I've been eyeing the VW convertible! I WANT ONE!

glenderama... do you mean the EOS? It is sooo cute!

oh, I forgot to say that I wouldn't call it exactly a decent price though...lol

A Toyota Venza.

I can't even wrap my mind around that. I don't know what is available and what is decent priced. I just know I will probably never buy a new vehicle again. Back in the '70's, my husband made a very good living, and I got a new car ever two years. I always got an Olds cutlas. My biggest problem was finding the color I wanted, and I went to every dealership for miles around until I found the one I wanted and then he would go get it for me.

No desire any more for a new vehicle. I have two trucks...one is a spare. That's all I need.

I bought my first new car a couple of years ago.

A Chevy Aveo.
Only $11,000.
Great gas mileage and the back seat folds down all the way for lots of room to load stuff.

It's kinda cute too....LoL

BUT...my dream car is a Mazda Miata.

i am looking for a new SUV and have finally succomb to going gas efficient so the Range Rover Sport i've been planning on for 2 yrs has turned into the Saturn Vue. it's cheap (RR sport $65K v/s saturn $17K), if i don't like it after a couple yrs i'll get rid of it. i need the space & roof rack (canoes & kayaks) but also the inside has to be loaded w/ all the avail gadgets. the Vue has everything i want inside & has the most air bags (6 plus ea has sensors) w/ stability control, traction control, ABS etc...

i've compared it to the ford escape (stripped down inside), acura MDX (too much for features), jeeps (have one-nothing but problems), honda CRV (waay more expensive plus stripped down inside), toyota Rav (not enough safety features), GM envoy (too much space, bad mph)...now i'm trying to decide between getting the 2009 (which goes against everything the child of a CPA knows lol) and a 2008. i hate to commit to a small loan too, i auto-pay my house, cable/internet, cell phones and never have to watch money, can't say the word budget, and having a loan would make me worry... but i'm also not willing to give up all that cash in this economy ~ liz

The car I want and will probable get assuming I still have a job, is not a decently priced car, new or otherwise. But ... if that fails and I lose my job due to the economic downturn, the car I would choose would be a new Honda Civic. Smart looking, reliable, good gas mileage and reasonably priced. And they offer a hybrid version.

We bought both of our kids used Honda Civics when they were in high school and neither car gave us any problems despite the fact that they were owned and driven by teen drivers.

Our daughter is 23 and her used Civic just gave up the ghost after she put on over 100,000 miles on top of the 80,000 it had on it when we bought it. And trust me, she has no concept whatsoever of what "maintenance" means. To her, it means putting more gas in.

Our son would still have his Civic had it not been for the fact that he works for Audi. Because of that, he bought an Audi and sold his Honda for a very fair price considering it was 9 years old and driven by a teen boy.

Jodi-

I just got a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, love it so far, I traded my Lexus hybrid for it.

Another Dodge pickup.

:-)

I've been doing some looking around myself. Test drove the Toyota Rav 4 and FJ Cruiser, looked at Fords (Escape, Fusion) and a used Mercery Sable. My needs are different as I have to fit a wheelchair in it.

In the end, after 243 co-workers lost their jobs this week, I'm sticking to my 11 year old vehicle for now.

I don't need a car right now. I have only bought a different vehicle when I needed to buy a different vehicle and I've never bought new. To me vehicles are just for getting me from one point to another without breaking down. I really don't care what it looks like but it has to be fairly good on snowy, slippery roads. While I admit mine could be much better, I'm not getting rid of it because it's paid for and running good yet.

Truthfully, I hate car shopping so bad that I will tell DH to go and pick out what he likes, then bring me into the picture.

I am not planning to buy a new or newer car but if I did it would be a mini van. The snow and slick roads here in the winter are not for a light truck like I have now. After a storm I see lots of SUVs in ditches but no mini vans. My next vehicle will definitely be a mini van.

I bought a new Prius (one more payment on a 24-month 0% interest loan) March '07. I would have bought a used one, but there weren't any.

I was replacing an old extended length van, which had been necessary while I was running my upholstery business. When I got out of that business, I kept driving the van until the liftgate failed and the A/C died. It was a good van, and had about 170,000 miles on the odometer. I had planned on getting a hybrid as my next car, and had been saving for it for 2 years. But when offered a 0% interest loan, I financed instead.

Best car I've ever owned, and a "bad" gas mileage month we get 46-47 mpg. We live in hilly country, so the mpg goes down a bit. When we drive elsewhere, we usually get between 52-53 mpg. That certainly helped when the gas prices were so high.

Faced with the same need of a car today, I'd look for a used Prius, but I'd certainly buy a new one if necessary.

bigfoot liz-- Be glad you didn't get the Range Rover! My neighbor has had one for about 5 years and has had to put thousands of dollars worth of repairs into it. Soon after she told me about that there was an article in Consumer Reports that showed those cars coming in dead-last, in the repair department.

