So after more car troubles the wife and I have come back to the never ending car search. Though this time around the car I have my eye on may make you sick to your stomach. Oddly enough the car I think looks to be a good deal is the Honda Element. I searched all day friday for cars, not much work to do at work, and found the Element to be usually cheaper than the Accord. I'm looking at 2004 models as the used car market this weekend was pretty slim. Usually its jam packed with stuff, but I also realized with the 2004 models going out they'll be cheaper, and with payments as low as a used car can be I figure its not too bad. I worked with a loan calculator at work and figured out the best scenario.
The only problem I see with the Element, besides its unusual looks, is the wife enjoying the car. I did a side by side comparison to the Accord and the Element is a little bigger in some areas, smaller in others, but they're basically the same car. Same engine for sure, but the Element has some little extra features that appeal to the dork in me. For one is no-cloth floors, they're rubber. Thus allowing for easy clean up. And the seats are made of stain resistant stuff, not the normal cloth stuff. I figure this is a good thing because I'm a slobb, and so will future babies. Another feature I like would be the seats fold down or come out... I think... there's a picture of two mtn bikes in the back seat with no back seat so thats an assumption right now. The Element also seems to be cheaper, with all the same bells and wistles Accord is about 3000 dollars more.
Also one of my things is owning a car that people go, "Whelp, thats the Holtons..." Thus the reason why I never put hubcaps on my sentra... people know its me. But we'll see right now we're lacking the monthly income to afford a monthly payment. With the promotion I should be Ok, but until then we may just have to wate.
Another car I'm looking at is the Toyota Matrix.... THE MATRIX...it actually is a little cheaper than the Element but in my opinion way uglier. The problem I see with the Matrix is its built I think off the corolla which makes it off the bat a smaller car interior wise and motor wise. Since Honda doesn't have a midsized they built the Element off the accord, at least thats what i'm guessing looking at the engine and size of the vehicle. Though I just checked the interior of the matrix and its pretty swank, everything can fold down so you can max the space. Which i think the Element does too. I don't know its sort of a toss up. The Matrix gets way better gas mileage but its a smaller car so you'd expect that. We'll probably look at both.
I basically trying to pick a car I'd want in a few years. We're hoping that we get this one, possibly get a second when wife starts teaching. And her's would be more of the family style car aka a van or bigger suv... i'm opting for the van. But we'll see. We can't afford squat right now.
The inlaws and inlaw grandparents are in, they got in last night. We're taking them out to wherehouse row i think. I need to run over to Suck Creek Cycles to fix my bike, the chain changer thing is out of wack. Let me know if you have any observations on either of these two cars.... besides the fact they're the ugliest cars that Toyota and Honda make... though I think the Rav 4 and CRV are uglier.
Dude, get a Subaru. They're great.
Posted by: ryan at September 25, 2004 10:09 AMYes, Rye Dawg, I'd love a subaru, unfortunately They're rarely forsale used and tooooooo expensive new. I'll blog later about the car hunt.... we didn't get one or agree on one so it may be a while again before we get one.
Posted by: holton at September 25, 2004 10:01 PMI like the subaru idea however, with bang for the long haul buck in mind...try a VW GTI...with the VR6...they sell quite compeditively and man are they fun to drive.
Posted by: OBSCENE GENE at September 26, 2004 08:51 AMdude, subaru are terrible. They don't really offer anything compelling and are expenisve to fix. A good dependable honda. can't go wrong with it.
Posted by: crabby at September 26, 2004 11:15 AMCrabby, are you speaking from personal experience, or is that just your opinion? We have had a Soob for about four years and love it. It has been very dependible for us--as good as any Honda or Toyota. If those two car makers had not quit making station wagons in the late nineties, then we would have considered buying one.
Chris, when it comes to getting car advice, only listen to about half of what people say. People tend to be brand loyal and highly opinionated--including myself. Only you know what you need in terms of style, features and price.
Posted by: Scott at September 26, 2004 10:55 PMScott, my parents have owned 3 Soobs in the past ten years and only recently have gotten rid of theirs. What I just don't see about it is that it is comparibly priced (I thought) to Hondas or Toyotas. They don't seem to hold up as well nor retain their value. On top of all of this, to find a good dealer / mechanic is much more difficult.
But this is mostly seen through my parents' experience with 3 Soobs.
Posted by: crabby at September 27, 2004 09:35 PMCrabby, you may be right about the mechanic thing, and they are overpriced in the sense you can get a toyota or honda for cheaper. However, the resale thing you're wrong. The subarus in the paper last about a day, and those are ones with way over a 100k for mileage. They are very good for resale. Maybe in SC they're not as popular, but definately up here in chatty they're the shiz.
Posted by: holton at September 27, 2004 10:19 PM