Posted on 04/03/2013 7:28:28 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
...that gets decent gas milage and is reliable. Any Suggestions?
The people I know who have rhem love them but they’re ugly and getting a little dated, imho.
Define “American”.... The line continually gets more blurry...
Chrysler products are predominantly manufactured here in the US, but the company is owned by Fiat.... (Italian company)
The vast bulk of Toyotas and Hondas sold in the US are made in the US, by US workers (mostly non-union - which is generally a selling point for me). But both are Japanese companies.
Hyundai, which started out pretty badly in the US market, now makes some pretty good cars, with a good warranty, and many of their models are also made in the US - but is Korean owned.
And lest we forget - there are significant numbers of US auto company vehicles being built in Canada and Mexico -
Personally - I lean towards US Made vehicles over US -owned companies.
Depending on the Kia
2007 Rondo 4 cylinder has a chain instead of a belt. It does not get my recommendation as a good commuter car though.
What is it with this little sh*t and his band of muppets looking through the binoculars? What is he looking at? LiLo on the beach? And where does he find that many midgets wearing uniforms from central casting to surround the little fat fu*k? These photo’s crack me up only because all I see is a phony clown with absolutely zero military credentials appearing to be “in charge” of a BS country. What a freaking joke.
I bought a 2006 Pontiac Vibe in 2009 with 145,000 miles. Now at 229,000. Tires, brakes and a fan resistor. That’s it. A friend just borrowed it today to drive from MD to Chicago since it gets twice the mileage as his Taurus.
Im enjoying my VW TDI Jetta, diesel, 6 speed manual, bought used with 18k miles for 21k. Reliably 44-50 MPG city/highway, have put 40k miles on so far in just over one year, no problems at all
“WHAT DIFFERANCE DOES IT MAKE!”!
2005 Focus (driven by DH) here. Last time I drove it (I have an 09 Jeep Patriot) the Focus had 218,000 miles. Other than tires, brake pads, and regular maintenance, NO repairs. It’s Fwd and goes great in snow (usual PA storms 6 inch variety). DH is 6’4 and has to recline and push seat all the way back. The Focus will soon have have it’s 2nd teenage student driver. Our plan is to get DH either a newer Focus OR Taurus (pre-owned lease turn in are way we buy vehicles). Or, if we can find one, a Ford Edge or Jeep Laredo (if mileage/price can be found in our range). Only reason we are considering “bigger” than the Focus, is we have one in college and the new driver will be going in a few years too. The Patriot is just a tad small for the college “moves.”
But our Focus has been awesome. Our daughter bought one (new) when she got out of college. She has had no issues either. I highly recommend!
Good used Mercury Grand Marquis if you can find one.
Like driving your living room and mine gets 23.7 mpg each and every day of my 82 mile trip on backroads and freeway in stop and go driving. Hardly varies by more than 2 or 3 tenths. You can punch it an go like a striped arsed ape if you need to.
About 27 to 28 mpg on the highway at 75 mph all day long.
The average is for the last 32,000 miles or so.
Relatively cheap to buy, cheap to maintain and cheap to insure.
I bought it when I decided I was no longer going to wear our my Dodge Cummins when I returned to the US full time and had to make the daily slog again. The truck got 21 mpg and I could not bear to get a rice burner that got nearly the same mileage with the huge step down in comfort and safety.
It is also a car you don’t have to get emotionally involved in.
Mazda 3... I have over 100,000 miles on my 2006 Mazda 3 and other than tires and a battery have had no major repairs or problems. Opt for the 5 speed manual... I routinely get 30 mph for in town driving and 34 to as much as 40 mpg on the highway.
:)
And to top it off, its been garaged since 1992
Check Edmunds.com for reviews and "what to buy and not to buy" lists. They are a wealth of information.
Ditto. I have a 1983 Mercedes 300D I got for 300 bucks, then put 1200 bucks into all new brake pads, rotors and some lines. It's my backup car. 27 MPG.
I have a 227 mile daily round trip commute through the wilds of New Hampshire, through Franconia Notch every night.
My 2012 Ford Focus with 6 speed auto trans (gets 2 MPG better then the standard), gets 38 to 40 MPG, using Amsoil Synthetic lubricants and additives, of course, 25,000 mile oil changes.
The Focus does well in snow and on ice, with traction control, studded snow tires and anti-lock brakes.
My previous commuter was a 2008 Ford Focus.
If the snow is going to be really deep, I take our 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which also has traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes full time four wheel drive and studded snow tires.
Should things get really bad, our 1966 Mercedes Unimog 404 easily handles 3 feet of snow and just about anything else you throw in its way.
The last few nights have been blizzards, especially in the notch, with packed snow that's almost as bad as ice. The Focus behaved as if it was dry road.
NEVER, EVER again ANY GM or Chrysler product. Sorry about the Jeep, I'm embarrassed to drive it, but I got it so cheap I had to.
“Why are Ridgeline sales so poor? Even lower than the Nissan Titanic.
They’re not even selling half of what they did in the early years?
This tells me the reputation (for what?) is hurting them.”
Some of their dealers didn’t carry the Ridgelines at first. My local dealer refused to carry the Ridgeline until a dozen or more were bought a few miles away. That cost him a close to 300K in lost sales.
Honda at first, stretched the image a lot showing the Ridgelines driving and racing in 4 wheel drive county. We were told that I could buy after market under the truck skid plates/gear to protect the engine, transmission and other mechanical things from damage in rough off road conditions. Apparently, Honda has threatened to sue anyone who tried to market the under truck protective skid plate gear. Their reason was apparently re safety. If there is a head on collision, the engine is supposed to drop down in an accident. So any skid plates would prevent this from happening. No one sells skid plates for the Ridgeline or Pilot.
The motor, frame, transmission, suspension and other under the sheet metal wrapping is the same as their Honda Pilot and their Acura SUV. Both products are good sellers and vry reliable.
That may be the problem, as too many of us cracked the code and saved thousands versus a Pilot by going with a Ridgeline.
Last but not least, they don’t advertise Ridgelines, which limits vehicle sales.
We have probably discussed owning a Ridgeline with well over a hundred other owners. All of them loved their Ridgelines and plan to drive them for at least a decade or more. That cuts down on repeat sales if the original is still a good vehicle.
Often one family member buys a Ridgeline and then other family members buy one or more like my BIL. One of our younger relative knows this large family of adults. The first Ridgeline in that clan was bought to drive in the Lake Tahoe area. It did such a good job all of the Lake Tahoe adult clan bought one. Then, the clan in the Wino areas bought them. All are still running even some with over 100k miles. That cuts down on repeat sales.
have the brits ever learned to understand electricity?
Please don’t listen to these idiots posting to buy foreign cars. Please buy American.
Thank you,
Jaguar has a recently renewed patent on the short circuit.
Jaguar and Land Rover, by anyone’s measure, are the least reliable vehicles in the USA, year after year.
Your American commuter car pick is...
Uh-oh! The administration is going to get on your csse for not buying the chevy volt!
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