Car advice or suggestions?

[cos]

I'm going to keep my used VW Passat wagon here in Cambridge so I have a car when I'm visiting home, and planning to buy a new car in Seattle. I don't know that much about cars, and haven't bought a new one in nearly 20 years (the VW is a 2004 I bought used in 2009 from an acquaintance) ... so I don't know much about the cars that are out there now

Comments

[grail76]

Toyota Corolla? Sedan with a trunk. Seats 4-5 and gets decent mileage. Good repair record.

[wotw]

I'm not sure I have a clear vision of what you're looking for, but since I have a little bit of possibly-relevant and certainly-recent knowledge, I will share it and you can ignore it or not, as appropriate

[cos]

This is great! I do want more if you feel like typing more.

Did you ever try any other hybrids during that time?

I expect that I should be able to replace the stereo in any car if I don't like it, so #3 shouldn't matter. Is that no longer true?

Interesting about the blind spot warning, because you don't actually need to have a blind spot at all. That's a flaw in the way they used to teach people to adjust their side mirrors. Since I learned the better way to position the side mirrors (which I think was quite a long time ago) I haven't had a blind spot. So, it's interesting that the blind spot is still so much a thing that car makers are actually making those features. http://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5

[rmd]

I really like the cargo capacity and seating vs cargo carrying options on my Honda Fit. 4 door plus hatchback and besides the usual split back seat that can fold down, the seat bottoms can fold up instead. It's got an electronic fob instead of a key but there's a hardware key built into it for last ditch use. (This may not be in spec for you, depending). Pretty good mileage on the gas fueled one I have but I don't think they have a hybrid version yet. If I run into you this weekend, I can give you a tour of the car if you want. The fob is bulkier than I like for my pocket but I usually wear cargo pants so I have it in my cargo pocket in a little pouch so the buttons don't get pressed by other crap in my pockets or anything. I haven't done any long road trips in it yet but it's quite comfortable for a couple of hours of driving at a time.

Someone turned theirs into a makeshift camper: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Road-

[laurion]

Fit is a nice choice. I was choosing between that and (what I eventually went with) the Toyota Matrix for my last car purchase.

[gilana]

My husband did a ton of research before we bought a car a few weeks ago. He looked at both the Fit and the Matrix and ended up going with the Mazda3. I don't drive and know very little about cars, so I can't say much about it, but the electronic key fob is not bulky and does have a physical key built in, the hatchback version we got has lots of cargo space, and has good mileage. If you have any specific questions let me know and I'll ask him. (Also it's apparently lots of fun to drive -- very responsive. It certainly feels nice as a passenger.)

[cos]

I'm curious what gas mileage you actually get for city driving, and highway driving, if either of you keep track of that sort of thing?

[dr_memory]

You should probably prepare yourself to be disappointed on the "bulky key" criterion: the trend at the moment seem to be toward bigger and dumber electronic key fobs.

(I <3 my Mini Cooper, but suspect it fails too many of your other stipulations to seriously agitate for.)

[laurion]

Having just completed a car search, there's not a good way to get the kind of range you're looking for in an all-electric. A Tesla maybe, because you can get a quick(er) charge. You might get -to- Eugene on a full charge, but not back. Yellowstone would probably need two or three charges in each direction. Yes, a car will need more gas, but that's still a lot faster than an electric charge, even a Tesla.

What you should look at is a plugin hybrid. This is a vehicle that is electric most of the time, but has a gas engine for when the batteries are getting low or you need an extra boost to climb that mountain.

If you want to carry both people and stuff sometimes, check out the Prius V. It's a hybrid station wagon. Or maybe the new Prius Prime, which is a plugin hybrid, and they claim over 600 miles on a full charge and tank.

[laurion]

Oh, and as a note on the key thing... almost every car has the big chunky electronic key fob. But it should include some sort of pop-out emergency actual physical key, because even if the battery inside dies you should have the option to get into the car and, you know, have a car. It isn't always obvious, so I'm not sure if the rentals you got had the backup physical key option or not, but you should definitely insist on it in any future car possessions.

[cos]

Some cars these days do not have a mechanical key at all, nor any place to stick it in.

My current VW has electronic key fobs with mechanical keys that pop out, as you describe. You can lock, unlock, and start without the electronic key at all. It's just as you describe. I used to think *all* electronic keys with built-in mechanical keys work like that, but I was tragically mistaken. See my reply to rmd above.

Oh, and finally, it's really nice to be able to use the fob to lock and unlock remotely. Some cars have slimmer fobs, other cars have big clunky ones. By saying that i want to avoid the big clunky ones, I did not mean that I don't want an electronic key fob at all. I just want one that's not ridiculously bulky like the one I have now.

[cos]

Yup, as I noted above, I think my range requirement rules out an all-electric car, and I think my desire for fuel efficiency means I should get a hybrid. But I don't know much about hybrids so that's where I'm looking for advice and information: what to look for in a hybrid, what are some of their quirks I may not have thought of, experience with specific models of hybrids and their pros and cons, etc.