| A-Rod
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I'm going to be buying a car at the end of July. Trying to keep the price under $5500.
Key factors I'm seeking:
- Good gas mileage
- Reliability
- Under 100K miles
- Ease/cost effectiveness of repairs
- 97 or later [in most cases]
- Sedan [4 door]
Any tips/shared experiences would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to weigh in on my choices and list good alternatives.
THANKS IN ADVANCE! |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:22 pm |
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| oldpjams
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find a good lease. you won't be building equity, but you're going to be losing equity over a couple of years ownership of any of those choices too. any one of those would possibly be a money pit very quickly, and you shouldn't have to put a dime into a new VW or Honda for a couple of years.
e.g. a new Jetta lease is $209/mo with roughly $2500 in fees for 24mos. with $5500 you can cover the fees, have enough for a year's payments, and you should be secure and employed in 12mos ? you will have a reliable car. no worries. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:31 pm |
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| LegalBeagle
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| If you buy, buy Japanese. NO Ford or Chevy. Too unreliable. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:38 pm |
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| A-Rod
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i keep hearing that about domestic cars, LB ... if it's true, why do so many people drive them?!?!
jams, from what i've heard, leasing is only really a cost-effective option if you plan to turn the car in after the lease period is over. if you're going to continue making payments, apparently you lose less in interest if you buy the car and finance it. i did a bit of research on leasing a little while ago, and it was recommended for people who want/need a new car every 2-3 years.
also note that i am HORRIBLY averse to debt of any kind ... i hem and haw over tiny credit card bills because i don't like not paying cash for things. if i'm considering grad school in a year, i don't want to deal with lease payments, etc.
i also hear that jettas are ridiculously expensive to fix b/c they're german. if that wasn't the case, i'd be looking into an older BMW, mercedes, volvo, or VW. just sucks that only specific mechanics know how to fix them, and parts are a b*tch. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:43 pm |
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| oldpjams
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A-Rod wrote: i keep hearing that about domestic cars, LB ... if it's true, why do so many people drive them?!?!
jams, from what i've heard, leasing is only really a cost-effective option if you plan to turn the car in after the lease period is over. if you're going to continue making payments, apparently you lose less in interest if you buy the car and finance it. i did a bit of research on leasing a little while ago, and it was recommended for people who want/need a new car every 2-3 years.
i also hear that jettas are ridiculously expensive to fix b/c they're german. if that wasn't the case, i'd be looking into an older BMW, mercedes, volvo, or VW. just sucks that only specific mechanics know how to fix them, and parts are a b*tch.
i've had very good luck with VWs over the years. but i've also had good luck with mazda, honda, and toyota. i haven't put a dime into my Passat in 5 years. i agree that leases only work if you turn the car over at the end...which would not scare me if i was in your situation because a 10 year old car may well not be doing very well in 4-5 years anyway.
while the rates aren't as attractive on used cars, it's also worth considering buying a late model used car, thereby letting someone else get hit with the depreciation, and finance it. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:50 pm |
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| LegalBeagle
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VWs do have a GREAT warranty tho, so likely most stuff would be covered under that.
American cars are cheaper and most people want cheaper. If you are going to trade every 2 years, fine, you probably won't have problems, but if you keep it longer, they start sucking you dry for repairs.
Case in point. I bought a Toyota Highlander at the same time my Mother bought a Ford Escape. I've had exactly ZERO problems with mine (it's only been in the shop for oil changes every 3,000 miles, manufacturer recommended services, and for new tires/rotate/balance/alignment, that sort of thing. NOTHING has broken or needed repairing at all). My Mom, on the other hand, has had her stereo crap out and replaced, her AC has given her a lot of trouble, and she has had some other crap go wrong, as well. Her car looks older and more crappy than mine, too. Japanese cars are better built and way more reliable. My DH's big hobby is cars. He reads all these car mags all the time and devours things like consumer reports, etc. He would NEVER buy an American car. Go out and get a consumer reports magazine where they rank and rate the cars. It's eye opening. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:51 pm |
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| crk05
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I have to vote for the Nissan Altima myself. I have a 1999 model (which I have owned since it was new) and I LOVE it. It has 115,000 miles on it and I haven't had any major work done on it so far - knock on wood. :lol: Repairs and maintenance are generally inexpensive and I haven't actually had to take it to the dealer or any specialized garage for anything. It's nice and roomy on the inside, so comfortable for driving people around or going on a road trip. The gas mileage is fairly decent, put perhaps not the best on the list of cars you have. I get between 21-24 city and up to about 30 on the highway. It has been extremely reliable and I plan to run it into the ground, like my family has done with its previous Nissan cars (the last of which was a 240SX which my mother had for something like 200K miles)
Oh and on the Jetta front - my DH had one of those but unfortunately had pathetic luck with it. He had quite a few obscure problems by the time it had 100K miles on it, the final one being a fried computer (at 130K miles), which we ended up not replacing because the repair procedure would have been $2-3K. I do know a a few people who have VWs and like them, but quite a few others who have had strange electrical and other problems with them (e.g. for no apparent reason water started leaking into the interior of BIL's Jetta and it got all mildewy and it took them forever to track down where the problem was...) VW probably wouldn't be my car of choice.
