Yup, my Saturn has done pissed me off enough that I am ready to get a new vehicle. I am bagging any project/performance vehicles as my first priority is to find a reliable daily commuter. I am looking at newer vehicles with a pricetag of under $10K with under 70K miles (keep in mind I live out west where things are more spread out). I WILL NOT be buying a domestic vehicle, nor will I be buying a Mazda. I don't care what anyone says.

I have been looking at the following:

Honda Civic
Nissan Altima
Nissan Maxima
Nissan Sentra
Subaru Impreza
Toyota Camry
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Solaris

The most promising things that I seem to be able to find on a regular basis are late model Nissan Sentras with low mileage. I even managed to find an '03 SE-R Spec V with 63K miles in my area and it is within my price range. I am sorely tempted but I will play it cool while I explore all of my options.

Anyways, beyond the guidelines that I have suggested above, does anyone have any other recommendations?

id say a civic. they last, well, forever. over 250,000 miles. if you get one that has been maintained. oil changed regularly, tires rotated, etc. etc .etc. plus they have good gas mileage, and have some quickness stock.

Nissans are pretty good as well.
My 1989 240SX went 211,000 miles before the engine threw a rod.
Soon after replacing the engine. . . the tranny sprung a leak though.
Car still runs (if you refill the tranny fluid every few days).

211,000 miles is quite a lot more than many newer cars will ever reach. You definitely won't see very many daewoos getting that mileage.

I'd go with an Altima. I rented a 2006 Altima a few weeks ago and it felt pretty good.

Off your list those are the only ones I'd consider.
And the Sentra is questionable to me. To me It's
1. Civic
2. Camry
3. Maxima
5. Sentra

Aside from that I'd consider newer Hyudai Elantras. They're not as glamorous, but if you look at reviews and ratings the Hyundais are now right there. They're far more reliable than you'd think, but you can still find them cheaper and theregore maybe newer and with less miles in your price range. Other than that I've seen very good reviews on the newer Grand Prix. And I'd also say Mazda 3. (Not a rotary.... ALOT different) But you don't want to hear that

Accord/Prelude if you find a decent deal, tho theyd prob be more expensive than similar Civics

The one Caveat to my list is this. I hlped my ex buy her Camry. (Nice car for the money) We looked at the list I listed roughly. ALOT of Civics have been driven by HS kids and abused. FAR too many. And you need to be careful with them, that they havent been being driven by "boy racers" & fucked em up.

Yup, that is why I have almost ruled out Honda. As soon as I see all of the listings for "Tricked Out" or Altezza Lights my idiot alarm/car beat to shit alarm goes off. As for the Hyundai I know they have been getting better reviews as of late but I am very weary of them considering the company's history. The other problem is that the primary Hyundai dealer has a bunch of greasy slimeballs working for them. So I would really prefer to avoid them at all costs. The thing that concerns me about the Mazda 3s is that Mazdas are notorious for electrical problems. Keep in mind I am looking for a vehicle to last here. Are there any longevity studies on the Mazda 3s? Anyways, the only reason why I am seriously considering the Sentra is that they seem to be the most common vehicle that meets my criteria in my area and that SE-R Spec V is damn tempting. Something about 175HP with 180lbs of torque paired with a 6 speed just makes me feel good all over.

for what its worth, my 12 year old nissan has done 160000 miles, its never had any major mechanical problems (aside from the usual, oil filter, new clutch etc etc) and i drive it fairly hard.

So yeah, nissans are pretty reliable.

got a '95 civic with only 88,000 miles. just turned over 88 thousand the other day. not any major mechanical problems. new water pump and thats about it. needs tires and new struts. but the tires are way over due and those are original struts. you can get a good one if you find one that has been taken care of.

Yeah, but finding one in my price range with under 70K miles is proving to be difficult. That and sifting through all of the kiddies who beat theirs to crap is difficult to say the least.

thats very true. good luck on finding the car you are looking for.

