What kind of car do we need! (Denver, Durango: renting, buying)

[CarmenSanDiego]

Automatic or Stick shift? The farthest west I've been is Nebraska and I remeber it being very hilly. Is Denver similar? Which type of car will work best with Denver's terrain? Thanks!

[TinajaCo]

Denver is actually on a large plateau, and as a result it's one of the flattest cities in the US. If you're planning on driving up into the mountains, that is one thing, but for driving around Denver you should have no problem with either manual or automatic.

[BusySocialWorker]

we had both while living in Denver with no problems.

[BabyBoomers2]

We have a 4-wheel drive Dodge Ram 1500 and a 4-wheel drive/All Wheel Drive Durango. We like both and won't have anything else. For our OWN
piece-of-mind, we like having the 4-wheel drive for during the winter months and durin the summer we use both vehicles to pull our 16' fishing/ski boat. There are a number of people that drive sports cars and 4-door sedan here, but we like what we have. It is definitely your choice, but for winter, we like what we have.

[Mike from back east]

Either one will do fine for the city and anywhere east of the city... it's way flat out east of the whole Front Range (I-25 corridor).

If you will be in town, with a lot of stop and go city driving, an auto tranny is a better choice...you can go crazy shifting up and down in city traffic... be it stoplight to stoplight or stop & go on the interstates at certain hours, as I've experienced lately on I-25 driving into Denver at 5PM for shows or events.

I've driven in San Francisco and that is one tough town for a stick shift, but there is nothing here like it.

It shouldn't matter for mountain driving on main highways, as there isn't any stop and go driving up there, just a downshift or upshift now and then.

If you take one trip per year to the high country, consider renting something for that trip... that's how I used to do it when I wanted a convertible... wait for a GREAT weekend weather forecast, then call Budget to reserve a ragtop... a lot cheaper than the "All American Way" of buying each and every toy we want, even for a rare occurance....

s/Mike

[2bindenver]

Denver drives junkers, clunkers and hummers...it's all good (as long as it passes emissions)

[McGowdog]

It snows quite a bit in Denver, so I'd recommend having at least front-wheel drive. FWD does great in the snow. If you've got a V-6, then an automatic would be fine. If you have a 4-cylinder economy car, you'll wish you have a 5-speed especially if you find yourself climbing Floyd Hill.

Hilly Nebraska, huh? That's interesting.

PS: You'll want AC for the summer months.

[TinajaCo]

I have a 4-cylinder Corolla that does fine in the city, even in the snow. Generally, the streets are cleared right away so snowpacked streets for extended lengths of time are very rare (although, my street is still snowpacked, but the Corolla still does fine). I don't think I would want to take it up Floyd Hill, though, and if you're planning to do much mountain driving I do recommend looking into FWD or AWD.

[BenWolfe]

When driving in the mountains a manual transmission is best so you can downshift instead of using the brakes. Most automatics have a limited ability to downshift, we like our Acura TL because us can use it in the full automatic mode around town or switch to a manual mode when we are in the mountains.

[scirocco22]

Subarus, anyone? ...I've heard that either Colorado or Washington are the most popular states for all-wheel drive Subarus. Well, I've heard Maine mentioned too. I suppose I could look up some statistics on that.

But do you see a lot of Subies in Colorado?

--'rocco