17th Oct 2018, 23:04
I hope you buy from the dealer that let you use their car for days. Unheard of today. You can typically tell in 10 minutes if it drives and handles well. I guess anyone doing that, I want to definitely give business to. I’d give them a couple hundred bucks if I bought private after that. Maybe that’s me and the way I like my own business to be treated as well.
18th Oct 2018, 03:32
I agree, vehicles in general are getting tighter, inside for anyone 6ft or taller. Japanese cars are especially guilty of that. My current vehicle is a Mustang, and it’s incredibly comfortable. I had a Scion tC in the past that a midget would have trouble fitting into.
18th Oct 2018, 19:17
I rent often from Enterprise to try different models on weekend trips to see family. That way I have a very good feel for any vehicle. You can test drive an older one, same make or model for sale privately or off a car lot to quickly tell if you want to buy it. Weekends often have special pricing.
23rd Oct 2018, 06:26
Agree completely. A lot of the Japanese cars are mostly suitable for people about 5’6 and under. A lot of Americans are larger than that. Ever notice when you see a large country boy driving a truck with an American and/or Confederate flag in the back that it’s a domestic make 100% of the time? The average American doesn’t fit in a Japanese vehicle comfortably.
16th Oct 2018, 15:26
Thank you so much for this honest and detailed comment. We miss just comments here on Carsurvey. Very interesting when you mention there's not a lot of room to work around the engine. I wish people would talk more about how easy is to work on cars - we're missing this information a lot on the Internet. Of course, at 130,000 miles one has to think several parts will need to be replaced, such as suspension parts, exhaust (in the seat belt states), equipment such as a fuel pump, alternator, pulleys, belts, steering dust boots and tie rods, and so on. I am literally stumped a 10 year old car with 130K miles would cost $8000 USD. Of course, it's just an asked price, and on top of it, it's a main dealer price so they added $3000 to the market price, but still. I guess they've paid no more than $2500 (or equivalent) to the previous owner. I would never pay such amount knowing I will have to fork out in repairs a few thousand on a 130K car.
I also agree about room inside, I'm 6ft tall and my legs were cramped at the pedals. Honda has weird measures on their cars, for example I could simply not fit my legs on the pedals of the HR-V (based on the Fit platform), I was cramped on the CR-V pedals, but I had plenty of room on the Civic pedals.