Lion in Winter

A rapid post edit when I saw the opening I had left.

RoadWarriorFromLP

Start with the Toyota Corolla (2014 or later) and Honda Civic sedan (2013 or later). Report back on how you feel about those and that might aid the process of determining what might work best for you.

New Cars - Compare New Car Prices and Vehicles for Sale | Edmunds.com

This video isn't the best, but it will give you a quick sense of what these things look like, how they're equipped and how they generally vary from one another:

jmood

Oooh, love the assertive instructions.

Yes sir/m'am. I will. Might take a while. But I will.

rpjs

We just got a Subaru Impreza, our first ever car. We went with Subaru because we live on a steep hill and last winter watched our neighbours cars slide down it, so we wanted an all-wheel drive but not an SUV. We've been pretty pleased with it, although the Subaru type of automatic transmission - continously variable transmission - is noticably noisy when you need to put your foot down, e.g going uphill.

scrubbedexpat091

We have a Mazda 2 now, and its very peppy and never have any issue with acceleration at all, gets good gas mileage, and from empty only costs about 44 dollars @ 5.20 per gallon.

Its also quiet for being a small car.

We also test drove a Ford Fiesta and while we liked the interior and options, it was a bit slow on acceleration compared to the Mazda. We also looked at Toyota Yaris but looked more plastic and cheap, and being tall I found the visibility not to be as good in the Toyota.

They were all 2012 or 2013 models, no clue about the newer models of the above.

Owen778

When I moved to the US about two years ago, I had never owned a car. I'd taken my test once in the UK and failed. Since moving, I've driven about 24000 miles. To start with, I was driving our large SUV, a Mazda CX-9, but it is not a good commuting vehicle, at least for me. It has a lot of inertia, and the handling can be wobbly.

After 6 months, we went and test-drove a lot of different vehicles, small or mid-sized sedans. These are probably the cars you should be looking at. I disagree with Pulaski that you should even consider an SUV - given what you're used to, their weight means their handling will always leave you wishing you still had the Alfa Romeo.

I used edmunds.com for review info. I test drove these cars, all new: Honda Civic (small), Hyundai Sonata (mid), Mazda 6 (mid), Ford Focus (hatchback version, small) and Ford Fusion (mid). All of those seemed OK, the Civic was nice, but I really liked both of the Fords. The Fusion won, because my wife thought the Focus was too small, even though she drives a BMW 3 series. I've driven 14000 miles in the Fusion in the last 9 months, and I absolutely love it.

It is, however, a more expensive version, SE trim with leather seats and the most expensive engine of the three. And that brings me to another point - don't get a rental car to judge any of the vehicles - the rental will almost always be the cheapest engine and basic trim, and often you would want to get the next engine and/or trim level up.

Also, if you buy used, bear in mind an older model of car is sometimes very different to the current model. The new Fusion is excellent, but before it came out in, I think, late 2012, the older model was very average.

jmood

Thanks, helpful.

Using a rental car to judge: Won't it be clear what exactly I'm driving?

Pulaski

I disagree with myself now. I only threw the idea into the mix because the OP had said she wanted something big enough that she did want to feel like she was going to get squashed, but didn't make it clear whether that meant an Accord/Camry, and Explorer, a Suburban, or a Mack truck!

md95065

Not quite sure exactly what you mean.

The basic make and model of the vehicle should be obvious - the only thing to be aware of is that the specific options that you find on a rental car may or may not be typical of the manufacturer's standard options for that model.

jmood

You said the engine might be different. Wouldn't a different engine make that model an entirely different model rather than just option differences (which I suppose are things like the radio or a leather steering wheel) ? .

Michael

Generally not. Often there is an underpowered 4 cylinder engine as standard and a more powerful 4 cylinder engine or a 6 cylinder engine as an option.

Also it is almost impossible to rent the car that you want to try since the rental companies will say something like "Ford Focus or similar". The only time I've seen that you can select your car is when you get in the very expensive rentals (mostly exotic cars).

Where I live, there is a row of dealerships down one street and the easiest is to spend the whole day going from one dealership to another test driving different cars so that you can get an idea of what you want. You also get to see the MSRP of different cars with different options, styles, and colors and can choose which to test drive. For many color is crucial because even though the exterior color may be dark which they like, the interior color may be light which they don't like.

jmood

I need to find that street (near me). I have no idea where, though.

Michael

Just do a search on the internet for car dealerships and hopefully you will find that most are on the same street. Everywhere I've lived, that has been the case. In San Jose, there are two streets and in Fremont they are on the end of a street called Auto Mall Parkway (the city agreed to rename the street when about 20 dealerships were willing to build dealerships in that area).

Pulaski

That is your opinion, but not a universally held one, despite excellent reviews for the new Fusion. I had driven the "old" Fusion and was very impressed by it, and I was busy putting together a plan to buy one, but then Ford replaced it with the new Fusion and I am completely underwhelmed by it. Despite the reviews and my satisfaction with the two Ford vehicles I have driven for 12+ years, and the resurgence of Ford as a respectable brand, I am not impressee by the. Ew Fusion and it's engine/ transmission options, so my next vehicle is unlikely to have a Ford badge on it.

Owen778

I'll admit I've never driven the previous Fusion, so that's just going on reputation.

I have the most powerful of the three engines, and it feels great, though mpg does suffer compared to the middle engine in particular.