Reasonably priced, AWD daily driver?

[Hercules]

I might be changing jobs to something I have to drive to.. obviously the m3 isn't the car to do that unless I get winter tires, and to be frank I don't want to put 20k miles a year more on the M3!!

That said... I was thinking to get a Mazda3 (I sold my last one because my job went into NYC and I had no need for it) however, in around 15k... do you think there's an AWD car I could get that is reasonable on gas and has good reliability? I was thinking of a used A4 but I think that the maintenence will be higher than I want.

Let me know

[ShineyWhiteRex]

A Subaru possibly? Obviously not brand spanking new, but there are options there. Great cars, very reliable and not expensive to keep up at all IMO.

[lukeinva]

A dodge caliber you can get a brand new one for 15k it FWD not AWD but they are pretty nice my wife has one! Nice car for not a lot of $$$$

[Grimm]

Ford 500 is reasonable, and seems to be pretty reliable so far.

[holland_patrick]

I secon subaru..

and you can get a BRAND NEW impreza for around

MSRP*
*Definitions $18,620.00

Invoice*
$17,796.00

now i get invoce with no hassles because of the VIP program.. you might even beable to find a left over..

even the leg is priced good.

MSRP*
*Definitions $21,120.00

Invoice*
$19,990.00

New Car Blue

[qballjr13]

Originally Posted by lukeinva

A dodge caliber you can get a brand new one for 15k it FWD not AWD but they are pretty nice my wife has one! Nice car for not a lot of $$$$

I am very sorry to post this but I get to rent cars very frequently to travel for work. I was unlucky enough to have a Caliber recently. It was an SXT, obvioulsy nothing special because it was a rental. It had 8500 miles, so it was essentially brand new. It was, by far, the worst car I have driven. The 4 cylinder was bad on gas, had no power at all (which was very scary trying to merge onto a highway) and the brakes were already shuttering. I strongly recommend against even dreaming of this car. Hopefully your having better luck with it than I did, but I dread having to possibly drive one again. So if your looking for a commuter that you want to be comfortable in and still enjoy driving then stay away from this car!

[Yal]

Subaru is your only choice. Usually when someone says that its a bad thing. Not with Subaru. The most sophisticated AWD system you can get for the money. Get an Impreza and if you can drive stick get that too. Case closed. Everybody else has a system that was adapted from a front wheel or rear wheel drive configuration.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, much as I love our Audis and have despite my not having liked our Subarus, I'd say to get a Subie.

Or maybe...isn't it Suzuki that offers a dirt-cheap new AWD car for around $14K?

If you don't care about the maintenance (and I don't, really..but my Audis dont' give me much trouble) then get the Audi instead, it's a nice car and all the Subarus I've been in just felt kinda...well, they *are* made by "Fuji Heavy Industries"

Heh heh, if a Subie goes wrong, the maintenance might be a headache anyhow...my local Subaru dealer(s) proved to be hopelessly incompetent, my first Subie was off the road for ages while under warranty because they'd "never worked on a manual transmission one before" My second one wasn't off the road much, but they never did sort out its CEL, still came on intermittently when I sold it. Neither one was reliable compared to dozens of other cars I've had, but OK.. nobody else seems to have those problems so check out the Subarus. Heh heh, my Jag is utterly reliable but my Subarus were always in the shop, go figure

[Dominus]

You are definately looking for a Subaru. I'm biased, but then again it meets all your criteria. If you get a WRX stay away from the 2002s. Tranny issues. Bad synchos. I'd say 2004+ and you are good.

[martinager]

suby 2.5RS

[tabinha]

By a Honda Civic and put snow tires on in the winter. The best car you can get for what you need. Four well drive cost a fortune to repair.

[Corey Bit Spank]

Subaru really is the way to go. Very safe cars.