I’m starting to get the new car itch, and I’m looking around there is just about nothing out there that interests me that is at a price I’d be willing to pay.
I’ve never really been in this situation before. I’ve always loved to look at what new cars are out and even think about what I’d buy if something happened to my daily driver, but man is the selection out there bleak as hell. New or slightly used. Here is my short list, but even the cars on the list all have at least one (and most have 2 or 3) thing I’ve not crazy about.
New Mustang. Never been a Mustang-guy before but I saw the new one in person and I liked it more than I thought I would.
New or slightly used Camaro. Like the Mustang, it’s more impractical that I really want, but still tempted.
WRX. I still haven’t forgiven Subaru for phoning-it-in with this redesign. I’m actually hoping a mid-cycle refresh solves this issue.
Genesis G70. I really want to like this car.
Kia Stinger. The lack of a manual is really the biggest issue - love the hatch design. There’s just something about this car that feels cheap. Which is weird because in higher trims, it really isn’t a cheap car.
CT5-V. No not the Blackwing. I wish. I’d definitely onky be looking at used ones. I feel it is underrated car. It’s got probably the best proportions of any regularly priced car on sale today. That long hood, short deck proportions is phenomenal.
Chevy Trax. The new one. This one is a total left field pick, but I’m totally digging the super low price and small, but not too small, size. A neighbor has one ans it’s lower than most other crossovers so the wagon-ness of it really appeals to me.
Nizzan Z. Like the Camaro and Mustang, this is very impractical but the old-school nature of it (manual, RWD) is incredibly appealing.
Toyota GR Corolla. Lots to like about this, but I get the feeling it would be unobtainium because I sure fuck am not paying a dealer markup.
What’s your short list of cars?
Either a new Supra or an Alfa Romeo Giulia. Slightly more reasonable: top-end trim AWD/turbo version of the new Mazda 3.
I would it if Mazda got a little more serious about sedans. That new TT V6 power train in the CX90 would have been awesome in a sedan or sports car.
Supra is not what I’d call affordable. It’s 50k euros here.
If my STI died tomorrow it’s getting a built block haha. That car is staying with me to the grave
My most fun car was my OG bugeye Rex. Wasn’t an STI but damn did I love that car. Was so sad to have to say goodbye to it after 13 years of daily driving it.
I’ve had mine for about a year. It’ll be paid off in another 2-3 years.
I’m already budgeting for an eventual IAG block. Just EJ25 things.
Anyone have cool electric picks?
Maybe this doesn’t qualify as “cool” in the sports car sense, but how about the Rivian R1S or R1T?
I’d spend $75,000 on overhauling my car.
The 2002 Subaru Outback was perfect.
Not from the US but I felt like sharing. I would get a Renault Clio station wagon It’s about the right size for me and I can do some decent road trips through all of Europe with it. I currently drive a Smart and it would be a gigantic upgrade.
Wagons are awesome. It makes me sad that there are essentially no options for wagons in the US.
If my current car died tomorrow… I’d probably buy a 20ish year old car. Maybe an Acura Integra, TL, or a Honda Civic SI. Don’t think I could afford much newer than that and still have fun with it the way I want to.
Honestly, my main goal is to stick to what I’ve got, and pick up an old Honda Insight for daily driving. Of course, there are more practical cars to get, but I like what I like.
If I had to pick new cars, probably a brand new Civic
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I’ve had three Jeep wranglers across the past 20 years and I liked them because they were fun to drive, easy to fix, and relatively cheap. That’s not the case anymore so when my current Jeep dies I’ll likely end up in some kind of EV. If money weren’t an issue I would do a new Bronco with 35s but those are insanely priced. If I had no choice and needed a car now I would probably do a used BMW 3 series like the e90 or something.
If my 2015 Mustang GT (base 6MT, non performance-pack) got t-boned by a dump truck tomorrow, I’d buy another 2015-2017 Mustang GT base. I might try to find a Premium. The 2018-2023 looks a bit better, can have active exhaust, and has marginally more power, but they screwed up the manual gear ratios; it’s viable in automatic.
It’s fast, loud, comfortable, surprisingly economical, and has a big trunk. It’s not really a sports car (hence omitting the performance pack), but it’s a damn fine grand tourer and a very livable daily driver.
I’ve tried a lot of the other options, for durations ranging from a test drive to a few years.
- Hot hatches are fun if you drive like an asshole but don’t feel special if you drive them normally. Some people love that aspect, but personally I think it makes them boring too often.
- The GR86 is an absolute riot if you live near twisty roads and punishing if you don’t.
- Corvettes feel huge and unwieldy in traffic even though they’re not that big. The lack of even token back seats makes them a lot harder to live with, too.
- Camaros have lousy visibility.
- The Challenger drives like a moderately-quick truck.
- Kia dealers treat the Stinger like it’s a Ferrari, so good luck buying a new one.
- The WRX is still decent, but I think it also suffers from the hot hatch syndrome where it only feels special when you drive it hard.
- I haven’t driven a Z. My instinct is that it’ll be years before the price gets reasonable on a new one, but the old models might be fun if you don’t need back seats.
- I haven’t driven a GR Corolla. No idea if it’ll have the hot hatch problem or not, but I can’t find one to try anyway.
