Best cars for Davis-area roads?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

My car is approaching end-of-life, and I'm wondering if there's a car made that actually feels comfortable to drive on the roads around here. I'm getting a -very- harsh ride on the roads in and out of Davis and its a little embarassing when picking somebody up to visit. Trying to avoid that with the next car.

The OB-Davis content: We all drive on the same unevenly patched roads in and out of Davis, so when somebody says they can drive Mass Ave or Boston Ave and not feel a thing, that's a strong recommendation.

Comments

[publius513.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Toyota fan, so I'm going to go ahead and make that recommendation. I drive a Solara which I have nothing but wonderful things to say about. The ride on these cars is one of their more impressive qualities, along with the power they have under the hood. I won't promise you won't feel the bumps, but you certainly won't be worried about the wheels coming off or anything.

[truffles629.livejournal.com]

I don't think the ride really has much to do with the car at this point. The roads around here are shit, no matter what you drive.
I have a new Civic and I love it. Its comfortable AND it fits into some spots that big gas-guzzlers can't get into. Also, Hondas last forever.
Subarus are also fantastic. I'm not sure how comfortable of a ride it would be, but considering the fact that some of them are made to go off-road the harsh roads around here might not do as much damage to them. The only problem is they're kind of on the expensive side.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Get some sort of grannymobile, like a Mercury or a Cadillac, since elders don't like the way potholes makes their bones creak. Or something really high-end for people who don't want to have to pay attention to the plebs around them, like a Lexus or a Mercedes-Benz, since not being aware of the road is part of the package (look for cars that do things like parallel park for you, those are likely to have the qualities you seek).

CARS rebate

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

If you're driving a car that gets poor gas mileage (Combined MPG rating of 18 MPG or less) don't forget that you can get a $4500 rebate if you buy a new car with better fuel economy. Also, a lot of dealers are offering to match the rebate $. Program: http://www.cars.gov/ Check MPG rating here: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/CarsSearchIntro.shtml

Re: CARS rebate

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Nope, still gets 30 mpg on the freeway.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to recommend toyota as well, I have about 5 friends with toyotas and I myself have a camry. You will probably want an automatic unless you drive rather sparsely. Also a smaller car will obviously be easier to park, so a corolla or a yaris wouldn't be bad unless you want more space.

That said, if I had it to do over again I would at least look at the deals on a new Ford. Ford is actually in really good shape compared to GM/Chrysler and are putting out their best product in years, but you could probably get an insane deal on a new one right now. 0% financing plus the Brand New factor might be enough to offset the probably drop in resale value and reliability vs. a toyota.

[joyfulkel.livejournal.com]

i <3 my focus!

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

What you need is a car with good shocks. If you really don't want to feel the road at all, get one of those gas-guzzling limo type "Big American Cars". It's like driving on a cloud: you will feel nothing, and hear nothing. They're likely to be cheap, now, since the economy has the US manufacturers wanting to ditch them in favor of small, gas efficient cars.

You just have to consider the tradeoff: Rotten Gas Mileage versus feeling the road. Personally I don't have a problem with feeling the road, and would prefer to know if my tire just went in that bottomless pothole. Also, it's sorta fun to try to miss them. But if you prefer to drive in a straight line, and danged with the potholes, you will also have to spend lots of time in the repair shop (even with a new car) because your wheels will never be in alignment, and it's likely various components of your car will bend and/or break.

Oh, and brush up on your parallel parking skills, because with a larger car you either have to be very good at it or else park elsewhere and take a bus into Davis (as of this weekend, when you won't be able to easily park on streets anymore without a permit).

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

Tires make a big difference, too. Everyone is trending to ever-larger wheels these days, with ever-skinnier tires. For pothole resistance, that's exactly what you *don't* want.

(Incidentally, Toyota makes some of the numbest cars out there, it's not just American companies. Check out an Avalon. They've out-Buicked Buick.)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

When it comes to car suspension, ride comfort and safety/handling are pretty much mutually exclusive. One achieves comfort on bumps primarily by equipping cars with softer shock absorbers and springs. The softer the spring, the longer (in milliseconds) it takes the wheel to return to full contact with the road after it has gone over a bump. The softer the shock, the more the car will roll when cornering. Cars that roll a lot when cornering will not be able to switch as rapidly from a hard turn in one direction to a hard turn in the other direction (e.g. when you have to swerve hard to avoid something on the road, and then have to swerve again to avoid going *off* the road).