I have a Jeep Compass and love it. Great on gas. It's a crossover, so a bit bigger than a car, but smaller than a SUV.

I would get a Chevy HHR, love those things! Not sure how decent the price is though.

I will never buy another new car. The depreciation is ridiculous. I found a year old VW for DH that was still under warranty and that is what he drives and we both love it. I have a Tahoe I bought new which was so stupid b/c I could have bought one a year old still under warranty like DH did. No more new cars for us.

We just bought our 2nd new Hyundai in June. Our first car is a Sonata and the 2nd is an Elantra. We love them. They each came with a 5 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, and a 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. OUr next car will probably be another hyundai, but it will probably be a while cuz we will drive these til they need replaced. I highly recommend Hyundai though. Next one I get will be a small-sized SUV though.

Kat, I'm not planning to buy the VW convertible, just wishful thinking.

My daughter just bought a 2009 Honda Civic and got it on the road for under $17,500. It is absolutely beautiful and we are Honda lovers in our family.

Last year in January my husband sold my car to our daughter, cause all cars she brought over for inspections didn't suit him at all.

Then after I decide not to go Volvo station wagon, which I had lusted after ever since my last one got traded in, I told him lets buy something for fun.

His idea of fun was a mini cooper. We went, I test drove, we bought and I LOVE it. Unfortunately the vehicle is very uncomfortable for him at distances longer than 30 miles.

oh well, I still LOVE it and drive it all the time.

Moni

After my 21 year old Honda Civic, (which I had bought new) finally gave up the ghost, in November '08, I bought an '05 (Honda Certified) Honda Civic EX. I was hoping to find a good older Civic, But I guess most people are like me and drive them to death. I found the '05 and as soon as I drove it 2-3 miles, I had to have it.

I love the car, but the cost for the insurance is staggering!

Buying new cars doesn't seem to make sense any more, at least to me.

Sue

A few months back we bought a Buick Lucerne. I'd do it again. The kids who ride in the back seat say it rides so smooth and I agree. Good gas milage too.

We just hope Buick can stay in business.

We haven't bought a new car in many years. Always buy a 'last year's' model with a long dealer warranty. We put on very few miles, so it's the years on the warranty that count for us. Had our last car almost 10 years/42K miles.

We've had some 'loverly' cars that a first owner took a big hit on for us. (My favorite was a white V-12 sedan.) Very happy with our current Jaguar X-Type 3.0 It's beautiful leather inside, small, great traction and pep, good mileage too, but with the little we drive that's not a major consideration. I'm so sorry it's been discontinued. I guess it was much too nicely priced for them to make enough profit on it. Have no idea what's next for the Jaguar brand now that it's owned by an East Indian firm: Tata.

Buy and drive whatever you feel appropriate - whatever suits you.

With substantial regard for consumption of precious energy, plus pollutant emissions and adding to global warming.

I bought a new car once ... well, last year's model ... in 1966.

None since ... twenty-five years or so a frugal financial advisor.

Traditionally, houses were a good investment ... not cars: depreciate too rapidly.

Now driving a 21-year-old Mazda 323,1.6 litre, standard tranny (easy to coast downhill, or when approaching yellow traffic lights). Dependable. Comfortable. Frugal.

ole joyful

We are not in the market right now, but when we do we will buy American.

Honda Accord or if I wanted to spend less Honda Civic - my Accord was made in America.

We bought a Chevy HHR last fall. Put $5000 down and have payments of less than $300. It has leather heated front seats, remote start which I love on cold mornings, automatic lights. The milege is about 25 advertised as 30 but I spend most of my time on back roads going 25 mpg. It does better on the open highway. It's a cute little car, but I wish it was bigger (I haul a lot of stuff). Trouble is bigger costs more and uses more gas.

I'm looking at the 2009 Toyota Highlander and the 2009/2010 Lexus RX350. I am going to buy one or the other sometime next month. I've done a lot of research and with the great deals out there now I think now is a good time to buy (if you need a car like I do.) And thanks to the stimulus package just passed you can take the sales taxes and local excise taxes off your tax return this year.

Susan

Honda Civic. That's what I bought the last time (in 2001). Mine has 149,000 miles on it and I'm 'planning' for it to make 300,000 so it may be a while yet....

The Prius Hybrid for sure! Love them!

I bought the HHR last summer, I think we paid 18,000 for it. I don't have the heated seats and yes I am jealous about that. I wish it was a bit bigger also, DH hates to drive it because he feels squished in it and he doesn't think the seats are very comfortable. The only thing I don't care about it is that it sucks in the snow.