The Garage

[Nathan]

They have come up so fast.  Kia too.  I tried to convince my dad to look into the Tucson or Sportage SUVs or even a Subaru Forrester, but instead he goes out yesterday and buys a CR-V.  By trading in his 2006 CR-V.  Which he bought in 2006 by trading in his 2001 CR-V.  15 years of CR-Vs

[PANatsFan]

They have come up so fast.  Kia too.  I tried to convince my dad to look into the Tucson or Sportage SUVs or even a Subaru Forrester, but instead he goes out yesterday and buys a CR-V.  By trading in his 2006 CR-V.  Which he bought in 2006 by trading in his 2001 CR-V.  15 years of CR-Vs

The CRV is a steaming pile of underpowered crap. I test drove an '07 and it sucked, and a 2010 and it was better but still sucked, and they cost used what my 5 cost new. Good grief. I do like the new Odyssey, the Ridgeline, the Fit, and the new hybrid sports car.

As for the Sonata, my aunt was going crazy because she loved the Sonata so much but she has a brand new Camry already.

[HalfSmokes]

try the genesis- supposedly it matches up pretty nicely to a BMW 5 series.

[tomterp]

The CRV is a steaming pile of underpowered crap. I test drove an '07 and it sucked, and a 2010 and it was better but still sucked, and they cost new what my 5 cost new. Good grief. I do like the new Odyssey, the Ridgeline, the Fit, and the new hybrid sports car.

Cars are normally underpowered to achieve better fuel economy.  In such cars, a manual transmission is going to outperform automatics to a significant degree, but most buyers these days are too trifling to confront the reality that, on occasion, they may have to exercise their left calf in syncronization with their right arm, a daunting prospect.   

[PANatsFan]

try the genesis- supposedly it matches up pretty nicely to a BMW 5 series.

Boy the 2 door is beautiful. They have exterior design down pat.

[tomterp]

try the genesis- supposedly it matches up pretty nicely to a BMW 5 series.

 

[HalfSmokes]

 

that's the whole point with the genesis 4 door, Hyundai (unlike Nissan, Toyota, and Honda) specifically choose to keep the hyundai logo on it's top of the line cars. The genesis was supposedly designed to basically be a 528. I'm not saying it is, but the specs are very similar and the cabin of the genesis is comparable. 

[Nathan]

Cars are normally underpowered to achieve better fuel economy.  In such cars, a manual transmission is going to outperform automatics to a significant degree, but most buyers these days are too trifling to confront the reality that, on occasion, they may have to exercise their left calf in syncronization with their right arm, a daunting prospect.   

And most cars don't even come with a manual transmission anymore either, and if they do, you are stuck with the stripped down trim only.  Thankfully Mazda offers a manual even on the nicer trim levels on the 3.  Almost 4 years later, I still enjoy everytime I drive mine.

[PANatsFan]

Toyota is in trouble. Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai, Ford, Chevy, and Honda make affordable, sexy, and reliable cars.

[tomterp]

The genesis was supposedly designed to basically be a 528. I'm not saying it is, but the specs are very similar and the cabin of the genesis is comparable. 

I would be more interested in road tests, as opposed to cabin niceties.

[PANatsFan]

I would be more interested in road tests, as opposed to cabin niceties.

For the price, it is a hot, hot car.

[Nathan]

I would be more interested in road tests, as opposed to cabin niceties.

Tom, we aren't normal people.  Normal people care about a soft marshmallow ride, a nice interior, and a lot of times, what the logo is.

People like us care about things like, you know, a car that actually has decent driving dynamics.  The crv is a turd.  It's slow and it's got too much body roll on turns and it feels like the nose is digit into the road when you brake.  But the interior is nice, and it's got that H logo, so to most people, that automatically means it's a good car.

[tomterp]

For the price, it is a hot, hot car.

Edmunds gave the 2009 a fairly good review - as you said, quite a value.  Impressive horsepower and reasonable economy for that much power, but the achilles heel - handling, which is where BMW excels.