Additionally, one thing that can make an expensive car (like a BMW or a Porsche) *feel* more expensive than a cheap car (like a Hyundai or Toyota) is how many things in the passenger compartment are held together with plastic clips instead of steel screws. This was probably the most annoying difference between my Dodge Neon and my Dad's BMW 540. When both cars were exactly the same age (about 5 years old with about 65,000 miles) my car was full of rattles and his still pretty much sounded like it did when it was brand new. I think that this, more than anything else, makes the biggest different to how "smooth" the ride feels.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

My friend's got a late-1990's Camry LX or something. It's probably what eventually became the Solara. She's always going back and forth on Rt. 9 in Framingham and it doesn't bother her.

I second the comment about Hondas lasting forever. Mine is an older Honda. The engines and suspensions are tuned to be a little sportier and less cushy than the Toyotas which is what's in play here. Though it would have to be a Camry or larger; not a Corolla.

I'd like to hear from folks who own a small sporty car, like a Subaru WRX or BMW 3-series. I'd expect a luxury marque would be cushier than a sport-tuned Honda. But when I see those with the Z-rated tires on what pass as roads around here, it gives me hemhorroids just looking at it.

The Subaru wagon/SUVs ( Outback, Forrester ) can't be bad, because I see yuppie families driving them all the time on our bad roads. But besides the "image" problem, how is the handling on those things? Every time I see one turning at a corner, they take it like somebody's circumcising a baby in the back seat.

What about SUVs/light trucks? Mileage isn't that bad, and hybrid models are available. Do they feel bumps? And is the suspension built to "take a beating"?

If parking wasnt an issue I've been wondering about Lincoln Town Cars, Cadillacs. Even a 1990s-vintage Mercedes S-class can be had for say the price of a new Corolla, and those things are heavily overengineered.

As far as the roads, is it just me and my old car or are the roads much worse than ten years ago? It used to be that the worst road was 99 in Charlestown, except for a few streets around the produce markets in Chelsea. But nowadays every road is like 99 was then, 99 now is like a truck route in Chelsea, and I don't want to think about what Chelsea's like now.

[leko.livejournal.com]

I have a sporty car with a stiff suspension, but the ride doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the risk of damage to my car from the crazy potholes.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Do you every have trouble with rims? When I replace my tires ( well before the tread limits ), I've had mechanics tell me the rims are all banged up, undoubtedly from hard driving in the winter and spring.

So I get the most basic $70/piece steel rims they have, and replace them along with the tires. But I have to wonder about those guys with low-profile tires and custom rims. Either they only take those cars out for show, or theyre spending big money on rims every year.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

There's an image problem with Subarus?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Could you imagine a Subaru Outback in Miami Vice?

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure I could imagine a Camry, either.

[benign-cremator.livejournal.com]

> But besides the "image" problem, how is the handling on those things?

What image problem? The mid-sized Subarus (the Legacy, Outback, Forester, and Impreza) were all designed to race well in road rallies, and also be good highway cars. Only Mitsubishi's are better in rallies, but they are not as good every-day consumer cars (IMO).

And I like the handling on them. Right balance of being able to feel the road (so you can respond to it and drive better), and also dampening road vibration so it does not break you down. It have driven my Legacy for up to 16-hour stretches, and gotten out without much adverse effects. My Tercel would cause my knees to ache in just under 2 hours. And the Legacy was not as prone to sliding or hydroplaning the way my Pontiac 6000 and Tercel were. Take that as you will, since the Subaru's are not what the original poster asked for (something that causes you to not feel the road at all, which adversely effects one's driving, IMO).

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Was referring more to the Outback as not liking the style, not the smaller Legacy, and certainly not the Impreza ( actually wondering if the WRX was too small and sporty for our roads ).

Was thinking more along the lines of cornering and low-end torque. Don't know if its the cars or the drivers, but I always find myself stuck behind either a Subaru crossover or a Volvo wagon, and they seem to just sit there at green lights and take corners gingerly. On the other hand, I've never been stuck behind a Honda, Acura, Mitsubishi, or BMW.

Isn't hydroplaning more a function of the tires? But I have been curious about the larger AWD Subarus for their perfomance in snow. Even if I don't find them sexy, they may have there advantages in foul weather. There's nothing sexy about driving a sports coupe through a night blizzard on Route 2.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Hell, my little '96 Impreza is still one of the best things I've ever driven in snow. (I started driving Subarus when I lived in the middle of NH, where every fourth car was a Subaru wagon.) Corners beautifully, too.

