[Thunderhawk]

List so far.

Impreza WRX wagon
subaru forester.
mazda 3 series


-----

I continue my search for a car.

I was interested in the caliber and its Jeep clones, but Im hearing disappointing things about them. The Ford Focus Wagon (not hatchback) is too underpowered.


So, Im opening this thread for suggestions on which car I should look at.


My car needs:

ROOM.
Im looking for room for people and/or cargo. Folding down seats (standard on many cars) are usually sufficient. I Dont need a minivan kind of room, but a compact sedan is out of the question. Im thinking either a compact SUV, large hatchback or a wagon. Do I need shit loads of room all the time? no. But if Im getting a car its for practicality aswell - and that means room.


Reasonable Power.
I dont need shit loads of power or performance, but it must have the power to merge easily on the highways. Take into consideration it will be used to haul my friends and/or the occational piece of cargo in addition to myself. 2 people or myself and a good chunk of cargo and thats 400 or so pounds (180kg). Not alot of weight on a car, but it would strain an small engine if I have to merge aggressively onto a highway.
A small 10 second 0-60mph(0-100kph) car sounds great, but addpeople and cargo, and merging will probably be at the discretion of other people's good will (ie, unsafe, slow, engine always whining).

Edit: I recently was in a civic with 2 other people, accelerating from 40kph to 100kph, floored pedal, took 9 seconds, and that engine whined the whole time. Thats fine most of the times, but what if the weather is bad? congestions? I need something better then that.

Fuel "economy".
Im not expecting fantastic performance with the above requisites, but keeping an eye on economy would be nice. Large SUVs are basically out of the picture. Gizmos like like a 2 or 4 cylinder disactiviation, fuel injection systems, etc. are nice, but must be effective unlike the system in the magnum/charger 5.3 litre V8.

Diesel is fine.


Cost.
With the above, I dont expect anything cheap. Id like a low priced car, but Im realistic - I wont get it.


Market:
Has to be available in Canada.



Give a list of cars you think would be suitable.. please?
Ill reasearch them later.



P.S.
If you know of uncommon variants that would fit the bill, like Focus wagons with bigger engines or a way to re-write the 4cylinder shut off on a magnum v8, that would be nice too.

[Maxim Litvinov]

Is diesel either practical or a good option for you then?

[Thunderhawk]

diesel is fine.
Edited to include it

The gulf diesel is all about torque, but slow. I considered it, but had to dismiss it.

[Notorious B.i.G.]

A very North American attitued about small cars.

Agressive overtaking doesn't put strain on small engines. A 2 lt Golf Engine vs a 5 Lt Chev enging. Flooring it will put as much strain on either or, an engine is designed to take hight loading when mergering in highways etc. The engine in the Ford Focus has been run around the clock by Ford in England for 3 months straight at its highest rev limit in what would be the highest gear.

In terms of power delivery, small cars are not any worse then big cars. The 0-100 kph of a Golf 2.0 lt FSI is 8.8 Seconds. The dodge Caliber has a 4 cyl engine too, 1.8 2.0 or 2.4 lt. So what is the difference between the Dodge and a 'small car' with the same sort of engine?

I guess more to the point what is your deinition of s small engine? It seems to me that the 2.4 4cl Caliber engine is small. Small cars and small engines do not equate to unsafe, slow and engine whine.

I don't like small cars, I guess i'm not really defending them, but you shouldn't discount them on a borad ill informed sweeping statment. I like big cars. I have a Ford Falcon with a 4lt 6cyl. I just like big cars. Though I have driven Volvo's with 4cyl engines and new mkV golfs. The 2.0lt 4 cyl FSI golf is a very very quick snappy car with lots of room for people and cargo and very fuel efficent. Also the engine has more of a vroom sound then a whine.

My real opinion though, buy a Pontiac G8. It has a 5.7 V8 and is a great car to drive.

[Adrien]

My real opinion though, buy a Pontiac G8. It has a 5.7 V8 and is a great car to drive.

You would say that.



On the rest, I agree with Notorious. You should test drive a Focus wagon and check how it goes on the highway but I'm confident it will hold the comparison. You North Americans will soon learn to ditch your clichés on small engines, hehe.

[Thunderhawk]

Well, I am looking for a moderately sized car for cargo. If I get a moderate or large car for cargo space, then it must be able to move that cargo.