Here's their comment on what it's like to actually drive on the road:

Driving Impressions

Tuned more toward the luxury end of the spectrum, the Genesis' suspension offers a soft ride with respectable handling. The latter is surprisingly neutral -- a run through the slalom showed the Genesis to be a little soft and slow, but impressively obedient. The electrohydraulic steering assist leaves the rack-and-pinion steering feeling more isolated from the tires than we'd prefer, but the steering itself is still precise and appropriate, given the scale and mission of the car. Nobody would ever mistake the Genesis for a BMW when it comes to steering, but Infiniti or Lexus owners will find it familiar.

While a stopping distance of 124 feet from 60 mph isn't what we'd call world-class, it's still pretty good for a 4,000-pound sedan wearing all-season tires.

[Nathan]

For the price, it is a hot, hot car.

There are 2 cars called Genesis. There's the large saloon that's matched to the BMW 5 series, and the hot looking coupe with either a turbocharged 4 cyl or a 3.8 liter V6 and rwd.

[HalfSmokes]

Edmunds gave the 2009 a fairly good review - as you said, quite a value.  Impressive horsepower and reasonable economy for that much power, but the achilles heel - handling, which is where BMW excels.

Here's their comment on what it's like to actually drive on the road:

I'm not saying it's a BMW. Nothing really is, I have a 328 and think my stepfather's Acura handles like a conversion van- the car spoils you. As far as specs and build quality, however, they are basically the same car.

[The Chief]

I have a base level stick, but it has most of the add-ons of the next level up so I'm not really missing anything.  I do miss better tires, though.  Gotta be really easy on the gas through any kind of turn if you want to maintain full contact.  Of course there are times I don't mind so much.  Ass-sliding through a turn is fun and makes people think you're crazy

[PANatsFan]

I have a base level stick, but it has most of the add-ons of the next level up so I'm not really missing anything.  I do miss better tires, though.  Gotta be really easy on the gas through any kind of turn if you want to maintain full contact.  Of course there are times I don't mind so much.  Ass-sliding through a turn is fun and makes people think you're crazy

You can do some research and get a reasonable bargain on tires. I replaced the factory crapass tires on my highlander with a Firestone imprint (Widetrack Baja), and they are killer tires, they were 150 each.

[The Chief]

You can do some research and get a reasonable bargain on tires. I replaced the factory crapass tires on my highlander with a Firestone imprint (Widetrack Baja), and they are killer tires, they were 150 each.

It's a lease so it's not like I'm gonna sink money into it.  Just gotta make sure it gets back to the dealer in one piece

Before anyone tells me what a waste of money leases are, just know that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Old clunker needed $1200/work to pass inspection (which was already 4 months out of date) and I needed to get back on the road pronto.  I like what I got - also got a really fantastic deal on it - but I plan on spending a lot more time looking come 2012 (assuming we don't all die)

[PANatsFan]

It's a lease so it's not like I'm gonna sink money into it.  Just gotta make sure it gets back to the dealer in one piece

Before anyone tells me what a waste of money leases are, just know that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Old clunker needed $1200/work to pass inspection (which was already 4 months out of date) and I needed to get back on the road pronto.  I like what I got - also got a really fantastic deal on it - but I plan on spending a lot more time looking come 2012 (assuming we don't all die)

I actually sold my car rather than get it inspected and pay MD sales tax on a 15 year old car, so I had to ride Greyhound buses for far too long before I could afford my new car  The lease sounds like a good idea.

[The Chief]

I traded it in for $1000 towards the lease.  It seriously wasn't worth even half of that

[PANatsFan]

I traded it in for $1000 towards the lease.  It seriously wasn't worth even half of that

I know, I sold my car for $300, and the guy said it would run for another 10 years

[Nathan]

Ninja delete!!!

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Isn't a *lease* essentially like renting a car?

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Heh

Ninja delete!!!

[The Chief]

Too bad I have the power to see deleted posts

If you'd driven the assortment of crappiles I've driven over the years, you'd understand.  I give them money at a nice predictable interval every month, and in return I don't have to worry about things breaking randomly - or at least if they do, I don't have to worry about paying huge sums of money to fix them at unpredictable times.

Like I said, in 21 more months I'll be looking at a lot more options, but at the time I just needed to get back on the road ASAP and wanted to drive something that was nice and more than likely not going to strand me.