Help Me Pick A New Car

[regexcellent]

No moderating ocean though.

Yes, this is the key. St. Louis and San Francisco are at the same latitude. It gets above 100 degrees in the summer most years in St. Louis. That never happens in San Francisco, or at least exceedingly rarely. It snows annually in St. Louis. Again, that doesn't happen in San Francisco. The ocean is the difference.

[Asher]

It's 80F/26C right now. Not arctic enough.

[regexcellent]

I'm guessing there's a huge variation between summer and winter.

Also, Calgary probably gets loads of sunshine, for the same reason as Denver: the Rocky Mountains cause orthographic lifting which kills the clouds and rain.

[Asher]

Yes. Sunniest city in Canada. 333 days a year.

[Dinner]

Calgary is south of Manchester. In fact, it's south of London, but only slightly.

Yeah, but London will have much, much more temperate weather.

[Dinner]

It's 80F/26C right now. Not arctic enough.

High of 68F with a night time low of 61F here. It's been slightly colder than usual lately. It's supposed to warm up to the usual 72F tomorrow.

[Provost Harrison]

The weather is **** here, as per usual. It's supposed to be mid May. 12 bloody degrees...seriously. I don't like hot weather but 17 or 18 would be nice. No hotter than that mind you.

[Asher]

Today I test drove the Acura TSX and Nissan Altima (both the 2.5L and 3.5L coupes).

The CVT in the Altima is brutal. It's a non-starter.

TSX was awesome.

In 2 weeks they get ILXes in, will test drive it then and make a decision. My only concern is the 150hp in the ILX may not be sufficient - even my current car has 160 and it's a bit lighter.

[onodera]

Today I test drove the Acura TSX and Nissan Altima (both the 2.5L and 3.5L coupes).

The CVT in the Altima is brutal. It's a non-starter.

TSX was awesome.

In 2 weeks they get ILXes in, will test drive it then and make a decision. My only concern is the 150hp in the ILX may not be sufficient - even my current car has 160 and it's a bit lighter.

Bhp is not that important. What is important is hp at reasonable engine speeds. Is the ILX engine turbocharged?

[Asher]

Nope.

[Asher]

So, follow-up.

The ILX is underpowered. CT200h wasn't fun to drive. The Acura TL, TSX, and old Lexus IS are going to be obsolete soon. I couldn't stand the CVT in the Altima.

So, I waited.

In June the Infiniti Q50 (G37 successor) and new Lexus IS are out. It'll definitely be one of the two. 90% sure it'll be the new Lexus IS. I'd get the AWD variant of either.

2014 Lexus IS 350 (306hp 3.5L V6 AWD):








2014 Infiniti Q50x (328hp 3.7L V6 AWD):







I await the test-drives.

[Asher]

The F-Sport variant of the new IS has an LCD-based instrument panel. But I'm worried about cold-weather performance, and I don't like how you can see the backlight. Plus the bit that synchronizes the metal components with the display would be a ***** to repair if it breaks.

[Hauldren Collider]

You can't seem to get a Honda Accord without CVT these days, and it seems like CVTs have improved a lot.

I (that is, my dad) will be getting a new (by which I mean new-er) car this summer to replace the 13-year-old Honda Accord I currently drive which is on its last legs. It will probably be used but new is not out of the question. Right now we're thinking either Honda Accord, Subaru Impreza or Hyundai Sonata. I think. Honestly it depends on the price when we decide to buy.

[Asher]

They have improved a lot (the 2nd-gen CVT in the new Altima is way, way better than what I test drove in the Rogue last year), but it still feels somewhat lethargic in acceleration and drone-y at highway speeds.

The IS 350 comes with an 8-speed auto (taken directly from the ~$70,000 IS F) that is supposed to be amazing, but only on the RWD model. The AWDs come with a 6-speed auto (the Q50 comes with a 7-speed auto).

[Hauldren Collider]

Well, there is no way it is more lethargic than a 13 year old automatic. So it'll still be an improvement for me.