All around nice car/truck shopping, anyone have suggestions?

281pony

Active Member
Aug 31, 2003
2,681
2
46
Oly, WA
i am getting rid of my cobra. not going to get into it, but its not for money reasons. i can afford it just fine, but its not worth it to me.

with that said, im going to get something new. i want whatever i buy to meet some qualifications. i want decent mileage, i want to be able to drive it everyday and not worry about someone messing with it (like someone door dinging a mustang) and id like a little cheaper insurance than my cobra. shouldnt be hard to get that part.

my limit is about 30k out the door. dont want anything more then a year or two old. i am DONE with the mustang/performance car scene.

im reading more about an 06 dodge 1500. ive kinda wanted one of those for awhile. so based loosely on that stuff, what would you guys buy? remember, no mustangs/camaro's/nothing like that. had enough of it for awhile.
 
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Decent gas mileage will be tough with a truck or SUV. Unless you get a 4-banger...but then that'd just suck. What about a Mazda 6 with a 6cyl? Nice lookin cars, priced in your range....decent mpg....and has a little power and sport to it. Have to say any car I owned that cost 30k....I'd worry bout dings in parking lots. How bout a used BMW 3 series? 4wd Ford Sporttrac? Quad cab Nissan Frontier 4wd? Those are some I'd look at if it were me.

Can't help but be curious as to why you wanna ditch the Cobra so soon....but good luck!
 
Well a Ram 1500 won't beat the Cobra in gas mileage thats for sure. I had one as a Demo vehicle and i couldn't wait to get rid of it and its 14MPG. Insurance will be high on a truck just like a sports car. How about a Magnum? You can get a new one with the Hemi for @ 30,000 and still get 25MPG. Lots of room and power for the occasional romp when needed.
 
I just drove one a few days ago. I was eally impressed. It was loaded with options. Seats were great--rides like a dream and the hemi moved that big boat with little effort or noise. And the interior looked great..no noises or creaks. I felt like I sat in the first true American luxury car worth consideration.

Warrior 102 said:
300 C HEMI
 
VPStang said:
I just drove one a few days ago. I was eally impressed. It was loaded with options. Seats were great--rides like a dream and the hemi moved that big boat with little effort or noise. And the interior looked great..no noises or creaks. I felt like I sat in the first true American luxury car worth consideration.

Interesting, I've always read they don't hold up very well.
 
Ford Fusion SE and SEL are supposed to be quite nice Euro-style sport sedans for a bargain price (around $20k, probably less)

If you can live with an automatic transmission, I'd say it's a great deal. Sorta a bargain-basement BMW. Cool styling too (looks like a sport coupe from the rear). :nice: I'm personally hoping Ford introduces a manual transmission for the V6 model in a few years (should I decide I've had enough of my Mustang).
 
the new explorers and sport tracs are nice. pm me if you want me to price them out for you to get a target price with the equipment you want.

the v8 has a 6speed auto and gets the same gas mileage as the 4.0, but its a lot quieter and smoother

car wise, a black limited ford five hundred with nav is pretty pimp and easily in that range
 
.....if you can't get it for under $30,000.....they new Sport Track is practically the same vehicle. It also can be had with all of the toys and the V8 option, but the vehicle itself is about 8-10k cheaper. 292hp 4.6L V8 that gets nearly the same gas mileage as a 4.0L is a pretty nice place to start. :nice:
 
For trucks i would go Toyota,dodge and chevy.Not a big fan of the ford trucks and i work a at a ford dealership..This is just my 2 cents..We also own a dodge lot love there trucks they eat the gas but have a good amount of power..My dad has a 05 fully loaded GMC and it has nice power and avg's about 21mpg..
 
281pony said:
im reading more about an 06 dodge 1500. ive kinda wanted one of those for awhile

Don't do it. I know too many people dealing with the weak transmissions and rearends going out on Dodge trucks. The F150 is much more civilized and recent reliability is also much better. Ford knows trucks, it is sad to say but it's one of few things they do get right. You'll see on the attached web page Ford got its act together big time around 1994 while Dodge remains at the bottom. There are some notes below the chart suggesting possible problems going forward with the Ford, Ford is going broke so cost cutting has to hit sometime. Even so they wont rate any worse than Dodge. Toyota is tops across the board. If you can get by with mid-size the Toyota is a nobrainer....

http://www.autooninfo.net/ReliabilityPercentrank*****ups.htm