Responses

8 Responses to “New Car Comparisons…”

1. Response #1

   Sean (IP) on May 26th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

   I took a Car Buyer’s Questionnaire some years ago. Can’t remember if it was supposed to help me decide what kind of car I would like, or was a personality test based on driving preferences. In any event, the vast majority of folks would fall into the “A car is to show off how cool I am,” “how rich I am” or “how endowed I am” categories. I ended up in the 2-3% of the population who largely viewed their car as something that gets them reliably from point A to point B. You know, a boring Volvo or or Acura driver. No Miata, Hummer, BMW or Jeep for me and a basic FM radio is fine.

   Not that they don’t have their obvious appeals, of course. Zooming around in a sporty/adventurous/eye-catching thing would be cool. But when the rubber meets the road (or the bill meets the bank account) would you really be weighing “associated with adventure” over “high pollution/low gas mileage” or not buy one because “the novelty of the car isn’t what it used to be”?

2. Response #2

   richard on May 30th, 2006 at 1:14 pm

   would you really be weighing “associated with adventure” over “high pollution/low gas mileage”?

   No, obviously the prons and cons don’t necessarily have equal weight, and the two you chose certainly do not. But I will definitely be weighing positive factors like “four-wheel drive” vs. “high pollution/low gas mileage” negatives, etc.

   or not buy one because “the novelty of the car isn’t what it used to be”?

   Sure. It’s one of the factors against buying a modern Mini, albeit a minor one; I sometimes see 3-4 of them in the two miles from home to my son’s daycare. Car hunting is similar to house hunting — except you consider the number of seats vs. number of rooms, horsepower vs. square footage, paint color vs. landscaping, reliability vs. age, convertible vs. pool, two- or four-wheel drive vs. California or Washington, and the car’s “cool factor” vs. whether or not the house backs up to a horse stable.

3. Response #3

   Sean (IP) on May 30th, 2006 at 2:22 pm

   But having a stable behind your back yard solves all those questions about horsepower and how much your chosen “vehicle” should have. One!

4. Response #4

   richard on May 31st, 2006 at 9:00 am

   Interestingly, when I let AAA pick a new car for me, the options its Car MatchMaker came up with were a Volkswagen Beetle convertible, a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, a Jeep Wrangler X, a Ford Mustang, a Nissan Xterra, a Mini Cooper, a Jeep Liberty, a Honda Element, a Saturn Sky, a Chevrolet Blazer, a Chrysler PT Cruiser, a Mercury Mariner, and a Ford Freestyle.

   I don’t really care for the new Beetle much, don’t want a Nissan or Mercury (nor do we need another 5-seat SUV), absolutely loathe the boxed shape of the Element, don’t like the lines or look of the Liberty, and have no desire to own a Freestyle — leaving the Wranglers, the Mustang, the Mini, the Sky, the Blazer, and the Cruiser. The PT Cruiser is a nice car, but I’m not into the retro, 1930s-style look. As for the Blazer, 2005 was its last year of production; the Tahoe or Suburban would be nice alternatives to the Blazer, but I’m not willing to fork over an extra $8-10K for one at this point, assuming I were to even consider getting a second four-door, five-seat SUV now (which I’m not). I like the Mustang, especially the new look, but I’m not really sure I need a 300-horsepower, V8 muscle car — let alone one with rear-wheel drive, a poor option for inclement weather. Although, the Mustang had made it into the top five on my previously undiscussed short list…

   And then there were four: the Wranglers, the Sky, and the Mini.

   Regarding Jeeps: I’m surprised it didn’t recommend the Wrangler Sport, a model in between the X and the Rubicon. All three seat four; carry 800 pounds of payload; have 2000-pound towing capacity; have 4-liter, six-speed manual, 190-horsepower, V6 engines; in front have 57.3 inches of shoulder room, 41.9 inches of head room, and 40 inches of leg room; weights over 4400 pounds; and have 15/19 mileage. The Rubicon has upgraded 4WD, and a heavy-duty Dana 44 axle (the Dana 35 seen in the Sport and the X has a reputation of being rather weak) with a 4.11 ratio (improves acceleration, climbing grades, or carrying loads), higher ground clearance, and bigger off-road tires. The Sport and Rubicon have a 7-speaker sound system (with two of the speakers in overhead speaker pods. Cool!), air conditioning, and fog lamps. My Wrangler of choice between the three is the Rubicon. The Jeep is likely the safest vehicle of the three finalists (compared to the Sky and the Mini).

