Reliable model/make of car for my ds? He's buying his first car! (used)

[6packofun]

What cars would you look for if you needed a reliable used car?  Ds is SO nervous to spend such a huge chunk of money.  Any tips for him?  (I'm going to help him, but these tips would be for me, too!  We have not bought a car in years and years!)

[Pawz4me]

We haven't owned anything but Hondas since 1992, and the sole reason is their outstanding reliability.

[Ottakee]

have a mechanic you trust look it over for you.  My husband likes to buy older Cadillacs as they are most of the time owned by older adults who take very good care of them.....the few that aren't are pretty obvious.  Ideally you could buy from an older adult who takes wonderful care of their vehicles and doesnt' drive them hard.

 

Check insurance rates on various cars for a young male driver before buying.  Avoid things that are really sporty or flashy, etc.  The more "grandma" style car the better :-)

 

[kiana]

Ideally an old Volvo. They're very safe, stodgy vehicles and the ones I've had have been pretty reliable.

 

That being said, when I go looking for a used car, I set a price range and troll craigslist looking at *everything* that is a possibility. I have a family member who is a decent mechanic who will check them out for me once I've narrowed down the range to a few. 

[katilac]

We haven't owned anything but Hondas since 1992, and the sole reason is their outstanding reliability.

 

Yep, Hondas have outstanding reliability, and generally have long lives with lots of miles. 

[Random]

I love this website: http://www.carcomplaints.com/

It's an aggregate of real people's experiences with their vehicles. (We used this site and decided not to buy the car I really wanted, because people complained it required expensive special-sized tires.  That is not something I would've considered, unless I'd read about it on that site.)

 

Our course, you should look in to Kelly Blue Book's reliability ratings and Consumer Reports:

http://www.kbb.com/

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

 

And, my favorite guy on the internet, Clark Howard:

http://www.clarkhoward.com/usedcarguide

 

Have fun and take your time!  Do your research, and last of all make sure a mechanic you trust checks the vehicle thoroughly before you buy.

 

Best wishes!

 

[swimmermom3]

Our oldest two kids acquired cars last year. My dh decided to sell his 2001 Camry to our dd. He knew it was mechanically sound and that the expensive stuff (the timing belt) had been done. It is really important to know what major maintenance items need to happen to the car that you are looking at. Older Toyotas have the timing belts, Subaru Outbacks have something similar (can't remember what it is right now) and people will often sell used cars right before these necessary and expensive items are due to be replaced. The kids had put a few dinks in the car while learning to drive, so the car wasn't worth as much.

 

Initially, our oldest son was adamant that he have a big American car. We probably looked at and test drove about 20 cars. We had three checked out by our mechanic. :tongue_smilie: Instead of his dream "Crown Vic," the boy has a 1997 Toyota Camry. It was a one owner car with all of the service records. Yes, it's a bit of a "grandma" car, but with a 19 yo guy, this has been a good thing. Repairs can be a bit more than an American car, but on the whole, there are far fewer repairs.  My dh and ds initially brought a $1600 Ford Taurus with 180,000 miles on it to our mechanic's shop. The woman who owns the shop has been in the automotive repair business for 40 years and is a bit of a character. She looked at the car, slapped her forehead when the guys told her the mileage, and asked them, "What are you gentlemen thinking?"  That "clean, well-maintained" car needed $4500 worth of work to make it safe and reliable!

 

I looked at Craigslist every day and ran all of the license plates for DMV records. That was an interesting learning process.  Such as, the car that is advertised with 150,000 miles on it, but DMV shows consistent service records through 250,000 miles.  Many cars are sold as "clean" titles when they are anything but. 

 

Don't be in a hurry. By the time we found ds's car, I knew exactly what represented a good value for the car that he was looking at.

[kiana]

Yep, that's why my son has our old 1991 Volvo. His friends are amazed at how square, both literally and figuratively, it is. He thinks it looks like a car a spy would drive, back in the olden days. But it's solid as a tank, and we won't be so upset when he gets his first fender-bender.

Other than that, I'd look to Toyotas and Hondas.

 

Yeah. One of my friends accidentally backed into my 1996 Volvo in a parking lot. His bumper was destroyed, mine had a scratch.

 

(I would have felt bad if I'd backed into him, but since HE was the one who backed into MY car, and my car was undamaged, I could laugh). 

[Southern Ivy]

A Honda. All of my best cars were Hondas. 

[lllll]

..

[Happy]

My son drives a 1997 Honda Accord...it looks shabby, but runs GREAT. It needs a new battery every 18 months or so, but other than that, it's been a remarkably healthy car.

 

 

[FaithManor]

I am a firm believer that safety comes first and that doesn't mean large or heavy necessarily. A lot of big boat cars aren't all that safe because of design insufficiency or lack of air bags.

 

Toyotas are our favorites due to safety ratings, and anything with front airbags as well as side/curtain airbags is a better bet than older model cars. I tend to be a "you get what you pay for", and having recently survived a horrific car accident exclusively because of the engineering of my vehicle, I do not recommend anything that has low NTSB and insurance safety ratings, anything without airbags, and anything with a high roll over incidence.

[plansrme]

Not a Vclvo if you need air conditioning. We have owned three over the years, and the a/c was awful in every one of them even when it was working.

 

My 17 yo drives a 2001 Camry we bought from my grandmother's estate when it had about 50k miles on it. We paid half-way between retail and trade-in value and took it "as is." No cleaning, no new tires (original, 11 year old tires), no oil change. It sat for six months before we bought it. It has been a great car for us. The interior is an ugly color, but you would never guess, to look at it, that it is 14 years old. Camrys with low miles are much coveted, but this one was still only in the $5K range. (And my dad, one of her four kids, didn't make is pay his quarter, so we did get a 25% discount off of what we were going to pay.). Anyway, I really don't think you could go wrong with a Camry. My husband's Accord is newer but has had more issues.

[Jaz]

Toyota or Honda

[gardenmom5]

We're currently car shopping for 1ds first car. Toyota Corolla is first choice. -better mileage than the camry.

 

For make, we're toyota first then honda.

 

We just had a Honda Accord rental. We missed our Toyota camry and are glad to have it back.

[Susan C.]

Swimmermom said "..the boy has a 1997 Toyota Camry. It was a one owner car with all of the service records. Yes, it's a bit of a "grandma" car, but with a 19 yo guy, this has been a good thing.

 

I looked at Craigslist every day and ran all of the license plates for DMV records. That was an interesting learning process.  Such as, the car that is advertised with 150,000 miles on it, but DMV shows consistent service records through 250,000 miles.  Many cars are sold as "clean" titles ...."

 

 

 

My post (I think something went wrong when I reduced the quote...)

We also bought a 97 Camry for a 3rd car. We did have to put a couple thousand in it, but now it will probably run forever. Dd uses a 00 Camry. They are great cars to buy used, even if you initially have to put some money into them.

 

Swimmermom, how did you "run all the license plates for DMV records?"

[MEmama]

My car enthusiast DS says a 2002-2004 Honda Civic. High mileage but very reliable, very likely to still have another 100,000 miles on it. Should be able to get one around $5,000.

 

This kid has been offered a job at every car dealer around --I'd take his advice! :)

[regentrude]

I agree with the recommendation for Honda. Very reliable. The only problem is that they hold the value very well because of this and thus will be more expensive than a different make of same age.

 

We had good experience with Mazdas and recommend Mazda 3.