Ok, I've been doing a lot of traveling lately (currently sitting in Sacramento airport because my flight is delayed 3 hours). Figured I'd put together a list of cars I currently drove.

1. 2006 Ford Mustang convertible- I liked the exhaust note. It's the first RWD vehicle I've ever driven. Not sure if it's the RWD or the car itself, but I liked how it handled. I could really feel the road. It turned good, and had good power. The stereo was ok, but he interior sucked. The two hour car ride made my back hurt from the crappy interior styling. almost no back seat, and barely enough trunk space for 3 suitcases. Overall, not bad.

2. 2006 Ford 500- It's like driving a tank. It could go fast, but seemed like it took forever to get through the gears. Interior was just as bad as the mustang. Bad stereo. Ugly, boxy looking car to boot. I did not enjoy this.

3. 2006 Hyundai Sonata - I was surprised at this car. For a four banger, it accelerated pretty good. Extremely quiet. Great turning/braking (I found out by accident). Nice stereo. It was actually a pleasure to drive considering the underpowered engine. The interior felt nice compared to the Fords. But in the end, it's still a Hyundai. Decent "value" car though.

4. 2006 Ford Taurus - Best interior design of the Fords that I drove. It is a beast though with the worst acceleration of the fords I drove. Reminds me of my mom's Buick.

Well, if I ever get to Portland tonight, I'll see what car they give me. Probably another Taurus. I get stuck with those a lot.

You called the Ford 500 a tank, that's what the Vulcan engine in the Taurus is. They don't have a lot of power for a V6, but they will last. The V6 Duratecs in some have a bit more zip on par with a GP GT (tad over 200hp), but they're a pain to work on. You can tell the difference because the Vulcan in OHV and the Duratec is DOHC. Take a look under the hood the next time you get one.

My dad has a mustang, I hate driving it. It is so uncomfortable, I would never want to drive it long distances, too uncomforable and it is a ford.

Rook, I never bother to check under the hood. Usually I'm in too much of a hurry. But maybe next time.

I have no idea what kind of powertrains those vehicles have, so that is good to know. The Ford 500 just seemed like it had poor throttle response and a really bad turning radius. I guess I kind of expected that from a cheap Taurus, but expected more from the 500? I don't know. Just one novice car driver's thoughts.

I got to drive another Sonata on the way home last night. Got into it and it only had 5 miles on the odometer. I got to break it in real nice. Even my fiancee said it was a "nice little car". It may not have a lot of power, but I like the way it shifts. Makes it feel like it's going faster than it is. And, it's extremely quiet.

Only probably with Korean cars is part availabilty. Even for small things you'll typically have to special order if you need something fixed (and it will break eventually).

Yeah good point. The two Hyundais that I drove had odometer readings of 400 miles and 5 miles respectively. They might turn to crap after 30k miles, for all I know. And I'm sure you are correct about part availability as well.

It might turn to crap after 30K, but who cares?!?!?! You got to break it in! Its not your problem in 30K miles!!

Exactly!

FWIW I went to the Hyundai website and those cars have a 10yr/100k mile warranty on powertrain. 5 or 6 year warranty on everything else. So 30k miles is a bit early for it to all fall apart. Maybe more like 60k.

No they do fall apart that's why they have the warrentee. It's the only way to convince people to buy junk. Quite a few lending institutions won't even finance a few of the korean cars.

Really? I didn't know that.

My boss is really cheap so he bought a Kia. But he loves the thing. It's not a performance vehicle by any means, but aside from the normal preventative maintenance, he said it's been a great car with no repairs needed. I think it's 4-5 years old now.