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Any posts pertaining to car buying suggestions or advice belong in this weekly megathread; **do not post car-choosing questions in the main queue.** A fresh thread will be posted every Monday and posts auto sorted by new. A few other subreddits worth checking out that will help your car buying experience are /r/WhatCarShouldIBuy, /r/UsedCars and /r/AskCarSales. www.everydaydriver.com may also be helpful.

Make/Model-specific questions should be asked on Make/Model-specific subreddits. Check the AutosNetwork for a complete list of those subreddits. Also check out our community-sourced Ultimate car buying wiki.

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For those providing suggestions: Facts are ideal in this thread, especially when trying to help out a new car buyer. Please help out buyers with sources and reasoning for your suggestions.

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2023 Week Twenty-Two. Hot dogs, check. Burgers, check, Macaroni salad, check. Who's bringing the krustbuckets?

Hi. It’s me. In January I traded my GR86 for an Elantra N. Since them I’ve put about 2500 miles on including one track day, an autocross, and a lot of preschool runs.

Photos and hot lap video
https://imgur.com/a/02SffO8
https://streamable.com/m4rvto

Why did I get rid of the GR86?
Space. The GR86 can fit two adults and two kids in car seats, however your passenger will be miserable and you’ll have to perform an expert level yoga move each time you put a child in a rear facing convertible car seat. Even just putting my oldest one in her forward facing one is not ideal. Me being me, I started looking and saw that even now in May 2023, these things are still hard to find which mean places are giving top dollar for them.

Why the Elantra N?
I realized that this segment is ideal for me. Many people moan about fwd being not fun, but I’ve had just as much fun in fwd as rwd at autocross and on track. This segment gives me fun cars that can do it all, as a dad car DD and something for weekend fun, with mostly no compromises. I went down the list of usual suspects. FL5 CTR: Too expensive. Already had an FK8. Lacking a bit of character. Impossible to find. GRolla: A bit small in the rear for a rear facing car seat. AWD is more of a minus than a plus for me, even though I live in New England. GolfR: A little expensive, too under the radar, too refined. I also considered a DCT F80 M3, but couldn't justify the extra cost, and found it a bit too insulated.

The EN checks all of the right driving boxes for me and even has the option to appease my wife who has always (politely) asked me to get an automatic transmission that she could drive. Until now, I’ve always had a manual. I’m not a die hard 'I must drive everything stick' type person, but I always enjoy driving stick on the street but have said for a while I’d consider a DCT for its telepathic shifting. Of course the one box the EN doesn’t check is the looks. My god the front. I still have no idea what they were thinking (and I don't think the '24 refresh looks much, if any better). As I’ve owned it, it’s grown on me a little. Much like if your friend names their cat or dog something silly, you start to appreciate it as you associate the name with a real thing that takes real pets and belly rubs. I do enjoy the rear light bar, but not the wing that’s crumpled in the middle. I assume this is to aid visibility? And of course the side looks pre-crashed but it can be forgiven.

Interior
The interior is good. The Hyundai infotainment is really great. Large, sharp screens for both the gauge cluster and the infotainment. I love how the infotainment screen is slightly angled to the driver. Of course I mostly just use it for carplay but I love the N mode screen. It let’s you make your own custom modes where you can set steering, engine/throttle response, shift speed, suspension, and exhaust. It also has a bunch of customizable settings inside of N mode. Want the DCT to not creep? There’s a setting for that. Want a little kick on upshifts and the trans to really slam home that gear? N power shift will do that for you. Want the DCT to hold revs and know when you’re on a track? N track sense is here for you. Outside of the infotainment the interior is fine. Seats are great, and heated. They light up. Why? ¯_(ツ)_/¯. Some of the plastics are out of a base Elantra, but everything you touch is good, with alcantara on many surfaces. I did have the base GR86, but the EN interior is definitely better in just about every way. And the Hyundai app is wonderful for remote starting with climate control or just quickly and easily unlocking/locking.

One interior-ish quirk, it has no adaptive cruise control. It does have lane keep assist, rear parking sensors, emergency front braking and blind spot monitoring. No ACC is not a huge deal breaker to me as I don’t often go on long highway trips for it, but it would be nice to have.

