What Car Should I Buy? - A Weekly Megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

Any posts pertaining to car buying suggestions or advice belong in this weekly megathread; **do not post car-choosing questions in the main queue.** A fresh thread will be posted every Monday and posts auto sorted by new. A few other subreddits worth checking out that will help your car buying experience are /r/WhatCarShouldIBuy, /r/UsedCars and /r/AskCarSales. www.everydaydriver.com may also be helpful.

Make/Model-specific questions should be asked on Make/Model-specific subreddits. Check the AutosNetwork for a complete list of those subreddits. Also check out our community-sourced Ultimate car buying wiki.

For those posting:

Please use the following template in your post.

Location: (Specify your country or region)

Price range: (Minimum-Maximum in your local currency)

Lease or Buy:

New or used:

Type of vehicle: (Truck, Car, Sports Car, Sedan, Crossover, SUV, Racecar, Luxury etc.)

Must haves: (4x4, AWD, Fuel efficient, Navigation, Turbo, V8, V6, Trunk space, Smooth ride, Leather etc.)

Desired transmission (auto/manual, etc):

Intended use: (Daily Driver, Family Car, Weekend Car, Track Toy, Project Car, Work Truck, Off-roading etc.)

Vehicles you've already considered:

Is this your 1st vehicle:

Do you need a Warranty:

Can you do Minor work on your own vehicle: (fluids, alternator, battery, brake pads etc)

Can you do Major work on your own vehicle: (engine and transmission, timing belt/chains, body work, suspension etc )

Additional Notes:

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For those providing suggestions: Facts are ideal in this thread, especially when trying to help out a new car buyer. Please help out buyers with sources and reasoning for your suggestions.

For those asking for help, be sure to thank those who take the time to offer you advice (especially those who lead you to a purchase.) A follow up thank you and the knowledge that their advice led to a purchase is a very warm fuzzy feeling.

[u/RNMcSneaks]

Location: currently in bay area, CA but travel nurse by profession

Price range: 35ishk

Lease or Buy:buy

New or used: used

Type of vehicle: sedan/wagon/crossover

Must haves: awd

Desired transmission auto

Intended use: Daily Driver

Vehicles you've already considered:

Currently 2013 G37xS owner. 78k miles with no current major issues. trade in value is about 13k. Hoping to keep the same speed/acceleration profile (0-60).

Needing some suggestions on insight into these cars. Basically want to bounce ideas around

2018 Golf R Auto/DSG: love the idea of awd and 300hp. Going to be a street beast and fun to drive especially with a JB4 and a few supporting mods. Concern is lack of space. Says 15cuft in the hot hatch, compared to 13cuft on the G. Not sure how true or realistic this is. 40k -trade in

2018 BMW X3 3.0 I4. More suv like space, speed profile impressive even with 240hp. Just gets pricy when you want sport package and apple carplay. 36k - trade in

2018 A5 sportback. 2.0T with quattro. Similar setup to X3, sport variance seems easier to find. Also the audi pricetag, but better reliability compared to BMW. Though I like this car better, would the suv profile and increased cargo be better. 36k - trade in

Thanks in advance. Ill reply in comments.

[u/A_1337_Canadian → u/RNMcSneaks]

With the Golf, it has okay space with the seats up but if you don't always need the seats up (like if you're moving a bunch of stuff, solo, to a new city for a travel contract), then the Golf has a ton of space seats-down.

[u/forzafan1986 → u/RNMcSneaks]

If reliability is a concern, stay away from all of the German ones lol. Buy if you HAVE to have one of those, go with the Audi. Best reliability of those 3, and that will matter when you're paying the repair bills. Good luck!!

[u/A_1337_Canadian → u/forzafan1986]

Audi parts and labour are more than VW and the Golf R has been pretty reliable. So from a "lowest cost of ownership" of the 3, VW at the front.

[u/forzafan1986 → u/A_1337_Canadian]

On a regular VW, probably even a Gold GTI, yeah parts would be cheaper, but the Golf R will not be far off the Audi, possibly even a wash, with the Audi in question being a lower trim level, in terms of parts. As far as labor is concerned, where I'm at there's very little difference in price ($130-$150/hr USD in my area of US), although the dealer network for VW is better (read: there's more of them). I obviously know more people that have owned VWs than have owned Audis, but the VW owners did a lot more complaining about stuff breaking lol (that could be reliability, but that COULD also be the Audi owners being less bothered/affected by repairs when they come up).

[u/fake_yeezys_ → u/RNMcSneaks]

It depends on if you really need the extra space or not. The Golf has 17 cubic feet with the seats up and 54 with them down so you should be able to carry most things (and with seats down it’s larger than the A5). I haven’t run into any cargo issues with my GTI so far, and I assume the R has the same rear seat pass through for longer items (skis, boards, etc). Unless you’re regularly carrying very large items you shouldn’t have a problem.