Yeah, you can. They don't build them like they used to...not even close. Just go with the best deal, or the best bang for you buck. A V6 Accord, Camry, Altima, the new Malibu or Impala would fit the bill, get you decent mileage and are cheap to keep up/maintain long term. The mid-size sedan is still easily the best option a small family has in terms of value, room and fuel economy.
i've been looking at potential cars for what seems like forever now and all i've read is transmission problem after transmission problem with the new camrys. i really really love the way they look and i thought you can't go wrong with toyota but i've heard too many complaints to take the plunge on that car. i started with a debate between the civic si and the mazda 3 but have eliminated them now. too small. my recommendations are the nissan altima which is imo, gorgeous, and very well equipped for a nice price, or the underrated saturn aura, which is also pretty. the accord is definitely a car you can't go wrong with and it's redesign is fantastic, but i think it's a bit more in cost then the two i just mentioned.
The new Altima's are IMO uglyy on the exterior. I love the sporty, aggressive look of my '06. The '07+ just look obese. Plus, everytime I look at the front of a new Altima, it looks like it's smiling at me.
Alright, I will give you a tip... For $21k drive out, go to a Nissan dealership and get you the 2.5S with power everything (windows, locks, etc) and even power driver seats. It gets the best mileage of its class and has decent 'oomph' for a 4-cyl. Also, the CVT is great compared to anything Toyota/Honda have in terms of its effortless acceleration. Seriously, you WON'T get a better deal than that on a Honda or a Toyota with comparable features. It's also VERY roomy in the back. Get the new Altima, thank me later...
second this advice, though i'd prefer the 6 speed manual and it'll save you about a grand. just drove one this morning actually. rizzy - to each his own, but the 07-08 altima looks just ridiculously better then the 06. i've never heard of anyone thinking otherwise.
Thanks for the replies guys. I think the Accord is out of the picture since my wife and I both think its butt ugly, but I've never been a fan of honda except for the CRX I had in college. I will definitely try the Altima. We are going to test drive cars this week and narrow down which ones we like. My wife has a cousin who is a general manager of a car dealership, and he said that he would hook us up. I think he can get us a very good deal on a slightly used car.
Interior wise yes, although I do love the speedometer setup in my '06. The front is what I find ugly. I love the look of the backs, and if you've seen the taillights with a red overlay tint, you'll love it even more. The front just looks, well, fugly. What's weird though is that I think it looks alright in black. I guess I'm just weird like that. Like you said though, to each his own. Just in case someone wanted to compare: Friends '07 Altima: Spoiler My '06 Altima: Spoiler
2 weeks ago I was looking to sell my current car (monthly payments were killing me) for something much cheaper. I looked at the Altima, Accord, and Camry. I tested all of them and loved the Altima the most. In fact there was a perfect Altima for sale at CarMax on SW Freeway 2007 4000 miles 2.5SL package (navigation, bose system, 6CD changer, leather, sunroof, the works) only $24K for it out the door. But Carmax wasn't willing to pay me what I wanted for my current car - so I passed on the deal If its still there - I'd jump on the deal - I test drove and tinkered with the car for over an hour - it was in perfect condition and have every luxury you could want.
So after spending a few days test driving cars and going to the autoshow in Austin, my wife and I have decided on buying a Saturn Outlook. It came out of nowhere. The camry was too boring. The new Accord was just too ugly on the outside. The Altima was OK but it didn't get our juices boiling The G35 was too small in the back and cost about 32K The CX-9 was very nice and it was our second choice The Ford Edge was OK also. The Outlook was big, roomy, around 30K, and looked great on the inside. Actually it had the best looking interior of all the cars we looked at and it has the amount of interior space as my Expedition and the Chevy Tahoe.
For around 30K I'd look at the 2008 Caddy CTS, though after it won car of the year it might be selling for a premium.
good luck with a saturn. i don't know how their durability is now, but all my friends who owned one said it's horrific. their cars start to fall apart after a year or so....
Is that real wood, or faux? If it's faux......pass. If it's real, keep it out of the sun and humidity. Just a word of caution from experience.
I went and test drove some Accords this weekend. It took a little while for the new body to grow on me, but I like it now - it looks better in person than online. So I think I'm getting the EX - it's got more features than I really need, but it's got the engine I want. Looks like I'm getting one big expensive christmas present this year. TO: Me FROM: Me yaaaaayyyuuuuuh!
I own a '07 Camry SE V6. All of the transmission problems I've heard about were due to an early manufacturing defect present for some V6 cars that rolled off the line prior to them correcting it. As a result, several early owners had problems where they couldn't shift into a low and high gear. I believe it is for this reason that the Camry reliability ratings per the V6 engine received a bad reliability rating on the transmission. I haven't seen any new information to lead me to believe this is an ongoing problem. I would be interested if you have more recent data that indicates otherwise. I have not had a problem with my car and I bought it close to when it came out. As far as the Camry being boring, I'm sure that it can be considered to be. The interior is pretty straightforward...not nothing to write home about. I have the 6 speed CD changer and the hands-free bluetooth. I got stuck with a sunroof I didn't really need just because of the package deal. That's really all I cared about was the sound system with bluetooth (no GPS). I imagine if your looking for bells and whistles on the interior...the Altima can't be beat in the sedans for the price category assuming you get one loaded. However, I don't think Altima has the best track record for their cars holding up over time. My primary factor was buying a car that was reliable. I felt Honda and Toyota were the main ones in the sedan category in my price range (less than $30k). I didn't buy a Honda at the time as the new one wasn't out and I didn't want to get stuck with their older body. So, I went with the Toyota on the sportier model. Had I to do it all over again...I'm not sure what I would do. So far, my Toyota is getting the job done and I haven't had a single issue at 25k miles.