Hmm, also found a 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS with just over 60K for $8600 and the owner is moving and needs to get rid of it fast.

well I have a soft side for subaru's especially I think that model 2.5RS

I say get it, but that would be more on the fun side rather then the dependable side. Subarus arent bad but they dont compare to camrys or civics in the long run

i don't know.. that boxer design does fairly well. had a subby in my shop not to long ago that had over 600k on the clock, original engine. have seen quite a few of them that were well on their way to 300k as well

they're pretty nice cars, and if i had the occasion to i'd definately snag one up

SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Took a look at the SE-R Spec V today and it looks like they will need to replace the struts and do an alignment to it. In addition it looks like the SE-R engines have a very bizarre defect. The Power Valve Screws in the upper intake are too small to handle the job and can sheer off go straight into the piston and destroy the whole engine. Good news is that this defect is relatively cheap and easy to fix and once it is done the motor is solid. Either way, the dealer actually told me that they don't feel comfortable selling me this car given these issues and since they are a "No Haggle" dealership they couldn't do anything for me on the price. Sucks too since this is the first car on my list that I have tested that I actually enjoy driving. Punchy and Powerful as hell for what it is. Every gear has balls (even 5th and 6th gear have some guts). Who knows maybe I will get lucky and they will drop the price on it if it doesn't sell for a while. I will be looking at the Impreza sometime in the next week. Car shopping is damn frustrating.

They will all "haggle" the price if you push them enough. I got the Dodge dealer to come down $12,000, toss on the tires I wanted, and install the $1,300 factory NAV unit. Its all about making them think you will walk away. But than, this was a $50,000 truck and not a $8,000 ricer either...

Speaking of such things, whats up with all the ricers? Since domestics are out, why not look to the east? Buy German. They will out last any thing the Japanese will ever build. Plenty of Jettas out there. Quick, handle great, and better on fuel than the ricers too. Get a diesel VW and run BioDiesel in it, you can make it for like 90¢ per-gallon.

Uh yeah, and you are smoking what? The late model VWs have been plagued with problems. Had a co-worker that had an '05 Passat that was purchased brand new and it had a major electical malfunction within 6 months after it was purchased. About the only VWs that I have heard decent things about (as far as the late models go) are the Golfs. In addition, I don't care what vehicle you purchase or how reliable it is supposed to be, sooner or later they all need parts, and the german vehicles have parts which are horribly expensive (at least in my area anyways). I came very close to purchasing a Saab with low miles but after reading reviews on that particular model and discovering the number of complaints about expensive parts, I backed off. Bottom line is that a Toyota Camry will last just as long as the best made European care provided you take care of it. Even though the SE-R is damn tempting and alot of fun to drive, I have been leaning more towards a corolla or camry simply because they are very durable vehicles if you give them a little TLC.

wow.. you again?

when was the last time you saw a german-made car with over 300k? uhm.. never? get off your domestic fan-boy japanese-hater kick and be realistic... the japanese make the longest lasting cars out there.. it's called evolving technology, just accept it and move on.

I've worked in an auto shop for a while. I have seen at least 5 Mercedes go over 300K. This thread is starting to turn ito a war. So heres my input on what car you should get. European cars are nice, they handle well, and dependability varies from brand to brand. My girlfriend right now has a Volvo, and I love driving the thing. Parts are a bit more than your usual car. But at the same time its only been minor stuff. The thing is built like a tank. Although the one thing I would be extremely concerned about in European cars is the wiring/electronics. Its THE WORST system ever set up.

As far as your imports go. I like subarus but they are a pain with the boxer engines. Accords are slightly more expensive than a civic, but I think its deffinatly worth the money. Toyotas are pretty good in my mind as well. I am still super weary of the Hyundi brand. Not enough consistent improvement for my liking.

Just shop around and keep an eye peeled. Don't jump on the first thing you see. I shopped for about 2 months before I decided to get my girlfriend her car. Its a very good idea to bring the car into a shop and get the thing checked over very thouroughly. Might cost you a few bucks but its worth the piece of mind. Good luck!

