OT - thinking about a new vehicle - suggestions/opinions?

[Clean39T]

Just a caution on ground clearance for the Fit - we had an '08 in Boulder and it was fine in the snow until you had to get from plowed street into a driveway or side-street, scraped the bottom a lot...sometimes same thing even going into a left turn lane, iirc. Loved the car the rest of the year though. Drove it to the PNW and back twice, slept in the back at rest-stops. Oh to be young again.

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[HenryA]

Two unexciting answers:

1. Keep the Toyota and fix as needed. Probably cheapest solutuion.

2. Buy a newer Camry or Accord to the extent you can afford it.

For sure stay away from the German cars. I am not so sure on the Outbacks as my wife is on her third one and the first one went about 250,000 before it died. The second got totalled at 110,000 but still no hint of trouble. What is good gas mileage? We think the Outback is pretty good.

Do the math on what your current car is worth. It might be good to get while the gettin’ is good. Cars like that might bring a premium if clean and nice. Imagine you had a crappy or dead car and could buy your current one to replace the dead one. Probably a great value for someone in that situation. And it probably is for you too.

But we’ve not heard what you think might be wrong with it. If its just minor things that will not cause the car to strand you I bet you have another 100,000 miles of life in it. If its not life threatening to the car just fix as needed and save your money for the inevitable final demise of your Camry.

I have a history of driving all the good out of my vehicles and you might be there or not. If you drive 20,000 a year you could get 4-5 more years of cheap driving from what you have now.

[Ralph]

I have a little different view about used cars. (I hang around an independent garage a lot) I think the price differential between the vehicles most seem to think are the best VS those most seem to think are junk.....is greater than the cost to fix and maintain the less popular ones.

And sure....I bought all my kids new Honda's when they were 16....they lasted forever with little repairs...so I agree that simple Japanese cars (like they used to be made....not necessarily how they are made today) have a much better reliability record than most others.

And they are priced for that.

My dad always told me if buying a new car, buy ones with least depreciation rates. And if buying used.....look for those that have depreciated the most, and can be bought the cheapest.

There are lots of older cars with about 100,000 mile on them that can be bought for about nothing....and can be fixed up cheap....if you have the cash. And they will then run on about as long as anything else.

All car makes have about the same engine technology. No one knows anything about making them last the others don't know. There are only a few companies that make all the transmissions. Just a few companies that make all the engine electronics. Just a couple companies that make most of the suspension parts. Yet.....a Honda or Toyota used with hi mileage might be $6000-8000, and another make not so popular might be $1500. You can do a lot of fixing for the difference. I see plenty of old Fords and Dodge's with 200,000-300,000 miles on them (or more sometimes)....just like the Honda's and Toyota's. And guess whose parts are the cheapest.

EDIT addition....Got a buddy who buys old Ford Crown Vic Police cars for under $500. He looks for some not totally ragged out. Then puts another 100,000 on them with few repairs. Those things run forever. And there is not much about them different than what old men bought. (huge 20 Cu Ft trunk....huge back seat area...hauling stuff....25 MPH highway)

[Ralph]

And another thing about buying older used cars. Relatively speaking.....fixing mechanical things is cheap compared to fixing body work....rust, etc.

There is not much mechanical on a car you can't repair for less than the sales tax cost of a new vehicle (which is one reason I say a car value has nothing to do with whether or not it's "worth it' to fix it up"). Engines and transmissions are RELATIVELY cheap to fix. But body work is another matter. Body work, repairing rust, is many times more expensive than fixing mechanical issues. So anything you buy....put it on a lift and look it over very carefully. Run away from rust damage. It's cancer eating from inside.

I once bought a very hi mileage Honda CRX cheap....with a perfect body and interior.....spent about $5000 on it going over everything.....made it like new again. Gave it to a son who had just wrecked his. The guy I bought it from (cheap) thought it was too old and had too many miles to fix up.

[gomango]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Just a caution on ground clearance for the Fit - we had an '08 in Boulder and it was fine in the snow until you had to get from plowed street into a driveway or side-street, scraped the bottom a lot...sometimes same thing even going into a left turn lane, iirc. Loved the car the rest of the year though. Drove it to the PNW and back twice, slept in the back at rest-stops. Oh to be young again.

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Hah, we have the Minnesota ruts to deal with for months on end. Our streets in St. Paul get absurd by January, as we don't seem to be totally convinced that plowing is a good idea.

I sometimes feel that the bottom of the Fit could use skid plates.....

