The Driveway: COBbies talk cars

What do you want to talk about? The thread has aficianados, gearheads,and people who just like cars.

Oh, I don't know...er...huh.

My current "I should get that one" used car from the Gengras (a major group of Connecticut car dealerships) website is a 2007 Corolla LE. Like with most cars, I've seen plenty of these up close so I know exactly what they're like IRL. Nothing extraordinary about them, but like a lot of Toyotas, it's just really refined for a compact. Doesn't feel bare-bones.

On another note, I really like pondering car interior layouts, especially all the controls and stuff up front. And I think Toyota in particular has been really good at this for the past decade or so. What do you all think of the audio and climate control layouts on your current cars? Easy to use or frustrating? Have you had better ones in the past? And of course the big question...do you think audio should go above climate (which is most common) or vice versa?

edited 3rd Sep '11 6:46:22 PM by frog753

Hmm, Corolla, sounds good, but then again, so does a VW Jetta.

Also, as someone who lives in Arizona, I prefer climate, but a nice mixture of the two is good enough.

Er, you do realize that by above I literally mean "Higher up on the dashboard", not "more important?"

The Corolla in question, in case you were curious.

Now the Jetta, there's something to talk about. Every reviewer seems to hate the new Jetta. Apparently the only good things about it are that it's bigger and cheaper, but otherwise it apparently drives worse, feels lower-quality inside, and so on...like, the previous one was really nice, and now it seems like they totally screwed up in pursuit of qualities that they thought Americans might like more.

edited 3rd Sep '11 7:33:54 PM by frog753

...Oh, no, I didn't.

In that case, put the audio controls higher up.

Also, the new Passat (made in Chattanooga) might be better.

Well bugger the wiper fluid line got cut somehow. Possibly critters or reckless tool use. Solution buy larger piece of piep that the snipped ends fit in and use large quantities of thermal sturdy tape. Or you know just buy a new line :P

My sister has an 05 (? 06? one of those) Diesel Jetta. She loves it. I think it feels like riding in a bathtub. However, I have to say that the trunk space in it is positively amazing.

I don't care which is higher on the dashboard, as long as both the climate control and the audio is easily reached and easy to manipulate without having to look at it.

Re: Passat. I certainly hope so. Fingers crossed...

One of my high school teachers had a similar aged (maybe a bit older) diesel Jetta. I remember being very amused by it at first, thinking it sounded like a tiny truck. It was also a manual, and one of only about 3 or 4 manual cars I've ever been a passenger in. (And no, I don't know how to drive stick...)

As for dashboard arrangement...yeah, that makes sense.

Let me try to propose another question here...thoughts on Hyundai? They go from being largely second-rate or worse, to as competent as their Japanese rivals, to (as of the past two or so years) one of the best manufacturers out there. Do you actually agree with that last one? Do you think the current new models like the Sonata, Elantra, and Tucson look cool or just weird? Ever since a usually logical friend of mine just kind of briefly badmouthed Hyundai and abruptly dropped the subject, I've been searching for more opinions...

edited 3rd Sep '11 8:31:03 PM by frog753

Well, I have no real opinion on Hyundai. The 40-MPG rating of the Elantra sounds nice, and the Hyundai Genesis is also sporty, but I have no real opinion.

Never mind that. Here's something: The Honda CR-Z. It's weird. A tribute to an 80's/early 90's car. It's a 2-seater, a hatchback, and a hybrid, and has one of the more roundly futuristic appearances of any car around, inside and out.

And yet they haven't been selling that well. I think it's mostly because it looks so odd and there's only so much you can do with two seats. Most people expect high performance from something like that, but the CR-Z doesn't necessarily have that. I still kind of like it though. I'd drive it.

2-seater severely limits the market to either single adults or 'Mom-or-dad's grown-up car for when they don't need to take the kids along'. And there are a lot fewer families who can economically stand to have a car that they can only use sometimes.

To me it seems like the kind of thing a tech-saavy younger adult with not too many friends or too much stuff and who can afford this disadvantage would drive.

...in other words, me, sort of. Well, crap. Or maybe my cousin...since my aunt seemed obsessed with the idea of him getting a hybrid, and I think his guitar and amp would fit fine in the various storage of the CR-Z.

Who am I kidding? The Honda Fit is a better, um, fit anyway. For just about anything. Great little car, that.

But on the other hand, I see on that used car site a 2010 and 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis. That would be hilarious to drive, as a 21-year-old in this day and age. Like, that's what I'd call automotive trolling. Bad fuel economy, quite unwieldy, associated with old people...but also so much space for passengers and cargo, and everyone will think you're a cop and act accordingly.

edited 5th Sep '11 8:10:03 PM by frog753

Land yachts have their good points. There are still times I miss my '64 Ventura Catalina. It was great for long drives — I could stretch out almost completely across the back seat and sleep. And it rode like a sofa. Handled like one, too which was sometimes a problem

edited 5th Sep '11 8:19:01 PM by Madrugada

The sofa ride is always neat when I take a taxi, though increasingly the taxis around where I go to school (I take 'em to the bus station) are not Crown Vics/Grand Marqs, nor are the ones in any city. (Chicago was certainly short on them.) And the sound of the V8 is so different than most cars...

