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Smart Shopper What's the best vehicle for my needs?
1145 messages, Last post on Sep 17, 2009 at 12:59 PM
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I just got back from renting an S40 2.4i. I was hoping to get my hands on an S60R, but they're almost impossible to find as a rental unit. At first, I was unimpressed with the performance of the S40. It didn't seem any faster than, say, the Camry I rented the week before. Of course, I really liked the interior and the stereo and all of that. But what I really wanted was PERFORMANCE. And then I noticed the little M on the shift. I googled it and discovered that it was something called Geartronic, some kind of sorta-manual option. I've never driven a manual before, so I don't know anything about them, but I did some quick reading at work, and decided to give it a shot with the M mode. Oh my god! Is this what I've been missing in not driving a manual? It made a HUGE difference. See, my problem was never simply wanting a really fast car. It was more about car reaction time than anything else. I didn't want some other car taking an opening in highway traffic, because I found that slipping through the crevices in traffic often made the difference between getting home at 6:30 and getting home at 7:20. But that annoying two second pause while the car slows down, gets back to speed, and then accelerates would always close my window of opportunity, or sometimes put me in dangerous situations where I'm not accelerating as quickly as the car coming up behind me. But this M - it changed everything because now I don't have to wait for the car to decide what to do, it just does it. I can't believe how quickly it reacts now. Now what I do is when I'm cruising on open road, I'll drive it in 5. When I'm in light, or high speed traffic I'll drive it in 4, and quickly switch to 3 when accelerating. The lag time is about half of what it is in full auto, and can always catch the openings now. And when I'm in moderate or medium speed traffic, I'll actually drive it in 3, and not switch gears at all. It reacts instantaneously. I've been able to catch 90% of the openings. And I don't have to know a thing about clutches and all that to be able to drive this. It's brilliant. While I'll never go full out manual, I've fallen in love with this half-auto/half-manual concept. I need to know what other cars have that or a similar feature. Any suggestions? Is this an option on the entire Volvo line? |
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Replying to: demigawd (Jul 02, 2009 5:34 am) |
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Replying to: demigawd (Jul 02, 2009 5:34 am) Also, I wanted to point out that you rented a 2.4i. So, no, it is no faster than a Camry. And, in fact, a Camry V6 will blow its doors off. What you really want to try is the T5 model. Off the top of my head, I think its about 60 more hp and about the same increase in torque, too.
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Replying to: qbrozen (Jul 02, 2009 8:19 am) I would have loved to drive a more performance-oriented Volvo, but rental companies usually stick with the base units, for understandable reasons. So finding any turbo rentals is going to be a tall order. There aren't all that many V6s, for that matter. I was able to get my hands on an '08 Altima V6 a few weeks ago, but that's the most powerful car I've ever seen available at my local rental places (airport locations have the good stuff, but usually have rules preventing them from renting to locals - and they charge 3x the price). It accelerated beautifully, but I'm not sure if the engine had a problem because it was LOUD and never seemed to coast - it was like as soon as I released the gas, the car would start to brake itself. It limited my enjoyment of the car, I'm not sure if that's just the way the Altima is, or if there was a problem with the car, or if maybe there was a configuration on there that I didn't know about that made it that way.
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Replying to: demigawd (Jul 02, 2009 9:20 am) |
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loves- Manual transmission, cargo space hates- minivans kids 3- 2 carseats 1 booster seat Budget - $32,000 cdn i think thats around $27,000-$28,000 for you americans Can go higher than $32,000 but i would really love not to. Any non Minivan suggestions? |
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Replying to: carstryke (Jul 02, 2009 3:34 pm) Volvo, Subaru, and a few others make mini wagons/wagons with manuals. And of course, there's always things like a 4Runner or similar that aren't yuppie soft-roaders or minivans with AWD crammed on them and lifted. |
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Replying to: carstryke (Jul 02, 2009 3:34 pm) |
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Replying to: carstryke (Jul 02, 2009 3:34 pm)
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Replying to: erniesdad (Jul 03, 2009 6:19 am) We come to this one again and again. The best vehicle to do what you want to do is a minivan - with the exception of the manual transmission part which is nearly impossible to find in one. Poor minivans have gotten such a reputation... How about a Mazda 5? Call it a CUV or something. You can get it in a stick. Smaller than what I think of as a minivan but probably OK for 3 kids. I really like the idea of a Flex but they somehow seem overpriced to me.
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