Advice..

[Japedo]

Hey folks, I regret to inform you all that my 94 850 turbo is getting retired. After 6 years and 505 kilometres on the car, im done with keeping it on the road as my daily driver. I have lots of room to keep it around, and I plan to fix it up eventually.

So now I need to decide what to do for a replacement. We have the wifes 2001 XC with 175miles on it now, but with our schedules we need two cars. Plus we do a ton of driving, weve averaged 30miles a year since owning the XC.

So esentially the new vehicle will take over the major driving and the XC will move into the 850's spot as a secondary.

With the driving we do and haveing two kids, I need a mid size sedan that gets atleast 30mpg, 35 would be better. And unfortunantley I don't think volvo has anything that meets those standards. Im getting 23mpg in the XC currently.

So pleas don't shoot me friends, but im looking at a 2007 Nissan 2.5S. Test drove it last night, 71kms or 44miles on the odometer, silver exterior black interior. Comes with bumper to bumper warranty for the next 10kms, and the transmission has factory warranty untill 2017. Lady owned car, excellent shape and I can get it for 14G. Has a wierd CVT transmission that is alot smoother then my XC, but I have never owned a nissa before.

If anyone happens to know anything about these 2007 to 2009 Altima's feel free to share opinions.

Japedo

[jblackburn]

I understand...I will be looking for a new car in another year or two. I've looked at a few, but just can't find one I like enough (or can afford enough) yet. I may just end up buying a nicer used car, an Acura TL, Audi A4 or (maybe) an S60 or something of the sort. My Volvo will still stay around as a 2nd car, as it will likely have over 200K by then and won't be worth selling with that mileage even though it still runs perfectly

The 2010 Jetta 2.0T was at the top of my list...and sadly being redesigned and cheap-ified for 2011. My #1 pet peeve is when things just...feel cheap.

Not to shoot you down, but I never did understand the appeal of the Altima...but apparently a lot of people have them. My friend had a 2007 Altima just like the one you're looking at, but I never could grow to like it, even after a 600 mile trip to Florida that we split driving. The engine is NOISY and sounds strained most of the time going up hills, the CVT is...weird and just makes the engine make a lot of noise, and the steering has no feel to it. Highway noise is VERY loud. But, on the other hand, he's had no problems with it and gets great gas mileage. Another good friend has a 2003 Maxima that I've gotten to drive a few times, and the 255 hp V6 engine is just fantastic...interior is very nice...handling is about on par with a whale though.

My parents have a 2007 Honda Accord EX-L 4 cylinder, in a stick, which is just a all-around great car...much more car than you'd expect from a Honda. I got 37 mpg on a 200-mile trip into the mountains, whereas my Volvo normally gets about 28. The engine's very quiet, extremely peppy for a 4-cylinder, and tire noise is a little loud on the highway, but other than that it's a car that is either happy around town or on the highway. It was somewhere around 40K miles last time I drove it...they've never had to do anything but change the oil and put tires on it. My issues with it? The steering has no feel to it around corners, and the radio's pretty meh. I seriously considered buying one for myself about a year ago.

The 2009+ Ford Fusions are pretty nice cars, and have an updated 2.5L engine that's loads better than the 2.3L. Fords always have had pretty nice interiors, and recently have started making very nice cars. Don't get a pre-2005 Ford, though.

I've never been a fan of Camrys.

That's my 2 cents anyway, good luck!

~Justin

[Japedo]

Hey, thanks alot for the responce justin. And after test driving 3 cars I made a decision and baught the 07 Altima. I just basically liked the look of the body styling, not as plain as the honda accord and toyota camry in my mind. But we all have different opinions which is good. THe nissan also has 175 hp vs the 150 that the camry has. I believe the accord is in the 150 range for hp to but I am not sure.
The CVT transmission is deffinentley different, but is very smooth and it's efficency allows it to get comparable fuel millage to the less powerfull cars with 5 speed automatics. I also have a bad taste in my mouth after driving the 5 speed in my XC, it seems to be holding up but is far from perfection.

I will agree that the motor is louder then you would expect when accelerating, due to the CVT keeping the rpm's in the target zone. BUt for normal driving it's very quiet inside. Have only had it a day, but averageing 35 mpg so far. And based on our family's avg annual millage, this car should save us 2000$ a year covering 5.6 months of the payments. I couldn't believe it untill I did the math.

I'll add a picture later, but it's just another silver nissan. Part of me feels like ive sinned for not buying another brick. But I wasn't going to buy another volvo unless it was a manual transmission, and I just couldn't convince my wife.

Japedo

[jblackburn]

Glad you're happy with it. It should stand up well to the kind of mileage you'll be putting on it, the Japanese (and the Swedes, too!) sure can build cars that'll last forever. The nice thing about them, though, is they almost never break.