Speaking (in a sense) of front bench seats: I once had to ride in the middle front seat (aka the Bitch Seat, apparently, according to my friends...) of a last-generation (2000's) Buick Century. Yeesh, that was annoying. I stuck both feet in the passenger footwell to avoid potentially disrupting the driver. Six college freshmen guys home on break in the dead of winter, packed into a Buick and blasting country music...that was surreal. But mostly squishy.

And speaking of land yachts, one of the aforementioned friends had a series (well, 2, I think) of Buick Roadmasters back in the 90's. Those were amazing, they used them in lieu of tents when the weather got bad during Cub Scout campouts. I remember riding in the trunk-mouned rear-facing "third row" of seats many years ago, and feeling a bit carsick as a result. To look at that decade was to see the SUV rise and the big old station wagon fall in perfect unison. And now they (I mean any traditional station wagon, not the big ones) barely exist, it's all crossovers here...

edited 5th Sep '11 9:36:20 PM by frog753

@Maddie: I miss boat-cars. My first car was a '76 cadillac; it had seats the size of sofas, an ashtray (with attached lighter) at every arm-rest and a sweet black-cherry paint-job. Unfortunately, it was determined (before I'd ever gotten to drive it) that it had mechanical troubles that made it a death-trap to drive.

Thus, I ended up with a mid-80s Pontiac. That was not a good trade.

While small zippy cars (like my current '00 VW Golf) are fun to drive, boat-cars are far more comfortable.

Land Yachts have held a special place in my heart since I was a wee sprog. When I was about 7, maybe 8, (so 1966-ish) Daddy somehow got a Cadillac Fleetwood, (looking at pictures, it must have been a 62 or 63) and that started it. There's just something decadent about having a car like that.

Indeed there is. They're always so ostentatious and comfortable and big...you feel in command of the road and totally at the top of the food chain.

Maybe not the very top. A semi-tractor still outranks a land yacht. But something like being a tiger shark. The Great White may be a squidge higher on the food chain, but not enough to matter.

Well, true enough. But you definitely outrank, say, a Toyota Corolla.

Compared to the cars I did Driver's Ed in, even my mom's Volvo wagon feels rather commanding. Fairly bulky and high stance, plus turbo 6 (not a V6 I don't think, though...)

I want to get behind the wheel of some large sedans or any sort of SUV, though, just to see what it's like. My friend with a Toyota Sequoia wouldn't let me drive it. I guess I understand, though.

Which Volvo?

2011 XC70. Replaced our 2007 XC70 when the lease on that was up. That replaced our ancient 1994 850 wagon, though of course Volvos older than that are still all over the place.

See, my mom has no interest in driving anything but Volvo wagons. We only get AWD cars because of the winter weather here, and she doesn't think Subaru is good enough for her. The Volvo has the AWD and is big enough to carry whatever stuff we need, its biggest annual duty being taking my college stuff from and back to home. Apparently typical small crossovers aren't big enough, and medium-sized ones are too SUV-like. And we don't exactly need high passenger capacity, since it's just the three of us.

I'm kind of getting tired of this endless string of Volvos. I mean my dad even has one now! (The new S60 T6, which is awesome, but still...) That's why I'm so fascinated with basically everything else. When I get a car, I sure don't want a Volvo, even though there's really nothing wrong with them and my parents would probably love if I got one.

edited 7th Sep '11 9:03:42 AM by frog753

Subaru? Not good enough?

Tell her that the Impreza WRX STI is practically a race car. Being born in the world of rallying, it has to have seen snow at least once or twice.

edited 7th Sep '11 8:01:06 PM by RocketDude

Scoobies are nice cars. Plus you can drive them in all sorts of inclement weather. Plus if the Impreza isn't large enough, you can step up to a Legacy or a Forrester.

Land yachts? I own a '99 Buick Park Avenue. After the demise of the Roadmaster, it's the biggest thing they had. It has a nice commanding presence on the road. Nice ride too. My only regret with it is that it's not an Ultra; those come with the L67 supercharged 3.8-liter engine. I'm stuck with an L36.

I'll be getting rid of it as I finally got the Turbo T/A running again.

edited 8th Sep '11 11:36:18 AM by pvtnum11

You know what we really need. A car poor folks can afford. If my car died tomorrow I would not be able to afford even most used cars. We need a 2k-3k tops car you can buy on the cheap. What is the closest we have to this.