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Current recommendations | Archive 1 | Archive 2


Volvo Cross Country XC70

  • Safe — you feel like you're in a bank vault
  • Solid, quiet
  • Handles great
  • Plenty of power: 281 HP
  • All-wheel-drive standard
  • Very comfortable ride
  • Pricey
  • Only gets 20 MPG on highway — lousy mileage for a car that's marketed to socially conscious consumers
  • Expensive to repair
  • Two-step process to start car is cumbersome
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Lincoln MKS

  • Less expensive than other cars in luxury class
  • All-wheel-drive (optional)
  • Nice looking
  • Reasonably sized
  • Handling leans more towards comfort than sportiness
  • Very comfortable rear seat
  • Rear-seat heaters are a nice touch
  • Still not as reliable as Japanese cars
  • Handling leans more towards comfort than sportiness
  • Mileage only just okay
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Toyota Matrix

  • Toyota quality
  • Small
  • Inexpensive
  • All-wheel drive
  • Good ride
  • Poor rear visibility
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Infiniti M35

  • Seven-speed transmission
  • Very nice handling
  • Nice size, powerful
  • All-wheel-drive option
  • Very smooth ride
  • Tight and well-built
  • Rear-wheel drive
  • Poorly located steering wheel buttons can result in changing radio stations
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Ford Focus

  • Much improved Ford reliability (best of the domestics)
  • More pricing flexibility than Civic and Corolla (financial incentives)
  • Good value
  • Good mileage
  • Comfortable ride
  • Decent room, especially in front
  • Standard side airbags
  • Available stability control
  • Nice, easily maneuverable size
  • Dowdy "Return of the Escort" styling
  • Not quite Honda or Toyota reliability
  • Noisy on the highway
  • Lousy back seat space, made worse if driver is tall, and pushes seat backwards
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