Seriously I wish CAFE would just piss off and legislate curb weight instead of fuel economy. IMO you can have 90% of the Elise experience by simply taking any old car that is sitting in the 2500lbs or less club, put good tires, and there you go. "But exotic multi-link suspension!" you might cry. Well it was commonplace back when the Japanese were busy embarrassing Detroit in the '90s, but even they have felt the cold axe of cost-cutting to compete with a revitalized American industry.
I love my sod, and have never appreciated, agreed with, or even liked your opinion, barring lightweight travel that is. I know I will never hear the end of it and your PPD versus mine speaks volumes to that, but I will never waver from my opinion and try to be less vocal about it to boot.
And if you live in the city, as I and millions of other people do, you will realize that highway mpg is absolutely meaningless.
Except when you're driving on...y'know...the highway.
If you live in the city, you should be taking mass transit. If your city doesn't have mass transit or has sucky mass transit, you should lobby your elected representatives to fix that clearly broken situation, or move to a city that DOES have good mass transit. Hour-long stop-and-go traffic commutes are for the birds.
Driving should be fun. City driving is not. So why drive in the city?
Except when you're driving on...y'know...the highway.
If you live in the city, you should be taking mass transit. If your city doesn't have mass transit or has sucky mass transit, you should lobby your elected representatives to fix that clearly broken situation, or move to a city that DOES have good mass transit. Hour-long stop-and-go traffic commutes are for the birds.
Driving should be fun. City driving is not. So why drive in the city?
I just bought a new Acura ILX.
I'm pretty pleased with this car actually despite all the comments from people here who have never actually driven or owned one. It isn't perfect by a long shot but it is pretty damned good.
Here ends my review of the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid.
Proof?
/internet
Let us know how that fit and finish is in 5 years on your Chrysler. Oh and we'll probably have similarly equal value vehicles in 5 years even though you paid 12 k more than me initially.
We can also exchange repair costs after 5 years too...
Most Japanese cars are still far superior in both build quality (particularly interior build quality, electronics, buttons, etc) and in reliability.
Furthermore, foreign cars are far better looking. American car vendors design their cars to target the "good ol boy" segment of the population, taking cues from muscle cars and the like. I'm not putting those people down, but that's not my style.
Foreign cars are more elegant and superior in design and construction.
I just bought a new Acura ILX. I look at Chevy and Ford's line up of cars and none of them appealed to me. They were either good ol boy racer cars or middle aged woman cars (Grocery Getter 5000).
Let us know how that fit and finish is in 5 years on your Chrysler. Oh and we'll probably have similarly equal value vehicles in 5 years even though you paid 12 k more than me initially.
We can also exchange repair costs after 5 years too...
Oh, really??? This is very funny!!! You obviously were talking about ES350 as the comparison was with the Camry XLE, so I don't think you have a room to backtrack and say you actually drove AWD GS or AWD IS and made a typo in your reply. I think Lexus corporate would be shocked to know that your test drove AWD ES350.I did like the fit and finish and AWD of the ES350 I test drove alot more though
Oh, really??? This is very funny!!! You obviously were talking about ES350 as the comparison was with the Camry XLE, so I don't think you have a room to backtrack and say you actually drove AWD GS or AWD IS and made a typo in your reply. I think Lexus corporate would be shocked to know that your test drove AWD ES350.
Ref: http://www.lexus.com/models/ES/specs/ and select drivetrain and look at the line which says "Drive Wheels"
Actually I did mean the IS 350. But you're more than free to get bent over a type. Fort Wayne Toyota and Lexus. Drove a camry then tested a is. Same salesman.
My wife and I own both and the IS250/350 is quite a bit smaller than the Camry. Fit and finish is much better in the Lexus which is why we will probably buy a GS350 to replace our IS in the next few years.
Oh yes it was much smaller . My budget was only 50K, so I was having to kind of work the numbers. At that time a bigger car wasn't necessary so I was flexible. Glad I didn't go for it now though, sooo much has changed in the last 1.5 years.
Let us know how that fit and finish is in 5 years on your Chrysler. Oh and we'll probably have similarly equal value vehicles in 5 years even though you paid 12 k more than me initially.
We can also exchange repair costs after 5 years too...
Hahaha. I dare you to look at a Scion TC or Civic and then get in a new Focus. And I OWN a TC.
And an iLX? You seriously paid a ton of $ for a rebadged econobox? Gah.
Right, so I'll buy a gas guzzler and hope that my elected officials miracle me a viable alternative to my commute someday? Have you seen the urban sprawl that is SoCal? Maybe I'll put $250k down on one of those flying cars we keep reading about.
I drive on the highway every single day. My commute is 30 miles one way and probably half of that is highway and it takes me about an hour to get there by car. I've been tracking my mileage on fuelly.com since my first fill up and my fuel economy has NEVER dipped below 35mpg in over 4,000 miles. Average to date is 38.3mpg and my most recent tank was 40.3 mpg. This is real world driving, not some figure someone got once on a 200 mile drive on a flat road at a constant 55mph. This is stop and go, SoCal gridlock.
Right, so you don't live in a city, you live in a 200-mile-wide suburb. SoCal is pretty close to my idea of hell.
Clearly lots of other people disagree, but I believe that's just Stockholm syndrome.
My last car was an 07 tC. It was a great car except for getting around poorly in the snow, which may have just been because of my tires. Ford Focus is one ugly car, seriously. I mean first class ugly and every domestic vehicle I've sat in feels cheap. The buttons, the finishing, etc. CHeap.
ILX I think is a great car if you do not want a large luxury car. I wanted a small car. I wanted a luxury car. I knew of few other options for this price range. I looked at MC C-Class and Lexus IS and the ILX was significantly less in price but still had everything I wanted.
My last car was an 07 tC. It was a great car except for getting around poorly in the snow, which may have just been because of my tires. Ford Focus is one ugly car, seriously. I mean first class ugly and every domestic vehicle I've sat in feels cheap. The buttons, the finishing, etc. CHeap.
ILX I think is a great car if you do not want a large luxury car. I wanted a small car. I wanted a luxury car. I knew of few other options for this price range. I looked at MC C-Class and Lexus IS and the ILX was significantly less in price but still had everything I wanted.
What domestic vehicles have you sat in?