OT: Good car for Wisconsin in the Winter?

[Highmac]

European safety tests - might be worth putting them up against North American reports and see how they compare.

QUOTE

Euro NCAP provides motoring consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in Europe. Established in 1997 and now backed by five European Governments, the European Commission and motoring and consumer organisations in every EU country...

Click on "How Safe is your Car?" and pick your category.

Honda CR-V fares well

[jcarter]

A question that nobody really talks about, at least not much here, unless you view the police and fire reports,,,,,,
Do you drive at night? Or do you do most of your driving early in the day.
Different conditions to factor in, night is dangerous due to people becoming more erratic.
Early morning, due to cold surfaces.  Mid-day, perhaps more traffic?
I prefer early morning to mid-day.
These are interesting statistics, but are not readily available.

I admit I hate late night driving, from 10 to 0200.
Jane

[underdog]

No one has mentioned the Jaguar 3.0 X-Type. It is all wheel drive. Has side air bags. Good gas milage. would be a great commuter car. Very comfortable and responsive and fun. Four year bumper to bumper warranty, includeing normal maintainance. I live and drive here in the Catskill Mts.

[krissel]

Some things to consider:

The Toyota Rav4 for 2006 is a new model. Much of the safety/death rates you are seeing is not for this particular design. Theoretically the new build is larger and possibly safer but that is an unknown. I considered the RAv4 when i was looking last year but passed on it for two reasons, the size then was no bigger overall than my Celica, believe it or not. And the side opening rear gate was just plain unusable. I was disappointed because I had been a Toyota owner for 19 years. The new model is larger but still has that dumb rear gate design.

The electronic AWD that the Rav4 has is the 'on demand' kind that senses when it is needed and kicks in. Electronic stability control is a different animal so don't confuse the two.

Despite the MPG specs that sandbox listed earlier, I get 22 mpg average using regular with my Murano (6 cyl) while my sister only gets around 19 mpg using super (which she shouldn't) in a 4 cyl Outback. It's real world usage that counts, not company figures.

And thanks for the info on the Subarus warranty. I guess she has to follow their regulations. My warranty isn't dependent on required/certified manintenance.

Probably the most important thing is to test drive the vehicle on various roads and under differing conditions if possible. That can make or break a choice. One of the little things that helped sell me on my car was the adjustable foot pedals, since my legs are short compared to my upper torso. Having the ability to move the brake and gas pedals up closer makes driving so much more comfortable and much, much safer.

But most of of all, the greatest determiner of mpg and safety is the driver. No car is perfect and you will have to give in one area to get what you want in another. And depressingly, no matter how safe the driver and the car, there are some roads and conditions that just should be avoided. Period.

[sandbox]

QUOTE

No one has mentioned the Jaguar 3.0 X-Type. It is all wheel drive. Has side air bags. Good gas milage. would be a great commuter car. Very comfortable and responsive and fun. Four year bumper to bumper warranty, includeing normal maintainance. I live and drive here in the Catskill Mts.

Underdog, I didn't mention many vehicles for price purposes....... or
friends own a Hyundai Santa fe who really like it, but it has one of those warranties that Kris spoke of. http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/santafe/santafe.aspx

The VW Passat, a vehicle I drove is nice but a 4x4 starts @ $30 grand.
The Saturn's are Nice, with good numbers but I think a bit costly.

A nicely appointed Jag, built on a Ford Taurus frame is pretty spendy and has low crash ratings and residual values.

The Kia or Suzuki's are cute, inexpensive to purchase and operate but they would come in second in any crash situation.

I was also an Audi fan the Quantro was state of the art in it's day, but living in Florida doesn't require 4x4's and living in a small community doesn't even require a car, though we have a few. I'm looking forward to the day when I could leave the car driving to someone else and just walk, bike, scoot or shuttle to anywhere i need to.

QUOTE(krissel @ Jul 18 2006, 07:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some things to consider:

The Toyota Rav4 for 2006 is a new model. Much of the safety/death rates you are seeing is not for this particular design. Theoretically the new build is larger and possibly safer but that is an unknown. I considered the RAv4 when i was looking last year but passed on it for two reasons, the size then was no bigger overall than my Celica, believe it or not. And the side opening rear gate was just plain unusable. I was disappointed because I had been a Toyota owner for 19 years. The new model is larger but still has that dumb rear gate design.

The electronic AWD that the Rav4 has is the 'on demand' kind that senses when it is needed and kicks in. Electronic stability control is a different animal so don't confuse the two.

Despite the MPG specs that sandbox listed earlier, I get 22 mpg average using regular with my Murano (6 cyl) while my sisterer only gets around 19 mpg using super (which she shouldn't) in a 4 cyl Outback. It's real world usage that counts, not company figures.

And thanks for the info on the Subarus warranty. I guess she has to follow their regulations. My warranty isn't dependent on required/certified manintenance.

Probably the most important thing is to test drive the vehicle on various roads and under differing conditions if possible. That can make or break a choice. One of the little things that helped sell me on my car was the adjustable foot pedals, since my legs are short compared to my upper torso. Having the ability to move the brake and gas pedals up closer makes driving so much more comfortable and much, much safer.

But most of of all, the greatest determiner of mpg and safety is the driver. No car is perfect and you will have to give in one area to get what you want in another. And depressingly, no matter how safe the driver and the car, there are some roads and conditions that just should be avoided. Period.

Kris using High test is not a good idea on a low compression motor, it will run to cold and get bad mileage. Octane slows down the burning process. Driving style has a bearing on the result, and the link is to a gov spec site avoiding the company lean.