I dont need performance up the wazoo, but I wont get a car that struggles when loaded. It isnt a big dick issue about performance, is simple safety and maintainance. If it struggles for acceleration then merging and overtaking will be a problem - especially so if I load down the car. Slow acceleration is unsafe IMO. If the engine is struggling its wearing down faster. And, it would probably be an annoying/labourous ride to boot.


A Rabbit with 2.5l seems ok initially, as does the caliber, the Focus wagon, etc.. They are not big cars yet they suit my need. They were my first views. The Focus performance reviews werent exactly good, the Rabbit is heavy and not very fuel efficient while the Caliber (Ive been told by Adrian) is not sure footed.


Running low on steam, Ive put it out for people to give me suggestions. I dont need a hard and fast suggestion - I will be doing my own research regardless. I just want to know what others might have heard, or think might fit my preferences.


Give a list of cars you think would be suitable.. please?


Note: If I dont get a car for cargo ability, I'll probably just get a small car with roof racks. (Like a civic, but one not so insurance-expensive, and roomy for me, Im big)

My real opinion though, buy a Pontiac G8. It has a 5.7 V8 and is a great car to drive.

If Im going for muscle, Id get a Charger police package with hemi. One that was available recently

[Adrien]

Well, I am looking for a moderately sized car for cargo. If I get a moderate or large car for cargo space, then it must be able to move that cargo.

Well, too bad in Canada/USA hatchbacks and wagons aren't the norm, in Europe you would have had a *lot* of alternatives. Especially since the diesel market is huge, and these engines are assuredly the best compromise in fuel efficiency / performance in overtaking and all.

The key to your choice will probably be test drives then. Don't forget to consider Korean manufacturers.

[Thunderhawk]

I have no experiance driving yet. Im going for a course and (hopefully) getting my G2 some time this summer.

G2 = second of three stages for drivers licence here.
G = final stage, full licence, minimum 1 year after G2.

I might get a used car, I might buy a new one.


I should have a basic level of knowledge about what is good and what I should ignore, no point in wasting my time test driving that which wont cut it in the first place. And I sure as hell aint reading up on every car and variant in Canada.

Korean?
Im big - fat.
Ive been in a few KIAs. Except for their compact SUV all of them are small. Getting a leg cramp on the highway would be bad.

[Adrien]

G2 = second of three stages for drivers licence here.

I see, things work a bit like that here too.

I might get a used car, I might buy a new one.

Mmm. Well, then, maybe you can find an old GM/Ford wagon of the 1980's: they would provide you with lots of cargo and usually lots of room for passengers and should most likely sport a V6 or a V8 that won't be really fuel efficient but that should give you good power to overtake. And if you're into hoonage you can swap engines easily on these things.



But otherwise, it's also a question of budget. Eh, a 3-series wagon (not necessarily the latest generation) would definitely answer your needs.

[Blondie]

Try a subaru forester.

[Adrien]

Or an Impreza WRX wagon!

[Eauz]

Why do you need a car? No transit available? Job is too far away?

Or did you mean to say I want a car ?

[Thunderhawk]

I may move to a place that needs a car, I may need a car for a future job. The convenience of a car is also nice.

[Eauz]

So, in reality, you want a car.

[Thunderhawk]

In reality, I want a car as I may need a car in the future and I dont like being caught flat footed.

[Mikolaj]

*Waits for QatzlOk to crash this thread*

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Yeah, Blondie is right, A Subaru Forester sounds like the perfect for ya.

It's a largeish car, a soft roader, so not a full blown SUV, and if you get a say a second hand XT (or GT as they used to called IIRC) you'll get pleanty of Cargo room, with pleanty of power.

Definately have a look at one of those

Inpreza WRX wagon Adrien? REally? Trying to compensate for something? Oh yeah and arch, ugly!

[QatzelOk]

*Waits for QatzlOk to crash this thread*

I just coughed up a lung on St Germain! Yay diesel!

[ninintothevoid]

I'd look into the mazda 3 series as well. They have a decent hatchback that has a lot of cargo room and gets decent gas mileage(i think its 25/32?). Go with a manual transmission and bump that up a few. They arent too expensive either, around $17k US (~18k CAN). If you're looking for power, they have a sport edition and a mazdaspeed edition which has some rediculous turbo on it that puts out 225hp and a 0-60 that's 6ish.

[Little von]

If you have not bought your car yet...



The new, 2008 VW Jetta SportWagon with a diesel engine.

This car will fit all your needs once it is in production. (delivery date of spring 2008 for the USA)