Looking for some advice on car purchase

Hi all,

It's about that time to go an purchase a car for myself and I haven't done this before. I have not kept up with latest brands/models and I also do not know a lot about them. A lot of features is nice, but I mainly just want one that has leather seats, large tires, nice headlights, and is fun to drive. Does anyone know if there is a vehicle that would fit this criteria? Also, my budget is $35k.

Just wanted to ask you all to see some different options.

Is this really your criteria? you are going to need a lot of help...

I know right? He needs to forget about those leather seats and focus on getting 4" screens on the inside of his bumpers.

Large tires as in a Suv/ jeep or just big rims ?

Your criteria pretty much narrows it down to every motor vehicle released in the last ten years.

You should probably start by figuring out what size / general type of car you want.

As in, compact, midsize, SUV, (mini)van, etc. Do you have a lot of driving experience / what did you drive before? What will you be using your car for?

If you've got time for it, try and test drive some cars to see what you really like, since it would really suck to buy a car that you just don't like the "driving feel" of.

Those features are found on any car nowadays. Of an owner of a slightly uses VW Rabbit, VW offers the quality and features that any modern car should have, at a reasonable price. Holds value as well when you decide to sell. Or a Subaru. Nobody complains about a Subaru.

Like what others here have said, you should narrow it down to some specific category or categories. If your focus is fuel economy, you might want to look at compact or midsize sedans--or hybrid models, if your state gives you tax kickbacks for the environment. Safety and fuel economy, and perhaps space will likely be your top priorities, since you shouldn't really be getting a "fun" car--convertibles and sports cars--as your first car.

You can buy a lot of car for 35k, so I'd advise checking out ConsumerReports' car buying guide, or the Car/SUV/Truck of the Year Awards Issue of Car and Driver (I think they have a top 10), Motor Trend, and maybe Road and Track. It isn't the most exciting way of buying a car--seeing something you love at a dealership and buying it--but I promise it will save a lot of time and headaches when that spur of the moment car turns out to be a mistake.

Personally, my first car would probably be a Honda Fit or Mazda 2--safe, economical, fun (with a stick, but that's more of a personal consideration), cheap and spacious. My first car was a Toyota Camry, which was nice, but my friend has a Fit, and many funtimes were had in that little hatchback.

Go manual transmission (if you know how) and go Honda Civic. I've owned a '90 Geo Prism 4dr sedan, a '94 Saturn 4dr sedan, a '98 Honda Civic 4dr sedan and currently a 2012 Toyota Corolla 4dr sedan. The Civic beats them all in gas, performance, power & handling. That little bugger would fly past folks in autos going up steep hills, forced in 3rd, with a foot of snow on the roads. That's with no seasonals or snow tires. My Corolla wishes it could get places in a few inches of snow with seasonals on all four tires. All cars mentioned are manual.