So I'm quitting my job Monday.

"Wacko" (wacko--) 11/03/2018 at 00:11 • Filed to: None

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After over 8 years at my current job, Monday I am going in to work to quit my job.

The funny thing is I have been on vacation the past 3 weeks, and my next two are paid paternity leave.

Thursday I got phone call, and I was offered a job. Better salary, better advantages. But I have to drive one hour to get there and one to get back. 200km (125miles) daily of northern Canadian rural highways.

So since I may at times do 1000kms per week we decided that my wife is getting the pathfinder. She knows I hate her 2011 Elantra and it’s time for it to leave or lives.

Yadda-Yadda-Yadda

Wacko is officially now car shopping.

Went and test drove the the 2016 Manual base WRX with my wife and our 5 month old son. And well as I expected I would love to DD to work. But the with the prices of gas here, i have to include more reasonable awd manuals to the mix.

I’m searching autotrader.ca for used awd manual cars in Quebec and well no so surprise here it’s mostly WRXs and STI.

But stumbled on a 2014 manual Impreza 5 door with 55000 Kms with leather/gps sunroof for 12000. That’s less than half the price of the 2016 WRX I tried, and has better mpgs .

Fun or responsible car decision for me to make. Well at least i’m officially not working the next 2-3 weeks I have time to decide. All I k now for sure right now is

Bye-bye Elantra, I will not be sad to see you leave.

AM3R, lost another burner > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:25

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A fun car for commuting makes the drive much more enjoyable! 

Wacko > AM3R, lost another burner 11/03/2018 at 00:28

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But more money in the bank keeps the wife more enjoyable.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:30

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moon your boss on the way out too

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:37

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Grats on the job!

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:40

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The Impreza is a soulless car, get the WRX and just hyper mile it.

dogisbadob > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:46

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What is your budget?

There are some cool cars you get that we don’t get down here. Also, in Canada, you can get the Elantra GT hatchback with a panoramic sunroof and a manual transmission for about $22k Canadian. Down here, the sunroof requires the automatic transmission and on top of that costs $6000, making the total price $27k US. Also, Canada gets an extra color (orange) that we don’t get in the US.

There’s also the Mazda 5 and Kia Rondo, both available with the stick. There’s also the Chevy Orlando. I’m not sure about AWD availability.

And of course, does it have to be AWD? Quebec requires you to use winter tires anyway.

CB > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 00:56

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SX4 or bust.

Wacko > dogisbadob 11/03/2018 at 01:02

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I drove mostly manual fwds only for 15 years then in 2010 bought a 6 speed awd sx4. crashed it in 2015 and then replaced it with a 2014 pathfinder( growing family)

All that to say I miss my manuals, and want awd since it makes winter driving so much bearable. And yes winter tires are needed by law.

The volt should of been a Orlando or at least had  volt version with optional awd.

Wacko > CB 11/03/2018 at 01:03

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Had one before the pathfinder.

godwinaustin > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 01:20

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The Impreza is ultra boring ... life is short, get  something fun, not something less boring than the Elantra. 

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 01:23

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Congrats on the new jorb!

CompactLuxuryFan > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 02:30

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Sounds like you need an AWD turbo Kei car. Plenty to choose from since you have time to import. Something like this:

Svend > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 05:39

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Congratulations on the new job.

The Elantra or as it’s called over here, the i30 is a very boring car. Had one as a rental a couple of years ago or so.

It wasn’t big or small, fast or slow, it was just boring.

BJ > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 07:19

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Congrats! Just a couple of suggestions...

Used: Golf Sportwagen or Golf R

New: Genesis G70

Under_Score > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 07:35

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Me: Hmm, used manual AWD cars. There’s bound to be something in there!

*Looks*

*Just Evo’s and STI’s*

However, there’s a hidden player.

  https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/748751401/overview?aff=share_other

shop-teacher > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 08:22

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Congrats on the job!

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 08:38

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There regular Impreza does very well on gas mileage. My wife has a 15 sedan. Also the CVT is not too bad. I for the most part like it. Road noise is a little much but maybe that's me. We are looking into putting sound deadening in it.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 08:39

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A Golf Sportwagen would be a bit less soulless than a base Impreza, and a nicer place to be. 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 09:02

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What about a 335d xdrive  e90. You’ll have to give up a manual, but more power and 35mpg Highway. Plus diesel is cheaper than premium for the WRX.

