I hear buying a new car is difficult these days, there's a shortage apparently? But mine's 10 years old now & 186K miles so I'm gonna start looking. I usually buy in the summer because the next year's models come out soon and I think historically dealers are trying to make room for the new ones in the summer. Do I have any of this information right?
Anyhoo, I've had a '93 Cavalier, then an '01 Sentra. My current car is a '10 Mazda 3. I'm looking for something similar. 4-door with a big trunk (for my 4x10 speaker cabinet). Prefer a standard/manual (I hear those are getting pretty rare for an ordinary car though). High safety ratings a must.
Not looking for anyone to do my dirty work, please don't feel like you have to research or anything. But if anyone happens to know what good options are out there for "not the lowest/cheapest model, the step above that" sedans that I can look into, please share. Thanks!
After my 2011 with 150k miles got totaled, I was going nuts about replacing it with another stick. Out of the 13 cars (and 5 bikes) I've owned, only 2 have been autos: a hand-me-down Monte Carlo (after my car blew up), and an '82 Corvette with the new '84 engine, which didn't have a certified manual trans. But I found a surgeon in Bedford NH who had a beautiful low-mileage '08 328 convertible, so I'm very happy.
The Mazda 3 is a fun car. I don't have any great advice, but a few thoughts. My nephew resells cars from his shop in Windham: LFOD Motorsports. Everything he sells has been totally reconditioned and gone-over. He's got a lot of VWs and Audis, but also things like Subaru WRX's (which could be a good choice for you).
When my daughter got a new, slightly used car recently, it was a 2017 4-door civic hatchback. Hers is an auto, but they make a lot with sticks. They're great driving cars, and the hatch makes it useful. I'd say the Hondas and Toyotas are the most reliable in the long run. As far as American, I like the Ford Escape.