[King Riffle]

Well, my Taurus needs about $900 of work put into it. Since I've already put ~$1000 into it (in less than 2 years of owning it. I'd have put more cash into it if the front springs weren't covered by a recall), it's safe to say that I'm a little fed up with the car.

So today I started looking at new, or new-to-me cars. First up, the 2008 Chevy Aveo sedan. Notes:

-Surprisingly zippy and quick to downshift. Merging onto the freeway it started to run out of steam though.

-The interior not only looks very nice, it's roomy too. Two big guys in it, neither of us felt crowded or lacked leg or head room.

-The bottom seat cushions are too short. I'd also have liked to be able to raise the front of the cushion up a bit. It wouldn't be comfortable on long trips.

-Rides well for it's size. The route included some really rough sections of road.

-On the freeway it was jostled around a lot by the wind. It's tall profile probably didn't help.

-Back seats do fold down, however they don't make a flat floor. The backs of the seats are about 2" higher than the trunk floor.

-I'm glad they got rid of the maze shifter (auto).

-Lack of headroom in back seat, though plenty of legroom. I wouldn't be sitting back there anyway.

-No one-touch down feature on any of the power windows.

-I still can't get used to that front end.

Two other big things against the car:
-Poor performance in crash tests

-Poor gas mileage

I still have quite a few cars to test drive, including (but not limited too);
-Toyota Yaris, Corolla
-Scion xD
-Nissan Versa
-Hyundai Accent, Elantra
-Kia Rio, Spectra
-Honda Fit
-Ford Focus (I'm a bit unsure about Ford's)
And numerous used cars (I don't decide which used cars specifically, I wait to see what's on lots first).