Cool, good luck to ya, hopefully it all works out!
Yeah we are looking at cars. So far what we've driven are:
-2012 Fusion (2.5 4cyl and v6)
-2013 Fusion (1.6T and 2.0T
-2012 Optima (2.5 and 2.0T)
-2011 Malibu (2.4 and v6)
We've also sat in but didn't drive:
-2013 Mazda 6
-2012 Mercury Milan
-2012 Ford Tauras
-2012 Hyundai Sonata
This is for Katy, so it all depends what she likes in the end. She feels like she needs more power than the basic 4cyl tend to offer for whatever reason, so all of the non-turbo 4cyl are not an option.
So far her favorite have been the 2013 Fusions (1.6T and 2.0T). Pretty much nothing she didn't like about it. And I agree, they are friggin nice. And she doesn't care too much about fancy stuff. All she cares is she wants a spoiler, and leather would be nice but not a deal breaker. It would appear we could get something like that with the 1.6T for around $23-25k right now (even less if you get the basic 2.5 but she doesn't like that).
2012 Fusions, we looked at those brand new ones that Luther had that you told us about. She likes them because when she drives them it feels like her current car, so she feels right at home, yet are still a different enough of a car that she feels it's something new. However all they had were 4cyl and she wants more power. Plus once she sat in a 2013 I think she forgot all about 2012's, lol.
For the Optima, she didn't like the visibility out of the windows for whatever reason, and since she only liked the 2.0T models, 1-2 year old ones with low miles were still over 20K which is pretty much what a brand new 2013 Fusion 1.6T would cost. So we scratched it off the list.
Malibu she didn't like visibility out the windows, scratched off the list.
Mazda 6 she felt is was too much like her current 2004 Mazda 6, scratched off the list.
Tauras is too big, scratched off the list.
Hyundai Sontata, she liked the interior we just didn't find a 2.0T to drive so that one is still an option if we can find a 2.0T to drive. I like these as we could probably find a 2 year old one with low miles for under 20k (and I personally am not a huge fan of buying brand new).
We are still probably a couple months out yet though. Even considering waiting for the 2014 Fusions to hit the lots so we can scoop up a 2013 as they are liquidating them to make room for 2014's.
Haven't driven the Suzuki, but if they are only 4cyl (no turbo) I can already picture what she's going to say about the power.
Oh and she really wants to drive one of the new Dart's. I told her they are smaller like a civic which she said she doesn't want, but she still wants to drive one because she thinks the commercials are cool
