Would you buy a car that's been in an accident?

Do you happen to know how the back seat leg room is on those? That's why I didn't even really look at sedans is I can't fit in the back seat(I'm 5'10") and be even remotely comfortable. I also need either a huge trunk or a fair amount of cargo space as I shop at costco and our "stroller" for DS is a folding wagon since he can't even fit in a stroller anymore. If we happen to go to san jose this weekend I'll stop and check a matrix out since those are the closest ones. The selection of used cars in my city is rather woeful.

Matrix/Vibe is just a Corolla station wagon. About the same size as a Civic.

Why no minivan? Is it an image thing? Wagons are looked down just as badly in America. Even hatchbacks. No idea why. It's cool to have a car that's less efficient I guess. Just doesn't make sense to me cuz that's part of the appeal of a sports car, but sedans aren't sports cars.

If you have a large wagon as a stroller and make frequent Costco trips, a van is seriously gonna be the best choice by far. That well in the trunk area is frickin awesome. Once you see a modern minivan with the well where the trunk is, all wagon/suv trunks look stupidly small. I think they're actually worse than the trunk in a sedan cuz they are shorter than sedan trunks and only have more room if you pack it to the ceiling, which generally isn't a good idea.

I couldn't care less what people think about what I drive, I just can't stand minivans. Plus I will never have a need to transport that many people so there's no point in having a vehicle with that many seats. Plus, they're big. That's the reason I'd never drive an suv either. I'm uncomfortable driving anything bigger than a wagon. The only reason I was looking at that particular taurus x is it was actually in our price range. Otherwise, I wasn't even considering them. I don't need a LOT of cargo space, just more than in a sedan trunk. Its not a large wagon we use for DS, its a folding one. It doesn't fold quite as small as a stroller though.

Fair enough. Is a midsize sedan too big? Gas mileage is pretty good on the 4 cyl ones and they're not much more unless you get the V6 engines. I dunno how tall the wagon is, but if it fits, you may consider the trunk of a midsize sedan to be bigger than that of something like a Matrix. Not by EPA stats, but practical usable size. My sedan's trunk holds quite a bit actually.

I am probably enabling but I just bought a 2010 forester and it is the best car I have ever owned!

codex57 said:

Is a midsize sedan too big?

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Any size sedan would be driveable for me since I drive a ginormous sedan now. Its a 95 volvo 850 and it longer than a lot of small suvs and wagons. But its low to the ground so every speed bump and entrance to a parking lot it scrapes on the pavement and it drives me insane. If it were a sedan that was a little higher off the ground that would be fine. Unfortunately all the sedans I've looked at, even the larger ones, the trunk is no bigger than what I have now. I would definitely welcome suggestions if you know of something that would work that is a sedan since I do want good gas mileage if possible.

Gee thanks emars. I adored it when I drove it and so did DH but he decided it was too much money. It was even a PZEV one. :crying: So yeah, I'm pretty bummed about it. I wish he would have said it was too much in the first place so I hadn't even test driven it. Oh well.

Honestly, if you really like the Passat wagon, check into local mechanics. And if you or your husband is handy w/cars, that helps. We are POOR...really, really, poor right now. We have a '98 Passat. We've had it for 5.5 yrs and have had no major problems with it. Granted, it was IMMACULATE and perfectly cared for by the one and only owner (who's friend was a VW/Audi mechanic and the only one to ever work on it). We thought it would be super expensive to repair, but many things haven't cost much more than any other vehicle we've had. And it hasn't been as difficult for my husband and dad to work on themselves either. They're going to replace the CV joints or something like that soon. My hubby has said it was the easiest car EVER to change the oil on. We put cheap Wal Mart tires on it last time. The oil in ours has always been a special synthetic blend that only gets changed about once a year...and when he does it himself, it costs us about $50-75 (I think...). We recently replaced the battery, which was the most expensive battery at Autozone at $180. But that is, at most, the third battery this car has ever had in it's whole life. We've had to replace the key fob, b/c dh jumped into the pool after our son and had it in his pocket....that was expensive, but got a non-VW one that works w/it for fairly reasonable. Also replaced the door panel piece that holds the window up...about $100. Dad and dh did the work together.

Haven't had any major engine trouble yet, and I'm sure that's where bigger expenses could come into play, but it isn't necessary here to take it to the VW dealership.

hths

henrietta

I do like the passat wagon and wanted to look at them but DH said its a european car, it will be expensive to fix. I know how car/engines work as my dad rebuilt them for a living for 20 years but I'm not at all mechanical at all and can't repair anything myself. DH..um I'm lucking if he can even figure out how to open the hood. Computers are more his thing. I told him volkswagens weren't that bad for repair but he didn't believe me. Our volvo costs a fortune to fix. Last year it was $1000 to fix an oil leak and to get the abs light to stop coming on(they didn't even fix the abs, just the light!). My first car was an audi quattro which was also horribly expensive to fix but geez it was from 1984. We just go to sears for repairs as ours does a good job, don't gouge you and they guarantee their work. We were taking the volvo to a place for european cars and they're the ones that screwed us over every time. Anyway, thanks for the reassurance, I'll make DH test drive a passat with me.