Well as my dad and mom can't afford a third car, my dads decided its time to move on from the large/small SUV/CUVs and move into his car roots (a Honda Civic coupe). Although, my dad had the taste of luxury with my mom's Lexus RX, hes trying to get something nice for himself as well! That means, I get to drive it quite often too. The goal for it is to be kept 6-8 years, and not something that will break down. We went to a BMW Driving event with the 1series, 3 series and new 5 series. And while we both agree that the 1series is the most snug and agile of the bunch, the 3 series and 5series are more in line with the size hes looking for. As well, he doesn't need a family hauler so the coupe is the looker as well as the stunner! What are some other options in this class of used cars, under 25k. (Mandatory AWD due to the canadian snow season). List: BMW 328xi Audi A4 Lexus is250 Anything else? Help us out and give an input on general maintenance and reliability!
C300 4matic Lancer Evolution X/9 or Lancer Ralliart that has AWD Subaru Legacy pre facelift Mazdaspeed 6 OR just get RWD + Snow tires snow tires will get u alot further than AWD
HAHA!!! I do realize that rwd + snow tires gets you further. (better traction, and braking distances, TC, Stability Control all do well). And Evo! or Subaru! For my dad! I'm not too sure if I described him well! He just like a good car, agile, (automatic), looks great and offers luxury. Going RWD on the BMW will save like 2-3k, which I am trying to convince will fund the winter tires for the life of the car and is a safer drive!
G35x or G37x might also work out, they should be quite reasonable 2nd hand too mind me asking which part of canada is this for?
In Ontario- GTA area. But my dad drives to various places and our streets in the neighborhood get plowed a day later... stupid as the snow piles on to be unbearable sometimes.
ah if your dad drives to various places, def snow tires is a must and awd will be safer on safe. I would say G35x being a more luxurious feel for the $$$ anyhow and prob better in maintenance costs if u want to keep it for long term in terms of maintenance cost although European cars usually go forevers mechanically speaking
Yea, but just by talking to him, hes hard pressed on getting a good looking coupe... (sorta a mid-life thing...) LOL. I do feel the g35x is a nice looking car inside and out, but part of our family has a Nissan (Pickup, a Maxima and Altima) and while they are fine and reliable, the body of the maxima has a bit of rust after only 8 or 9 years! The altima is running solid after 450k!!! and the pickup was fine (again it was also an older model). But seeing the trend and from reading online, the 328i is quite reliable and as is a G35, with the G reporting only a little more failures in electronics as well as small bits in the engine. Seeing as I will drive the car as well, the BMW is a clear winner behind the wheel and from the outside! But the interior on that thing... quite outdated! And the base models have little to no try luxury features... (fake leather, 6 speaker stereo including 2 very small subs, some models with non power seats) Its just hard to find one that has what you want, where as the G35 is very nicely equipped. Fuel economy wise the BMW is the better choice as that VQ is a thirsty engine. I guess after the winter is when the real choice will have to be made.
BMW's outdated interior was the main reason why I went for a Mercedes over BMW, my dad's 3 series hardtop cabrio interior looks the same as our old 323i from 92 seriously and it would be boring staring at the same interior in 2 cars. If you want a carcostcanada report for a "new" car, I can grab u a quote or 2, I got membership there.
I would generally avoid BMW for their crappy interiors, its what you see the most, driving it day in and day out. I know I can't stand it. Avoid Audi because the TFSI 2.0 has more potential problems than you can shake a stick at. Its such a bummer cause the overall package is SO good. That leaves still quite a few choices, though they aren't without their faults, just not as big. G35x/G37x, thirsty, that's the biggest fault. Otherwise, nice cars. The seats, are HUGE. AWD system is also quite good. There is a new for 2011 G25x, maybe you can look into it if you don't need the power. Merc C300 4matic. Looks good IMO, interior is nice too. And its a MB. AWD system just isn't as good. AWD isn't one of Mercedes' strong points. Lexus IS250 AWD. Nothing wrong with it, just slowwwwwwwwwww. If you can throw out the cash, the 2011 has a IS350 AWD option. If your dad is REALLY deadset on a coupe and only willing to pay for used, get the G.
I'd say test drive AT LEAST 3 cars in a category you are looking for to see what you like. There are a lot of surprises out there. Everyone is entitled to opinion, some cars we like, some we don't...I test drive the following, and then make a final decision: Mercedes Benz C300/C350 BMW 328/335 Audi A4/A5 Infiniti G35/G37 Lexus IS 250/350 VW CC/Passat Each of these cars has it's strong points, and its weak points. I would NOT even bother looking into Subaru or Mitsubishi. They are ugly as naked satan (IMO) and extremely unreliable (family members owned a few, and will never make tha mistake again). Good luck.
