Posted on 01/13/2016 4:44:36 AM PST by AbolishCSEU
Bought a 2007 Subaru Forester 5K cash, 150K miles earlier this year against my better judgement--hubs was insistent it was reliable. They USED to be reliable. I had an 88 Justy that you couldn't kill. BTW I live in upstate NY with its harsh winters.
Seems they now have major engine problems. Something I've found out the hard way.
Any recommendations on a new car?
One of my co-workers bought a CX-5 recently. It’s a nice looking car and has that Mazda zippy feel. I was looking at that as well when I got my Sportage.
Don’t know how it goes in the snow yet (we just had our first real snow yesterday).
Car request for NY state.....KerPing!
I’m on my 3rd subaru outback. My daughter has the second and has 184,000 miles on it. I’m stuck on them
Yep! Buy used. Avis-Budget or Hertz used car sales. The 2014s are a tremendous value. 40,000 to 50,000 miles. 5,000$s below the 2015s. Kia and Hyundai are the most affordable.
We've got a Hyundai Santa Fe now with 3.5 liter and full time 4WD. Not great mpg, but handles very nicely in snow and ice and excellent for smaller cargo transport. Our mechanic has warned us to look out for undercarriage rust after 100 k miles but so far after 120 k of Ohio winter salt we've not had any problems.
I have owned enough new cars now to be leery of outright owning any of them. I like the lease option so I always have a warrantied vehicle and I can give that sucker back to them before the salt has a chance to rust it out. I got burned real bad by a dodge ram 1500 4x4 that developed horrible rust and maintenance issues. never again.
Dont buy a GM or Ford product. Your money goes STRAIGHT to the UAW then to Democrats. If you need a truck, buy a Tundra. SUV? 4 Runner or Sequoia if you can swing it. Excellent product, made in capitalist Texas or Japan. Starve the unions and the democrats.
Massive UAW. No go for me. Even though I LOVE THE RAPTOR!
I live in a similar environment
Recent experience: VW Diesel besides the diesel issues with the EPA a remarkably poorly engineered car. First German car and I was surprised. If I had to do it over I would have gotten another Mazda or Toyota. Mazdas are underrated IMHO
Xterra Nissan thought Nissans and Toyotas were interchangeable with quality, not so, Nissan was not as well made or durable.
Mazda Mpv I owned their before the model redo all wheel drive. Great car, had to remove engine to do anything to it.
SaaB Good car looked like vacuum cleaner reliable and slowly fell apart
Toyota Tercel. Kept on running way beyond its expiration date.
Ford Ranger Wonderful inexpensive trailer with an engine. Workhorse and just the right size, I think they are much bigger now
Good luck
Hondas and Toyota are great and I’d never buy a new on. 2-3 years old is what I look for.
I’ve always owned Fords. Never had a problem. Current ride is a 2004 Escape all wheel drive and I love it.
Me also. My 9 year old Toyota Corolla is acquiring some rust spots at 120K miles. Some things are missing like a hub cap and light cover - lost while going to plow snow - hitting snow plow banks in road or spinning out into snow banks; otherwise still runs good with nearly 40 mpg/70mph.
There are a Ford, Chevy, and Toyota dealers within half a mile but nothing else out to 35 miles from where I live.
Would rather lease than plunk down a wad of cash for new. Used - I don’t want someone else’s problems.
There’s a Honda dealer with $0 due at lease signing about 40 miles away. However, most leases are for 12K miles a year which would more than use up the miles to and from work.
Can’t see the sense in driving 80 miles round trip to get the car serviced at the dealer, when I can buy local - however, all of them want 2k or more at lease signing with the standard 12K millage.
The sales people at the local Toyota dealer seem indifferent - while waiting for car to be serviced twice I had to sit in the showroom area - only once in an hour did one salesman make eye contact, and one even said a curt hello on his way elsewhere - mind you there was only one customer with another salesman. This despite the fact that I was sitting alone at a table for 4 with a promotional brochure open in front of me.
Apparently, the new way of getting there attention is to ask via email for their best deal, before negotiation or trade in. I went to True Car and as a result one of those 35-mile-away Toyota dealers is sending me email at least once a day asking for my business.
Not sure what path to pursue yet.
We just traded in our 2008 Jeep Liberty for a KIA Sedona. We needed the extra seats for long trips to grandson’s Dr in St. Louis. Pa to St Louis is a long trip. I miss my Jeep Liberty something awful!!! Great in the winter, and we never had much to complain about, gas-wise. The Sedona is a 2015 used vehicle. We never buy new. It’s been great on long trips. Fantastic gas mileage. Easy to drive. However, it’s front wheel drive. We had our first snow yesterday and it did some slipping and sliding. The jeep would have handled it better. Also, our car insurance nearly doubled!!! Mr and Mr S have excellent driving records too. Oh, and I agree with those saying DON’T BUY NEW!
Make that “ME” and Mr S not Mr. and Mr S. That goes against our religion! :-))
Buy a [make and model of the car I bought], they are [superlative here]. Mine has [various mileage count here] miles. [so I am validated for buying it].
Or:
Watch out for [make and model of the car I bought]. They all have [problem I am experiencing] issues. [This is how I am going to stick it to the manufacturer of the car I bought]
Or:
Don’t buy a new car. Buy a used car. I bought a [X < 2016] and it’s been incredibly reliable. [Please validate the purchasing strategy I use]
In all seriousness, there’s a ton of VERY subjective qualities that go into finding the car for you. Certainly there are models to steer clear of, but once you narrow down your choices across a few makes and models, I would recommend using Truecar.com to see what an appropriate price should be. Pay attention to trim levels so it’s an apple to apple comparison.
Some things to consider, especially if you’re planning to keep your purchase a long time (5+ years):
- What do replacement tires cost (use tirerack.com to find this)
- Does the engine require premium fuel?
- How much is insurance per year on it?
- Is there free scheduled maintenance and how long does this last?
- And of course, how long is the full warranty and optionally, how long is the power train warranty?
- Don’t purchase dealer add-ons, as they are huge profit centers for the dealer.
We have a 2014 KiaOptima. You get a lot for your buck. Could use a few more horses and then you have winters upstate.
DON’T buy American! As much as I want our economy stimulated, Fords today are not made like Fords yesterday. They have all cheap components in them.
And since the Govt takeover of GM, their cars have been a disaster. Look at the problems they were having with faulty ignition switches!!! That only scratches the surface.
And as a reminder, any Chrysler product (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, etc.), is NOT American. Italian company Fiat bought them.
If you want mechanical reliability and dependability, go with either Honda or Toyota. If you treat them right, you could easily get 250K miles out of them.
I agree. I’ll never buy another GM or Chrysler/Dodge.
Toyota
Amen!!!
I bought a 2013 Camry from Hertz with 13k on it two years ago. The price was slightly below low book.
I took it to the Toyota dealer to have it checked out. The service writer told me that Hertz does a good job of taking care of their vehicles.
I just had the 40k service done. Still no issues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.