Foldy mirrors

[glen-highland.livejournal.com]

I would recommend a car with side mirrors that can be folded in. Folding in the mirrors prevents Sudden Mirror Explosion when parked on a narrow street. Unfortunately, this rules out most Toyotas.

Re: Foldy mirrors

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Wow, Hondas have had those for over twenty years.

Another thing I've had a craving for ( since driving a very cushy Mitsubishi Galant ) is auto-dimming mirrors, both side and rear-view. Especially in a car that's low to the ground, night driving can be harsh with all these boneheads around with their big beams. Heated mirrors would be a plus in this climate, too.

Re: Foldy mirrors

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

my 1998 civic does not. :( which has actually only been a problem once, when a snowplow came a little too close to me and knocked off the driver's side mirror. (there was a red pickup parked on the other side of the street in defiance of the snow emergency, so my guess is the plow was trying to navigate around it. i'd have been a lot happier if the plow had gotten to close to the truck and scraped up its side and knocked off its mirror, instead of mine. but at least that was the only time i ever lost a side mirror.) i love my car, tho, and for eleven years it's served me well.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised no one has piped in with ZOMG why do you want to buy a car, the T is SO easy to use, and you can always bike!!!!!!

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Would this be a bad time to mention how years ago I used to drive into downtown to work, taking the commute down to 13 minutes from 40?

But seriously it's surprising how few (any?) people have mentioned a reverse-commute to work in the suburbs on this forum. Is it possible to bike to Chelmsford?

[ifotismeni]

yes, it's possible to bike to chelmsford. my parents live there and i bike there many times -- on the weekends, when i have 2 hours to spare, and when i don't mind killing myself on the hills.

i reverse commuted from davis (and now east arlington) both to waltham and now to burlington -- the worst part of it is always leaving the cambridge/arlington area, the highways are nice and clear.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of boneheadism and nimbyism in the design of the Alewife interchange as well as the Lake St Arlington vs. bike path intersection. Too many left turns and random pedestrian darting backs up the latter.

But the accident du jour on 128 is no picnic either. They should really bring back Puritan-era consequences for the people who cause them. Such as putting a set of "stocks" by the side of the road so we can shout curses at them as we crawl by.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Personally I think you could punish people with the death penalty for car accidents and they would still cause them. Oh wait (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/deaths.htm)! (Car accidents being the number 5 killer of Americans overall and the number 1 killer of children ages 4 to 14)

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

as someone who's driven down Lake Street in rush hour nearly every day for the past 5 years, i can say with some assurance that the two main reasons for the horrific backups in that area are all the "no turn" signs that the oh-so-persnickety folks living in the neighborhoods near Lake Street had installed, and the bike path.

if *all* the traffic that used lake street wasn't forced into this one unnatural channel, then forced to stop every 15 seconds, it would flow a lot faster.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Wouldnt the "no turn" signs make little difference to traffic passing through, because except for a little street that goes along Spy Pond, everything between the pond and Alewife Brook that crosses the bike path, side streets included, is funneled through one point?

Or did there used to be more crossings in the side streets?

A walk/dont walk signal during rush-hour traffic would improve the situation immensely, provided the pedestrians can be persuaded to wait their turn.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I'm guessing you're either a) not counting parking in your commute time, b) Not factoring in the cost of parking in one of the many extremely expensive garages downtown or c) someone else was paying for your parking.

As for the reverse commute: I do! I take the train from West Medford to Woburn every day and bike to work from the train station. I love this train because it is hardly ever late and it runs every hour for the entire day.

The same train also goes all the way to Lowell and the trip from there to Chelmsford Center would be a relatively short 4 mile bike ride along route 110/Chelmsford Street.

Of course, prior to the mid 1930s you could have hopped an Old Colony train directly from Lowell to Chelmsford Center, but that was discontinued almost immediately after our New Deal-era spending spree on road paving projects.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

A little bit of each. The company had its own garage, I had to pay per month to park, but it looked extremely subsidized in comparision to what some of those garages cost.

The short commute was a combination of flexible work hours ( roughly 10-7 ) with a creative use of the roads in the East Cambridge/Back Bay area, with about four redundant alternate routes.

