News: G&M I'm looking for a comfortable car for less than $20,000, what should I get?
 

2015-2016 Honda Fit in Red as the lead graphic.

News Article

Interesting article and comments.


about the Kia Soul: "The Fit gets slightly better gas mileage"

mpg: 25 city / 30 highway - Kia Soul auto

mpg: 33 city / 41 highway - Honda Fit cvt

A little more than slightly better... ;)

I rented a 2014 Kia Soul for a week and hated it. The sight lines are terrible. You are high up, windows are small, rear view is tiny, no backup camera to help you, simply horrible feel to drive. And gas mileage compared to other cars was terrible. The neighbours liked it though.

I had rented a new Soul for a couple of weeks after the engile in my old old beater Focus decided to self implode (dropped a valve seat, destroyed the engine, or, well, fixing it/swapping it would've cost more than the car was worth, to me.....this is a well known unacknowledged problem with the SPI 2.0 liter which Ford never ever fessed up to, bastards). The Soul I had rented was actually pretty nice and decently fun to drive - it had the larger engine option, and yeah, gas mileage was nothing to write home about. Entertained the idea of picking up a Soul with the smaller engine and manual rans, but....guess there's no market for 'em. It was by pure chance I ran across the CPO Fit LX with 6 spd, am glad I did, as the CVT underwhelmed me. The Soul's not a bad car at all, but....am so glad I found the Fit I wanted :)

I have back problems that cause me chronic pain. I bought an old 2005 Audi A6 for extensive driving trips. I am not aware of any domestic or Japanese car that can match the comfort of an upscale European car...

Fuelish :

I had two Fords one with 1.9 SPI and the other 2.0 SPI. The Escorts were really Mazdas with a Ford badge and motor. All Mazda parts on car lasted forever. Original shocks lasted 350,000 miles and were still good. Those junk Ford motors dropped valves all the time. If not rebuilt properly pieces stuck in the intake would take out the rebuilt engine as soon as it was cranked up the first time. No notice about these engines tearing themselves up from Ford. No warrenty passed 24,000 miles back then either. I drove nothing but Fords for 40 years. Sorry for the rant. Let's just say Ford couild not offer me enough of a discount to buy another one.

James

I'm with ya brother.....a few years back, didn't investigate it enough, just needed a cheap beater to drive to work while my son used our Corolla for school and work...after purchase, researched a bit, and basically knew I was rolling the dice everytime I fired it up. My luck ran out this past May.....and Ford knew about it for a long long time, and refused to acknowledge the problem. Second Ford we've ever had, shall be the last

Hmmm, I've never thought of an A6 as upscale.

wait until it comes time for parts or repairs.....:violin:

GREAT cars to drive tho'. I do HDPE instruction for the local Audi club. Have driven several versions (A4, S4, A6, S6 etc)

I am concerned about having to work on it myself, but there are sources for aftermarket parts.. The only Audi's I have worked was an old Borgward Isabella and a gogomobile :https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/imag...s/redface.gifo

OP: I'd be going for a used Mazda CX5 if I were you. There are plenty of them (2015 model or newer) for under $15,000. They have been very reliable since their inception in 2013.

Everyone slips up once in a blue moon...everyone deserves a second chance.

You didn't need the backup camera until your car came with it. Is that correct?