turbo engines and carbon build up and actually the latest generation 4matic is actually quite good, it does a 45:55 split and can send power 30:70 -> 70:30 with torque vectoring aswell, just not 100% to wheels because it doesnt have active differentials at the front or rear I believe. audi's quattro (atleast on the main stream models) is the only mechanical awd which doesnt torque vector unless u get the sports differential which allows torque vectoring at the rear wheels (active differential at rear). You do get different AWD system in their line up with different torque splits, A3 and TT uses the same one Q7 uses a different one thats the same as Cayenne and Toureg the Gs uses ATTESSA which is quite a dated system from GT R34s which is hydraulic based reactive AWD system which only sends power to the front when it loses traction else its 100% rwd and the system only sends like 50% torque up front max due to limitations of the mechanical side of things i believe. xdrive unless u get performance package will not torque vector but in some recent video i saw, X3 can go up slippery roll bars better than the Q5. mitsubishi's SHAWC on the Evo is actually one of the most advanced AWD system out there with multiple sensors with active differentials and active braking to create its torque vectoring. looking @ the different brands AWD system was actually the main research for me when I grabbed my GLK as I didnt want any compromises in the performance in all road conditions. I actually wanted to grab a mitsu at first but japanese cars @ 40k is not worth it lol also looking @ the AWD systems allows u to see which one will be more "fun to drive" if you do stick with AWD.
What the hell? Yoshi, where does Mercedes publish the power distribution numbers for their 4Matic AWD? While 4Matic is the best thing to happen to Mercedes vehicles, I still think the system is extremely rear-biased. AWD + all-seaon tires are going to rape RWD + snow tires. RWD = garbage in snow. RWD + snow tires = garbage in snow, with snow tires.
now now now, Tires are what keeps the car on the ground, so snow tires in the snow > all seasons in the snow unless the all seasons are awesome like Continental Extremecontact DWSes BUT you must always remember that AWD may pwn a RWD in a straight in snow at your set configurations cuz AWD will simply find grip up front aswell (which helps if snow is near the bottom of your car) and send power to all 4 BUT you must remember AWD system does NOT help you stop in any way, its the brakes and tires that helps you stop (and stability control controlling your brakes) Having driven in a few winters with all seasons, it did take me a while to grasp the idea of tires > AWD. and on the Mercedes note, ever since 4th Generation 4Matic, its been 45:55 afaik, I've read up documents on them and my GLK's press release had this specification. They might of been super rear-biased before cuz they might of implemented a reactive rear-biased AWD like Infiniti and BMW but I am sure theyre not what they used to be lol some reads on torque vectoring: Torque Vectoring and Active Differential
yoshi, I don't take braking and turning into account. I know that snow tires dramatically improve traction over even the best all-season tires. But, when I drive in heavy snow, all my turns and braking are done at minimum speed so that's not a concern for me. I do agree that AWD is virtually useless for braking and turning when driving in snow. When it comes to deep snow and uphill, AWD/4WD is the only way to go. RWD and FWD will try to find traction and will just end up sitting in the snow, whereas 4WD is more designed to ride on top of the snow. It's like when I drive my ATV in deep snow, I can start off in 4WD, then switch to 2WD and it will go for a bit, but slowly starts sinking deeper and deeper into the snow until no traction, and will refuse to move forward from a stop in 2WD. If I keep it in 4WD, it will just keep going and maintain its position of riding on top of the snow as long as I maintain speed. I can also start from a full stop as long as I keep the quad in 4WD. I find these RWD/AWD characteristics to be similar with cars in deep snow. As far as MB 4Matic, I'm not saying you're wrong, I am just looking for any info you have from MB that states power distribution. From what I understand, Mercedes SUV's have a differently-tuned 4Matic system which can transfer up to 100% of the power to one wheel, whereas Mercedes sedans have 4Matic which is mostly (if not completely) rear-biased and only transfers power to the front wheels until there is a loss of traction.
Hehe they should have a more rugged system in the G and GL and GLK but MLs are tuned to ride like a car. oh and 4wd and awd are actually different things, I'll give a bit of tech post when I get home But yah my random reading of articles at times brings me up to speed with these things lol
yoshi, does your GLK have low-range? I dunno about now, but the previous-generation ML always had a low-range. I am aware that 4WD (at least true 4WD) is not the same as AWD.
the older ml might of had different system, Canadian and US bound GLKs dont have low range button but the ones in Europe do despite having the same 4matic system. They do however offer 2 types of suspension specification for the GLK of which NA bound only has AGILITY spec whilst Europe u can get it with a different one thats not Agility based (dont know whats it called, I'll have to look that one up), but its more offroad orientated with a bit higher clearance by 20mm or so but yeah the low range button in the GLKs just holds it in lower gears cuz 7G-Tronic transmission protects the transmission by shifting to higher gear (NA bound are also do not have true semi-automatic) I do have a friend with the last gen ML and another with the current gen ML, i could ask em both if their Canadian MLs have low range or not. Europe gets everything I will however get my essay post up later tonight when i get home from dinner
We had 99 ML430 and 2002 ML500 and they both had 5-speed auto and low-range. The full-time AWD was also pretty aggressive with sending power to the front wheels, not like my parents' 4Matic cars now. Their 4Matic cars are very rear-biased. For the old ML, the 4WD was referred to solely as 4-ETS but then MB switched all their cars to the 4Matic system, also equipping and listing 4-ETS as a system to help manage the 4Matic's power distribution.
