What family car

My Leaf is coming off lease soon and I've been thinking of ways to have fun with my next car while keeping some extra cash. Personally I think daily driving my Volvo 740 would be fine but my wife is raising an eyebrow about reliability of a 25 year old car.

Here's what I want:

Moderately fast - quarter mile in the low 14s.
Manual trans highly preferred.
4 doors.
At least 25mpg.
Ultra reliable.
Low miles.
Under $15k.
Has to fit two child seats in back. One rear facing.
No Subarus or VAG.
Comfort and convenience features are a plus.

So far I've only come up with an Accord v6 manual, but they only made sedans in that configuration for 2 years and I doubt they sold well. Wrangling two kids into the back seat of a coupe sounds awful.

If the Leaf was enough space, maybe a Focus hatchback?

Fusion?

04-08 Acura TL Type S? Or maybe a G35?

szeis4cookie wrote: If the Leaf was enough space, maybe a Focus hatchback?

Faster.

but they only made sedans in that configuration for 2 years

Dude, what two years? I may need one of those!

Also, i second the 6spd Acura TL recommendation as the '6spd accord sedan that exists in reasonable numbers' solution.

If you're not dead set on the manual there's the Lexus GS350/430.

OR if you want to actually work on your car, there's manual BMW 535s.

And then i guess there are G37 sedans.

If you look hard, there MIGHT be an ST for 15k.

I have a 6 speed TL and it has been super reliable. It has 196k and drives as nice as anything in my stable.

In reply to Vigo:

2006 and '07.

All the TL manuals locally have very high miles AND are owned by the "blue led lights/ slammed coil overs" crowd. I'll keep looking at those though. The Lexus GS isn't a bad thought.

I'm trying to avoid ze Germans.

Manual trans not available but.. http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/infiniti-m45-sport-road-test

They can be had for $15K or less. v8 power, find the sport version.. enjoy growl..

If you need a manual trans find a manual trans g 35.

I looked at that exact same market, using almost identical criteria. I stretched the budget a little and wound up with a FoST, which I am so-so happy with. If you want quick but not "fast", the 4cyl Accord Sport sedan is a damn nice car. G37 is an awesome car but you won't find it low mileage in that price range. Acura TSX maybe? Civic Si.

If you can stretch the budget just a touch and live with some of the shortcomings of the FoST, it's a lot of fun to drive. Shortcomings...IMHO...short fuel tank range (under 300 miles), huge turning circle, very quirky "Connect" system if you get ST2 or ST3 trim. If you get one, throw a $500 Ford Racing tune at it and you'll have a tire smoking family hauler.

Maybe i'm wrong but i feel like 15k should be able to buy the nicest low miles TL A-Spec 6spd there is?

I feel like Foci and Fiestae don't really fit the fairly big back seat and comfort/convenience features part of this.

98-00 LS 400. Maybe a 430 in that price range.

So from my searching, it looks like most of the luxury sport sedans are more in the $20k range unless you're looking at something more than 10 years old or higher mileage.

The Fiesta is too small. The Focus is passable but I hate their ergonomics and Sync. In that class I think a lightly used GTI would work best - if someone else made it.

I think the TL might be the sweet spot unless I can find a very nice ~ 15 year old Lexus.

I also have half a mind to break all my own rules and go see this beast.

that seems like alot of car of the money. I found them quite small inside though. I am 6'4" , but i found those tight.

~ 15 year old Lexus.

Why 15 years old? I looked before i posted on the GS's and i found 06-11s at 7900-16000. Thats 10 years old or newer. I bought my 09 GS450h at the top of your price range and 6 years old with ~118k. The other models are cheaper and in my area I rarely see a private party non-hybrid GS for higher than 12k.

Now if you want an IS, they do seem to have higher resale in the same age/condition, but you don't really want an IS anyway because you want a decent back seat.

In reply to Vigo:

Hmm. The prices on the GS I see locally seem higher than that. There is one that's $13000 but the rest seem like they're 18-20 on auto trader. None really right now on Craigslist.

Since we're talking auto too, what about the Hyundai Genesis?

I've driven a 3.8 Genesis Sedan (seemed good) and a 5.0 Equus (totally sweet) and between the two i am led to believe that a 5.0 Genesis would also be totally sweet.

I have a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3 I'll sell you for $12k . My regular Mazda3 is dead nuts reliable and I have no reason to think this thing would not be. It'll definitely do the quarter in less than 14.

t25torx wrote: I have a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3 I'll sell you for $12k . My regular Mazda3 is dead nuts reliable and I have no reason to think this thing would not be. It'll definitely do the quarter in less than 14.

I was going to suggest just this.