KuroNekko wrote:I've thought about this a lot so I am glad that you created a post on it. Despite my love for the car, my answer is no. It may come as a surprise to many, but here are my reasons. But before I get to them, I want to state that the Kizashi is an amazing car with awesome value and I have sung high praise of it in countless posts. I just want to reiterate that before continuing on so it's clear I have high regard of the car I drive.
The reasons I wouldn't buy again include numerous factors but the main one is technology. It's a car running on generation-old technology and the relatively low fuel economy is proof of it. While acceptable for the time it was on sale (especially closer to the MY2010 debut), it's quite poor by modern standards. In fact, there are V6-powered AWD CUVs that get nearly the same fuel economy as my FWD manual Kizashi. My buddy who drives a 2015 Subaru Legacy gets about 7 MPG better in both the city and hwy compared to my Kizashi. While I love my car, the drivetrain tech and fuel economy simply don't live up to current, and certainly future, standards.
Another is the orphan status and lack of parts, factory and aftermarket. Getting car-specific parts is harder and customization is nearly impossible now for the Kizashi. It's hard to even get mainstream mods like aftermarket suspension parts for this car. Also, as some members have experienced, even not-too-bad accidents have caused insurance companies to total the car due to the lack of parts to fix it. Another consideration is the warranty. In a matter of a few years, all of our cars will be out of the powertrain warranty. One of the appeals to buying a low mileage car is the warranty coverage just-in-case but this will no longer apply to future Kizashis years from now, regardless of mileage. 2013 is the last model year for the car in North America and the vast majority are earlier model year vehicles. In the past, I didn't care about warranties because the only cars I could afford were out of warranty and high mileage. Different story now that I'm no longer in college or fresh out of it.
Another reason is more personal preference, but the Kizashi is like many cars and makes AWD mutually exclusive to a manual transmission. I personally love both and greatly see the benefit of both. When a reputable company like Subaru offers drivetrains like turbo+manual+AWD (WRX) without being absurdly more expensive, it's hard to continually make sacrifices like the Kizashi powertrain dictates. Heck, you can even get AWD+manual in cars like the base Impreza or XV Crosstrek. Alternatively, modern muscle cars like the current Mustang and new Camaro offer 300 HP from their base V6 engines while returning comparable or better fuel efficiency than the Kizashi, even as manuals. Basically, there are just too many juicy cars offering appealing specs and features to return to the Kizashi as a next vehicle.
Another reason somewhat contradicts my last in terms of car preference, but I think it's time that available technology is applied in my future cars. At a time when electric powertrains are available at affordable prices, I feel like it's rather dim to ignore them until the distant future. I consider myself environmentally-conscious and I believe electricity is a simply cleaner and better way to propel a vehicle, even if partially. While many Americans are ignoring hybrids, EVs, PHEVs, and EREVs due to the current low gas prices ($2.00/gallon Regular as of this writing), I'm actually very interested in them. I'm a big fan of the Chevy Volt and am awaiting the US release of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Summer of 2016, so they say). While neither are performance-oriented cars, they greatly appeal to me in environmental impact, practicality, and operating costs. I could commute to work in one of these everyday and use absolutely no gas doing it. I could even charge for free at my work garage so it would literally cost me nothing to power the vehicle. The Outlander PHEV would do that while offering AWD, higher ground clearance, and a larger CUV body which goes in line with my other hobby; the outdoors like hiking and camping. While it's not like I'll get out of my Kizashi soon for one of these cars, they just appeal too much to seek another Kizashi after this one.
So basically, there are just too many reasons and alternative car choices in my mind to consider another Kizashi. I love this car, but my current one will be my last. I'll likely get something with AWD and 3 pedals or get a car that doesn't even rely much on a transmission powering the wheels. The future is quite exciting in terms of cars for me and the Kizashi is more like an amiable relic of the past.
(Sorry for the essay, but most of you are probably used to it by now.)
It saddens me to hear you say this as you've always been one of the biggest proponents of the Kizashi. But you are right--times have changed and the competition has too. The Kizashi is now an 'old' car by comparison.
WESHOOT2 wrote:FOR THE MONEY absolutely nothing comes close to a AWD GTS Kizashi.
IMNSHO, natch.
But because of the bang for buck factor, I'd get another, and another. Reliable--check, relatively modern--check, easy to maintain--check, CHEAP--check.
Someone picked up a fully running Kizashi for $4k. There's not many cars this nice that can be found for that kind of money.
sold)