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looking for reasonable reliable car

nj pheonix

nj pheonix

Lunatic Member
As fate would have it my younger son just killed the second car in less than 3 months. No nobody was hurt. He won't be driving any more. Car got towed to shop this afternoon and guy there said it likely will be totalled. Now my older son still needs a car to get to work. Temporarily i have rental. I should get back a fair amount (I'm sure less than 10gs but closer to 10 than 5). So i have to come up with a dependable used car of somewhere in the 7-8g range. Criteria , dependable , reasonable gas mileage , (i'm thinking a small to mid sized sedan but if someone wants to make a case fro something else, i'll listen) What do you got?
 
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over here i would suggest a Peugeot . not sure if you get them there . or a Mercedes . then again japanese cars also seem pretty reliable too .
might be best if you choose one you like then research it .
its like my ford mondeo that is a 1996 has been very reliable for a good few years until recently . i can always get it running but takes some time . its just the fuel draining back to tank overnight .
 
I gave my oldest daughter a Mercedes 300 D as a first car. Built like a tank, run forever, great fuel economy (5 cyl, diesel), and too slow to get in trouble. A little more expensive to maintain, but so reliable it didn't need much. I'm sure the more modern versions have similar qualities.
 
Peugeot? Hah! That will get you from point A to point B...once...maybe.

Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla are best bets. My brother put 275,000 miles on a Corolla before it crapped out, and someone actually bought what was left if it!
 
i had a corolla given me years ago .. deal was i paid the road tax that was left over .. we called it road rent back then and needed it in the front window for the car to run .. or it was taken off you and crushed .
anyway that was a rough car but it never needed anything doing .. Japanese make good cars .
 
Honda Accord. Not as soul-less as a Camry, plentiful and reliable.

Off the radar a bit, Hyundai Sonata. Best warranty when new and pretty well appointed at their price point. One of my favorites when I rent for business travel. My oldest tried to kill a Hyundai Accent and the car is still going strong in spite of his best efforts.
 
The first car he killed was a camry 250k when he crashed it. It was drivable after but not worth fixing Body work twice book value. I was thinking a camry or a corolla. I did have a CRX si (an '86) i think it had 170k when i traded it in. I was leaning Honda/ Toyota
 
What kills me is my mother stopped driving (she's 80) and gave me her car for the kids to use. It was an '08 Malibu (pretty nicely equipped) but it had less than 10 k on it Probably less than 2 months ago. That's the car he killed. I'm going to try and replace it with something about the same age with 100k on it and spend money out of pocket. and have my insurance rates jump once again.
 
Ford Taurus - the guppy fish model. It gets good mileage, runs a long time, will haul a bunch of stuff and they are cheap.

You have kids involved, do not spend that money on ANYTHING they will be allowed to drive ... I totaled 7 cars before I was 21 street racing. (and, yes I bought them). This was back before they automatically impounded your car for even looking sideways. But your younger son has already shown you the future.

Buy beaters with brakes. Nothing else for them. They want flashy or fast, they can earn the $$ and buy it themselves ...
 
My younger son is a dumb ass and won't be driving any time soon. Wasn't racing or under the influence or even texting just careless and distracted. The older one is pretty safe. Funds aren't there for anything fancy. I would like to keep operating expenses down and know it will start every morning and stop when the brakes are pushed
 
A car that has a drive train with a little over 10,000 miles should be a parts car. If you find another '08 Malibu that needs a good drive train and interior for a couple hundred bucks. It's just a complete swap and a shop won't charge that much to swap out the engine and tranny. If it were my son he'd be swapping it out himself after he bought a junk Malibu that needed an engine. Boys take care of what they buy with their own money. Kids just don't take care of what you give them....not like how they take care of what they buy with their own money !
 
Parts and service, I'd go with American branded or Japanese, low miles and old enuff for significant depreciation.
 
Christian B said:
I gave my oldest daughter a Mercedes 300 D as a first car. Built like a tank, run forever, great fuel economy (5 cyl, diesel), and too slow to get in trouble. A little more expensive to maintain, but so reliable it didn't need much. I'm sure the more modern versions have similar qualities.
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My first car was was a 240d.. just the same except even slower. Made me a better driver as lane changes required a lot of sense about your environment. . Absolutely no speed. Solid car, think it was the first car to get crumple zones. Great recommendation if you want a car that won't get your son in trouble. I think they're really quite cheap though age may mean reliability issues. Mine had 300k on the clock before it gave up the ghost. Loved that car though, like an old comfy couch.
 
nj pheonix said:
As fate would have it my younger son just killed the second car in less than 3 months. No nobody was hurt. He won't be driving any more. Car got towed to shop this afternoon and guy there said it likely will be totalled. Now my older son still needs a car to get to work. Temporarily i have rental. I should get back a fair amount (I'm sure less than 10gs but closer to 10 than 5). So i have to come up with a dependable used car of somewhere in the 7-8g range. Criteria , dependable , reasonable gas mileage , (i'm thinking a small to mid sized sedan but if someone wants to make a case fro something else, i'll listen) What do you got?
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I see lots of them, all makes and models, in the work I do. Making a general statement, without hesitation I would say a Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry... Accord first, then the Camry. The Camry is like a reliable appliance, the Accord is just as reliable and, I believe, more carefully thought out with lots of convenience features from the console and door pockets to the key locked backseat pass though to the trunk.
 
Nissan Altima...owned 3 of them...the 2.5L or the 3.5L are solid, reliable and powerful. Very reasonably prices and maintain their value.
 
100K is nothing for a later model car, so I wouldn't let that scare me at all. Another vote for a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Another one to throw on the pile is Saturn--now out of production since the GM reorganization (bail-out), but very reliable cars as well--I got rid of one with over 200K on it and never had to do any major repairs beyond routine maintenance.
 
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