dcn@ihuxl.UUCP (10/12/83)
After a long and disappointing search for a compact car to replace my mother's Jetta, we decided on a Quantum. Several other cars were examined, but they all fell short of our requirements. Basically, they were: 1) Equivalent performance, economy of Jetta or better 2) More room (5 passenger) 3) Air Conditioning, Automatic transmission 4) Cost < $10,000 after trade in for Jetta I suggested the following cars: Pontiac 6000 STE, Nissan Stanza, Mazda 626, Toyota Camry, VW Quantun, Audi 4000, and Saab 900. The Saab was disqualified since there are no Saab dealers where my mother lives (I own a Saab Turbo). The others were eliminated for the following reasons: Pontiac 6000 STE: high price Nissan Stanza: back seat cramped & mediocre handling Mazda 626: poor performance with auto & room in back Toyota Camry: family sedan handling & space in back Audi 4000: high price & a little slow with auto The Quantum was also overpriced, but we got a good deal in Indianapolis when the first 1984 models arrived. The base price is 13,400 and the list price on our car was 14,400 (including stipes, rustproofing, etc). Add 520 for tax and less 4300 for the Jetta comes to 10,620. The special deal was 1000 discount (and a little extra haggling) which reduced the price difference to 9500. It's not a fantastic deal, but it's not bad. I know some of the other cars cost much less, but our requirements were fairly rigid. I haven't seen the car yet, but it comes with a load of standard equipment like a fancy radio, power windows, cruise control, and a few other gadgets. Dave Newkirk, ihnp4!ihuxl!dcn