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      10-16-2012, 02:36 PM   #4
edx1
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Drives: X1 xDrive35i
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Wasatch front

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Looked at Rogue, Enclave, Subaru's, Venza, Matrix back in 2010 (All too big and/or gutless)
Looked at Mini's, back in 2010 but I wanted something bigger.
Looked at EX35 last month, nice but _bad_ awd and not sporty enough for me and cost more for less imho
Looked at X3 (2012 too wobbly, not sure about 2013) and 3series (too low to the ground for me) 5 months ago,
Considered Audi Q5, A3, and All Road (A3 too small, All Road looked good, Q5 I'd assume would be too wobbly, and like any Audi I've driven, they feel disconnected from the roads).
My wife owns a Tiguan and it's too wobbly for me, no other good options from VW in the X1 space.

I currently drive a first month 2003 Toyota Matrix, it's gutless and has bad handling characteristics but once learned and with the right wider tires you can exploit them for enjoyment. Understeer, oversteer, 4 wheel skids, it can do them all with the right combination of gas and braking. Acceleration though isn't an attribute to enjoy, the throttle has two settings, off and full. But the car has been bulletproof with almost 11 years of driving and 120k miles, not a single repair and I drive the car Very hard. My wife hates driving with me because I don't slow down much for corners, I tell her I have to keep the momentum going with a 130hp engine, she doesn't care. Cornering is where my enjoyment of driving mainly comes from.

The main feature I wanted in a car was safety as was my wifes. My wifes A3 was totalled when a jacked up truck infront of her stopped as the car infront of him was SLOWLY turning into a gas station and another jacked up jeep was on a cell phone, not paying attention, slammed into the back of her stopped A3 at 40mph. It moved her A3 10' forward and the truck infrot of her 5' forward. Had she been in a smaller or less safe car she could have been really hurt, but she and her mom had absolutely no injuries.

I am also done being in a gutless car and I want something I can still have fun with and feel connected to. I don't care about exteriors, interiors or gadgets that don't improve safety. The X1 gave me a good acceleration, solid handling, still fun and sporty, a higher ride height than a car (same as my Matrix actually) and a hatch that I prefer to a trunk. I'd get a 3 series wagon in a heart beat though if I didn't live where the majority of people massive SUV's for their 10 kids, mini-vans, ego boosting trucks, and jacked up offroading vehicles without lowering their bumper -- You can see several jacked up trucks, jeeps, and SUV's a day whose bumpers are about 3'-4' above the ground, high enough that the bumpers would go directly into the side windows of cars, but I feel going with a higher ride height for myself is out of my budget or puts me in a vehcile that's too tall and more likely to roll if I have to turn quick to avoid dear where we always drive (10 mile 55mph road where you see 1-5 recently deceased deer on the side of the road each week). I really wish BMW offered a 'safety' package that included xenon headlights, interior and exterior dimming mirrors, sonar (not a video screen, just beeps), blind spot alarms, active cruise control, and active vehicle braking/accident avoidance. I'd pay a premium price for that package in a heart beat and never touch leather or luxury items that would get damaged quickly with what I need to use the car for.

Last edited by edx1; 10-16-2012 at 03:00 PM..
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