altered1

I'm in the market for a new car and I'm weighing my options. I just graduated from college. I'm looking for a car, but I'm also trying to start to save for a house. Right now I'm in a 2002 2.5L 4banger Altima. Believe it or not, I'm actully pretty impressed with it for the past 2 years that I've had it. It looks good, has more power than I've ever imagined from a 4 banger, and I haven't had one thing go wrong. My fathers had a c5 vette and has a CLK500. My mom has a g35 coupe. I've driven all 3 all the time and love the performance. I have 20K plus whatever I get for my altima (7k trade in, 9-10k private sale) I don't want to spend it all because I want to get into a house soon. I have money through y company for insurance, gas and maintenence. I'm pretty much stuck looking at:
Acura TL
Caddy CTS
Infiniti G35 coupe
Dodge Charger RT
MB C-Class
BMW 02-05 3 series or 04+ 5 series
Audi a4/s4
02-05 Yukon Denali

I wasn't impressed with the Charger. Same thing with the 3 Series and the A4. My brother had a worked S4 but had nothing but problems. The A4s that I drove felt more sluggish than my Altima. I tried the TL but I don't remember beig impressed (the gadgets and the styling caught my attention, but I like the G's styling better and the voice activated controls are pretty much woop-de-doo) The 5 series is probably my favorite in regards to style, but I'd only be able to afford a 525 now which was very blah. I'm in no rush and I could wait allitle bit, but I don't see me getting into a more impressive motor. I really like denali but I'm not sure if I want a suv. It would be good o haul stuff, go skiing, and tow my boat, but I can always borrow my parent SUV for that and have other ways around that.

I went to the MB dealer and drove a few of the Cs. The c230 was a friggen dog. I really love the styling of the sports sedan but I hated the gerbil under the hood. I drove an 06 c230 ss and an 04 c320 luxary sedan. The luxary edition's styling was so blah to me. From what I drove, I much rather hve gotten something else, or would rather just stay with the Altima and saved myself 20k+.

The C32 seems perfect but I'm afraid of what I've been reading. I really like the styling and the peformance I've read about them, but I want to spend more time driving it than taking it to the shop. I'm very anti-stealership and having to go to those crooks makes me cringe. The warranty will probably solve it, but that will probably put me over my budget. (I'm trying to spend around 25k or less) I'd spend less over the years but business and tax wise it doesnt make sense (I'm getting less in salary for the company to pay for my insurance, gas and maintence) I'm really considering the c32 but the dealer didn't have any. I can also get a g35 or the cts with is plenty fast and actually get to drive it and not worry about problems. I've seen 1 or 2 CTS-V's in my range or I can wait a little bit for them to come down more and not worry about problems.

I'm sure many of you were in the same boat that I'm in. What helped make your decision. Can you offer you imput as to why you went with the c32?

alchang32

Go look at some of the For Sale ones on the forum. People here take good care of there cars, so i wouldn't worry too much but still everyone here says that no matter what try and get an warrenty even aftermarket ones..better than nothing. From what i know your looking for something fast and reliable i wouldn't suggest any kind of high end cars becasue no matter how perfect a car is you will eventually need to take it to a shop. So i would reccomend you stay in the Japanese cars. Lexus might be something for you to consider, but no matter what i personally would stay with my C32...its the best car yet for me...haha...well good luck!

flush

prioritize - house or car....

if you *really* want to get your own house now, then keep driving the altima (which you say is rock solid), pocket the 20k and put it towards your own pad.

aside from the acura + infiniti, none of the other vehicles you are looking at, will be relatively cheap to maintain.

get your house, get used to the payments, then re-think your car situation.

Fifth Ring

Totally agree. I'm amazed at the quality of cars people jump into at a very young age. My cars starting in college:

1. 1976 Ford Torino
2. 1983 Buick Skyhawk.
3. 1987 Mitsubishi Cordia
4. 1991 Audi 90 Quattro
5. 2000 Audi A6
6. 2002 MB C32

I'm 45 years old and a well compensated professional. I always drove good cars, but the Cordia was the last one I bought new.

moosejaw

if the reliability won't sway you, the gas mileage will. I get 250 miles to a tankful .

SilverBulletAMG

YUP! All city driving I get 200 to a tank. Open road is a bit better and I can get 25mpg with cruise at 80mph, which is tollerable.

jgsx

You get 25 on the highway? Wow. I get like 21 on the highway, and 19 mixed

SilverBulletAMG

In town I only get 13-15 (my fault, always fast off the light), but long road trips start out at 20 and by the end of the tank climb to 25mpg...highest being 25.8mpg. This is all according to the computer on the car. I haven't manually figured it out yet.

RacerX0911

i have a 2003 BMW 530i forsale...really nice and in your price range... brand new tires...Pm me if you are interested

rlee02135

Acura sux...
Caddy CTS-V is nice
G35 coupe is hott...Brembo BBK from factory
Charger looks mean, nice muscle car
C-Class AMG is very nice..C32 is affordable fun!
E46 coupes are hott with the right mods..
Audi A4 is not bad (B6)
only get the yukon if you like 24's

altered1

Well things change... My uncle is upgrading to a new Escalade EXT so I'll be buying his 03. The tires are bald so I need to get new ones ASAP. I'll just go straight for the 22s or 24s.

Thanks for all your input though. I'm still tinkering with the idea of a quick car, but I'm getting a deal I cant pass up. It's been well maintained, know who owned it, getting the shocks replaced (2K plus because of the damn autoleveling crap) and a good price. It'll remain under the same company name thats save me like 2k in tax right there. Now I won't have to make the hard decision of what to go with though.