What kind of car do you drive?

Wendy · Jul 18th, 08, 11:03 am

Knowing Ikeafans are a thifty bunch I was wondering what kind of car people drive.

I am in the market and I think I will buy a Kia Spectra5. Any thoughts or other recommendations.

Wendy

**NBeth** · Jul 18th, 08, 12:05 pm

Hi,

We drive a used Volvo, manual transmission. Purchased for roominess, reliability, and safety. It will last until we're sick of it and then probably keep chugging for someone else.

FYI, Consumer Reports is not very positive about the Kia Spectra:

The Kia Spectra is a mediocre small sedan. It has a relatively comfortable ride, quiet interior, and decent fit and finish. But overall it trails the better cars in its category. The relatively refined 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine has adequate acceleration with the automatic but unimpressive fuel economy of 25 mpg overall. The Spectra corners reluctantly. A Spectra5 hatchback is also available. The Spectra comes with standard side- and head-curtain air bags. The IIHS side-crash test has improved to marginal. Models equipped with ABS can be very hard to find.

They suggest considering the Honda Civic or the Mazda 3 and they also give good ratings to the Hyundai Elantra. If those are too expensive new, I suspect they'd recommend buying a recent model used.

Just something to think about. I know not everyone likes their rating system, but the crash rating is something to think about because it's independent. The Kia "improved to marginal" by adding curtain air bags?

The Civic, by comparison, got a "good" rating with nominally similar equipment.

Hope this helps!

**fisheggs** · Jul 18th, 08, 12:47 pm

I commute on my KWS 15-speed! Except when it's snowy. Then we drive a 94 toyota "chick truck". Still gets 27+ mileage, so I'm a fan of toyotas in general.

Ithaca has an interesting mix of Subaru and Prius owners. The Subaru owners like to crow about how much better off they are in our steep terrain during snow storms. They're right - I've definitely been stuck on campus sometimes when someone in an old compact car can't make it up a hill and brings the entire road to a standstill. Once we all stop, most of the vehicles can't start up again on the ice!

On the other hand, that only really is a problem maybe 6 days out of the whole year. We had to park at the bottom of our hill and walk the mile home once in the three years we've lived here. So I think that for our next vehicle, I'll weight the everyday gas economy over the once-in-a-while power needs. It's kind of like having a double oven JUST because you might want to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving (not implying that there aren't other very good reasons to have a double oven!)

laurie · Jul 18th, 08, 2:16 pm

We have a big-honkin' truck, a Mini-Cooper, and a 67' Camaro that has been sitting FOREVER in our garage because dh says it's going to be restored (he's been saying that since 1990

).

**DesignDiva** · Jul 18th, 08, 2:48 pm

I loved my Mini Cooper sooooo much! I'll be buying another one as soon as the kids are out of the house. I had to give it up because I needed a Mom-mobile for these teenagers that live here

So right now I have a 2006 Toyota Matrix (about 27 MPG on average) but my heart will always belong to Mini.

Macks13 · Jul 18th, 08, 3:03 pm

I've got a Saturn SL1 (2000) and I love it. A good little car, 30+ MPG... I'm a big fan of Saturn vehicles in general - they've served my family well for 15+ years.

...but I really REALLY want a VW Beetle.

**dafogle** · Jul 18th, 08, 3:16 pm

I have a 1992 acura integra, and a toyota tundra (these days I only drive it when I need to haul stuff). My integra gets gets great gas mileage and still drives well .. though I'm starting to think about replacing it ... the mileage is really high and it's starting to have problems. I've been thinking about a smart car (those are really cute!) or a used volvo or subaru.

Doreen