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Jacob took me to the library and scoured Consumer Reports for a comfortable 4-door family sedan. We made a list of must-have and like-to-have features. Front and side-impact airbags. Then we test drove the Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima, and the Passat. The Altima came out on top; the Maxima wasn't much different but was more expensive, and the others trailed behind. The Taurus and the Camry V4 were checked off our list. The Passat was too sluggish from the start in V4 and V6 and also lost the cut. Back to the library we went, to re-read consumer reports and check the safety, comfort, and reliability. The Altima was the best overall! We tried to buy the Altima! But it wasn't available with the feature set we wanted. Period. So back to the drawing board. We test-drove a Maxima V6, a Camry V6, and the Honda Civic and Accord V4 and V6. I liked the Maxima best, while the Camry was a bit sluggish around corners. The Maxima had a pointy-headrest problem, and the features we wanted weren't standard and were again hard-to-find. The Honda Accord V6 was a little less responsive but a few thousand dollars less, handled nicely and came with every must-have feature (and most of the options) on our list, standard! It had everything but remote entry, casette, and a power passenger seat. We bought the Accord for more than $20,000 -- the biggest check I've ever written. I pried the identifying marks off the back. Thank you Jacob. - - - Footnote: Shopping for a mid-size family sedan
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I Bought a Car! 