OMG, Chris. That is some good news.

Good choice to, especially for up north.

Thanks, Margs

I've looked at a few of the Mazda and Honda mondels and the VW Golf seems to make the most sense. They're not super-fancy on interiors and other options, but the engine and drivetrain seem to be what they focus on. That makes the most sense for me.

I'm going to go to the dealer and get all the info I can. I don't want to rush into things and need to make the most informed decision I can... That's why I value your input

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"That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it." -- Aristotle

You simply cannot go wrong with Honda. I wouldn't touch an american car with a ten foot pole after my experience with them. Volkswagon are nice, but are not of the quality they use to be, and are over priced and expensive to fix. Known for electrical problems, and those are not pleasant, nor easy to fix.

As has been said, you simply cannot do any wrong by purchaing a Honda of any sort.

Forget everything everybody else in this thread said about the Vibe Sorry guys, you're just wildly misinformed The Vibe and Matrix are the exact same car. They are both built at the same plant, NUMMI, in California. In fact, the Vibe is sold in Japan as the Toyota Voltz.
The thing with the Vibe is that having the domestic badge attached to it, you'll probably be able to get it cheaper than a comparable Matrix, simply because it doesn't say Toyota on it.
Looks between the two are subjective, the slight facelift on the Vibe makes it look a helluva lot better than it used to, but I still prefer the look of a Matrix XRS.



For the love of god don't buy a Volkswagen. You will regret it. I will go into this further if you'd like. I'll just say now that Consumer Reports' list of Most Reliable Vehicles 2004, the 3 most UNRELIABLE vehicles were the '04 Golf, '04 Jetta, and '04 Beetle.



I'm not sure how much money you've got to spend on a vehicle Chris, but if you're looking for something a bit more upscale and exclusive you may want to check out the Mercedes-Benz B-Class.
You said you'd be buying in the next 6 months, and it comes out this fall. The vehicle was recently introduced at the Geneva Auto Show, and looks to be very promising. Pricing is reportedly to be the same as the C-Coupe, so around $32k CDN.
Engine power figures for the Canadian market (the US doesn't get the B-Class) have not yet been announced, but they will be both 2.0L 4-cylinder engines, one naturally aspirated, one turbocharged. Speculation is that they'll be 150bhp and 193bhp, respectively. 6-spd manual transmission is standard, with an optional CVT (continuously variable transmission, aka. automatic with no real gears).
Typical awesome Benz interior and superb Benz safety features accompany this smart looking little machine.

i just bought a new car too. but im waiting for it to flatbedded to toronto which is taking forever so im gonna make honda throw in some extra shit


anyways here is my new car





Honda Civic Reverb

quote:

Originally posted by VERTiG0 I'm not sure how much money you've got to spend on a vehicle Chris

I'm looking at about $25,000 total.

The Merc looks great... $$$ though.

Lots of opinions on this subject. Making it more difficult to decide

Going to bide my time and make the most informed decision I can...

___________________
"That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it." -- Aristotle

You may also want to wait for the BMW 1-Series when it arrives here later this year as well, with a rumoured common-rail diesel engine option

+1 to not touching American cars.

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Surreal
Universal Religion

i thought this was similar to crazedcanucks thread "IM GOING TO MIAMI" but then asked someone for a ride...

congrats on your soon to be new car

small, good on gas, good handling, high quality, looks nice...

Mazda3...hands down winner in that segment. A GT sedan, GFX package (17" wheels/tires, moonroof, etc). F leather, most cheap leather seats suck.

I'm almost positive you can get one for 25k TAXES INCLUDED and Mazda has decent financing rates right now.

Stay away from VW until the next model year when the redesign is out...VW themselves have admitted major quality issues in the last 3-4 years of their cars.

Honestly...no < 25k car, other than a Mazda3, would get my $$$. There's a ton of crap out there right now!


I'm either dropping 40k on a Subaru Legacy GT or Volve S40...or going cheap and picking up a Mazda3 myself so I can save and buy a place next year

For $25k I'd get a Matrix XRS ($25,685 MSRP). They don't sell very well as they're the top of the line model so you could probably haggle your way down to 24 or 23k if you're really good at negotiating. There's something to be said for the Yamaha designed head with VVT-i kicking in around 6200rpm and screaming all the way to 8000... <3 high revving engines