I might be looking for a new car, input?

[digitalwanderer]

My 2010 Infiniti M35x is being a little stubborn about passing her emissions test. Out of the 92 counties in Indiana 2 of them require emissions testing and they're the one I live in and the one next door to it.

I had a bad o2 sensor I fixed, but she can't seem to finish a run cycle. I had a loose negative battery post I replaced thinking that could be resetting the ECU, but it's still a bit wonky and won't run a cycle even though it looks like everything is passing on my OBDII thingy. (bluetooth one with Torque on my phone)

I think the positive post might be dirty, gonna clean it off and see if that helps...but my wife decided it would be easier to trade in my car for a new one. I love my car, but she is a decade old with 160k miles on her. There's newer tech out there, and a whole lot of 0% finance offers going.

My wife got excited about a decked out Jeep Renegade Trailhawk, but me and the kids all hate that idea. We already got a quite trail ready vehicle, why another? We want something comfy! (Plus my wife's knee is sucking and some days it hurts her to hit the clutch on the Jeep, part of the reason the next car is gonna be auto)

I was looking at the Nissan Altima Platinum VC-Turbo. It has right around the same 0-60mph speed that my car has, (I think it's a tad slower at 5.8, but anything under/near 6 is fine for me), super comfy looking interior with full android integration and top down 360 camera. Downsides are it's only FWD and CVT. It comes in AWD, but not with the turbo and the turbo gives it 50hp more for the same gas mileage.

I had a list somewhere of other cars I looked at that I liked, please realize my criteria is mainly who has 0% financing and for how long. Payment per month is my bottom line for this one, the Altima Platinum VC-Turbo comes out to around $420/mos for us.

Other cars that had similars that I was interested in:

2020 Jetta GLI Autobahn
2020 Kia Optima SX
2020 Subaru Legacy Touring XT
2020 Camry SE Nightshade Edition AWD

I'm looking for a comfortable 4-seater with zip that's fun to drive, lots of gadgets, and the most important being android integration, top-down 360 cam view (I REALLY like those!), AWD, a transmission over CVT, and preferably turbo.

Any advice? Tips? Jeep sent my wife an offer where we could get a new Renegade Trailhawk decked without trading my car in for about $360/mos, some insane deals out there!

 

[tuna]

Tesla Model 3 seems to fit your needs.

 

[manux]

Ford Bronco is a solid competitor for renegade. Though it's a new model and will take forever to have stock available.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Tesla Model 3 seems to fit your needs.

Except for cost and range anxiety? My car currently only gets about 320 miles per fill up, but I can always add more. I need about a 200 mile range guaranteed daily.

But I hadn't considered electric, so thanks and I'll look in to it.

Ford Bronco is a solid competitor for renegade. Though it's a new model and will take forever to have stock available.

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NO! We have a bloody 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Hard Rock Edition w/tow package, over-sized tires (i NEED to put spacers on), and a winch. It's very capable off-road. I want something comfortable and fun to drive ON ROADS.

The Jeep scares me when I get it up to 100mph on the highway, I don't think you're supposed to go over 85mph and it is a genuinely scary experience. :|

 

[Davros]

Ford Focus ?

 

[digitalwanderer]

Ford Focus ?

 

[manux]

NO! We have a bloody 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Hard Rock Edition w/tow package, over-sized tires (i NEED to put spacers on), and a winch. It's very capable off-road. I want something comfortable and fun to drive ON ROADS.

The Jeep scares me when I get it up to 100mph on the highway, I don't think you're supposed to go over 85mph and it is a genuinely scary experience. :|

Those broncos are supposedly a lot more comfortable on road and equally worthy outside roads. But of course what we know is from press as the production models are not yet rolling out. Big reason why I'm considering bronco instead of wrangler is all the rumored reliability/... issues with wrangler.

 

[digitalwanderer]

We're keeping the Wrangler, it's been solid for us and we still have some payments to make on it. The plan is I'll be getting the Jeep because my knees are fine and I don't mind a heavy clutch, she'll get whatever we get as her daily driver so it has to be auto/comfortable.

She can still take her Jeep if she wants/feels like it/it's bad out, up to her. I just don't want two utility vehicles and nothing really comfortable.

Besides, with all the time I have spent working on that Jeep it's almost like an old friend to me. LOL

 

[manux]

I really like those jeep wranglers. It's just that I have potatoes for fingers and don't want to/cannot fix anything myself. If the bronco hadn't happened I would only have choice between different wrangler models.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I really like those jeep wranglers. It's just that I have potatoes for fingers and don't want to/cannot fix anything myself. If the bronco hadn't happened I would only have choice between different wrangler models.

I have potato fingers too, but the Jeep is pretty good about that being all big and over built and such. My wife backed it in to a pole the first week we owned it and I had to replace the back gate and glass, saved a few grand so I've been doing as much to it as I can myself since it's a LOT cheaper and not too hard as long as you do your homework and watch a couple of dozen videos of it being done first.

Mostly just putting fenders back on and installing a winch, got some foglights to hook up to stinger bar I put on to protect the winch and I still gotta toss the spacers on. Easy stuff, nothing involving a welder. (I can't weld, YET!)

