I guess we need a second car, but...

[Jack66]

The Civic is a good car.

[brick]

My Accord was a good car, and you really can't go wrong as long as it has a 4-cyl. Driven conservatively it should be good for30-35mpg easily. I bet you could get a very nice one for $18K. Or spend a whole lot less on a much more used 6th gen (1998-2002) while you save up for one of those new tech cars on the horizon.

[edthefox5]

Originally Posted by pmanza

Jenndbay
I would suggest that you look at the Hyundai Elantra. Ignore the sticker price, here in NoCal, a 17,000 sticker Elantra will sell for 13-14,000 new. Car is fairly loaded, power windows, locks, remote entry, airbags all around, abs, cd and mp3. Manual height adjustable seats, fog lights, lighted vanity mirrors, pretty much everything one needs. The GLS with popular equipment pkg is the way to go. We own 2, one for my dh, and just bought one for my 18 yr old son. Only negative comment I can make about the car is get seat covers, the upholstery is really cheap and stains easily. It gets good gas mileage, dh gets 28-30 mixed and close to 40 highway only. Car is quiet and comfortable. We usually take the Elantra on family trips instead of the Prius.

With all that said, I bought a Prius for myself because I commute in stop and go traffic and the Prius just shines there. And I wanted the techno goodies. But in my opinion, the Hyundai's are currently the best value out there.
Fernsmom

I rented that exact car last year for a week and it was a really nice car.
Quick..comfortable..quiet. I would buy one of those in a heartbeat. Even the wife liked it.
Changed my entire opinion of Hyundai's.Just sayin'.

[jelloslug]

Originally Posted by jendbbay

Okay all you Prius owners who must have some of the same taste and tradeoff making skills that I have, what do I get for our second car? We bought the Prius and of course my husband drives it 80 miles per day. This leaves me without a car, due to having traded in mine to buy the Prius when the insurance coverage on the wrecked 07 was not equal to what we had to spend on the 08. Now I am up and around again and renting cars. Yuck. I'm talking Corollas, Ions, and such. I want a Prius, but my firm limit is around 18k, not 24 or more.

I guess the Corolla will do, but they seem to be stubbornly holding out for 16,500 or more for the LE and it is just no Prius.

Do you all have any miracles up your sleeves such as restored and perfect Prius that might have been in a crash but is perfect?

What other car would you buy? A 2006 Honda Accord?

I value safety, long-term ownership, MPG, and generally speaking, I hate to plow money into a car when we are poised ready to break through to better alternatives.
Some advise would be so welcome.

Roll up your sleeves fix a wrecked one yourself; it's fun! My '08 should come in well below $16,500 when everything is said and done.

[morpheusx]

First you need to decide what your needs are. Do you need room for kids / car seats etc...
There would be Three ways I would go.
Small Economy car - If you don't need much room and just need a car to commute in I'd go with either a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris both are around $14,000 new and hold the resale value well. There are some great Kia's and Hyundai's and they are very reliable but their resale value stinks even though they have gotten better.

If you need more room with similar space as a Prius, I would take a serious look at a Mazda 3 5 door or a if you don't need quite as much space a Ford Focus (the Focus has some very nice options like the Microsoft Sync which is absolutely amazing by the way). Both vehicles are about $17-$18,000 decently equipped.
On the other hand if you aren't going to be putting a lot of miles on the vehicle you could probably find some great deals on quite a few year or two old small SUV's that would complement your husbands Prius nicely.

[geeky teacher]

We're also shopping for a small hatchback. We liked the price, comfort, safety, and standard features of the Nissan Versa that we took for a test drive. However, we want to look at a Honda Fit before we make our decision. Unfortunately they are all spoken for before they arrive at the dealer. We attempted to look at a Ford Focus but they didn't have one and weren't even interested in showing us a brochure or having a little chat. Plus, the Focus is no longer being sold as a hatchback. We thought about the Toyota Yaris but Consumer Reports doesn't recommend it because of safety features not being standard, etc. Other small hatchbacks we've investigated cost more and we might as well get a Prius if we were going to pay that much. Oh yes, I almost forgot, the Hyundai Elantra has a hatchback in the 09 model that we might also check out.

[sdtundra]

haha here in San Diego, there is a weekend ad in the paper every weekend so far advertising the 2008 Ford Focus Base 5 speed for $8899 Net Cost hard to beat that. I have the Motor Trend Issue next to me and they rated the 2009 Hyundai Sonata on top of the Toyota Camry and other sedans. I would check the newspaper for deals on Friday. Thats how i got my Prius, moms Avalon, and Camry haha.

I had a Kia Spectra out in Phoenix while my truck was in the shop. Not a bad little car, and it sure felt very peppy for what it was.

The Fit is in that much demand? The Honda dealer 4 miles away has half the 1/4 lot full of Fits, 1/4 Civics and 2/4 Accords. The trucks and Suv's are in the back.

The Nissan Versa is a very nice and roomy hatchback, I would recommend that over the Fit just because it appears to be bigger.

About the newspaper ad, theres a newspaper ad in todays paper here showing Mazda CX-7 for $18,995. The Toyota dealers out here frequently advertize Corolla CE's at $13,577 or around there. I will scan a page from tomorrows paper and post it.

[Walker1]

Originally Posted by pmanza

Jenndbay
I would suggest that you look at the Hyundai Elantra. Ignore the sticker price, here in NoCal, a 17,000 sticker Elantra will sell for 13-14,000 new. Car is fairly loaded, power windows, locks, remote entry, airbags all around, abs, cd and mp3. Manual height adjustable seats, fog lights, lighted vanity mirrors, pretty much everything one needs. The GLS with popular equipment pkg is the way to go. We own 2, one for my dh, and just bought one for my 18 yr old son. Only negative comment I can make about the car is get seat covers, the upholstery is really cheap and stains easily. It gets good gas mileage, dh gets 28-30 mixed and close to 40 highway only. Car is quiet and comfortable. We usually take the Elantra on family trips instead of the Prius.

With all that said, I bought a Prius for myself because I commute in stop and go traffic and the Prius just shines there. And I wanted the techno goodies. But in my opinion, the Hyundai's are currently the best value out there.
Fernsmom

We had a Hyundai- a 2002 Sonata with a V-6 & loaded. Yes, it didn't cost much to begin with, BUT come trade in time we found out just how bad the resale value is on Hyundai's. The car only had 34,000 miles on it when we got our 1st Prius in '06. The Toyota dlr. gave us a sub wholesale trade in price. The car had 4 brand new tires on it to boot.

I wouldn't buy another Hyundai. Honda would be my next choice to a Prius. For maximum MPG I'd get the Civic. Our last car was a 2003 Accord Ex-V6. It was sweet and we traded it in to the same dlr. on our '08 Prius.

This time we got a much higher trade in price as Honda's hold their value. The Accord had about the same miles as the Hyundai when traded in. The only bad thing about the Accord was it had a 6 cyl. engine. It sat on the dealer's lot for over 40 days and they took it to the dlr. auction as nobody wanted a 6 cyl. car.

A good used Honda or Toyota would be at the top of my list for a 2nd car if I was in the mkt.

[galaxee]

in general, our second car has always been a used camry.

[MagneticGrayIndy]

what's wrong with a Honda FIT?? get's very respectable mileage and is an UltraLowEmissionVehicle... or look around for an EV company.. someone to convert an existing ICE into pure EV.. if your daily needs are under 40 miles.. would be PERFECT.. even less emissions than our beloved Prii