What car, comfy cruiser edition

What if I just want to get to work and back safely in incredible comfort and reliability?

3G Avalon

Taurus/MKS:

Or my emotional favorite, the Genesis or Equus. Love their Mocha leather interior.

Of the three, my first pick would be Avalon, because they’ll all be somewhat boring to drive, but the Avalon should be the most reliable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets the best mileage of the bunch.  Around me, they also seem to depreciate faster than Camrys, so are often a better deal.

LS430/460? I hear people rave about the Mark Levinson sound, and they are as reliable as you can get. Seems to depreciate similarly to the others ones listed here.

LS4x0.

Avalon is tops for depreciation and reliability. You can find a good one for well under $5k with some shopping. $2k if you’ll take an older one or one with some cosmetic issues. What’s your budget for this? There are good choices from $500 to $500,000. 

I love the ls4x0 but gas mileage isn’t great and they’re a little pricey to work on. Stuff doesn’t break often by any means but parts are expensive when you do need to replace something. 

Rented a Taurus with leather and a bunch of doo-dads (the "premium" rental) to drive to Florida to get the R63. It was a hell of a nice car. You can find them with massaging front seats. 

Check the Azera. Hyundai made a really good Avalon that depreciates faster.  Cars.com has them in the $5-6k range for cars with ~90k miles. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Rented a Taurus with leather and a bunch of doo-dads (the "premium" rental) to drive to Florida to get the R63. It was a hell of a nice car. You can find them with massaging front seats. 

I've rented a bunch of Taurii and one thing I've noticed is that some of them have a bizarre combination of harsh ride and crappy handling.  I believe that there's a wheel/tire package that causes that but I haven't really investigated.  Other than that I've found them to be a pleasant if uninspiring place to spend time.

Im in love with the 2010 impala company car.  Perfect comfortable cruiser for 300 mile days. And low 30s mpg. Should be able to find one with 100k for under 5k.....

I'd go LS Lexus..  maybe even GS.  I almost pulled the trigger on an LS430 last year.  Clublexus has some pretty good guys that can answer any questions.

Impala and Azera and  LS are good additions.

Let's say the budget is $8K. It's sort of amazing what you can get for that.

Dusterbd13 said:

Im in love with the 2010 impala company car.  Perfect comfortable cruiser for 300 mile days. And low 30s mpg. Should be able to find one with 100k for under 5k.....

My inlaws had one and I wanted to be a proper car snob and hate it but I couldn't.  Stupid competent car. 

Car & Driver called this one a 'Snoozer Cruiser.'  I don't know how you can fall asleep with the glorious sound of that Yamaha V8.  Makes a great commuter with adequate power reserves.

$8k? Done.

So cheap I want it

In reply to 11110000 :

Please interpret more for those of us that don't speak Swedish...

I like my GS, but would say the LS is a better comfy cruiser, based on test drives. Either one is a nice place to be.  If it has the Levinson system, just make sure it’s fully functional, or be prepared to spend some money to fix it.

They both run on premium gas, and don’t get great mileage, though.  But, oh boy, the acceleration in the GS430 is nice.

In reply to secretariata :

2007 - 2010 Volvo S80 V8.

It's a solid, quiet, comfortable sedan with a hint of sportiness.  Because it was built during the Ford ownership era, and Ford had a relationship with Yamaha (for stuff like the Taurus SHO V6 and V8), they had the opportunity to drop in a 4.4L  32 valve V8.  With 311 HP and a surprisingly sharp exhaust note, it makes commuting fun.  They can be had for under $10K.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Dusterbd13 said:

Im in love with the 2010 impala company car.  Perfect comfortable cruiser for 300 mile days. And low 30s mpg. Should be able to find one with 100k for under 5k.....

My inlaws had one and I wanted to be a proper car snob and hate it but I couldn't.  Stupid competent car. 

This....for all your bullet points....sometimes it's best to sit back and be safe..... 

and when you become accustomed to all the nuances.....there's always LEFT FOOT BRAKING.....just sayin'

Ima big avalon fan for the above requirements.

I like the azera idea but if look into parts availability before purchasing. Im not saying stuff is hard to find but on some of the weird older hyundais like the xg ive had lots of problems fininding parts. Lately its seems like hyundai and kia really got their E36 M3 together when it comes to serviceability some of the newer cars are stupid easy to fix. Dont know how the azera is i rarely see them.

Most of these cars are going to have a tbelt and probably around the mileage where they are coming up for a major service, id look into service costs.

If you have 8k cash you may consider spending  like 6 or 7k and then paying someone to go through it and do all the maintenance and slap some tires on it and be good for the next 100k miles.

What about lx platform cars, pretty durable, can get a hemi, slap some front end parts on them and enjoy.

Impala is not great at anything, but they arent terrible, everyone can fix them, relatively comfortable and generally very cheap. I got one as a rental years ago and beat it mercilessly, it didnt care and just carried on soaking up bumps and being relatively comfortable knocking down 28 to 30 mpg

As far as the Lexus GS, i would add that a v6 model will do 30mpg hwy while still being as fast as an LS 430. GS350s are barely doable at 8k. GS300s with the same body style but 3.0L displacement are easy under 8k but not as fast as the LS. 

I liked the LX car i had (06 Magnum). Very comfy but best i could EVER do on highway mpg was ~24.5.

The Kia Cadenza is probably still a little too new for the 8k cutoff, but i really like their interior and they are the Kia version of the Hyundai version of the Avalon, same vein. 

Not to threadjack, I'm in this exact same market for the most part, though I'm looking to cap the budget around $20,000...if I can go less that's even better.  Want a larger type family sedan that's got tons of bells/whistles, dead nuts reliable, at least respectable handling, 0-60 in roughly 6.0 or less, and isn't boring as sin to drive.  Has to be under 5 years old and less than roughly 60k miles, as I'll be taking out a loan on whatever it is.  The "bells and whistles" I'm mostly looking for are heated leather, heated steering wheel, ventilated seats.  I absolutely love the Accord EX-L V6, but no heated wheel and no ventilated seats...booo.  So my top three contenders right now are Kia Cadenza, Chrysler 300C (w/Hemi of course), and Hyundai Equus, though the Equus is just hitting $20k now, many are still above that price point. 

For $8k, I'd go Accord or older Azera.  Avalon is just too boring for me.

I'd go with the Volvo, Equuuuus, or the Lexus LS variants. Just seeing that Toyota sombrero on the grill in the morning would make me feel like less of a man, and that I'd given up. I've not had good luck with Ford products after they get a few years on them, and the Azera just doesn't do it for me, but I bet it's a fine car too.   

Currently driving a Volvo V70 T5, I've come to appreciate that the Volvo is like having the refinement of a Merc or BMW, but without the penalties of repair costs, purchase costs, or the reputation that I'd be taking on driving one of the Germans.