[Al]

QUOTE(krissel @ Jul 18 2006, 01:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And thanks for the info on the Subarus warranty. I guess she has to follow their regulations. My warranty isn't dependent on required/certified manintenance.

I'm in question here, sorry.  Does that mean your Murano can skip the required oil change intervals and still be covered under warrenty if it loses a crankshaft bearing?  I do not believe that the work needs to be done by a certified mechanic for maintenance cause people do there own work.  Just proper records should be kept.

If your sister is getting bad or unsatisfactory treatment from that Subaru dealer, see if she can take it to another dealer.  I've heard stories of different dealers having different attitudes.  

I know what you mean about real world driving for gas mileage, Kris.  Advertised is one thing, but, after the engineers tweak the ECU for production can be a totally different situation.  If your sister isn't getting the correct gas mileage as advertised it will probably be due to one of two things.  Her driving habits or the car running too rich from the factory either by the ECU or by a sensor that is reading incorrectly.  If the later, see if the service center can flash her ECU to the latest software, usually that would have updates to any bugs from the previous version and remapped fuel and timing curves.  This is what happened to my wifes Mazda 6, we bought the 4 cylinder model to save on gas, but only got 2 to 3 miles per gallon more than the V6 model.  Just under 20 MPG.  Huh?  Not good!  I was reading on a M6 site that that model 6 had been mapped rich from the factory giving it lousy gas mileage and that there is an update to my ECU's programming.  I did two things, had the service center update to the newest version of the software and added a transmission cooler.  We actually get near 24 MPG combined driving now for a vehicle that weighs in at 3600 lbs.

[Epaminondas]

Hey - we're gettin' somewhere!

Questions:

(1) Anybody know how to get ahold of your free yearly credit rating?

I don't want her to go through a data-gathering intermediary - just directly to the credit agencies , themselves.  Preferably via telephone - not via the Web.


(2) Quiet is important to me - more so to me than to Milady.

Are any of these AWD or other good Winter vehicles much quieter than others?

As you go up the trim levels within various models - from base to the more expensive trim level - do they get any quieter (any more sound insulation and such?)


(3) Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan remain in the running.  Maybe Honda, as well - I'm not sure.  Still open to ideas.

We're off to look at cars, today.


Thanks, again,

Epaminondas

[gunug]

QUOTE

Rear wheel drive with 70% of the weight of the car on the front and 30% on the back. Standard tires. I learned to routinely rock my car out of parking places (I thought that was normal) and routinely performed controlled skids through turns - my car and I were as one.

I had a Chevy Corvair for a couple of rough winters and with the engine in the rear it was like ice skating through the ice and snow.  "Lotsa fun, yu betcha!"

[bil207]

QUOTE

(1) Anybody know how to get ahold of your free yearly credit rating?

I don't want her to go through a data-gathering intermediary - just directly to the credit agencies , themselves. Preferably via telephone - not via the Web.

The Federal Trade Commission has info.(including phone #)on getting your free annual credit report here.

[RHPConsult]

QUOTE(Epaminondas @ Jul 18 2006, 10:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(1) Anybody know how to get ahold of your free yearly credit rating?
I don't want her to go through a data-gathering intermediary - just directly to the credit agencies , themselves.  Preferably via telephone - not via the Web.

As I understand, each of the 3 recognized credit reporting agencies now are required by the FTC to provide you one of their reports on you (her) annually (so, presumably corrections of errors can be made), but that to get "their" score you have to pay a small fee. I think that's the way it works.

I checked the FTC's web site only to encounter an 88 page (pdf) "summary" to Fair Credit Reporting Act. Probably briefly summarized by a summer intern from Yale Law!!!!

Check your e-mail.

If memory serves, the "agencies" have agreed to calculate the "credit score" by some means so that the same result (arithmetically) is produced. Further, one or more have changed their corporate names recently. A web search should be productive. The point is, one can contact them directly . . . hoping that Mujibor doesn't work there . . . yet.

The telephone, for "their" report? I doubt it. Too labor intensive, I would surmise, for a "free" product.

Good luck.

[Al]

QUOTE(Epaminondas @ Jul 18 2006, 07:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey - we're gettin' somewhere!

We're off to look at cars, today.
Thanks, again,

Epaminondas

Wow!  cool....... Have fun!

[Al]

Hey Jane!?!

What year is your Suburban?  My full sized Blazer is a 1990 and is built off the same chassis/suspension as the Suburban, but, shorter.  Much shorter....lol

[sandbox]

I did forget to mention the Saturn Vue...... very nice, and around $23 g's

Edmonds rates it high!!
here a list of all SUV's http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/...e/attribute=suv

[Jack W]

Jan & I really like our 2003 CR-V with real-time 4WD.

We have gotten overall avg of 24 mpg for the first 47,000 miles..

We got around 29 mpg coming back to oHIo from AZ back in April. Of course, we had a strong tailwind! YMMV.

Jack

[jcarter]

Hi Al,  Our Subdivision is a '96, the new F-150 is a '94, and we gave our old '85 Chevy pickup to our soninlaw and he gave it away again, its still running.  
Also have a '79 classic blue F-150 that is still running up in Maine, sans decent brakes.
Have to head it up the hill to stop.
All our vehicles have 'essence of wet dog', the smell that will never go away, perhaps thats why we never sell our used cars, we always give them away.

Oh, Ive been meaning to ask you how you get that info in the little box under the message, how you know I using a Mac, ISP being Adelphia.net, and whether Im using Firefox or Safari?  The IP address is wrong however.
Thats very interesting.  
Jane