dacialogan

I want to buy a used sedan and I've narrowed down my selection of the 1) safest and 2) most reliable vehicles to these, in somewhat of an order:

1. Audi A6 - 2007 sedan
2. BMW 3 series sedan 2006-2008, mfg. after Feb 2006
3. Volvo S80
4. Cadillac CTS 2008
5. Lexus IS250 AWD 2006-2008
6. Saab 9-5 2006-08

I wrote down the main safety and reliability facts about these cars at http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Sandbox/CarBuyersGuide. I don't care about acceleration or horse-power but I do care about safety, reliability, versatility (e.g. folding seats), style and ergonomics.

Now, I'm stumped... which one to pick? The Lexus has a cramped back seat and the back seats don't fold. The Saab has an old design. The BMW is too sporty (I prefer a smooth ride and quiet interior). The Cadillac is too new and has no reliability data. The Audi has a wood trim, which I'm not a fan of. And so on.

Would there be something annoying about these cars that you folks would avoid?

Something else I'm looking for is the possibility to take an occasional nap in the car, so something like seats that fold down completely horizontally - does that even exist in any of these cars? Or at least as horizontally as possible.

Then, I don't know... I'm not an experienced car owner. I've been driving for 10 years but my most advanced vehicle is a Corolla '99.

Help deciding among these 6 please?

Thanks,
Dan

dacialogan

Great... replying to my own post.

I excluded the Saab and Cadillac because the have OnStar standard, which can be used for nefarious purposes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onstar#Criticism).

So I tested the other vehicles minus the BMW:

1. The Volvo's ride was unimpressive, blah.
2. I tested an Audi A4 instead of an A6. It felt too sporty for me and much less smooth than the Lexus. BUT, it had an awesome trunk with folding rear seats. A 5'5" person could probably nap in the trunk + seats just fine.
3. The Lexus IS250 had small space in the back seats but the smoothest ride and nicest instrument panel. The console was too wide and separated the front passengers too much (kinda difficult to drive with your hand on the gf's thigh). It was the quietest car. Had (standard) an auxiliary input for an MP3 player - a very useful feature. The seats don't fold back but there's an opening in the middle back seat that can fold to let skis or a golf bag pass through. A lousy compromise, but it tipped the balance in the favor of the Lexus.

I ended up buying the only used Lexus IS250 AWD 2006, which was black - a pretty unfortunate choice because even the tiniest scratches are visible. However, it's going to get scratches in a few months anyway.

My next car will be as safe as the Acura RL, plus the rear safety of the Audi, plus its folding seats and back seat room. And not black.

drdisque

For future reference, if you don't like the onstar you can cut the wires to the antenna.

__________________
Dr. Disque - 2007 Mazda 6-S 5 Door

dacialogan

That's the surest way for the OnStar base station to know you have gone out of their surveillance and wonder why...