I figure if it turns in to my car then all these projects get a higher priority as well as the Jeep's availability to work on. It'll still be my wife's Jeep, I'll just be driving it. (It's her dream Jeep, she had a CJ-5 back in high school. Oddly enough I had a JC-5 which is one of the reasons I hate jeeps.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

Oh, also, whichever vehicle is the worse winter driver will be my winter driver. That's why the next car has to be at least decent in the snow, I'm pushing it with just FWD but I've had good results with the Mini in the snow.

EDITED BITS: The 350Z and the G37 convertible were both RWD and I'd get them in winter and they were absolutely hell! I love RWD, but not around here in the winter. Just thought I'd mention I did have reasons.

 

[manux]

I would probably also check out the new subaru crosstrek. It's pretty decent now that they have a bit better engine on it. I have been thinking about that one if the wrangler size car turns out to be too big for me.

 

[manux]

If california allowed for it I would get fairly new mx5 and have the engine swap+some other stuff done to it. Unfortunately due to smog regulations only fairly old ones will be legal in california. This would be such a fun weekend car with attitude

 

[orangpelupa]

Except for cost and range anxiety? My car currently only gets about 320 miles per fill up, but I can always add more. I need about a 200 mile range guaranteed daily.

But I hadn't considered electric, so thanks and I'll look in to it.


NO! We have a bloody 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Hard Rock Edition w/tow package, over-sized tires (i NEED to put spacers on), and a winch. It's very capable off-road. I want something comfortable and fun to drive ON ROADS.

The Jeep scares me when I get it up to 100mph on the highway, I don't think you're supposed to go over 85mph and it is a genuinely scary experience. :|

how about electric hyundai and kia? they are cheaper than tesla and they also have long range offerings. Some countries also have thousands of dollars incentives for buying BEV.

there's also a deal with costco membership + government incentive + etc that results some people being PAID to lease a GM BEV (forgot the car model name) IIRC. The folks at electricvehicels subreddit usually have spot-on recommendations for each regions.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

If california allowed for it I would get fairly new mx5 and have the engine swap+some other stuff done to it. Unfortunately due to smog regulations only fairly old ones will be legal in california. This would be such a fun weekend car with attitude

So you want a light weight, balanced sports car that is all about fun in the corners... So you can put a giant engine in it... If that is what you want than just buy a Corvette to begin with. Probably cheaper too.

@digitalwanderer No clue about your total budget but a Alfa Romeo Giulia seats 4, is fun to drive a looks great. The latter is a good thing because it being Italian means you might be forced to spend a fair bit of time just looking at it hehe.

 

[Laurent06]

I'm quite happy with my Honda Civic Type R. But it doesn't match all your requirements (FWD, no 360 camera). It's also low so forget about poor non paved roads, and the turning radius is poor. The look is disgusting to some (a feeling I can certainly understand) but as I always say once you're seated behind the wheel you don't see the car anymore

Comfort is good enough (this is a requirement for me as I sometimes suffer a lot from my back). It can be used as your daily car (this is the only car I have). Boot size is good enough for me (>400L).

But what a pleasure to drive on small mountain roads as we have around here in the Alps.

 

[BRiT]

Honda Civic Type R or the SI model right below it then add in some custom mods like fine tuned turbo maps using KTuner. Friend has an SI and he has a blast with it doing tunes. He's getting into replacing a few select parts for even more performance.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I don't think Digi is looking for a destroyed Miata or some super riced-up 4 door. All the cars he listed look pretty low key.

The Nissan, Subaru and Jetta are 35 ~ 37k (quick google, don't live in the US so no clue what kind of deals you might get), the other 2 around 30k. For 41k you can get a Alfo Romeo Giulia with AWS, a turbo, 280bhp, a decent gearbox, 5 seconds and a bit to 60mph and you can probably get a 360 camera for it.

If you don't mind spending the extra money I'd get the Alfa in a heart beat. Checked one out last year and it looks great The price in Japan is ridiculous though. 20k more than what you pay in the US. The downside of course is that it isn't going to be anywhere near as reliable or cheap to maintain as whatever comes out of Japan.

 

[BRiT]

Just sharing how much fun the car can be that normally wouldn't be on anyone's list. Once you get into the tuning side, there's so much you can do that really changes how the car performs and makes it a fun drive. And that's comparing it to my Formula/TransAm. Having a Turbo thats tuned is a lot of fun. There's quite a few friendly forums for the cars too.

So Digi, any model you go with, have a look to make sure you can mod the ECU / head-unit and be able to do custom maps for the turbo, even if it requires a minor tuner piece of hardware.

 

[Laurent06]

The Nissan, Subaru and Jetta are 35 ~ 37k (quick google, don't live in the US so no clue what kind of deals you might get), the other 2 around 30k. For 41k you can get a Alfo Romeo Giulia with AWS, a turbo, 280bhp, a decent gearbox, 5 seconds and a bit to 60mph and you can probably get a 360 camera for it.

But no manual gearbox it seems.

If you don't mind spending the extra money I'd get the Alfa in a heart beat. Checked one out last year and it looks great The price in Japan is ridiculous though. 20k more than what you pay in the US. The downside of course is that it isn't going to be anywhere near as reliable or cheap to maintain as whatever comes out of Japan.

Here in France the Giulia you list costs 60K Euros which is 10K more than CTR (before eco taxes which would increase the gap to >15K). But definitely a gorgeous car worth considering!