Well, it’s getting to that time. My car lease expires in March 2007, so I’m out looking for a new vehicle! yay… I love shopping for cars.
Basically the 3 that I’m looking at are:
- Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Avant
- BMW 328XiT
- Volvo V50 T5 AWD
So I’ve test drove all of them. I even went and tested out Subaru – I was not impressed at the lack of features that the Legacy wagon has when it’s priced around $40,000.
Take a look at this website for the Edmunds.com comparison of these 3 cars.
What am I looking for in a car:
- Good gas consumption. I drive a lot (to and from work is all highway driving) and I want something that’s good on gas so that I’m not spending my entire paycheck on gas.
- Great safety. Since I do a lot of highway driving, I want something that’s extremely safe, and rated high.
- All wheel drive. This ties into the safety issue. The all wheel drive makes a huge difference in the winter and in the mid to late fall and early to mid spring. Once you have AWD, it’s hard to get a vehicle without it.
- Xenon headlights. They make a HUGE difference when driving at dawn, dusk, and at night.
- Leather w/ heated seats and a sunroof – I love them. Once you have them, it’s hard to go back.
- Comfort – I spend about 2 hours/day in my car. I want it to be comfortable and worry free.
- Long intermissions between oil changes and tune-ups/maintenance. Because of the driving I do, I don’t want to be at the dealership for maintenance every 1.5 months. At least 12,000km between regular scheduled maintenance is what I’m looking for. That’s about 4 months of driving.
- Wagon/hatchback – I miss the cargo space I had in my SUV.
- Compass – it’s true… I’ll admit it… sometimes I have no idea what direction I’m going in, let alone where I’m going. I have a portable GPS unit (it’s an add-on for my PDA) but I don’t always take it with me.
That’s about it for my wants.
Take a look at the link to the Edmunds car site review of my 3 choices and let me know what you think.