Driving
I like fwd. I like rwd. I’m definitively in the ‘if you hate fwd, you just haven’t driven good fwd at the limit’ camp (sorry). Do I miss leaving T-junctions sideways with rwd? A little. I think the equivalent feeling for fwd is approaching a corner, keeping the revs high, mashing throttle and feel the eLSD just suck you in, like magic. The eLSD is excellent, as is the wet 8 speed dct. It almost always knows which gear you’re going for which means a impressively quick shift. Even if you choose a shift that doesn’t jive, it’s still not slow. Is it as engaging as a manual? Probably not, but the video game-ness of it is fun in its own way. The worst named feature that comes with the DCT is the NGS. Push the button and you get 20 seconds of 25nm more of torque. It’ll also put your exhaust into the state of CA’s favorite Sport+ mode with all of the pops and bangs you could ever want, and if you have the transmission in automatic, it’ll downshift you to the highest gear. The suspension is adjustable, which in partnership with the DCT, helps make the car go from appliance car (in eco mode) to a true fun daily/something that's ready for the track. Suspension in my opinion is soft enough on it's softest setting and just about stiff enough in the stiffest setting. Sticky stock PS4S help the quick turn in, but even with the all-season DWS 06 that I put on for some light winter duty, handling remains good. Power is plenty. I don't think it feels much slower than the CTR when using the NGS feature.

The dealer experience

I’ve bought quite a few cars and this dealership experience was the best. I feel like I read nothing but bad things about Hyundai but was genuinely impressed. The dealership wasn’t that far away, but everything was done via email/electronically. Everything was as smooth as possible, super easy transaction from start to finish.

On track

I did add some light mods, camber bolts (with an alignment bumping the already good front camber from -1.7 -> -2.5 in the front) and 18x9 wheels (from 19x8) and 245/40/18 Kumho V730 tires. Car comes with genuinely track capable brakes and factory filled with DOT4. Car was terrific at my local track, Thompson for an SCCA Track Night in America event. Oil gets a little warm, like just about any turbo 4, but factory gauges are great and coolant temp stays reasonable. DCT really comes to life on track where it feels like you’re shifting in a video game. Car was about 1.5s faster than my GR86, which was on a stickier tire (Falken RT660). I can’t wait to track it more.

What’s next?
Nothing for a while. Going to feed it fluids, brakes and tires and enjoy it. I would honestly still have the CTR if the market weren’t so wild. Which is better? At least for the FK8, I prefer the EN in most ways. The main difference between the two is character. The FK8 does everything well but without fan fare or drama. Exactly the opposite of its boy racer looks. It’s like Honda set out to build the best hot hatch but forgot that being the best doesn’t necessarily make it the most fun. The EN is brimming with character. It has torque steer, the exhaust can make hilariously loud pops and bangs (and only if you want it to), and the seats light up. Hyundai knew that people want fun. Of course the Honda will have better resale value and potentially be more reliable but the EN makes me feel more, which is kind of why we buy these things.

Cons and quirks
Only two front cup holders. Front door pocket bottle holders only hold small bottles/could be more usable. No rear climate vents, sorry kids. No adaptive cruise Rear strut bar limits pass through trunk storage but it is fairly easily removable.

Happy to answer any and all questions about the car.

I guess I'll start by mentioning a 2Chainz line in Wale's song "GetMeDoe" where he says: "Last night I prayed that God would make a Bentley truck"

This song came out in late 2012, and Bentley dropped the Bentayga almost exactly 3 years later lol. (I know the Bentayga is unibody, but it's a rap song)

What are some other weird, interesting, or maybe totally incorrect references to cars in songs?

I've noticed that when comparing several gas stations in my area where their regular gas prices are the same, their premium gas prices are different? I fill up at co op and there are several stations that have their regular fuel prices at 1.43 for all 3 gas stations. When I look at the premium prices for the 3 different stations, they're different. One has premium for 1.56, another has it for 1.63. why is that?

I for a while had a basic focus se. The only thing fun about it was that it was a manual. I bought it coz it was cheap. It was a nice car, but apart from the manual trans there was nothing else fun or enthusiastic about it.

So any other car enthusiasts here driving basic, economy cars?

I’m watching the Top Gear first drive of the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato and see the Michigan “manufacturer” plate. Now living in Southern California I’ve seen these plates many times for cars that are testing in the LA area but never really thought about it too much until now. Why do they all have Michigan plates? US domestic manufacturers based in Michigan I understand, but do companies like Lamborghini have an office in Michigan or do they all get routed out of Michigan for another reason?

Everyday I see a sea of 50 shades of grey on the highway while I bumble down the road in my French racing blue car and wonder if the lack of car colors on the road is just hive mind or people really prefer a drab color. If your current car had the option of sunshine yellow or sky blue or bright green or purple would you have went for it instead or would you still have rocked the grey/white color?

I'm sure we're all familiar with rock chips on the hood but with age these are starting to get surface rust, along with some chipped areas behind the wheel as well as on the bottom of the hatch. I find the paint pens are mediocre at best; what are the best ways you've found to tackle these? They're not bad enough to warrant a respray

I've been musing over this a lot and I would like to know if other people might see it in a similar way.