There's a lot of interesting old rail beds in the Bedford through Lowell area which got converted to pedestrian and bike paths. There's one which I think splits off the Minuteman path, up by the VA hospital in Bedford and ends in an office park on the Bedford/Billerica/Chelmsford border, so it really is possible to cycle to Chelmsford.

But as far as the New Deal, while I usually go libertarian this would be a very good time to bring back the WPA. The infrastructure is crumbling, and people need jobs.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of interesting old rail beds in the Bedford through Lowell area which got converted to pedestrian and bike paths.

Indeed the route I mentioned above (what used to be the Lowell and Framingham Railroad) is slated to become the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (http://www.brucefreemanrailtrail.org). Based on your geographical description it sounds like we're talking about the same thing. According to their own timetable the first phase should be finished any day now.

But as far as the New Deal, while I usually go libertarian this would be a very good time to bring back the WPA. The infrastructure is crumbling, and people need jobs.

Yeah, and this time lets do it favoring trains instead of cars, since we're spending the money anyway.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

That one's a little further west than the one I'm thinking of. In the 1800s, there was a resort area called "Bedford Springs" where Middlesex Community College is now. That and the cottages around Nutting Lake, Billerica, were a vacation spot, and people would take the train up.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I'm going to recommend against getting a Scion XB. I love my XB, it's tiny and wonderful and can be parked anywhere, but er, suspension, yeah, no...

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Ironically that is exactly what I love that car :-)

[gingicat]

I have a three-year-old Ford Focus that does decently in most places. Major exception is going into Medford Square via Rt 38 and going under Rt 16, but those potholes are going to break someone's axle someday.

And I hear you on the reverse commute - I work in Newton Lower Falls and live near Medford Square. And the buses from Medford Square to Davis run rather infrequently.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

What I'd like to know is, a lot of those roads should have been resurfaced five years ago. When property values were high and all kinds of tax revenues were coming in. So what the hell were they doing with all that money?

[olszowka.livejournal.com]

Governments often deliberately avoid repaving roads around here because the residents fear that having a nice road will encourage more traffic. There can then be a competition to have the worst roads.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

These must be the family types who drive their Subaru Outbacks around Arlington ten miles below the speed limit.

For some reason Boston isn't shaping up to be the bachelor's paradise it could be.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Too bad the roads also have to service the bicycles which, by the way, suffer a much greater hardship for it than the cars.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

well, that would certainly explain most of Cambridge...

[ifotismeni]

toyota camry's are pretty good on these roads, but corollas are not.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

If your old car has beat-up shocks, almost anything new will be better. Your best bet, IMHO, is to test drive a few other cars. Just walk in and say "my car has a terrible ride I want something with decent shocks. I'm not going to buy today, but I want to test a few out this week and then come back next month and buy something."

Obviously avoid anything over-sporty, because sporty to some is jarring to others. But nobody knows your reaction like you do.

Be prepared for them to sell you on the fact that the sales tax will go up on 8/1. Tell them that being rushed into a purchase you regret is no bargain at all.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Shocks and ball joints seem to need replacement (or just blow in the case of shocks) at regular intervals. Maybe 60-80K when you drive around here. It may also be the double-wishbone suspension which is great on the highways but just a little too responsive on the local roads. A big issue is those little beads of tar they use to fill a linear crack in the road. They might not be much of an obstacle but I feel them big time.

Another issue may be the tires. Id gotten some high-performance tires which gave me great braking and handling on rain-soaked highways, but something about them makes you feel like the road is bumpy even when its not really bumpy.

But you know I really like that suggestion of a test drive on the roads around here. When in another city I had a number of rental cars and while all new, the ride was very different on each. And I'm assuming there's a reason why there's so few sporty cars on Boston roads.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

All I can say is, I have a MINI, and it's kindof a rough ride. But any sporty suspension is going to be harsh on our crappy streets.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Was wondering how those Minis hold up in Somerville. Remember a story about them in Bloomberg that they were a little harsh on uneven pavement.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

They are. And I just also got two bent tie-rods fixed last week. I *think* they were from hitting a bump that was part of the repaving of 93 while going about 80mph, but I can't be sure. Driving up Temple St tonight was a lesson in Just How Bumpy the roads can really get.

[blinkidybah.livejournal.com]

Temple's undergoing... something, I still can't tell what, and is AWFUL right now :(

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Some kind of digging. It is over halfway with those metal plates now. I don't like to drive over ONE much less fifteen in a row.