   Regarding the Sky: Until just this moment I didn’t realize the Sky was rear-wheel drive. That’s a very big point against the Sky. Today’s version (the redline version comes out in about six months) has a 177-horsepower, 2.4-liter, five-speed manual, V4 engine; has 52.7 inches of shoulder room, 38.4 inches of head room, and 42.7 inches of leg room; weighs just over 2900 pounds; has two cubic feet of cargo room; and has 20/28 mileage. Another disadvantage is that this is the only vehicle I’m looking at that is a two-seater. On the other hand, Kim seems to really like it, and she’d have a lot of fun driving it sometimes, too. The Sky is the least safe vehicle of the three.

   Regarding the Mini Cooper S: It sports a 168-horsepower, 6-speed manual, 1.6-liter, V4, front-wheel-drive engine; has 50.9 inches of shoulder room, 38.8 inches of head room, and 41.3 inches of leg room; weighs just over 2800 pounds; and has 25/32 mileage. Of the two sports-car-type vehicles, the Mini has the advantage of being a four-seater and has 5.6 cubic feet of cargo space (where, I have no idea!)

   Comparing the Sky and the Mini: The Cooper is a better choice than the Saturn as far as hauling capacity. The Cooper’s front-wheel drive gives it better traction in rain, snow or ice than the Sky; on the other hand, the Saturn’s rear-wheel drive provides better weight distribution. The Sky has much wider tires than the Mini; bigger tires improve handling, while smaller tires improve gas mileage. The Cooper’s engine is quite a bit smaller than the Saturn’s. Smaller engines can be stressed more; on the other hand, smaller engines typically get better gas mileage. Torque equals pickup, and the Sky will have picked up and gone by the time the Cooper finally gets out of the starting gate. The Mini has a better basic warranty, and includes BMW engineering at a mini cost. The Saturn is significantly less costly than the Mini when it comes to out-the-door or service costs.

   Am I over-analyzing this?

5. Response #5

   Sean (IP) on May 31st, 2006 at 3:01 pm

   Over-analyzing? You don’t strike me as one who ever gets over analyzing! (Hi, pot. Kettle here.)

   Gee, AAA up here doesn’t have a nice MatchMaker. Looks like I’ll have to use my old zip code. Took a little tweaking to get the final results down to a small selection but I ended up with:
   - 2005 Dodge Neon SXT
   - 2005 Ford Focus ZX4 SE
   - 2005 Saturn ION 3 Sedan
   - 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sedan
   - 2005 Honda Civic Sedan EX 5-Spd MT
   - 2006 Honda Nighthawk

   (sigh. Neither the Equinox or Solstice make the cut.)

6. Response #6

   richard on May 31st, 2006 at 7:43 pm

   An interesting observation: I asked myself if I could get one or two cars (not that that’s an option, mind you!) what the resulting desire for the remaining car(s) would be. Pure desire only, not any other factor.

   If I bought a Mini, I’d still want a Jeep.
   If I bought a Sky, I’d still want a Jeep.
   If I bought a Jeep, I’d still want a Sky.
   If I bought a Mini and a Sky, I’d still want the Jeep.
   If I bought a Mini and a Jeep, I might still want the Sky.
   If I bought a Jeep and a Sky, I would not want the Mini.

   Jeep, 3; Sky, 1.5; Mini, 0 points. Solution is to buy a Jeep and a Sky. Haha, yeah right!!

7. Response #7

   Sean (IP) on June 1st, 2006 at 9:00 am

   On pure desire I’d still like the Nighthawk. And with gas prices being what they are and her making noises about replacing the SUV, it might also be a practical choice.

8. Response #8

   Peter (IP) on January 8th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

   Buy the MX-5 power hardtop version.
   More sports car than quasi go cart (MINI)
   Better gas milage than a Jeep - which I have by the way (2003 wrangler, lifted 2-1/2″ with 32″ tires, winch, crawl bars, lots of lights - now avail for $17K with just under 24,000 miles) BTW…more like 9 city, 15 highway if truth be known.
   I drove the Sky redline - quick, agile, fun, got tons of looks - Now tell me, why would GM sell a car where two people can’t go away for the weekend in it - my wife’s makeup bag won’t even fit when the top is down!
   Honda - way too expensive for the S2000
   Solstice - see Sky
   What I REALLY want is a SAAB 3 series convertible

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