Economical and reliable car?

Contemplat

Subaru, Honda or Toyota or ???? Thanks for your input!
Mostly I would drive it and mostly city and some highway miles.
Also has to be good in snow.

Answer
Honda receives the highest ranking among non-luxury brands in our firm's latest Initial Quality Study, which measures new-vehicle quality after the first 90 days of ownership. Models that are tops in initial quality at the segment level include subcompacts such as the Honda Fit, the Kia Rio and Hyundai Accent. The compact quality leader this year is the Honda Civic, followed by the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra. Among compact crossovers and utilities, which may do well in snowy weather conditions, the Honda CR-V earns the highest ranking followed by the Nissan Xterra and the Hyundai Tucson.

All three of the brands that you mention rank among the top 10 nameplates in terms of dependability on our latest J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures customer satisfaction with the reliability or dependability of 3-year-old models. Honda in fact ranks in the top five along with two other non-premium brandsâBuick and Mercury. Toyota ranks No. 6 and Subaru, No. 9.

Models that rank at the top of their segments in dependability after three years of ownership include the subcompact Scion xA. The Hyundai Accent and Chevrolet Aveo also rank among the three best compact models in terms of reliability. The three models with the fewest problems in the compact category are the Honda Civic, Toyota Prius Hybrid and Toyota Corolla. If you prefer crossovers or utility vehicles that may be good choices in snow, the most reliable compact models after three years of ownership are the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V and the Honda Element.

If you are interested in more car reviews, photos, quality ratings and articles as well as buying tips, please visit JDPower.com.

Do luxury cars depreciate faster than average cars?

Jason Sant

I am planning to buy a car. Being a business major and being the thrifty person that I am I would never buy a brand new car because once you drive it out the dealership it already depreciated. A one to two year old car is an ideal buy. My economics professor brought up a good point that luxury cars are cheaper to maintain than normal cars. I live in Hawaii which was ranked the worst state to own a car because maintainance is so expensive.

Answer
I would suggest that you use a shopping tool like Yahoo Autos. Just because it is a luxury car does not mean it depreciates less. Some drop in value faster then a lead ball in a clear sky.
I just pulled up a Ford Taurus and a BMW 5 series. Now the 5 series may not be a true luxury car but it is an up scale car. The BMW depreciates almost 30000 dollars (63%) in the first five years, while the Ford only 15000 dollars (48%). Now there may be cars that break this trend'.With the Ford only costing 26600 dollars to begin with is seems that the total cost of the car is almost free when compared to owning a BMW which looses more in depreciation then the Ford costs new.
So do some study, my gut feeling is that it takes a lot of money to buy a car that will keep its resale value up and then it will only be a percentage think. Lets face it, if a car costs 100000 dollars and it only depreciates 10% of its value in a given year, that is still a lot of money!
Sorry, I miss read the question, even if BMW throws in maintanance for free, it takes a lot of maintanance to make up for the extra 15000 dollars worth of loss on depreciation.

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A sports car, two-seater car that starts with R? Fancy car?

annabelle

It's not a Rolls-Royce, I know that. I remember it was spelled something like Ragoni or Radoni or something... It had an R and and A... I do not remember but it's bothering me because I saw it on the road the other day and I loved it! If you have ANY guesses as to what it is, please tell me! It's like a two seater that has like round edges and the one I saw was gray, and like typical sports car look? Thanks so much!

Answer
RUF, makes some exotics (http://www.ruf-automobile.de/en/en-index.php)
Of course there is also Renault (http://www.renault.com/en/Pages/home.aspx)
I don't think you were looking at a RX anything, but it could have been a RX7 (RX8's are four seaters). Which are made by Mazda.

Petrol R/C Car - Which to buy? (UK)?

ZAMtendo

What is the best, most value for money petrol R/C car to buy in the UK? I'd like to make it a hobby, what is a good place to begin, and which should be my first R/C car?

Thanks!

Answer
Well, if your starting out into the world of RC, i would strongly suggest you start electric. There are 4 types of engine that run RC cars. Electric, electric brushless, nitro, and petrol. Electric tend to be your cars that can do 20-30 mph, are good for throwing round jumps, take very little maintenance and aren't too expensive.
Brushless electric motors are a new technology, and therefore quite expensive. However, brushless electric has become a reall challenger for nitro in speed and power, though as with all things on batteries, you can only run them for a limited time. Brushless cars run from 35-70 mph, depending on your motor and setup.
Nitro is the most popular choice about. A small single cylinder engine running on a nitro/oil fuel mix. A starter nitro car will do about 40 mph. The thing with nitro cars however, is that they take alot of maintenance and love, and alot of time to get going when you first get them. If you do decide nitro, get your hobby shop to adjust all the needles, and run it in for you. But make sure you take the time to watch them do it, and read some how toos online.
Final petrol. Bigger two stroke engines, very like those in a petrol lawnmower. These cars are the biggest you can buy, run on actually petrol, and are a very limited class. I dont know alot of people who own them, and there isn't a class to race them at my track. (I personally wouldn't buy petrol). They need a whole lot of space, and similar maintenance to nitro.

Right, after that rant, ill give you a couple of examples.

Nice starter nitro cars; http://www.speedymodels.com/nitro-sport-33-p.asp
Traxxas is a good brand, and this car has been specifically designed for a begginer in mind.(It's offroad, will give about 40 mph, at top performance)
http://www.rccarsandtrucks.co.uk/564_1_105551793.html
is one you can grab from your high street shop.

Please remeber with nitro that you need a glow start. (Which heats the glowplug etc,) As well as the car, and these tend to come seperately.

Some good stock electric: http://www.rccarsandtrucks.co.uk/1248_1_105820349.html
Is super cheap and cheerfull, will do about 15-20 mph. A great begginers rc car.

http://www.wheelspinmodels.co.uk/item/TRX-5805-Traxxas-Slash-Pro-2WD-Short-Course-Truck-RTR__2697/
A friend owns one of these and loves it. You'l get a good 30 mph out of it, and its totally waterproof. See the you tube videos. A great buy imho.

http://www.nitrotek.co.uk/H94107.htm I own this one, and love it. My first RC car, virtually indestructable. Will do about 25 mph, maybe just 30 with a better battery.

If you do buy one of these, make sure you get the battery and charger thrown in, most high street shops will be willing to haggle.
I would really suggest considering a stock electric for your first RC.

Finally, electric brushless.
I own and like http://www.nitrotek.co.uk/A2012T.htm
40 mph plus, but takes alot of control. I trashed mine first time i took it out, as i really underestimated the acceleration.

http://www.rccarsandtrucks.co.uk/1962_1_1342158.html
Is a good car. Though you wont get the battery and charger thrown in, so you could end up with about £350 worth of bills.

If you want to try brushless on the cheap, i own; http://www.nitrotek.co.uk/A2003T.htm
It's like a tiny jack russel, about 35 mph, and fantastic fun.

Whatever you decide, always read the instructions, and always take it easy first time out. If you have any problems, model shops will help, and there are always many the forum for this sorta thing.

Have fun!

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