New Car input???

[Laker]

DW and I are thinking about getting her a new(er) car. We would like to be environmentally friendly too if at all possible. We are thinking Civic Hybrid or the VW Jetta TDI (diesel). Research has indicated that the Honda Civic Hybrid doesn't get near the mileage that they are advertising. I guess the Jetta diesel gets closer to the advertised mileage. Both are similarly priced. The negative for the VW diesel is that it goes 0-60 in about 9 seconds :! That is just waaaaay too slow.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

This is very word of mouth. Someone I worked with a few months ago has a TDI. She was a little lax -- but not too bad -- about maintenance visits. The dealership told her that it is really important with the engine to have the regular visits. In her case, I think it was a 12K service. Seemed that something needed to be checked or changed more often.

I know....could I be more vague?

The Civics are SO quiet.

[Cumberland]

I am very down on VWs these days, but I know a lot of people on here have them and love them. I found with mine that it needed ALOT of maintenance and frequent trips to the shop. Monday it is going in for the fifth time in 18months- this time for a new fuel pump due to a recall. I just got a Honda and will never get another VW.

[DCJenn]

We have loved the BMWs, the Mini, and the Honda Accord. We just bought the Audi A3 wagon and it's been getting pretty good mileage.

My parents are total Saab people and they definitely hold their value. Although once they do start to go, repairs can be prohibitively expensive.

My room-mate from college is a VW girl but had a horrendous experience with her second VW (Jetta wagon) and only because the dealership replaced the ENTIRE car- seriously, gave her a new car off the lot, did she continue w/ VW.

When we were looking we considered the Accord Hybrid, the Honda Element, the Lexus 300H and the Audi. We went with the Audi because the Accord has NO trunk space (I think the Civic has more), the element feels like it'll break in half with any kind of impact and I just couldn't deal with an SUV-type car which eliminated the Lexus. and we got a great deal on the Audi.

I also loved my Mini and it got great gasmileage. I got rid of it only because 45 pound dogs combined with 25 pound toddlers isn't a comfy ride in the Mini.

Jenn

We have a plain old soley combustion engine Honda Civic. It gets good milage and has very low emissions.

I'd go with the Civic. My parents have owned Hondas for ~35 years and every single one of them has been a great car. They currently own a Civic that is nearing 300k miles and have only had to do minor work to it. It still runs great! I also read an article about the Civic Hybrids not getting the gas mileage that Honda claims...I think they only actually get around 5 more miles to a gallon than regular Civics.

I owned an 00 Jetta for about 5 years and was for the most part happy with it...but ONLY because I bought an extended warranty. It did hold its value though and we ended up selling it for about $800 over high blue book even though it wasn't in the best condition (cd player didn't work, minor scratches in the paint). The buyer bought it for his 16 yo daughter who "had to have a Jetta", so who knows if we could have gotten that price had he not been the one to buy it.

[ides]

I have a 2001 vw golf. I like it, but I have to say VW has really taken a nose dive in quality with the V4 generation. I grew up with a 72 rabbit, and my parents still use it! The next generation from mine is now out, so I can't say how those fair. I can only hope it's better than my generation. What I like about the car is it's tiny size, great control, good design, good gas mileage, it's nippy and handles great. Also, I can cram tons of stuff into it. Cons: It's had many things go wrong. Thankfully we got an extended warrenty, but have had to fight with the dealer for them to even get it looked at since they didn't like the warrently company they used or something. Some of the things that went wrong are: horn going out, dimmer switch not work, turning signal broken, cabin fan died, sometimes the locks won't lock, driver door locking hing got really loose making the door really hard to close, interior is cheap and the rubber surfaces get marred and look gross really quickly, back breaks wore thru at 20,000 miles. There are more things, but I can't recall them at this moment. I have heard many horror stories of electrical problems (windows opening and closing on their own, etc), but we went the cheaper route when we got the car so it's manual drive and no electric windows. So, if you go with a VW, be warned. If I were to buy a new car now, I would probably go with an audi, volvo, honda or toyota.