cars

[athereal]

Right. So I've been doing some car shopping lately. Which is rather annoying. Thank god for two wonderful work friends who have been coming along as moral support. I started the search looking for a used (2003-2004ish) car, probably Honda or Toyota. Test drove some vehicles. Found that the Camry was too big, the Corolla too small. Matrixes(

Comments

[lakmiseiru]

My stepfather's Honda Civic is a good size - good for parking in Boston but also reasonable for camping or hiking trips. We've taken long trips in it and it's pretty comfy; I've only driven it once but it was pretty standard. One thing to note is that it was the most stolen model in the US a while ago, but I don't think that's a concern any more. And as far as I know it's only needed oil changes in the last 8+ years. Try an Accord as well.

[kilroi]

I think the only actually useful comment I have is that when I was looking around at cars last (which I then bought person to person), the dealership niceness level went up in proportion to how rich their intended clientele were. Ie, the people on the westside were chill, gave us space, answered questions like humans, and the people in the san gabriel valley were whores.

[visage]

A couple of notes from the car hunt that I was recently involved in:

a) Zipcar can be an excellent, convenient, and low-stress way to test-drive cars.

b) The Matrix (and the Honda Fit, and the Scion xA and xB) is a good city-driving car, but if you're going to spend much time on the highway with it you should make sure to test-drive one under those conditions. We found it to be a moderately unpleasant drive in the 55+ range.

c) Have you looked at the Honda Civic? That fits what I'm imagining you to want from the above, and seems to be a pretty good car.

[jbsegal]

Honda, because I utterly ADORE Hondar House as a garage.

Insurance: Nancy Bender Agency in Boston - 617-367-4900.

They've never steered me wrong yet.

[rax]

Second the recommendation for Nancy Bender, they're great.

[csbermack]

I got my car from Enterprise, which sells off late-model previously-rental cars. I had a great experience; I also paid more than I probably would have if I'd gotten the same used car from a dealer. The lack of bullshit was worth the money for me.

I insure through AAA, which is Commerce insurance. I've hardly interacted with them and haven't tried to get money out of them. But every interaction has been reasonably positive, including a couple of no-money-involved accident reports. Friday I had some routine stuff to talk to them about and got the Most Useful CSR I Have Ever Dealt With.