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11-28-2018, 11:52 PM | #1 |
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Help me choose a (fun) daily
Folks,
While I do my best to daily drive my SMB F80, I've started to get anxious about leaving it all day long at the train station. The area around the train station has scene some crime lately and homeless population in the area and NorCal in general is increasing (it's a real issue in CA). Parking is not covered. I've noticed that SMB plus Amaro brown combo is quite noticeable and I'm not feeling comfortable about leaving the car there 4 days every week. Maybe here an there I can take the car but don't want to be seen as "the guy with the nice car". I have a Jeep G. Cherokee that I planned to sell. I could keep it but it's big and meh. So...I need a fun daily/beater! -My commute would be 10miles each way of highway miles (4 days a week). -My budget is ~12k (whatever the cost of my Jeep is essentially). -I love hatchbacks...but I'm 6'1 and 210lbs so can't be TOO small. Plus I'm recovering from back injury. -2 or 4dr -Not a fan of most Japanese tbh -Not too unreliable! I'd like to try an Abarth (concerned about size). Other options could include a Golf GTI (I had one and I think it's great), but something different would be fun. Any ideas?! Thanks. |
11-29-2018, 12:01 AM | #2 |
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11-29-2018, 12:17 AM | #3 |
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Fiat otherwise known as 'Fix It Again Tony' may be the least reliable car sold in the US. I would steer clear of the Abarth. GTI would get my vote.
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Germanauto9803.50 |
11-29-2018, 09:15 AM | #5 |
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I used to commute in a 2016 spark EV which I got for $12k
Amazing car for your use case. 327ftlb of torque and reasonably sporty suspension so it's pretty fun. I sold it because I do 50 miles per day on the freeway and wasn't comfortable with the small size anymore (e.g. Traffic going 65 to 0 on 92 bridge and pickups needing to go to the shoulder to avoid hitting me) but for a short, low speed commute, I think it's the perfect car Any of the lightly used 80miles range class electrics are cheap and should be considered for this use case Or honestly, keep your Jeep. Especially if it's 4x4... perfect stuff hauler and Tahoe car |
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11-29-2018, 10:18 AM | #6 |
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keep the jeep, drive that thing till the wheels fall off. the true secret of a DD is not having to care when you get door dings and bumper trash, plus you get to pick the open spot that's closest to the train station.
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11-29-2018, 11:15 AM | #8 |
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11-29-2018, 11:17 AM | #9 | |
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Unfortunately Jeep is not 4x4...and it has one of those 5.7 HEMI engines. Every time it drizzles it scares me much more than the F80 coming out of a turn! |
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11-29-2018, 11:18 AM | #10 |
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11-29-2018, 12:44 PM | #11 |
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I had a similar need a bit ago - my budget was higher ($20K), but the same cars should still be applicable, albeit with higher miles or a year or two older - and here was my finalist list:
1) VW GTi 2) Mini Cooper S 3) Mazda 3s 4) Chevy Camaro 5) Ford Mustang 6) Audi A3 All of these other than the Audi are available with a manual, which was important to me. The GTi did everything great, but I had one in the past, so this was a bit of a boring option. The Mini was the most fun car by a long shot, but reliability data is pretty bad and the closest dealer is 70 miles from me. The Mazda 3s was a fantastic car, but slooooooooow. The Camaro and Mustang were both very quick and fun to drive, but in the more base form (which they were at my price point) they just felt so cheap. I was worried I would be bored of them with them quickly. The Audi checked every box other than the manual transmission. In the end - the Audi was the winner - with a piggyback, the HP jumped up near 300 and the car became fun enough to overcome the lack of a 6MT.
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11-29-2018, 01:38 PM | #12 | |
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Does anyone have experience with Fiesta ST? |
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11-29-2018, 02:07 PM | #16 |
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Ford Fiesta ST.
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11-29-2018, 03:11 PM | #18 |
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Autotrader shows a 2001 BMW Z3 3.0i Roadster in the bay area for 6995...
and nice looking 128 and a crap ton of boxters, a few gti's, couple of two door 335's, even an old 300zx twin turbo and even has a supra turbo, tho it's got well over 200k miles...
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11-29-2018, 03:58 PM | #21 | |
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Hopefully that computes. And if it doesn't, don't add to the thread. And don't assume, ask. |
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Run Silent15085.50 |
11-29-2018, 04:00 PM | #22 |
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