EDIT: Grammer

Fuck all the VW fan boyism. I've yet to see a reliable VW. And i know plenty of people with em. It's like a cult of guys with under powered cars with all the "quirks". Cant run these plugs. Need this coolant. Wiring wont last 100k. Ummm yeah.....

BTW, I thought they stopped selling Diesel V-Dubs in the states. Seems like a coworker wanted one and they said they were discontinued.


Sorry to be overly argumentative. I'm like that sometimes. But be wary of partsd costs on any car you consider. Some of the reliable European rides cost a small fortune to repair when something does go wrong. There's enough in my family that Ive seen how stupid expensive some trivial part can be.

Sorry, wasn't trying to turn this into a flame war. It just irritates me that RMS2001 keeps trying to make everyone believe that domestic 4x4s and European cars are the only cars worth buying regardless of what the person is looking for. To say nothing of the fact that he keeps writing off all Japanese vehicles as "ricers."



Yup, every vehicle I look at buying goes through a two stage screening process before I even make an offer. 1. Vin number run with Carfax. 2. My Mechanic goes over the car with a fine tooth comb.

My conclusions are about the same as yours. I haven't given up on that Silver SE-R Spec V, but I'm not set on it either. I am looking at a 2000 Toyota Celica GT right now with 68K miles, it is only $6K so I need to find out some more info on it, there is also an '01 Camry I am looking at.

Best policy to use right there. A decent mechanic can save you from buying something youll regret.

i think he has some kind of message board filter or something.. turns things like

...i'm looking for a reliable car with decent gas mileage, something that will last for years without any major issues...

into...

... i'm looking for an short-lived clunker who will cost me a fortune in either gas or minor repairs/upkeep. i also enjoy only being able to hang onto these cars for a couple years max before the repair/upkeep costs have far exceeded the original purchase price of the vehicle..


i'm not sure where one would obtain such a filter, but i suppose you can find anything on google nowadays..

Yup I am pretty damn picky about the vehicle history as well. Anything that has been through more than a fender bender (even if it has been completely repaired) is automatically deleted from my list as is ANY vehicle that has been to an auto auction. Been to several of those and most of them are simply outlets for dealer junk (stuff that they couldn't sell on the lots).

CURSE MY ROTTEN FUCKING LUCK!!!!!!!!!!! Found a 1995 Toyota Avalon yesterday, one owner, never been auctioned or wrecked, clean title. Get this, UNDER 60K MILES!!!!!!! Asking price of $8K and I FUCKING MISSED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SOLD BY THE TIME I CALLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have seen many Benz, BMWs and VWs go 300k + miles. I have also seen many Toyotas do the same as well. I’m not saying Toyota doesn’t build a great engine, b/c they do, They don’t build a good CAR. Their engines will run for ever while the car is falling apart.

I can go out and find bad reviews about any car makes and model. The same gos for the good. One bad review about Saab, one good review about the Camry, and bam, you pick Toyota. I bet I could probably go out and find some one who’s pissed up with their car sounding like a glorified sowing machines too.

I dunno. I have only owned two Japanese imports. Both Toyotas more or less. A 2004 Tundra with a 4.7L V8. This truck was al right. Not the greatest, and not what I wanted, but I gave it a shot. Every thing about this truck felt cheap, expect the engine. The engine pushed the truck around nicely, and did a decent job of pulling a trailer. The other was a 1998 Lexus LS400. It’s a Lexus need I say more?

Never the less, I don’t think I will ever bring my self to buy another Japanese import until they stop making cheap cars. But thats what they do… build cheap economy through away cars. You buy a Camry to trade it in, in a few years. You buy a Benz to last ten years.

Given enough TLC, any care will last while. But most people don’t care about the drive they drive, they just drive it. And from what I’ve noticed, this is mostly Toyota and Nissan drivers. They buy the car and with in a few years its beat to hell, exhaust leaks and it burns more oil than gas. Ya, I see it with domestic cars too, but more so with cheap ass imports.