Good luck! |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:54 pm |
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| InChristAlone
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| I would vote for a VW aswell. I can't tell ya why though.. I just love 'em. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:08 pm |
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| Sachinda
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I voted for Camry b/c my DH's family have a Camry with 100K+ (maybe even 150K+) miles on it and it just won't quit.
Overall, though I also think VWs are excellent cars. I'm on my second one now and they are amazing vehicles. I know of lots of people that had Jettas that lasted forever. The warranties are excellent and cover just about anything that goes wrong with the car. I always buy used and have gotten the cars either still under warranty or I paid for an extended and it has been well worth it. You can't beat German engineering |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:17 pm |
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| A-Rod
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| sachinda, all your repairs have been covered under warranty? if not, what have they cost you? |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:44 pm |
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| queeneaglebeviv
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| do not go with bmw, mercediesi had a mercedies (81) and no matter who we took it to no one could fix it they suggested us sending it back over seas to get it fixed. my mom had a bemer and once it died it cost millions to fix it she ended up selling it after dumping 6 grand into trying to get it fixed. my suggestion is to go for a car that you can look at the engine and change the oil, transmission and "fliuds" yourself you want a car thats' easy to "get into " under the hood. alot of these new cars have ti where you don't ever add transmission fluid. i'm not sure how i feel about that, it's all controled by computer, well we all know computers crash.so i' personally would go with a car that has the least "computer chips" in it. but thats my opinion. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:47 pm |
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| RedRox
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What no Hyundai's?? ;)
I voted for the Camry. Toyota builds really trouble free cars. (Although Hyundai was ahead of them, and behind only Porsche and Lexus, in this year's JD Power Initial Quality Survey!)
I too had great luck with my string of VW/Audi products. Rabbit GTI, Jetta GLI, and Audi 80. I got 230 K miles out of that Audi before I traded it in. But I also know others that have had a lot of problems. They don't score particularly well in the JD Power surveys.
And FWIW, every car in the world is largely run by microprocessors these days. You can't really get one that isn't without going back into the 80s. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:26 pm |
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| lorka150
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do you pronounce it high-un-dye or hun-day?
out of your choices, the focus is a really good vehicle. however, i am omitting kia from my choices because we aren't a very kia oriented area. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:34 pm |
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| peachypeach
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Camry or Honda Civic
Toyota Camry is my first choice
Toyota is very reliable, not too much gas either
Do not get americans cars unless brand new and u want to keep them for 2 years! |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:41 pm |
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| anneg1116
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crk05 wrote: I have to vote for the Nissan Altima myself. I have a 1999 model (which I have owned since it was new) and I LOVE it. It has 115,000 miles on it and I haven't had any major work done on it so far - knock on wood. :lol: Repairs and maintenance are generally inexpensive and I haven't actually had to take it to the dealer or any specialized garage for anything. It's nice and roomy on the inside, so comfortable for driving people around or going on a road trip. The gas mileage is fairly decent, put perhaps not the best on the list of cars you have. I get between 21-24 city and up to about 30 on the highway. It has been extremely reliable and I plan to run it into the ground.
My vote, based on experience, is also for the Nissan Altima. We had a '98 that we loved for the same reasons listed above. It had around 110,000 miles when we traded 2 years ago and it was a great car. Very few probs. Inexpensive to repair. Roomy. We now own a newer Volvo and the repair costs are completely ridiculous.
Had Neons as rentals & they sucked. Like riding in a tin can.
Good luck with your search. |
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Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:44 pm |
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