Here's more for you. 1. Which country can boast that their brands occupy 2 of the top 3 spots for long-term reliability? Answer: United States. Per J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, Mercury and Cadillac are in the top 3, along with Lexus. And in 2007, Buick was tied with Lexus for the top spot. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008115 2. As of August 2007, which manufacturer had the most recalled vehicles in the U.S. for that year? Answer: Volkswagen. According to Bus iness Week, Volkswagen had the most recalls at this time a year ago. The second worst w as Toyota. http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...810_455098.htm 3. Pick the brand from each group that has the highest initial quality. a. Answer: Cadillac (better than both Acura and BMW) b. Answer: Mercury (better than both Honda and Nissan) c. Answer: Chevrolet (better than Acura, BMW, and Mazda) This is according to J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008063 4. Which midsize sedan has the highest initial quality? Answer: The Chevrolet Malibu has better initial quality than any competitor, including the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The Ford Fusion also beat all 3 Japanese competitors. This too is fr om the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, which also reveals that above average are American brands Mercury, Ford, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Lincoln, and Buick. Below average are import brands Acura, Kia, Nissan, BMW, Mazda, VW, Subaru, and Scion (and several others). http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...and-Large-Cars http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2008063 5. Which large sedan has the highest initial quality? Answer: Again per J.D. Power, the highest quality large car is the Pontiac Grand Prix, beating the Toyota Avalon. Two other Detroit cars that beat the Avalon are the Mercury Sable and Mercury Grand Marquis. http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...and-Large-Cars 6. Which midsize pickup has the highest initial quality? A nswer: The Dodge Dakota has the best quality for midsize pickups, proving that Chrysler too can beat the imports. Both the Dakota and the Ford Ranger beat the Toyota Tacoma. http://www.jdpower.com/autos/article...ckups-and-Vans 7. Which car is the most economical overall? Answer: Per Edmunds.com, the premier automotive analysis site, the most economical car in America, taking into account not only mileage but all costs, is the Chevrolet Aveo. The Honda Fit is #3 and the Toyota Prius is a distant #34. http://jbrlsr.com?aid=5336118839&bid=3196492&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edmunds.com%2Fhelp%2Fabout%2Fpress%2F127806%2Farticle.html 8. Which car did the Los Angeles Times describe as "a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti"? Answer: "Cadillac makes a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti, and that car is the 2008 CTS. No other car in the mass market dares so much as this expressive and audacious bit of automoti ve avant-gardism." Dan Neil, LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/classified/au...3.photogallery 9. Which company makes the winner of the 2008 "Green Car of the Year" award? Answer: The Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid is the winner of this award. How could a full-size SUV defeat the media darling Toyota Prius? Read the link below and you will discover, "What's equally eye-opening is that the Tahoe's 21 mpg city fuel efficiency rating is the same as that of the city EPA rating for the four-cylinder Toyota Camry sedan." Did you catch that? A huge, full-size SUV from Chevrolet that gets the same city mileage as a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry!! Chevy obtained this remarkable achievement through the use of its 2-mode hybrid system, a technology that Toyota does not have. http://www.greencar.com/features/2 008greencar/ 10. Which car was selected by the North American automotive press corps as the "North American Car of the Year" for 2007? Answer: Not only was the Saturn Aura picked by the automotive press corps as better than the Honda Fit and the Toyota Camry, "When a panel of 47 journalists named the Saturn Aura the North American Car of the Year over the Toyota Camry, the vote wasn't even close, 205-89." Chicago Tribune, 1/15/07 http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html 11. Which car won the same award for 2008? Answer: GM again crushed the Japanese competition in 2008 when the Malibu received 190 votes to the Honda Accord's 95. The Accord actually came in 3rd since GM's other finalist, the Cadillac CTS, received 165 votes. http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html 12. Whic h company had a luxury vehicle, a midsize sedan, and a large truck removed from the Consumer Reports recommended vehicles list in October 2007 because of mounting quality problems? Answer: Toyota's much publicized quality problems resulted in Consumer Reports actually removing from their recommended vehicles list the Lexus GS luxury car, Camry V6 sedan, and Tundra pickup. This demotion occurred in October 2007.

Close to 2 years ago now, when my neighbor and I were both looking for new cars, we test drove a few Mazdas, including the 5. My neighbor (whose van was totaled) wanted something that would still let her haul gardening stuff -- many bags of mulch, flats of flowers, etc. She did like the 5 when she took it for a test drive herself. Once someone was in the passenger seat, it felt too tight, both in elbow room and head room. We both like a little more "air" over our heads. I don't see too many on the road, either: I think the 5 is just a mini-minivan -- and that people looking for that extra space just go with a traditional minivan. She ended up buying the CX9. She doesn't like it so much anymore -- the handling, the road noise. Road noise seems to be a problem throughout the Mazda line, I learned when I was researching for my new car (test drove the Mazda 3, 6, CX7; bought a Hyundai wagon instead). Concerning your height, there are so many vehicles now that have the seat height adjustment (either standard or as part of an optional pkg), and that will give you a better view of the road and a better handle for parking spaces. (And I agree with the concern that the dealership is so far from you.)

Until recently, we drove older vehicles. I had a 95 Chrysler Cirrus (bought in 95) and a 02 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder (bought in 05). The Chrysler had 107,000 miles on it when sold to 16 year old as her first car. I traded the Spyder in for a 14 Chrysler 300C. Hubby drove his 99 van until the frame rusted out and we replaced with a 12 Ram 1500 PU. My family has always driven older cars. My brother has my dad's 96 Chrysler Sebring convertible and recently ventured into the 2000s by picking up a 03 Jeep Liberty. He drives multiple cars every day (utility purposes), switching between a work van, his personal 00 Dodge van and a 73 Plymouth Gran Fury. He's got a bout 7 cars (never less; you'd understand if you knew our family). My all time favorite car to drive is now in a museum. A 27 Dodge Cabriolet that was in the family for 30+ years. I loved driving it. The heavy duty truck transmission requiring double clutching, the "grabber" brakes that required an oh so gentle touch on the pedal. I miss that car.....Here's a picture of the car being loaded up to take to the museum. The guy's head that you see is the guy who's in charge of the car. We've kept in touch and they haven't modified the car at all. Still looks like this and is driven very frequently. I've been fortunate to have driven cars from every decade starting with the 1920s and I've enjoyed the heck out of each one.

This is the Old House section, you should change the topic area for your post.