Hate me fine, I don’t care. But until the Japanese get off their ass, and can show my a REAL truck that can pull 20,000lbs all day long and put 300k on the clock, I’m staying with Dodge from now on. Maybe if they also came out with cars they didn’t start to fall a part I’d reconsider them.

Any car will last forever if it's taken care of. My dad has a tbird that's pushing 400,000 km (248 500mi)

honda toyota are notorious for lasting a long time, but don't forget about repairs. Because civics and camerys are everywhere, repairs won't be as bad as a prelude, or a supra/celica.

You gotta look at whats on the road. Civics are the best selling car for a reason.

I got a chevy Cavalier its pretty gangster. You should buy one never had any problems with it looks very similar to this...



same exact model/look except mine is black not silver. I can get it up to 90-95mph on da freeway.

cavalier doesnt equal gangsta. however, a '85 cutless supreme on 24's does.

One bad review? Try 7-8 bad reviews in a row complaining about how expensive parts were. Not to mention my mechanic giving me a look of horror whenever I mentioned a European car and the first words out of their mouths were comments on how expensive parts were for those cars. Once again man, your experiences contradict everything that I (and most of the other people here and elsewhere) have seen. As has been mentioned above, every Mercedes that I have seen will run for quite a while but they are plagued with all sorts of problems that are horribly expensive to fix (notorious for electical problems among other things). My ex's step father bought a Mercedes and it spent more time in the shop than her mom's oldsmobile Achieva (which isn't saying much since the Achieva isn't a very well built car). On the other hand my brother has a '93 Corolla with well over 200K miles and the maintenance on it has been nominal (he bought it brand new for about $8-$9K and still owns it), very little required outside of routine maintenance. I also had a buddy in college that had a BMW coupe (I believe it was the 318) and he spent all sorts of time working on it. He replaced it with a '92 Eagle Talon TSI and spent about the same amount of time working on it (and money invested) but got a hell of alot more performance out of it. That isn't saying much since the Eagle Talon (Mitsubishi Eclipse) are notorious for high maintenance. As for your experience with imports, you keep going on about how they "feel" cheap instead of how they "were" cheap. Your argument might have more credibility if you could describe how both vehicles were peices of crap and you had to go overboard with maintenance on them. As for people holding on to European cars versus selling them and not so with the Japanese imports? I find that argument pretty weak, because in all of the areas I have lived in, there tend to be about an equal percentage who get rid of their Japanese Imports as European imports. Of course this is all proportionate since more people can afford Japanese vehicles to begin with, hence the reason I mentioned percentage.

I dont know about you guys but i like nice looking cars, fast cars, and fairly cheap cars. When it comes down to it, i say fuck gas, fuck reliability, and fuck this ricers, domestic fan shit. Buy yourself a nice car like a civic si, mustang gt, camaro ss, wrx, or whatever floats your boat, and keep it fairly stock except for "speed" mods and enjoy your life. a car is a car and always expect something to go wrong because it always will. If you dont feel that way take the bus.

Granted, the European parts are more expensive than others since they are just made better. They have to pay in Germany real money and not just a bowl of rice to get them to work. And I can point out a half dozen cars that have had electrical problems, including the Japanese imports.

Funny how you should bring up the Talon. My sister had a Plymouth Laser (1994 if I remember right) and its the exact same car as the Eagle Talon. I always called them the Japanese- Chryslers LOL. ZERO problems until it was rear ended by some dumb highschool punk in his Civic with a NOS sticker on the back window and a fart pipe under the car…

Okay, so you caught me. I guess I’m still looking at the Japanese like were 20 years ago, cheap crap. They have greatly improved over the years in every thing. To me, they still are not up to par with even the low end American cars. Every Japanese import I have driven (excluding the Lexus) have felt cheap in the way they build them.

The steering is sloppy and dose not fell tight.
They are underpowered, unless you feel the need to own a boost whore like the Supra or some thing.
They look goofy. Like some one came along and kicked them in the nose. Not all, but most of the current models at least.
And my biggest beef is most are front wheel drive. You talk about a car thats a bitch to work on? Try to do some thing as simple as changing the belt on one.