No Supra on the list? I really think that’s where I would lean if my current car was swallowed by a sinkhole tomorrow. I hear they are coming out with a manual version, which is also on my list of pros.
No German cars. On top of that, of all the impractical cars I did list, it seems to be even more impractical still.
Ahh. Well, this would really be the first time in my life where I can just get a two seater, and it’s refreshing to think about.
If I was spending new Supra money, I would honestly just get a C8 Corvette. The more I think about it though the less and less it makes sense. Roads aren’t getting better, in fact they are getting worse. There’s always traffic or cops around. And it’s not like anyone is going to really track their car that often. My current daily driver can already get me into trouble in terms of speed so an even faster car would have even more of its performance that goes untapped 99% of the time.
Of course having said all that, I’ve been eying C7s a LOT lately though. LOL
Since when are C8s and Supras remotely comparable in price? C8s are running 80-90k for the most part
Biggest thing for me is way too many models have had decades of the same fucking design. Same shape. Same engine types. Just new paints parts and fancy cheap LED all over the place.
And when they do let a designer make something new we get the most stupid shit imaginable like the Santa Cruz
Just new paints parts and fancy cheap LED all over the place.
The worst part about this is that when you have a single year version of stupid shit like taillights, they start getting super expensive. If you are going to do the same shit for 10 years in a row, just stamp them out, and don’t dick with the little things.
If I had to choose right now… probably something boring like a Subaru Legacy.
My car should hold out at least another 6, 8, or maybe even 10 years, though. I hope that small city trucks catch on by then.
The Mavrick wasn’t a phenomenon, but people seem to like them. The Santa Cruz is weird looking, but I’m here for what it’s trying to do. From what I know about the Stout, that seems like it’ll be pretty cool.
Keep shrinking them, I say! Hell, let’s go full ute & bring back the El Camino or the Ranchero. I’d love that.
The Stout?! What the heck is that? Haven’t heard about that one.
It’s a small pickup that used to be in the Central & South American and Asian markets. It coming to the US and Canada is just a rumor, I think. But small truck enjoyers can hope!
We’ll see. I like that the Ford Maverick has become as big of a hit as it has because that means more companies will eventually release competitors. I’m hoping for a modern El Camino. I really think that if GM had released an El Camino on the RWD Alpha platform, it could have saved the Camaro since it also rides on that platform.
A new El Camino would be so sick. It’s highly unlikely, but in my mind the success of the Maverick could conceivably prod Ford into beating GM to the car-truck punch and dust off the Ranchero to serve a more pragmatic side of the small truck-wanting market.
I think performance is more part of the El Camino’s DNA than the Ranchero’s. It would be fun if Ford offered an economical ute thing with a smaller motor and few substantial performance options. Maybe a small Ford Ranchero SHO (RancherSHO?) production run for funsies, but otherwise super basic. If those did well, then Chevy could go “hold my beer…” and make things fun.
Unfortunately I think we are caught in a weird holding pattern for cars like that. For the last few years all car makers have been cutting almost anything fun or interesting as they ramp up their EV game. And that’s going to continue for a few more years as there is a whole ton of stuff going on internally and tons of uncertanty. I think (or at least I hope) that once these comapnies figure out their EV game-plan, they will use the cost savings allowed by using a common skateboard platform and let their designers run wild with crazier designs. But if that does happen, it probably won’t for a while. I think the first sign of this is that rather cool ID.Buzz retro EV van from VW.
I dont know how many countries get them but the LDV T60 would be my pick. Its a 2L diesel dual cab ute, 215hp/160kw 500nm/368ftlb
Yes its made in China, but a 5 year 130,000 KM warranty on a brand new dual cab utility for $37,000 Aud ($24,000 usd) is hard to beat.
If my car died tomorrow I’d be looking at 30 year old cars. New cars don’t excite me much. My commute is 15 minutes and I need something to occasionally haul big stuff for the house. Currently driving a lifted 99 Legacy wagon. Once I catch up with deferred maintenance (about $2k) the car will be perfect for my needs and reliable.
Looking at your list it looks like you want something on the sporty side. Do you ever to haul kids, groceries, etc?
My only comment for your choices is a bout the the Kia. I don’t believe they try to do the right thing for their customers. They never took full responsibility for the exploding engines. Now with the “Kia Boys” hack they left customers on their own, again. I was caught up in the engine fiasco but my Kia is higher end so not easy to steal. The streets in my area were littered with stolen/trashed Kias for a while but I think the kids ran through the supply.
I’m with you on the 30 year old cars bit! I don’t really want to own anything built long after 90 tbh, but have been looking longingly at some trucks from the late seventies to early eighties.
I just feel like, in general, automobile designs and engines have been going downhill for a while but it also could be that I’m poor and like to actually be able to repair my stuff. Some of those trucks from between the 70’s to 90’s? Easy as pie to repair, finding parts is the issue. Everything after around 2005 that I work on just gets increasingly complicated, with redundancies all around, meant for progress but breaking setbacks along with them.
If I could get one at msrp I would get the GR Corolla hands down. It is the coolest hatch in recent years other than possibly the focus rs.
