Q:
I own a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville. It is my third Bonneville. They have all been great cars that drive well and I always have felt very safe and comfortable in them. I had my current one at the dealer yesterday and the service person commented that I probably have a few more years of good driving. Unfortunately, it is not being manufactured anymore. Are there any cars in the market that are comparable?
A:
I’ll hope, along with you, that you do get another few years from the Bonneville. And by then, there could be many additional possibilities for you to check out. Moreover, some of these may no longer exist. But at this moment, I’d suggest you think about Chrysler 300S, Nissan Maxima, Chevy Impala, Kia Cadenza, Ford Taurus and Hyundai Azera to start with. All are full-size sedans and they range in price from about $31,000 to about $36,000.
Q:
You wrote about the electric BMW, which is supposed to come out in 2014. What date?
A:
No word yet on exact date, but the company is saying late spring 2014 is when the $136,000 BMW i8 plug-in will make it to dealerships. It is, of course, the first plug-in from the company.
Q:
We’ve had two Honda Accords and are planning to buy our third next year. We’ve always liked, among other things, the fact that the fuel efficiency is pretty good. We’ve been hearing the 2014 is so much better — it gets 50 miles per gallon. But when we went to the Honda website the estimated mpg wasn’t even close. Is it the 2015 that will get 50 miles?
A:
You can get a 2014 Accord that gets an estimated 50 mpg, but it’s only the hybrid version of the Accord that will provide that number.
The conventional Accord for 2014 gets 27 city and 36 highway, and it costs about $22,000 for the Plain Jane model. The hybrid Accord in the same base version, which began showing up in dealerships late this fall, gets 50 miles city and 45 highway, and it runs about $30,000.
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