If you had to choose...

[Aaron Bradley]

I'm thinking of buying a practical/economical car for my birthday in 2 months. I've got 2 cars in mind right now. Which would you pick?

1) Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost Turbo (3 cylinder)
2) Fiat 500 Turbo 1.4 4I (inline 4)

If you have something else in mind, it has to be around $16K to $20K max! I also don't want to go electric or hybrid yet.

Aaron

 

[acheron]

If you're a costco member you can get $500 off the Fiesta (or Focus, $1000 off their other makes)

 

[octo]

neither

get a used miata

seriously though.

can you not work a Mazda 3 or Honda Fit, into your budget?

or a used Mazda 3 or Fit?

how are you going to merge into highway traffic with a 3 cylinder engine?

 

[ndrwrld]

Honda Fit.
Ford Focus.
Mazda 2 or 3.
Kia Rio. wicked warrantee.

all are rated top 5.

all under 20G.

 

[kennyboy]

Just bought a 2010 Honda fit for my wife to replace her 02 corolla.

Looked at a lot of smaller cars that she could zip around town in but could also comfortably fit my 6' 4" frame, and the Honda Fit was by far the best.

And the reliability reviews are top shelf.

Picking it up on Saturday. I would highly recommend, and a decent used with reasonable km's are in the 13k range.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

neither

how are you going to merge into highway traffic with a 3 cylinder engine?

LOL - made me laugh but probably somewhat true. Actually the thing has about 130 hp and has a bit of pep. I'm not too worried about that though.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

neither

get a used miata

seriously though.

can you not work a Mazda 3 or Honda Fit, into your budget?

or a used Mazda 3 or Fit?

how are you going to merge into highway traffic with a 3 cylinder engine?

I don't want used. How much is a Mazda 3 or Honda Fit? I like the other two because they are both turbo and great on gas.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

If you're a costco member you can get $500 off the Fiesta (or Focus, $1000 off their other makes)

If you're serious that's cool because I am a member. For the Ford side, I was going to use my father-in-law's plan to get dealer - ? possibly. It Both of these cars end up around 18-19K @ 0.0%

I like the $150-ish bi-weekly payment. I'm keeping my old car for the winter. Runs and looks almost perfect.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

Kia Rio. wicked warrantee.

all under 20G.

This is looking nice.

 

[ndrwrld]

0% financing on 84 months for that Rio.

 

[Fillmore]

How about a 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 with 55,000km on it? Still under warranty! Fully loaded

If choosing between those two I would suggest the Ford Fiesta. Are you looking to buy brand new or would you be willing to look at something off lease or a couple years old?

16-20k can get you a lot on the used market.

 

[I_bRAD]

Honda fit> anything else on this page

 

[the_fornicator]

With a 20K budget, I'd go v6 Honda Accord. 550 kms per tank and takes about 55L to fill up. Not exactly economical, but not uneconomical either.

Just watch out for certain years if you grab a 6spd manual one. There's a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) out there for a shitty 3rd gear synchro for certain years/VIN ranges. It's not covered by warranty or anything. All on the owner to fix. Not catastrophic, but definitely avoid if you can. $2600 job from Honda or about $2000 from a local mechanic.

If you choose the civic SI 6spd, they too have a bunch 3rd gear synchro for certain years/VIN ranges (same transmission). So, watch out for those, too, if you choose the sporty civic route.

 

[I_bRAD]

I'm keeping my old car for the winter. Runs and looks almost perfect.

What's your old car? Why not just keep driving it? Even if you get 18L/100kms it's not really "economical" to take a 20G hit just to get better mileage...

 

[peko]

fiat, fiat fiat - gucci edition!

honda fit is awesome ----> my friend has one. It doesn't work well in hard rain - they had to leave it in Mississauga last summer during the torrential downpour because it was floating.

 

[Dirty Girl]

you dont pick the car, the car picks you.

