The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

I have an 09 Fit auto. Good car. Very versatile the way the rear seats fold all the way down My daughter gets 36 mpg. I can crack 40. Gets blown around in sidewinds and the steering has some sticktion like most rack cars. The Fiesta steers, shifts, brakes much nicer. But they are new only right now.

Ford builds good trucks, not cars -- my mom's Taurus' engine mounts failed at less than 100k miles, and part of the engine basically fell through the chassis while we were going down the highway. It was a complete write-off, and we were lucky to be ok.

I'll have to test one out, they seem like the overall cost of ownership might end up being less than the Insight. Easier to work on too...

The new Fords are nothing like the old. All their new cars are cutting edge.

maddiedog wrote:Ford builds good trucks, not cars

That may be the case for the US but not in Europe where Ford make some outstanding cars.

gn2 wrote:

maddiedog wrote:Ford builds good trucks, not cars

That may be the case for the US but not in Europe where Ford make some outstanding cars.

you mean truly average?

maddiedog wrote:used

Another thing. You might be shocked at the value that dealers are putting on used cars. The cash for clunkers deal crushed a lot of gas guzzling but still viable used cars off of the road and the market is still unbelievably elevated as a result. I have seen many of my friends look and look for a good used car and end up buying new as it is within 20% of the used car and has better fuel economy technology. A used Yaris with a stick is a very hard car to buy. They even want $10,000 for a used Aveo and that is not a good driving car.

@QED, I was thinking more of their EcoBoost cars which are most definitely not average.

qed wrote:

gn2 wrote:

maddiedog wrote:Ford builds good trucks, not cars

That may be the case for the US but not in Europe where Ford make some outstanding cars.

you mean truly average?

Yep...

Fit would be near the top of my list if looking for a new econobox; truly a remarkable car.

We had a 5-speed Civic for 12 years. Best car we ever owned. Roomier on the inside than you would think, consistently excellent gas mileage, surprisingly high crash scores, and remarkably reliable; what’s not to love? Find an older model in any trim you like with low miles, and you’ll have a great car for years to come.

We had a diesel Jetta for a while and loved driving it. What we didn’t like was the constant trips to the repair shop for small detail stuff breaking regularly. We didn’t keep it very long.

Nobody ever said a Prius was a fun car to drive, but I find it very amusing. Unlike the older Insight, it seats four with plenty room.

I once heard someone say the way to find the age of a used car in people-years, is to divide the number of miles by the year the car was built. My 1998 van has 93,000 miles, so it is 46.5 years old.

sendler2112 wrote:Another thing. You might be shocked at the value that dealers are putting on used cars. The cash for clunkers deal crushed a lot of gas guzzling but still viable used cars off of the road and the market is still unbelievably elevated as a result. I have seen many of my friends look and look for a good used car and end up buying new as it is within 20% of the used car and has better fuel economy technology. A used Yaris with a stick is a very hard car to buy. They even want $10,000 for a used Aveo and that is not a good driving car.

Before I got my truck, I looked into getting an economy car for awhile. They were basically giving Aveos away, I had them down to $8000 out the door. They're piles of crap, I wouldn't believe for a second they could successfully sell used ones for that much. Looking on Autotrader, there are some used ones up there, but there's also ones that are almost identical for half that at other dealers.

The market varies by area and car -- we actually had to trade in my wife's Civic on her Pilot because we couldn't get anyone to buy it on Craigslist for more than what was offered on trade-in (about $5200 for a 2003 Honda Civic auto w/130k miles). There's an excess of used cars for sale on the private market here in Atlanta. I'm guessing it's because most people who are looking to buy a used car want financing, which is why the dealers are offering such good deals on trade-ins.

The economy point is very valid though -- it's like buying a new PCX instead of buying a used 125cc. Their costs will be almost the same from the dealer, the new PCX150 will be hardly more than an almost-new PCX 125.

I won't be doing anything yet, but I move to my new house next month and probably won't need the truck for awhile, I'll start shopping around, and will make sure to try some new or almost-new from dealer cars too.