u/RoGStonewall

My wife finally got her license so she can finally get her own car. She has some strict requirements and changes her mind a lot so it's made finding something hard.

1. It has to be below 12k.

2. It has to 'look good' - yes this is vague

3. It has to be a little bit luxury

4. No Evs, Nissan or Honda (yeah I don't know)

5. It must be small enough to park easy

I have my own addition to hers in that I have to also try to find her a car that won't choke and die since she only really has to drive 8 minutes to work and her short trips will kill the car.

I tried looking at Buicks in my area but there are slim pickings for her price point.

Let me start by saying I'm a newer dad and my pre-family car was a ford fusion hybrid. It served me well but obviously the limitations were very obvious once I had to lug around child stuff. Anyhow I always envied my dad's trucks (currently has an F-150) but I'm not one of those people who does enough truck stuff to justify having a big truck and a big price tag let alone the fact that I still need a daily of some kind.

The wife is only just learning how to drive so it was up to me to do all driving chores, taking her to work, picking up groceries, lugging what could actually fit (or forced to fit), getting myself to work and if it wasn't for the car being a hybrid the gas would have definitely cut into our monthly.

My fusion got wrecked earlier this year and, after doing some research, learned the Maverick is essentially an evolved Ford Fusion. You're telling me I can get a small truck that gets great mileage, drives like a fusion with a higher seating position, is reasonably comfortable (xlt), a versatile little truck bed and doesn't break the bank? I was sold instantly and haven't regretted it.

Right now this truck has let me do truck stuff that, for a regular guy, does tend to pop up - pick up mulch and plants for the wife, carry dirty strollers and such, curb treasure - while also parking easily, being super easy to clean, driving smoothly and safely to work, and not break the bank while doing this. Best of all the wife likes it to since it's easier to get into that the f150 and far cheaper to fill up. For perspective buyers, the truck is 'enough' of everything a regular guy needs.

The algo suggested some slate post and I had a rabbit hole dive of the subreddit. It’s praise across the board and the mere mention of an alternative like a maverick has the person melted.

If your computer can handle it without exploding, putting the max amount of enemies evolves the game into a grueling but satisfying management game.

For starters don’t start with these settings right away - change it when you have a good squad going.

In a normal game your city gets to the point where you amass way too many resources and you’re just bloated with raw material and no need for a lot of supplies. Well if you crank that up you’ll find yourself needing a lot of material and money flowing in and out.

The need for manpower is real. I needed to recruit waves of fighting squaddies, find ways to equip them, feed them and care of them. My city needs actually felt stretched as guards would get wounded and even die and would have to be replaced and rotated, food and medicine was always thin and repairs constantly needed. I actually benefitted from hiring parties of mercenaries just for bulk fighters and making allies helped when the UC would send 200+ fighters at my doorstep

Adventuring was also brutal and I’d have to escort the main squad with specialized fighters just in case things got messy and I’d build outposts everywhere to store all food and medicine they can’t drag back and fill it with beds to recover from all the brutal fights.

My city was composed of the following groups.

Laborers - self explanatory but they still received enough training to be in combat 30s so they can at least beat up animals

Crafters - self explanatory too - I had 3 armorers, 3 weapon smiths, 1 gunsmith, 2 engineers and 1 chemist.

Medical team - 2 full time doctors and a group of 3 characters who would run in and rescue people. During downtime they also repaired things.

Beast slayers - soldiers decked out in all the gear with bonuses towards killing beasts. They are very crucial at the start and cost effective.

Gunners - they wielded muskets (mod) which had high damage but massive reload. Decked out in pure mobility gear they were vital for thinning enemies but also dealing with the extremely dangerous modded fauna.

Gate Guards - armed with cleavers and the heaviest armor, they just stood at the gates and were the first line of defense against the enemy. Cleavers are a very all rounder weapon so they could handle most things and eventually churning out supplies for them became so streamlined.

Army - I made them train in every stat possible in order to be able to actively handle every threat offensively and defensively. Their stats were often in the 55-60 range. They were well equipped, medium armored and supplied. Taking 35 super trained troops to fish man island with hundreds of fishmen spawning was epic. They’d escort the adventurers and help in base assaults.

The most epic moment for me was during an assault by the holy nation the map showed 5 groups of enemies making their way to my base. It was easily 300+ soldiers and I figured even with the gate guards and the army not being pushovers it wouldn’t be enough so I recruited all the immediate mercenaries around me and led them to the base. I received reinforcements from the hounds and shek and they arrived just as the holy nation amassed during their monologue. There was open fighting across the entire grid. Limbs were lost, some troopers died as healing was stretched and medical was swarmed. I won of course but damn it felt like true genuine threat.