There is the thing about BMW maintenance but honestly I’d put BMW and Subaru on the same level for reliability

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > pip bip - choose Corrour 11/03/2018 at 09:04

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Oh yes it’s always good to burn bridges

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 09:11

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Congrats on the new job! And good for you for still w anting a manual fun car for such a long commute. I would just give up and get a Lexus ES hybrid or something and get something fun for the weekends instead.

Anyway, how about a manual e90 328i xdrive? I believe you could even get a wagon. Won’t be as reliable as an impre a but won’t be soul sucking as well.

What about used Golf alltrack/ sportwagen?

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 09:43

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my thought? Cheaper Impreza. You save money for your family, keeps the wife happy, and they’re not bad cars. And if you really don’t like it’s already taken the depreciation hit so you could sell it very little loss, unlike if you got the newer WRX and then didn’t want the tremendous gas bills with it.

Wacko > Svend 11/03/2018 at 09:55

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Gonna be something for you to clean when you move to canada for the legal weed....

Wacko > dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford 11/03/2018 at 09:59

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I am stuck between the 2

But having more power than my pathfinder in an imprezza is very, very tempting. And so id having more money in my account.

My heart says wrx, but my wallet is saying impreza wagon.

If they still made wrx wagons i think it would be sitting in my yard right now

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 10:07

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Now I know around town the gas mileage will be pretty different between the two, but on the commute they might be pretty similar.

What about an A3/A4?

Congrats on the job!

brianbrannon > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 10:10

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AWD is wasted on an underpowered car. 

Svend > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 10:12

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Nah, weed isn’t for me. Smoked it for a few weeks when I was at school. Didn’t do nothing for me, not interested in it.

If I wanted any, I’d just go to Holland. Lol. 

Wacko > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 11/03/2018 at 10:45

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I wanted an a4 but being a vag product it scares me when it will break

Wacko > brianbrannon 11/03/2018 at 10:45

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Not in snow

Shift24 > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 11:12

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Man I’m not a fan of Subaru lately. There isn’t a hard line on when the head gasket issues stopped (anywhere from 2012 to 2014). And on non H6 or WRX/STi they have oil consumption issues. Have to be careful of STis because they don’t use forged pistons, so stock to light mod ok, anything more not ok.

May I present you a couple other AWD options

One is TL SH-AWD, can be had in a manual and is part of one of the most reliable engine series, Honda’s J-series.

Next Toyota’s M atrix XR AWD. H ard to find but it’s a Toyota and a hatch back

dogisbadob > Wacko 11/03/2018 at 17:06

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You know, I actually forgot about the SX4 even though I remembered the Kizashi (but the Kizashi only offered AWD with the automatic) :(

Spanfeller is a twat > Wacko 11/05/2018 at 14:01

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Buy a used Tesla. 

Wacko > Spanfeller is a twat 11/05/2018 at 14:19

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I don’t trust electric cars here with our at times -40 winters and 200kms of travel,  to get to and from work.  

Spanfeller is a twat > Wacko 11/05/2018 at 14:22

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Where do you get -40 winters? 

Wacko > Spanfeller is a twat 11/05/2018 at 14:30

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Here, in north western Quebec.

We get a few -40 days during our winters.

Winter 2013 we had at least 5 days during the winter that it was -45c

Not always that cold of course, normal winter temps are about -20c to -30c

School is cancelled for the kids at -35c(too hard on the busses)

This is my yard right now

Spanfeller is a twat > Wacko 11/05/2018 at 14:33

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Yeah, a battery would probably suffer at such low temperature. 

brianbrannon > Wacko 12/23/2018 at 19:30

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AWD is wasted in an underpowered car except for the ten times a year you drive in snow and get beat by 2WD cars on snow tires  

Wacko > brianbrannon 12/24/2018 at 12:47

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I live in northern Quebec, we had snow on the ground since end of October, and it stays till mid April. Snow tires are obligatory here on any car or truck.

Sure the highways are mostly asphalt even in winter, but the city streets here are snow and ice all winter. So no and is not wasted here on an underpowered car. Most winters I have to plow  my driveway every other day.