Been looking at lots of new and certified pre-owned cars over the last couple of months and can't really pin down exactly which one to go with.

We have it pretty much narrowed down to the cars in the poll and we're just looking for some input from those of you who have experience with these cars.

Thursday I bought my wife a '07 SLK. One of our daughters drove her down to the dealership and when I walked her over to the car, opened the door and told her this was her new car, she started to cry.

Stick your neck way out there and get her the best thing you can afford. Trust me, Its worth every cent.

Married 28 years now, intend on being with her the rest of my life.

Only SIX years and it will be paid for.....

billy

BTW, these are the cars she likes.

The criteria is that it has to have at least enough back seat to cram my daughter or her friend into, be extremely reliable and under $35000.00 cuz it's a cash deal.

I love the 3 series. It's probably irrational as other cars in the list are less expensive and/or more reliable. My first car was a '77 320i and I've been wanting another ever since. A mint, low mileage 325i or 328i should come in at $15K or below. I wouldn't buy a new one for $40K because the depreciation hit is huge.

Acura TL absolutey...

Honda reliability, near Lexus quality, good handling and road manners.
decent gas mileage...usable back seat.
Newest body style is nice...and distinctive.
Good resale value.

My dad has been driving Acuras for 16+ years now...and they have all been fantastic cars with Zero reliability issues...
I had an '87 Legend brand new and it was a great family sedan with decent performance and gas mileage for that size car.

My son currently has a 91 Acura Legend (my moms old car with 36000 miles on it) and he loves it...

I almost traded my Boxster in on a '06TL but couldn't get what I wanted for trade in.

Forget the Mercedes. The quality department personnel left and they turned out the lights 15 years ago. I'm an Audi guy (7 in the family), and would ALWAYS opt for a Quattro. I know very little about Japanese cars, but Acuras have a good rep. IMO, the letters "BMW" stand for "Bucks Make'em Work". They pay the bills here at the shop. The Cap'n

I thought you were moving to Turkey.. did I miss something?

Bought a 06 Tl this past May, couldn't be happoer. I was looking at a number of the same cars you are looking at, in the same price range. Handles very nice, suspension is a little stiff, but not enough to make me buy a different car. My sons are 5 and 12, my oldest has plenty of legg room.

my wife jumps in my 328 every chance she gets...

I would go for the 528, 98-2000 can be had for under 10K
I got my 98 for 8k 2 years ago...

if it were me id go with the tl, no real reason just looks good and is a fun and nice car.

G35
SWEET ASS CAR. Nothing else on the list comes close

I'm liking the new VW Rabbit for the "wife's broom" as it were. 6 speed Tiptronic sounds like fun.

My next around town car is going to be a Lincoln Towncar, or a Crown Victoria. Cheap, and if you get bored, you got options with it.

Forget the cars on your list. (sorry Andy)

From experience, the G35 is better than the Lexus.
I would look very seriously at the Acura.

Thanks for the input guys. I think that at this point I can scratch the Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and probably the BMW. So it looks to be between the Lexus and the Infiniti with the wife leaning towards the Lexus.

I did get her to drive a new XLE Toyota Camry and she was very suprized at what it had to offer.

I told her that we could get one save 6 grand, swap the badges with a Lexus and no one would ever know.

Same freaking car IMHO....

I voted for the Acura TL, though for me it would be a tossup between that and the G35. I have driven both, and liked them a lot, prefer RWD greatly, though the daily driver integra is FWD. I am sort of partial to Hondas, and have had extremely few maintanence issues. Oil, filter, tranny fluid, radiator, brakes and tires, nothing really unexpected has come up, and it encourages spirited driving.

The rad was one of those plastic/aluminum composites that are apparently popular.

I pay attention to the gauges when I drive, so I did not fry anything else as it never ran dry. I pulled in when I noted the temp gauge moving and got coolant and some stopleak stuff(which is nasty, but what are you gonna do when ya got someplace to be), head was unscathed. When rad failed on a friend's BMW, he warped the head and spent a lot of money. I have done all the maint on mine except the steering rack boots, which was a mistake, let me tell you. I just don't trust a place to have a semi-qualified monkey hammer on my car and leave me fixin' stuff, but that is another tale.

That G35 is a lot of fun with the traction control off, but I kept thinking what those big ass tires must cost when I drove my buddy's in Texas.

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!!

After getting the wifes Infiniti all dolled up, I talked to her some more about how the car will run forever as long as it's taken car of. It's only got 43,000 miles on it and the only problem we have had in over 5 years was the steering rack. $1300.00 fix I know but, the rest of the car looks brand new.

Sooo, she wants to keep it for another 4 or 5 years or until it falls apart, whichever comes first.

The really good news is that she told me since we are not gonna replace it, I get to spend some pretty serious cash on getting the teener painted...

Allan - You should put on a clinic! Your plan was brilliant!

Get your wife mentally prepared to drop 35 large on a new car...then make a few strategic moves and talk her into keeping her current car. Now....while she is still prepared to drop some coin on a car, hit her up for putting "some" of that money into the 914. You are pure genius!!

If it has AUDI on the body take your money and run.

Buy the Mrs a new BMW 7 series and she will be more than happy.

TL

safe, reliable, and still fun enough when you get to drive it...

the G35 is up there on my list too, but a friend here at work has had to take hers to the shop a lot more than I'd like to see...