Wow the new X5 is a total mess. The answer to "piano black or wood trim?" is not: "fuck it, let's do both."

Supposedly the M235i is the spiritual successor to the old E46. We'll see. The last several Ms have all been such disappointments that they are getting beaten by AMGs, so I'm curious how the M4 turns out. Will it have anything left of the old E92, or will it be a snoozer like the M5? The 235 is hardly the prettiest car in the world, but at least its a huge improvement over the pig ugly 1 series.

Yeah, no thanks.  Massive 3500lbs and $44K for 0-60 in 4.8 secs?  Fuck that, buy a new WRX, it does the same for almost half the price.  Plus the ass is one of the ugliest I've seen.  Looks like a $20K car from VW.  It as if they just got tired of staring at the drafting table, quit and went home for the day.

GM quality: http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/sinkhole-corvette-museum-swallows-eight-rare-vettes-154608933.html

Getting antsy about the car again with my co-worker in shopping mode. Been doing some looking the last few days.

Mazda came out with the new 3 recently and it looks great except the instrument cluster is awful and the gas mileage is quite poor compared to it's EPA ratings. The exterior works well but it does seem a little short for the body curves it tries to hold. The 6 on the other hand I think is slightly too long for those same curves, but still nice. Neither one hits the nail on the head.

I've been eyeing the Kia Soul which looks significantly better in it's recent update, but the mileage is actually worse than before and power is down to boot. Pricing for the trim I'd want (exclaim + sun and sound package) is too much ($23k+), as well. I don't really like taller vehicles, so I can't explain my attraction to this car, but I do like it.

New Fit was announced and while technically it's a good option, the interior noise will probably be just as bad as the current gen which is LOUD. Also it looks like a mini-Odyssey. That by itself is enough for me to pass.

I still really like the Cruze from almost every angle, but the dash is still a little low rent, especially the center stack, and the semi-cramped rear seats are keeping me hesitant.

Looks like the new Prius won't be announced til 2015 sometime and even longer to actually deliver. I'll keep watching for that info, but I don't know if I can hold out another year+.

I keep coming back to the MKVII Golf/GTI as the solution. Smaller (like I wanted from the start), but still has usable back seats (which became important after I started this search), sort of sporty (even in plain Golf spec), and with the new platform and change from 2.5L NA engine to 1.8L turbo it is supposed to have quite a bit better mileage (current 5cyl is 23/30). The GTI is great and all, but I can't make the numbers work. It just isn't worth it. People are speculating the 2015 Golf will be here this summer and the 4 door auto that I will want is expected to be around $20-21k. I think I can make that work.

I like basically every change the MKVII brings, especially the change to the center stack, which is now angled towards the driver instead of flat like most cars (and the MKVI). My Pontiac Grand Prix has an angled center stack and it is great. When I rented a car during some body repairs, the Camry I ended up with had the flat center stack and it was surprising just how used to the angle I have gotten. The weight drop of ~220lbs is significant as well. The base MKVII Golf exterior is significantly better than the base MKVI Golf, which looks plain and dated by comparison. I never liked the base MKVI (before even seeing the MKVII) for a couple reasons, stock steelies that were ugly (base MKVII are alloys, still not great but better looking), and the poor mileage from a relatively large engine (fixed with the 1.8T). Before discovering that diesel would not be ideal, I was only good with the base Golf (as far as looks) in TDI trim which was special wheels and of course the better mileage from the TDI.

Some shots of the MKVII Golf courtesy of VWVortex:







And a comparison between base Golf MKVI and MKVII:





I really wanted to get away from a standard powertrain car this time, but the hybrids aren't attractive or new ones aren't announced, the battery cars don't go far enough, and diesel doesn't work with my driving pattern and they are prohibitively expensive and the fuel is more costly here (about 30-40 cents per gal). Perhaps next time I'm looking for a new car (7-10 years), Tesla will have their affordable sedan out and with at least 150 miles of range, Toyota might have a Prius doing 80-100mpg, VW might bring Bluemotion (85mpg) to the US, or who knows what.