I bought the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid for $32,000. Love the car. Drive over 30,000 miles a year for work. 35 - 38 mpg consistently. No problems yet, 25,000 miles in. Good luck trying to find a hybrid
on a lot. Pretty slim around here.
Need advice from car people
- Thread starter Selmak The Tok'Ra
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on a lot. Pretty slim around here.
Although reviews are decent, Kia Forte has extremely low customer satisfaction in its segment, according to CR reader surveys.
Still driving 2010 corolla. 280k, original clutch, only non-consumable repair was a starter. 3 kids learned to drive a stick with it.
Wife bought a Toyota Prius Eco (has the lithium ion battery; which my battery researching daughter said was much better the the metal halide). Been putting all kinds of miles on it, 25,000 since last summer. No problems at all and a consistent 52.5 MPG. Drove it last week on the WV Turnpike, plenty of acceleration up hills, with both battery and engine running it up those grades. Cruised nicely at 75-77 MPH. Think we gave 25g for it plus 1500 allowance on trade, but tax and license wiped that out. At first had to get used to where the instrument panel was (center of car, not behind wheel, but now no problem. Has all the bells and whistles, really like the reactive cruise.
Wife bought a 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe. She is only 5K's mile in but she gets 30-32 on the highway and 22 in the city (commutes downtown from Urbandale). She loves the car. Just a bit out of your $25K price range but if you are going for brand new - might be worth the stretch.
I am quite confident any of those will provide many miles of trouble-free operation.
I'm curious what you mean when you say "won't struggle on the highway." In what way does your Taurus struggle? MPG? It could/should improve if you can stand to slow down even a couple MPH and use your cruise control as much as possible. I'm surprised a Taurus isn't getting better than 20mpg on the highway unless its got a V8 and/or you're constantly getting on it to pass people. Does Ford even sell a V8 outside the Mustang and F150? I thought they went to all V6/turbos as their "big engine."
I'm curious what you mean when you say "won't struggle on the highway." In what way does your Taurus struggle? MPG? It could/should improve if you can stand to slow down even a couple MPH and use your cruise control as much as possible. I'm surprised a Taurus isn't getting better than 20mpg on the highway unless its got a V8 and/or you're constantly getting on it to pass people. Does Ford even sell a V8 outside the Mustang and F150? I thought they went to all V6/turbos as their "big engine."
Rented a KIA sedan in Maui. Nice car, not sure about the mileage though. Didn't seem like a guzzler, handled well on the road to Hana and up the volcano.
Back home, still driving my six-year-old Ford Focus and getting 37 mph on the highway (manual transmission, too).
Back home, still driving my six-year-old Ford Focus and getting 37 mph on the highway (manual transmission, too).
The taurus doesn't struggle on the highway but I've read that some of the cheaper newer sedans have problems with languid acceleration which is something I don't want. I don't want anything sporty either really. Just something that I can merge onto the highway comfortably in.
I believe Kia and Hyundai (sister companies, like chevy/buick) have the longest and best warranty available. 10 year powertrain, 5 year bumper to bumper.
Kia for the features, functions, and warranty at the price they are is pretty hard to beat, for the value.
The company has come a long way in the last couple decades.
A couple people have mentioned the K5, K6 I think, while others mentioned the Forte and Optima, The K series is the replacement for the Forte and Optima.
Kia for the features, functions, and warranty at the price they are is pretty hard to beat, for the value.
The company has come a long way in the last couple decades.
A couple people have mentioned the K5, K6 I think, while others mentioned the Forte and Optima, The K series is the replacement for the Forte and Optima.
I own a Kia and am happy with it but in this segment, I'd choose a Honda Civic. I'd also test out the Elantra, which has the most bang for the buck.
Have a 2018 Hyundai Tucson that just had to have the entire engine replaced at 38,000 miles. Found that there was a known problem that caused it and was pretty common for that vehicle. However they did pick up the vehicle and provide a rental car and replace the engine at no cost, only down side was that it took about six weeks for the repair to be completed.
Are you looking only at smaller sedans? I'd give a plug for a Mazda 3 if so. I've never driven one personally, but I have been driving the midsize version (Mazda 6) reliably for 6+ years. No mechanical or electrical issues to speak of. Used it to travel everywhere when I was single and it has now become a suitable family car as well now that I'm hauling a kiddo around. Think I bought it for 18k used in 2016, it's a 2015 model. Have put on just under 110k miles and it still hums about as good as the day I drove it off the lot.
We own owned a 2008 corolla. It was a pretty good car, except it performed poorly in snow and ice. Probably the worst car I have ever driven in bad weather.
Once a front tire started to slip, the drive train would send all energy to that one tire while the one that had traction would just sit there doing nothing. We owned a FWD Saturn at the same time, and it was a beast in the snow by comparison.
Hopefully things have improved since then. We got about 38 MPG over time in the Corolla. It took a deer head-on like a champ in the summer of 2015 and we walked away without a scratch. Had around 130,000 miles on it at that point.
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Once a front tire started to slip, the drive train would send all energy to that one tire while the one that had traction would just sit there doing nothing. We owned a FWD Saturn at the same time, and it was a beast in the snow by comparison.
Hopefully things have improved since then. We got about 38 MPG over time in the Corolla. It took a deer head-on like a champ in the summer of 2015 and we walked away without a scratch. Had around 130,000 miles on it at that point.
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Yeah, I had a 2007 Mercury, that is the clone to the Taurus. Routinely got 24 MPG. Of course I drive fairly conservatively in the start and stop, but normally drive 5-10 above the highway posted limits.
Of course now I've become even more conservative in my driving with the price of gasoline. Slow starts and acceleration. Anticipating stops to lessen braking. Passing less. and when I do, less aggressively. And pretty much sticking to posted highway limits. My MPG has improved by almost 2 MPG since I started a couple weeks ago. It's kind of fun in a 'challenge' sort of way.
