Car Sick

Following my week of frenzied car shopping I slowed down a bit and I've only been out three times to look at vehicles.

On Monday the first of October I drove an 08 Mercury Milan and a used 06 Accord.

On Wednesday October 3rd, I drove an 08 Subaru Legacy, sat in an 08 Subaru Impreza, and peered in the windows of the 07 Kia Optima.

Then on Friday I found out that the Altima now has the 2.9% financing again. Shoot. I do like that car but somewhere between my initial attraction and now I've read about a lot of potential problems with the Nissan Altimas and I was reminded that on the charts I've been reading in Consumer Reports and on JD Power and Associates that Nissan is no where near the top... not like Toyota and Honda.

On Saturday, October 6, I drove to Fargo with my friend Mike and together we tested 8 cars and sat in a total of 12. We started by driving the Impreza and then we tried several Kias: the Rio, the Spectra, and the Optima. Overall I preferred the Spectra of that bunch. The Kias were only 2007s but they had good prices and good specials and a good warranty. Later, online research suggested that there were a lot of dissatisfied people out there complaining about everything from the stereo speakers to the acceleration to actual break downs and the lack of Kia service and refusal to honor warranties.

Next we drove over to Toyota to see the Toyota Yaris, review the Corolla to see if maybe I was wrong in my first impression (I was not... I just don't like it) and then to sit in the Camry so Mike could compare the size difference. We test drove a Toyota Prius and I asked the sales person about the recent Toyota floor mats recalls and about the "runaway acceleration" I've been reading about. He didn't know much. I think I knew more about the Prius than he did. Seriously.

Following the Toyotas, we tried their Scion xD because a friend was eager for me to try it. It turned out to be much better than I expected after driving in the Honda Fit (a comparable car). Ultimately though, it has a small cargo area and isn't exactly "attractive" to me. It is a couple grand cheaper than the Honda Civic and yet they get about the same gas mileage and I guess I thought the xD might get more.

We made one last stop at the local Honda dealer before lunch (even though it was nearly 1 pm) so I could revisit the Honda Civic and do a bit of comparison between that and the xD, the Spectra, and the Corolla. It is a close race between the Kia Spectra and the Civic with the Spectra leading in price and the Civic leading in the reliability of the Honda name and the fact that it's the top car in its class just about everywhere you read. We sat in an Accord and pondered the size difference but we didn't drive this one. I know it drives smoother and is comfortable... the questions is it TOO big and do I want to spend the extra money for less gas mileage and more space.

After lunch we checked out the Mercury Milan and the Mazda 6. We test drove the Milan and decided it had the most room of all... and I was left still wondering what to do about the size difference. If I hadn't read all that about the Altima and the Prius I would still be considering those cars. Neither the Milan, nor the Accord offer any kind of incentives or special financing so I'm less inclined to go that way. The Honda Civic seems to be the best choice in that car class and so I"d like to look at it again side by side with the spectra.

It was a fast and furious afternoon of cars that left my wheels spinning. I feel like I'd narrowed things down but I still am undecided.