I’d rather have my big noisy rear wheel drive diesel truck than a simple little car. And that’s another thing, if a Japanese import hits my truck, you lose. I drive away while your car is loaded onto a rollback. You get hit with my truck (it weighs in at 7,500lbs) and you’re not going any place. And it still pulls 23MPG…


If I were to own any Japanese import, it would probably by a Mitsubishi. And the only reason that is since Mitsubishi is owned by DaimlerChrysler and I own stock in said company. This is why I also own a Dodge RAM and a Jeep.

Ah the truth comes out. Just trying to boost stock.

rms2001, i cannot even figure out where to begin

I am not sure if you are even making a point with the Plymouth Laser, it was a japanese car, more specifically a DSM (Diamond Star Motors). You see a billion of those things around today.

Good argument with if you hit a small 4 door sedan with your truck you are going to win. I mean shit maybe i should be driving a semi cab just to make sure I always win.

There are a wide variety of japanese cars, as you said one exception is lexus. If you want a cheap car you can get one, and well sometimes on cheap cars they also look cheap. If you want a fast car you can get one, if you want a nice quality car you can get one. But if you want quality I cant see why you would go with domestic, all of their interiors suck hardcore.

Okay, now I have really gone off the deep end. I have started looking at some late model V6 mustangs as everything else keeps falling though and they are easy to find. I plan on test driving one today to see if I can handle having a 6 cylinder engine in a mustang (of course I would prefer a V-8 but they are difficult to find in my price range and meet my criteria). Anyone had any experiences with say a 2000 or 2001 V6 Mustang?

me experiences with v6 mustangs can be summed in two words... poopy caca

and here's a couple quick reasons why..


v8 equipped mustangs are fairly fun (just cuz they've got enough power to put her sideways) but the v6 is a very anemic-feeling engine. can't tell you how many i walked in my 1.6L crx..

last one i drove suffered from horrendous understeer, had to constantly blip throttle in the twisties to help even it out. if it was a sharp turn, had to rail the brake pretty hard to get the front end to dip enough for the tires to bite. even then, it was a pretty scary ride..

also, don't plan on having many friends with you as the back seat is crap unless the people in the front seat are under 5' tall..

trunk opening is awful, made loading/unloading larger items a pain in the ass..

it's a ford..



i drove a v8 mustang for about 6 months.. definately not my favorite car, but i did manage to have a bit of fun with it. after getting rid of it, i drove a buddy's v6 while my next car was getting some work done to it. i almost would've rather ridden the bus.




edit.. there's a reason those mustangs are easy to find

Hmm, I test drove one today and it wasn't bad. I just kept telling myself not to expect a V-8. It certainly was a hell of alot better than the Corolla that I just drove before it. I did make sure to test a 5 speed manual, I won't touch an automatic in the V-6 line.

well i'm sure it was better than a corolla, that kinda goes without saying..

i guess the real question is whether you want a practical car, or a fun'ish one.. daily life with the mustang was kinda crap.. at least IMHO

Unfortunately I want both. Honestly my ideal would be a V-6 Camry/ES 300 or a Maxima. However finding those that meet my criteria is proving to be quite tough.

To bad you’re not looking for a Jeep. I just picked up my new diesel powered Grand Cherokee. Overland Model, 4x4 nav, and its so sweet. Ohhh. Now I’m just wanting for my lift to get here, than new tires will go on and it will look so good.

Any way, my 2004 Overland is yous for 25k. Four inch lift, 32” tires, rock sliders, skid plates, roof rack with four KC Day Liters, CB Radio, ported heads, light weight pistons, underdrive pulley, AMSOil since new and AMSOil in the diffs, t-case, and tranny. K&N FIPK, 4” exhaust from the Y-Pipe with a high flow car sound cat and flowmaster 70s series muffler. RB1 nav factory head unit and the compleat JL audio system. If not I think I have it sold locally. Just a thought.










