Requirements
This page lists my personal car shopping requirements and desires and my
personal picks for vehicles in different price ranges. You might have
different priorities than me. If so, you might want to check out my
collection of new car research and buying links, which includes all the sites
I looked at in making these web pages. It's not just a list, but is organized
into a rough sequence of research stages.
Hard requirements:
- 4 doors, 5+ passenger
- sedan, hatchback, SUV, or wagon (no minivans, no pickups)
- <$50,000
- >2750lbs.
- manual transmission
- front seat belt pretensioners
- 3-point seatbelts for the main two rear seats
- side torso airbag protection for front passengers
- acceptable crash tests (at least one must be available; acceptable means
overall average rating of 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale or 3 or 4 on a 4-point
scale)
- good handling (>0.75 skidpad)
- good braking (60-0 in <150ft)
- anti-lock brakes
- acceptable acceleration (0-60 in <9.5sec)
- air conditioning
- power windows
- folding rear seat
Soft requirements, strongly desired features, and other properties to
remember to optimize:
- Prefer SUV, hatchback, sedan, wagon, in that order.
- as heavy as possible up to 4000lbs., strong pref for over 3000lbs.
- prefer good reliability (see Consumer Reports and J. D. Powers quality
assesment survey results, and take into account how many years since the
model redesign or introduction)
- prefer better warrantees
- ideally seat belts should also have load limiters and both pretensioners
and load limiters should be on the rear seats (at least the outer 2) as well
- should have side head airbag protection for front passengers
- front airbags should have variable deployment force (3rd generation)
- prefer full complement of crash tests (front, side, offset-front) and
best results possible
- prefer wider track and lower rollover risk
- optimize handling (skidpad, slalom, reviews)
- optimize braking (published 60-0, 70-0 times)
- anti-lock brakes should have 4 independent sensors and channels and all 4
brakes should be disc
- strong pref to have stability control
- prefer electronic braking assist
- prefer AWD
- prefer traction control
- prefer xenon (HID, high intensity discharge) headlights
- prefer On-star or equivalent system with GPS and cellular communications
that provides automatic notification of airbag deployment
- prefer daytime running lights
- prefer steering wheel controls for as much as possible (radio, cruise,
phone, NAV system)
- prefer voice recognition for as much as possible (phone, NAV)
- prefer good head rest design, and ideally active head restraints (ala
Saab, but see
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/safety/articles/46912/article.html for a
list of vehicles with active head rests)
- strongly prefer tilt steering wheel (but if it doesn't tilt it may just
be at the right angle to begin with so don't rule it out completely)
- prefer telescoping steering wheel
- prefer head rests for rear passengers as well as front
- prefer a small amount of reasonable off-road ability (higher ground
clearance, have to rely on reviews for evaluating other things like travel,
break-over angles, etc.)
- variable height suspension would be really nice
- as much interior volume (passenger + cargo) as possible
- prefer a length not too much longer than 185 inches)
- prefer tachometer
- prefer acceleration of 0-60 in <8.5sec, but don't optimize beyond that)
- small pref for self-dimming review mirrors
- prefer highest emmissions standards (SULEV, ULEV, LEV)
- best fuel economy possible given other stuff
- obviously, as cheap as possible all other things being equal
- should have eventually (but probably aftermarket) run-flat tires and a
tire pressure monitoring system
- should have eventually (but probably aftermarket) a backup sensing system
like the bumper-mounted sonar-based park-distance-control (PDC) system in
BMWs
- prefer remote keyless entry
- prefer non-leather
- prefer fog lights
- prefer lumbar support
- prefer air filter
- prefer cruise control
- prefer exterior temperature sensor
- prefer (or get aftermarket) a full size spare tire/wheel
$15,000-$20,000
For under $15k, you start to sacrify safety features so I haven't even looked
at figuring out what is best. For $15-20k, the safest vehicles are the Ford
Focus with All-Trac and side airbags, VW Jetta or nearly identical Golf (in
one of the sub-$20k trims), or the Honda Civic EX (need the EX to get the
ABS).
$20,000-$25,000
In the $20-25k price range, I like the VW Passat GLS (I'd go with base trim,
no options) or the Subaru Forrester S (I'd go with the high trim level to get
the side torso airbags). The Passat has the side head airbags and provides a
sportier engine and probably handling. The Forrester gives you AWD (the AWD
Passat's are more expensive and so are mentioned below). Both have excellent
crash test scores, though it would be nice if the new redesigned (refreshed)
Pasast would be crash tested more extensively since so many parts have
changed (they say very little is still the same).
$25,000-$30,000
I'm leaning towards an AWD Audi A4 in this price range, but it's a real pain
that neither the 2001 nor 2002 has been IIHS off-set crash tested. It's a
real shame that the Toyota Highlander isn't available with a manual
transmission because it seems like a clear winner at this price range and
would seem to be safer than the A4. A Subaru Outback just doesn't have enough
of the improtant safety features at this price range (side head airbags,
stability control, brake assist). The AWD Passat is also not available with a
manual and doesn't have all the features nor the off-roading ability AWD, and
height of the Highlander.
Having AWD options like these at this price range pretty much eliminates the
2WD versions of the BMW 325 and the 2WD Volvo S60. The AWD 325xi is
expensive enough to jump into the $30-35k range so isn't really a direct
competitor for the same money here.
$30,000-$35,000
The BMW 325xi is all I would consider here, but I'm not really sure it is
worth the extra money over an A4, so I'd probably lean towards stepping down
to that and saving some money or financing an X5 (see below) rather than
spending in this category at the moment. On the other hand, in a two vehicle
situation, the 325xi would be an ideal driver's sedan if you had access to a
wagon or SUV for the times when you needed to haul stuff.
$35,000 and up
The BMW X5 3.0i is all I would consider once I had $39k to spend. With xenon
headlights park distance control (PDC) and adjustable ride height you can
keep the price around $40k at the moment. With some more you can get the cell
phone and Mayday system (like On-star with automatic airbag deployment
alerting authorities automatically).
More information about automobile safety.
Other health and safety related consumer info that
I've collected.
Karl Pfleger
kpfleger@cs.stanford.edu
November, 2001