I am getting 25.2 w/ 2100 miles on it. I did a 2 year lease, hoping the diesel will be out at that point. I will weigh all my options though. Chances are I will stay with another Subie though.