Had a 78 Rabbit (bulletproof) 85 GTI (Excellent) 87 Golf GTI 16V (excellent) and a 94 Jetta (excellent). Never owned the Toyota. Seems the VW need a little extra care, but if memory serves correctly a few of the Toyota's had some issues as well.

Heck, keep the Toyota and have a little fun with the VW

A brother-n-law has a 2002 TDI Golf, 5-sp, does all his own maintenance and loves it. So much for the "early ones" were crummy. His wife drives a 2004 Passat and with the exception of headlight issues this has been a great car as well.

Both have over 100,000 (reasonably) trouble free miles. Maybe not as wonderful as a Toyota but still good cars.

Exceptions to every rule exist, but these have been pretty good cars.

.02

Karl
88 Targa

My wife likes a sporty car. These Lexus IS 250s are luxurious, Toyota reliable, and sporty. A litte pricey as a 2010 with low mileage runs just under $30K:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1325294326.jpg

I just went through this sort of thing with my wife. Her car is an '02 Camry. I recently put new tires on it, replaced the pads & rotors, had an alignment done about 6 months ago & had it painted earlier this year (she thought it looked "dowdy"). It has 124K miles on it, & I was surprised to find out that is considered low mileage. I thought about keeping it for a driver since it looks & drives like a new car, but priced them in my area and found out a poor one goes for maybe $6K and a good one goes for $8K+, so it's worth selling especially since we don't need it. Like yours, she wanted something sort of sporty & said Lexus several times. Now I don't believe in paying maybe 10 grand extra for a name, so we went to test drive about 10 cars. She finally settled on a new Nissan Altima Coupe with the V6 and most of the electrical wizardry except the tech package with the navigation. She has that on her smart phone of course. Anyway, I successfully steered her away from a Lexus & got her to choose a car similarly reliable and fun for $8K to $10K less. She loves the car.

The Altima is a nice car. I just used one for a couple of weeks as a rental and was very impressed with it. That said, I don't know if the OP will convince his wife it is much sportier than her current Camry, only that it is newer and different. The one thing I like about the Lexus is that even aftert many years, if cared for, they look and drive like new and that there are few options. You pay a bit more, but almost everything is included. If you want a really loaded car, sometimes you spend more bringing a lesser car up to the level you want than buying the more expensive one (leather, heated seats,nav, upgraded stereo, etc)...especially when you consider resale value. If one likes their Toyota, moving up from a Camry to a Lexus seems natural as they drive very much the same, levers in the same place etc. BTW, I didn't buy my wife the Lexus in the photo above. She decided she was "happy with her 2001 for a few more years." I expect that I will eventually...but maybe not since she doesn't drive as much now because of our recent move and we usually carpool with me driving.

[QUOTE=fintstone;6463655]My wife likes a sporty car. These Lexus IS 250s are luxurious, Toyota reliable, and sporty. QUOTE]

I had a white SC400 that was everything you describe...a fantastic car, but certainly not a "real" sports car despite the SC designation. I sold it to my g/f (made her an offer she couldn't refuse) at the time, and when I saw her recently it still looks great. Please don't take offense Fint, but your wife must be short? My ex-g/f was 5'3" but she sat taller in the seat than that :)

I have considered...
 

the Lexus is250. It is a natural to go from a Camry and I agree they do come loaded. Heated seats are a must and this car I believe is shorter than the Camry. Whether it is more fun than a Jetta I do not know. We will have to try it out. I do not want to influence my wife this time. She has to decide which car is the most suitable and the most fun. However I think that VW make their cars fun to drive. I rented a VW Jetta a few years ago and was impressed by their handling. However if you load up a Jetta with heated seats, auto trans., it comes up to big bucks.

Be careful with that logic, if you let her buy an unreliable POS guess who will get blamed?;) Jetta vs Camry isn't that big of a difference anyway, it's not like she was looking at a Porsche and you steered her to a Toyota. In a sad bit of irony the new VW sedans have been "Americanized" to make them more like the mainstream Camry and Accord. They're bigger, cheaper, have cheaper suspensions underneath, softer, and much less German. Buy her a Lexus or Infiniti, you get Germanic build quality and sportiness with Japanese reliability.

[QUOTE=KC911;6464259] It seems that most ladies are pretty happy with a sporty car that is a better performer than the average sedan...but really are unwilling to drive a car with a more spartan interior or stiff suspension. Mine taught me to drive a stick and got me interested in German cars...but doesn't drive any of my 911s...except to help me put it on a trailer.

Very astute, my friend. Yep...I like em short. She was 5'0 when I married her almost 36 years ago...and there has been a little shrinkage since then. I'm not to awfully big myself (by today's standards)..so we are a good match. Sort of the physique that you see on young Asian women. She is just my style and has kept herself looking young enough for people to accuse me of being a cradle robber. Definitely a keeper.

I vote for the Lexus...as long as service is nearby.

Have you maybe considered a Mercedes SLK? Not a brand new one, but one about 4-5 years old is in your price range. They are solidly built cars, not too stiff, the are all automatics, should be quicker than the lexus, lots of features, definitely not a spartan interior...

And looks way batter than the Lexus IMO. And, if I were buying it, I would know that it's not a totted up Toyota, that it's actually a car with some mild pedigree.

I'd just let her pick her own cars. That's the recipe for all of the wives in my family and it's worked out well so far.

FWIW, my Mom is on her 3rd VW in a row. All bought new and kept a few years. No problems that have ever gotten back to me.

Toyota Camry is the best-selling car in the US if not mistaken, which proves that most people do not value "sportiness" very high on their list of vehicle requirements. One of my sisters has one, I'd rather walk than drive that everyday.

I helped my sister in law find a used car, she decided that she just had to have a Saab 9-3 so I helped with the search against my better judgement. Despite finding her a nice one that car was an incredible PITA and cost her a lot of money. Sometimes those of us that know cars have to help look out for the ignorant.;)

2009 jetta with 60k trouble free miles. Looked at Accords, Camarys and Altimas...the VW drives soo much better than the others....much more"sporty" for the type of cars were talking about.

Although my SC400 was an 8, the 6 cyl versions used the same motor as my "totted up stock Supra Turbo" that I bought new back in '87...easily faster and more capable than my 911 (for an average drive for sure). I know some have gotten near non-functional 1000 hp out of those motors. I do prefer my lightened and "well set up" 911 over both however :).

No worse than those of us that drive "totted up" Volkswagens (Porsches), I guess.

+∞

Even though I hate it, I sat back and let my wife pick out her car: a Mazda 5. I personally feel it's the worst POS on the road today, but you'll never hear me say that within earshot of her--she likes it and is happy.

Remember: if Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy.

No one ever dies saying"I wish I'd owned a Camry"

That may be true, but a buddy unloaded his wife's VW as soon as the warranty expired (after one issue after another). His running joke that he liked to say: Know what "Passat" means in english? ...."schit" :). I will say this about a Lexus...forget the stealership...find an independent for servicing imo.