Check the motor used in the top of the line Saturn Vue....

 

Generally the more rural the area the cheaper the land. But the key is to find an inexpensive area now, but one that should increase in the future. Safest way is to buy on the outskirts of a city....

 

very good thread guys....

I would consider myself a buy-American guy whenever possible. But lately its getting harder and harder. I do feel American cars have more soul/style, whatever you want to call it then most foreign cars. Styling I much prefer Detroits pony cars over these Evo 8s, STIs etc. I would be embarrassed to drive an STI with that big stupid wing.

That being said....wife and I were in the market for a daily driver in the $20k range. We are a married couple, both in our late 20s, no kids. I wanted something that was going to be roomy, sip cheap gas, have a decent warranty, and have decent power. Most importantly I wanted something that I could drive for long perioids of time and was comfortable to drive without putting me to sleep....

We settled on an '06 Hyundai Sonata. We have had two previous Hyundais and had excellent luck with them, I still have mine with 98k on it.

First off the dealership experience was first rate. I called & emailed three dealerships telling each I did not have the time/desire to goto each dealership and dick around on price. I told them exactly what I wanted and told them to give me their best offer up front. I also stressed that I wanted the car in my driveway within 48 hours.

First dealership gave a small discount off of MSRP, I laughed at him. Then he gave me the 'My manager might be able to do better....' I told him to save himself and me some time and don't bother, but to have a nice day.

Next two dealerships came to me with great offers, it was either $2k or $3k under INVOICE, I forget what the exact discount was. Thats crazy. To sum this up, I was out the door including North Carolina 3% sales tax on new cars for under $20k. Thats including all those little fees like destination etc. Out the door....to my driveway for under $20k. I went with the dealer that had the dark steel grey color that I wanted.

This is what under $20k gets you:

Freshly redesigned, '06 Sonata
V6 w/ 235 HP (already took it to the track, ran 15.3 @ 92
MPH)
5 speed automatic with shifttronic (I think its pretty gay but I guess some people like those stupid things)
Loaded with everything, CD premium sound, power seats, etc
Sunroof
6 air bags, side airbags in front and rear
17" alloy wheels, a nice classic 5 spoke design
Interior is huge, by exterior dimensions its a midsized car, by interior dimensions its a full size car
20 MPG city, 30 MPG highway, 87 octane
Traction control/electronic stability control & ABS
10 yr/ 100k warranty

I would have loved to buy an American car, but what could we gave gotten in the price range to compete with that? The closest was probably a G6 sedan, which loaded like the Sonata was quite a bit more. Perhaps Ford's Fusion but again they come in a little higher. FWIW the Pontiac dealer here didn't have much interest when we came in. The difference in customer service between the Pontiac and Hyundai dealership was night and day. We didn't seriously consider the Fusion, I'm not a huge fan of the interior. In pictures it looks nice, in person I wasn't crazy about it.

So we had a Sonata in our driveway 48 hours later. As much as I'd like to support Detroit, I can't get anythng less then the most car for my money.

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/hyun...20024606-T.jpg

 

In my neighborhood, any home for sale for <$450k is normally bought by contractors even before they hit the market. The contractors level the homes to put up these McMansions that they sell for $1million +. We would not be able to afford our house with today's market prices. The scary thing is we bought the house only 3.5 years ago.

I have always bought american cars. I haven't see the reliability issues with american cars. On the other hand, I have always maintained my cars very well.

Previous vehicles:
91 Mustand Gt, sold with 120k very hard miles, drove like new.
91 Cavalier, gave to brother @ 155k miles, no problems at all. He still drives the car today with no issues.

We currently own:
98 Grand Prix 98k, no problems
00 TA, 32k miles, no problems
04 Avalanche, 20k miles, no problems

 

Same here.

 

From what I understand even Native American Indians didn't actually start out here either, they were just here before the rest of us.