I went to 4 dealerships (each ford) to just get a maverick. The sales guys at the start just get me in and do the paperwork and explain things to me and I get hopeful about the car, then the finance people come in and start their bullshit. The first 3 dealers had finance guys so aggressive I flat out left. Is allowing the finance people a chance to throw junk into the deal a mandatory thing? Hell the first one even told me I shouldn’t call my wife to discuss things with her.

The 4th dealership had a much less pushy finance guy who just left me alone after I stood my ground and we were able to actually make the sale there. The sales guy there even mentioned how he hates that add on stuff because it scares people away.

Long story short I am buying a ford and friends were like ‘don’t get a ford dude you’ll be fixing that every week’ - their expectations for ford are a decade old of course. I aware ford had a lot of lawsuits and junk parts but my 2018+ seems better I think? Ironically three of the friends have Nissans…

Found a decent used car for a lower market price. Turns out it’s likely because dealer paid that price and hopes to make more money with stupid dealer junk.

Aside from that some security system they insist they can’t take out, they have dmv paperwork but then plates, a copy for the said paperwork fee, charging for smog test but then charging for the proof of it as separate, a cancellation fee for the contact that I can’t remove. All in all they added 2800 to the deal.

The dude has the audacity to say ‘the payments are low though’ but of course they had set it to 72 months as if I wouldn’t notice.

I told them to remove all the junk and give me at max a 2 year since the car is well maintained but old (2015). They said no dice so I walked

Long story short I went to look at a ford cmax and it was pretty good but was ‘warned’ it had a commercial background by my mechanic friend - though he hasn’t come to see it yet - but that it’s not ‘that bad’ of a life.

I’ve seen rental stickers, corporate, etc - so now I wonder which ones are kind of bad to outright red flags for life of a car

Long story short, my ford Fusion got hit by some teens and I just got a call that it's probably going to be totaled. Needless to say I just committed to paying off the wife car so budgeting for yet another one is a bit killer.

I'm a 'car is a toaster' kind of person so I have no qualms about what I drive as long as the job is done and I don't cry at the mechanic. I'm going to look at a Ford C-Max hybrid tomorrow but I worry it will be sold before insurance writes the check.

Anyhow, I'd rather not break the bank right now so I'm looking at retired models that depreciated hard. I've seen some here mentioned like the Yaris and Avalon so I'm looking out for a few of those but more options is always nice -preferably fuel sippers.

Long story short - opposing driver took an unsecure left turn and I swerved to try to avoid but we collided. Thankfully this means the damage was largely superficial though still (rudimentary estimate) 4000-4500. They are likely to be found at fault.

The person doing the estimate told me it will take 1-2 weeks for my car to be returned to me but once I told them the other person's insurance was Aspire he recoiled and said "sorry bro those dudes drag their feet and it can take months. We have a guy here in the same situation and he's about to hit 3 months."

Note - apparently the other driver has had that insurance for less than 2 weeks and this makes it even worse.

Long story short I was trying to find a new (new to me) car and was browsing dealerships. My last car had died unceremoniously some time ago so I went awhile without one. Anyhow, on a whim I visit a dealership with the wife while out on some lunch. We browse a Tiguan, a Fit, usual family cars and there was a cooper countryman I really liked and wanted to get. The dealer was very real with me and told me the cooper would be hell to maintain and was clear about the initial buy in being 'cheap' but keeping it would be costly.

He introduced me to 4 fusions their dealership got in an auction as a group buy. I wasn't feeling it because it was a sedan and it was bigger than I'd ideally like. I tried a 2016 and a 2018 and I felt it was 'alright' but the wife insisted it was a good car for us because it did its job and it didn't cost that much - it was 10.5k for a 2018 hybrid with 94k miles. The dealer told me that fusions are incredible cars that seem radioactive to some people because they carry the FORD name but it helps him (them) do business because they cater to certain price points.

Now the test drive was 'alright' but actually driving it as my daily + everything quickly changed it all for me. It's such a smooth ride, it's comfortable to just sit and decompress during breaks and after work. The wife loves it, the kid loves it, my wallet loves it. I feel it sits right in the best place for someone like me who values efficiency but can appreciate some reasonable luxury.

Now as my friend's cars, especially their many sad sentras, are hitting the grave I've been getting some of them into fusions of their own. It is wild how such genuinely great cars can be found for such good prices and they seemingly fly under the radar.