Sorry to hijack, I just thought I'd offer.

Lower the price by about 20K and I might think about it.

Okay, now I have found a pretty decent '95 Z-28 Camaro in my area. Not the best on gas I know and it is an Automatic, but it only has 73,000 original miles and everything checks out at carfax. I will definitely be going out and looking at this thing in a couple of days.

LOL no way. 25k is what KBB put the value at and the guy looking at it is thinking on my price of 30k. Theres more than 5k in mods / add ones there. Even a few I forgot to list, like the front ARB bumper, Warn 9.5 winch, ARB air locker in the front diff, and an Aussie locker in the rear. Front and rear Addco anti-sway bars, and probably other things I'm missing at the moment. I have to off-set the price of that new black beast some how.



Good luck with the Camaro. Did that year some with the muti-port EFI?

95 is thge LT-1 engine, so yes.

As for mods they do't add to the book value of the ride. Meaning it's very hard to recoup on money put into a ride like that. It's is a very nice looking ride tho. As is the new one. Frankly, IMO, the newer jeeps don't look quite as nice. I can't put my finger on what it is I'm not a fan of, but something about them makes them look "soft" to me. But it certainly looks like it has a very nice interior. I'm kind of blah on those rims. I don't know. As long as you enjoy it, it really doesn't matter one bit what I or anyone else thinks tho. So congrats on a new ride.

I was just citing what I would actually pay for a Jeep.

Ya I know. The stealership was only offering me $1,000 above the book for it. I laughed and said the tires cost more than that. If I don’t sell it I’ll just keep it as a trail rig. Its paid off now so not like I’d be paying for a vehicle that I’m not driving. I mite steal the rack & lights and put it on the new Jeep. Maybe the winch too, if they ever make a winch bumper for the new Jeeps.

The new Jeeps to me are little funky. I’ve been trying to get a diesel powered Jeep for the past few years, and when they told me last year that the Grand Cherokee would finally be getting a diesel, I put my order in right there and than. I was about to buy a diesel powered Liberty at the time, but decided to wait for this. This model still looks a little off to me, but I still like it. They look 10x better once they have some air and rubber under them. Heres a Jeep I saw when was in Colorado that was lifted.




Ya, the rims will be changed here shortly too. I’m thinking of the either the Rogue Graphite rims that came on the 2004 Freedom Edition Grand Cherokees (IMAGE ONE). Or maybe the Hulk rims some of the 2007 Wranglers are rolling around on (IMAGE TWO). I don’t want to go that cheap steel look some Jeeps are rolling with. I’m leaning more to the Rogue Graphite rims since I can get them for nothing from a friend (he put those steel rims on his LOL). Will be wrapping the rims with BFG A/T tires of corse. Maybe keep a set of rums for off roading with the BFG M/Ts.

For some odd reason they are starting to look like the accursed H2 and H3 vehicles. Or is it just me?

No, no, you have that backwards. The Hummers are starting to look more like Jeeps.

I dunno. Either way, it gives me the willies. Every time I see an H2 or H3 I see a soccer mom driving one and I want to start shooting one.

i agree 100% ... not digging the new bodies at all because of that

I guess I have to agree with you in some aspects. I’m not a huge fan of what Jeep as done in the past few years. Every since they dropped the Cherokee, things have seem to going down hill. Than they redeem them selves, than screw it all up again. The new four door JK (that’s an 07+ Wrangler for those who don’t speak Jeep) are really funky to me. No place for a four door Wrangler IMO. And don’t even get my started on the Compass or the Patriot thing.

At least the Wrangler is still a Wrangler pretty much a Wrangler in all respects. The new model has all ready proven it self very capable off road by setting the highest altitude drive down in Chili. As well as a few other offroad things going on.

you have to agree because they have actually been sued for concept designs bearing trademarked aspects of hummers (grill specifically)

EDIT: I wouldnt be buying a jeep now anyway. DCX is dropping Chrysler soon, not sure what will become of everything, could be good could be bad