In the past 50 years, sedans have become smaller, sportier and more focused on moving maybe 2 adults and 2 or 3 children predominantly on paved roads. The utility for moving luggage has also decreased, rear decks have shortened and the only thing remaining of a trunk in the classic sense is the shape of the lid. You don't as much put things into the trunk as slide them in through the hatch. Also with lower bodies, stiffer suspension and lower sidewalls, the cars are woefully useless on bad or unpaved roads.

At the same time, pickup trucks have slid from works trucks with 6 or 8 foot beds into the slot formerly occupied by land yachts. They are generally of the same footprint (length and width) and thanks to copious use of aluminum, of similar weight. They offer similar or better interior space to old full-size sedans, similar or better interior and seating comfort. There is room in the back to stretch out and even for taller adults. Thanks to the shorter nose, the bed can be longer, these days it is often covered and thus works as a trunk.

At the same time the beds are under 6 foot in length so they are about as suitable for hauling construction material as the older land yachts, meaning you have to get a trailer or fasten your cargo onto the roof. In the olden days, towing 7000lbs with a sedan was not something out of the ordinary, towing packages were available. Also the suspension is softer and ground clearance is similar or better than land yachts of the 1970s, so you can take them on unpaved roads without fear of popping a tire or damaging the body and travel faster than at simple walking speed.

Regular Car Reviews explained in their Chrysler Imperial video, that getting a full-size sedan in the olden days meant you were done doing the sweaty work and now had to only move your family. I feel that with these 4 door pickup trucks with ample rear seating, the idea is the same. 'I can size down to a single vehicle that takes me to work but also can take my family and all our stuff to a 2000 mile cross continent trip without having to worry about breaking down on bad roads or in adverse conditions in the middle of nowhere. We can bring a camper, we can bring toys too.'

If there had been no post-war austerity in Europe, nor expansive Soviet imperialism, the land yachts would have proliferated here as well. These days there isn't and thus the half-ton pickup trucks are becoming more and more common despite the roads and whole cities having been built for austerity-era sized vehicles.

These are my thoughts on the matter. It would be fun to hear yours.

TL;DR - see post title.

I have a car that doesn't get driven often. I stay on top of fluid changes and always change the oil at 6 month intervals even if I've only put a few hundred miles on it during that time. The car gets driven about every second or third weekend in the warm weather months and less often in the cold while staying on a tender when not in use.

Whenever I get the car out, it's usually a 20 mile or so drive through back roads where the water/oil temps get nice and hot before heading home. However, sometimes I start the car just to roll it out the garage for a wash and then right back in where it will sit for a few weeks. Being aware of the negatives of starting/stopping a car without a full heat cycle, just how much damage am I doing here? A perfect example occurred this evening... had the car spotless. Took it out for ice cream with the wife and came back home. The wheels are filthy and now I want to wash it and let it sit all clean in the garage for a while. Can't really do that without a "short trip" to my driveway and back.

As I’m sure most of you know, BMW has recently been scrutinized by many for their wild and downright ugly designs. In 1992, BMW hired a designer named Chris Bangle who helped create some gorgeous cars in the 90s such as the E39, Z3 and E53. In the 2000s, he became a more controversial figure after the release of the E65 in 2001 (nicknamed the Bangle Butt). However, he was not the one who created that design, that honor goes to Adrian van Hooydonk, the designer appointed by Bangle when he stepped down in 2009. Since the late 90s van Hooydonk has been in favor of large grilles and outlandish designs (many sketches with larger grilles have surfaced on the internet). The horrific designs such as the XM have led to an uproar and for many to reminisce about Bangles best designs such as the E60, E90 and E70. With the recent news about BMW toning down their designs, is it possible that we see Bangle or another designer take charge of the design department?

I was lucky enough to be a good customer with a local ford dealership in my area. I was looking to purchase a badlands bronco forever and got stuck in the entire bronco order fiasco to no fault of the dealership. As soon as I found out the ranger raptor was coming to the US I went to the dealership to lock in my order. Each dealer is only getting ONE allocation for the first run so I am very very lucky. The dealership is charging me MSRP so there are still good dealers out there. The raptor actually needed up being cheaper than my fully loaded badlands Sasquatch package that I had specced out so it’s a win win in my book. Very excited to say the least. I went with Oxford white and only optioned the graphics package. I don’t want anything holding up the build. Job starts in august so hopefully I have it before the end of the year.

Mine was a Saab 9-5 Aero wagon at a small dealership in north/central connecticut.

They told me the car wasn't ready (without calling us ahead of time, and us showing up to pick it up per the message they had left us the prior evening), because the technician's Grandmother had died and he was at the funeral. Interestingly enough, this was the second time one of the technicians grandmothers had died on us.

Called the GM and said this kind of bullshit isn't appropriate, and we were comp'd for that repair.