<p>My little sister has been looking at cars and she has narrowed it down to three:</p>
<p>Scion tC
Chevrolet Cobalt
Pontiac G5</p>
<p>I already gave her my opinion on these cars, but she was asking if anyone has any personal experience with any of them? Good? Bad? Indifferent? She’s planning to buy one once she graduates in May… just doing some research right now.</p>
<p>nobody has an opinion???</p>
<p>We’ve had nothing but Fords, and they have been extremely reliable. I’d recommend a Focus. (We have a Focus station wagon.) I don’t know anything about the cars listed. To me, buying a car that is so small that you can’t haul anything in it (or a gas-guzzling behemoth that you don’t need) is dumb unless you have tons of $$ to burn. A compact station wagon is perfect. But then, I have big dogs.</p>
<p>I checked out the Scion tC pretty closely a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to like it because of the features for the price. However, the back seat was impractical for anything other than a very short trip. The roofline is low and sloping so there’s almost no headroom for even average height people. Reclining the rear seat doesn’t really help because the roof line is just sloping lower anyway. Since it was tight inside with the low roof and it being a 2 door, it was very claustrophobic in the rear. If she doesn’t care about what I just mentioned about the back seat she might like it and again, the features/price is good.</p>
<p>Has she considered a Corolla S model? It’s sportier looking than the older Corolla models (they just restyled) and is less expensive than some other cars. Another one to consider is the Mazda3. I haven’t driven the Mazda3 but the enthusiast magazines I subscribe to like it for that segment from a driving performance perspective.</p>
<p>She only wants a 2 door car. She said she was going to try to find a used car and pay cash for it… but she’s not against taking out a small loan for a new car if she finds a really really good deal on it. You never know right now with the auto market.</p>
<p>My sister has a 2-door Cobalt and loves it. My whole family drives Chevrolet, with the exception of myself (I drive a '99 Chrysler Concorde that used to be my mom’s). The few times I’ve borrowed it I’ve noticed that it drives very well, easy to drive. The only problem I had was that it felt much smaller than my car (to be honest, it’s a great deal smaller than my 4-door Concorde), so I had to adjust. But OTOH, I’m sure if that’s the only car you drove you wouldn’t have that problem. It also gets great mileage! :)</p>
<p>Only Japanese cars here…</p>
<p>My S has a Mazda 3 and loves it. Tons of room, seats fold down for hauling things. Great gas mileage, got a really good deal. We have had many Mazdas over the past 20 years. Excellent value and reliability.</p>
<p>Scion gets my vote.</p>
<p>I vote for Scion because it is actually a sub-company of Toyota. Toyota probably makes the most reliable cars on the road today. If you want a car that will breakdown within a few years, then buy American, but if you want a good, long-lasting car, go for Scion.</p>
<p>I actually told her to buy the Scion because I think Toyota makes great reliable cars and I’m not a fan of GM at all… which is who makes the other two… and I don’t care about american or non american, I just personally don’t like GM. </p>
<p>Does anyone else have any experience or know anyone with the cars? I’m glad to see someone has a cobalt, she’ll be happy to know someone likes it.</p>
<p>A colleague of mine has had a Scion tc for a couple of years or so. I asked him about it the other day and he said he likes it okay. It’s proven reliable so far but many cars are reliable.</p>
<p>Another car in a similar category is the 2 door Honda Civic. </p>
<p>If she’s considering used, she might want to consider buying the used car at a dealer and get the ‘factory certified’ one that typically provides a factory warranty on the powertrain for 100K miles. These can cost a bit more than buying directly from an owner but gives some peace of mind on a pre-owned car.</p>
<p>She has a Honda Civic right now. She doesn’t really like the looks of the new ones. I personally think the things she doesn’t like wouldn’t be an issue if it was a newer car but she’s ruled them out. (It’s not like she has a horrible car. It’s a 1996 and she has about 99k miles on it. She bought it used in 2004 with about 91k miles on it, so you can tell how much she actually drives… haha. However she has had a few accidents with it so there are some dings here and there and it was keyed down the right hand side. She doesn’t like that it doesn’t have power windows and doors and she doesn’t like how it drives. I do admit it drives rough but I think that’s just because it’s 13 years old. It makes weird squeaky noises in reverse and this and that.)</p>
<p>She would definitely buy a certified pre-owned from the dealer if she goes used. The only way she’ll do new is if she finds some crazy good deal. Like I said before she says she plans on paying cash for this purchase, but that she wouldn’t mind taking out a small loan if it was a much better car.</p>
<p>I gave my S my Honda coupe, and we both agreed that we will only buy 4-door cars in future. If sister needs lots of trunk space, I like the Toyota Matrix. Actually, I like Toyota/Honda cars for reliability</p>
<p>thanks everyone… anyone else have any experiences with them?</p>
<p>No, but my daughter loves her stick shift mini cooper (no, I mean MINE mini cooper)</p>
<p>First, check the safetly ratings - start with the insurance institute website. </p>
<p>Add side airbags - especially for those small cars. </p>
<p>Call the insurance company and get quotes before you buy. They have ratings on repair costs, risk of getting stolen and safety. It is more expensive to insure a 2 door so make sure she is aware of that if money is an issue.</p>
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<p>And you know this how? Ford is as reliable as Japanese cars. My Escort station wagon is a 1994 and still runs well. My Taurus wagon had at least 175,000 miles on it when we sold it. </p>
<p>The least reliable car I ever owned was a Mazda.</p>
<p>anyone want a vw jetta cheap? bad electrical systems but pretty reliable other than that - going once, going twice, going chicken soup with rice… pm me if you want it…</p>
<p>Love the shout out to Mr. Sendak dragonmom.</p>