Cindy, I bet the roads are worse and the drivers are more dangerous down here than where you are!

PJ re support -- good point! There are Honda and Toyota dealers in convenient locations, but it looks like the Subaru dealer is father away than I would like... Hmmm.

Steve and PJ re Nissan, interesting comments... My mother used to drive Nissan, maybe three cars in a row were Nissan, so however many years that was?? Anyway, her last Nissan she hated and she ended up trading it in (after a pretty short time) for the Toyota Camry she has now. We decided we wouldn't consider Nissan based on her experience.

Mark, that Cabriolet sure is pretty! But even if we were going to buy a car in that price range (which we're not!) I wouldn't want a convertible. I don't know why (certainly not because of worrying about my hair getting messed up...) but I never really liked them.

Adagio, that's what my mother has (Camry hybrid), she loves it.

Although I was looking online at a Ruby Red Rav4....

Speaking of colors, we have a gray (gun metal?) car and I don't want another gray car. Those seem to be the most common, but I hope we can get something like a pretty blue or red color....
/notthemostimportantdetailbut...

I've had great luck with Toyotas, and Quirt has had great luck with Hondas.

We tend to buy new cars and drive them for a long, long time. I've had the Prius for nine years now, which is probably a bit long to drive a hybrid without replacing the expensive battery. However, the money saved in not trading it probably washes out the cost of the battery if I should have to replace it, or so I like to think.

I saw you mention a hybrid. My research is nine years old, but way back then, I read that the payoff on the extra cost for a hybrid engine was three years for the Prius and substantially longer for other hybrids. It was borderline whether I'd make it to the payoff date for the other cars, but it was a gimmee that I'd drive a Prius for three years.

quote:

My research is nine years old, but way back then, I read that the payoff on the extra cost for a hybrid engine was three years for the Prius and substantially longer for other hybrids.

Yes, this is the kind of info I need, seeing it written out, now I can google for more recent info. Thank you!

Just to chime in as a voice for Kia.

We purchased a 2014 Kia Soul as a car for LL#1 - our main criteria were 5 star safety rating and we wanted a roomy-ish hatchback for lugging her crap to college that would still be good on gas. As it turned out, I fell in love with that car so much that we bought another one just like it in February for me to drive now that she has absconded with hers. For a smallish car, it is amazingly roomy with the back seats down, gets good mileage, and sits higher than the typical sedan without actually being an SUV. There's not really any other car like it, IMO. Not sure Kias overall are quite as reliable as honda/toyota but they're close (and honestly, my last several Hondas/Toyotas haven't been anywhere close to perfect on the reliability front anyhow!). LL's Kia has had no problems and she drives it back and forth to Ohio all the time. The second one had one minor issue with the fuel tank sensor that caused the check engine light to go on - cost a couple hundred bucks to fix. Not bad for a 2015 car.

If you have time, I would recommend setting aside whatever opinions you have about Kia and taking a look at the Souls - they are nice cross between a car and an SUV -- roomy without being excessive and they ride high enough that you don't feel like you're looking at everyone else's bumpers while still handling like a car and getting great gas mileage.

Oh I've seen those Kias on the road, I like how they look! And, unlike Subaru, there's a Kia dealer close to us. I'll take a look.

Convincing Mr. SK will be a challenge though...

My understanding of hybrids is also old, but back then, the message was the more city driving you do, the more advantage the hybrid gives you. On the freeway, you'll be running the gas engine nearly all the time.

On the other hand, I rented a Toyota Auris hybrid wagon in Paris to drive DD to university in Orleans. It seems to be the same as the Corolla. With a round-trip on the freeway and a few days of driving around Orleans, that sucker got around 50 MPG! I would buy one in a heartbeat, but... here in the US, you can get a wagon, or you can get the hybrid, but you cannot get a hybrid wagon.

I'm reading around about hybrids, and I'm not convinced it would be much benefit for us... I need to read some more though....

My Prius pretty consistently gets 50 mpg. My driving tends to be a mix of interstate and "city," by which I mean that there's not a lot of stop-and-go driving here, even in town, but you do have to slow down and deal with stop signs and signals.

MA, can I ask what kind of Prius do you have, and what year?

While I was in grad school and we were car-less, we participating in a car sharing program (wow, that was great, btw! Nothing like that here...)

Anyway, the car sharing cars were Priuses (how to pluralize that one), this was all pre-2015, so whatever those models were. But Mr. SK said he didn't like those cars and he's not too interested in considering one for our next car.

So, do you think we should reconsider?

I got mine before they had the different sizes. I think it corresponds to the "middle size" as I've seen bigger and smaller ones in the newer models. If he didn't like the older one, he might not like the middle size of the current models and I think the largest one is pretty pricey.

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If he didn't like the older one, he might not like the middle size of the current models and I think the largest one is pretty pricey.

Good to know! Thank you!!

We have to settle on a budget I think, we keep going back and forth on that. :P

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
My understanding of hybrids is also old, but back then, the message was the more city driving you do, the more advantage the hybrid gives you. On the freeway, you'll be running the gas engine nearly all the time.

On the other hand, I rented a Toyota Auris hybrid wagon in Paris to drive DD to university in Orleans. It seems to be the same as the Corolla. With a round-trip on the freeway and a few days of driving around Orleans, that sucker got around 50 MPG! I would buy one in a heartbeat, but... here in the US, you can get a wagon, or you can get the hybrid, but you cannot get a hybrid wagon.

I think our mileage was better on the highway than in the city with our old hybrid, and I *think* that’s still true with our new one? although it hardly gets driven right now; it’s Mr. AM’s car and he’s working from home.

SK, my Subie is a gorgeous red metallic. And our Camry is an even more gorgeous candy apple red metallic! I like red cars.

quote:

Anyway, the car sharing cars were Priuses (how to pluralize that one), this was all pre-2015, so whatever those models were. But Mr. SK said he didn't like those cars and he's not too interested in considering one for our next car.

What, exactly, did he not like about them? Knowing that will help you avoid getting a different car that has the same annoyance.

PJ that is an excellent question! I will see if I can get him to articulate it...

I find every Honda I've ever sat in to have very uncomfortable seats.

I loved my Forester but sold it because my mechanic warned me about their head gasket problem.

I rented a Rav4 a few years ago for a long road trip and have wanted one ever since. That will likely be our next car.

However, we have to have an SUV. We live in the mountains, up a very steep dirt road. And in our climate, AWD is a necessity. Plus we need the ability to haul animals and bags of feed and firewood....

Why would someone living in SC want an SUV? They are not as fuel efficient as smaller cars and they are more expensive to repair. And you don't have a lot of snow/ice/rugged terrain.

Why not go with a nice hybrid Camry?