 

[alexd]

The fiat is more egg-shaped, so that is the one I would pick!

 

[Aaron Bradley]

How about a 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 with 55,000km on it? Still under warranty! Fully loaded

If choosing between those two I would suggest the Ford Fiesta. Are you looking to buy brand new or would you be willing to look at something off lease or a couple years old?

16-20k can get you a lot on the used market.

I've only ever bought one brand new car and that is my SX 2.0 I'm driving right now. I want to stay new right now. If new comes is not an option, I might do something like this. But NEW is what I'm looking at now with 0% financing.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

With a 20K budget, I'd go v6 Honda Accord. 550 kms per tank and takes about 55L to fill up. Not exactly economical, but not uneconomical either.

Just watch out for certain years if you grab a 6spd manual one. There's a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) out there for a shitty 3rd gear synchro for certain years/VIN ranges. It's not covered by warranty or anything. All on the owner to fix. Not catastrophic, but definitely avoid if you can. $2600 job from Honda or about $2000 from a local mechanic.

If you choose the civic SI 6spd, they too have a bunch 3rd gear synchro for certain years/VIN ranges (same transmission). So, watch out for those, too, if you choose the sporty civic route.

Yeah my mechanic said that too. The euro Fiesta comes in a 6spd, but the american is a 5spd.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

What's your old car? Why not just keep driving it? Even if you get 18L/100kms it's not really "economical" to take a 20G hit just to get better mileage...

Oh man... it is crazy. I bought this car back in 2002 (it's a 2003) for 17,1000 @ 0.00% financing. Paid it off in 5 years and haven't looked back. My friend who is a super duper mechanic (works on race cars too in Europe for part of the year) said to keep this for as long as I can. The engine is completely dry and there are no major issues. Very tight, dry and smooth and probably only put in $2K since I paid it off - crazy how good it has been.

305,000 Km on it too! I f'n love it! 5 speed, A/C, tinted windows and a pounding system! Right now it just has a bit of rust, but my father-in-law is taking care of that. Still have 4 nice snow tires on it. My sister just bought a house near me where I can keep it in the garage for the summers and drive it in the winters.

So... for my 40th in June, I thought I need a brand new car. My mechanic is saying take for the Ford for sure. It took Engine of the year and this 1.0 3 cylinder is really catching my eye. I get the Ford plan which is dealer minus a small percentage which is great.

 

[Aaron Bradley]

fiat, fiat fiat - gucci edition!

honda fit is awesome ----> my friend has one. It doesn't work well in hard rain - they had to leave it in Mississauga last summer during the torrential downpour because it was floating.

I was leaning towards this one as a close 2nd, but my mechanic said watch out for these. Said I might be fixing it a lot. I don't know if he was joking or not...

 

[Aaron Bradley]

and probably the Ken Block videos are adding to my decision. I just imagine myself doing the same with my car - LOL

 

[glych t.anomaly]

I'm thinking of buying a practical/economical car for my birthday in 2 months. I've got 2 cars in mind right now. Which would you pick?

1) Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost Turbo (3 cylinder)
2) Fiat 500 Turbo 1.4 4I (inline 4)

If you have something else in mind, it has to be around $16K to $20K max! I also don't want to go electric or hybrid yet.

Aaron

ive been toying with the same thing.

top 2 for me so far based on cost and what you get.

Kia Rio LX 5 door
Hyundai Accent GLS 5 door

Ford Fiesta with all the ish i wanted in it after taxes still came out to 23k vs 18.5 - 19k


Fiat is too small, i wanted to be able to at least carry more than a brief in the cargo hold.

 

[glych t.anomaly]

Honda Fit.
Ford Focus.
Mazda 2 or 3.
Kia Rio. wicked warrantee.

all are rated top 5.

all under 20G.

none of those but the rio lx comes in under 20 after taxes with decent options. Focus 5 doors( since the sedan is shit

 

[Balzz]

Fiat!