However, our Fit is a happy little camper with its Nokians. FWIW, we put Nokians on all of our cars ahead of Minnesota winters.

Except for the studded snows on our F150 up at the cabin. We just leave those on year round.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Ralph

EDIT addition....Got a buddy who buys old Ford Crown Vic Police cars for under $500. He looks for some not totally ragged out. Then puts another 100,000 on them with few repairs. Those things run forever. And there is not much about them different than what old men bought. (huge 20 Cu Ft trunk....huge back seat area...hauling stuff....25 MPH highway)

Ooh Ralph! It must be amazing to see a car that can do 25 miles per hour on the highway. Sorry, if we can't tease our OLD pals who can we tease?

[cnighbor1]

VW Jetta TDI VW is slowly releasing fixed TSI's into market place We got 20k SW 2015 $15,000 sun rook AT

[93KgBike]

You don't need all-wheel-drive, really. Get front wheel drive. And get one from a non-snow state (carmax or eBay or whatevs). GL

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Ooh Ralph! It must be amazing to see a car that can do 25 miles per hour on the highway. Sorry, if we can't tease our OLD pals who can we tease?

Yeah....You caught that for sure.

We have these discussions about cars on here. But mostly I think folks are just looking for something different to drive. It doesn't necessarily have to make economic sense. Or even be a better car....in some cases.

Have another buddy who was looking for an old pick up to keep at his farm. (in Florida professional folks like to have "farms"....it's a status thing....they don't live on them....just drag a trailer on them, etc).

He finally found a 20 year old Ford F 150 with 190,000 miles on it, that ran good, and body had no rust. Truck was in good condition. Bought it for $1800. Catch....it didn't have AC from factory. Some fool brought a Northern truck down to Florida and traded it in at the Lincoln dealership (he probably got about nothing for it) ....and they couldn't resell it. No AC. You never know what is out there.

[54ny77]

couple years ago while visiting family in central florida the rental car a/c went kaput. the definition of living hell on earth is mid-florida summer in a car with no a/c.

Originally Posted by Ralph

Yeah....You caught that for sure.

We have these discussions about cars on here. But mostly I think folks are just looking for something different to drive. It doesn't necessarily have to make economic sense. Or even be a better car....in some cases.

Have another buddy who was looking for an old pick up to keep at his farm. (in Florida professional folks like to have "farms"....it's a status thing....they don't live on them....just drag a trailer on them, etc).

He finally found a 20 year old Ford F 150 with 190,000 miles on it, that ran good, and body had no rust. Truck was in good condition. Bought it for $1800. Catch....it didn't have AC from factory. Some fool brought a Northern truck down to Florida and traded it in at the Lincoln dealership (he probably got about nothing for it) ....and they couldn't resell it. No AC. You never know what is out there.

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

you probably know this already, but when you're in the market for a <$5k car, with a pile of miles on it already, you really have to buy the individual car, not focus only on a particular model. there is going to be a whole lot of junk out there in that price range that will be at the end of life and highly unlikely to go another 5 years before it's dead.

you really need to be relentless about checking for rust/rot and other telltale signs of a car that doesnt have much life left in it. understanding how the previous owner(s) took care of the car will be important. at 175k miles or so, most hondas are going to be deep into their second timing belt and ready for a new one, which is not a cheap job or a particularly easy DIY project.

i wouldnt touch any german car in that price range with that many miles without having a VERY good idea about the maintenance history. bear in mind TDIs are pretty sensitive to what motor oil they need, and it's expensive. using the wrong oil for 50k miles is going to result in sludge and varnish issues which will cost you eventually.

there is certainly a lot of love for them, and it's highly subjective, but i test drove a FIT a long time ago, a brand new one and absolutely hated it. loud, very cheap feeling interior and severely underpowered. i'd hate to drive it anywhere that has hills or passes to contend with.


SUVs are wildly popular right now, so that is propping their used prices up. for the money you are looking to spend, you will get a lot more car if you stick with a sedan, if i were in your shoes and the camry has worked well for you, i'd be looking for another one of them or an accord.

a little off topic and I maybe be mistaken, but I believe that the newer Hondas (I want to say 2005 or so) dont have timing belts, rather chains -

[BobbyJones]

Originally Posted by wc1934

a little off topic and I maybe be mistaken, but I believe that the newer Hondas (I want to say 2005 or so) dont have timing belts, rather chains -

It's really hit or miss depending on the model / year.

The belt replacement is only an arm and a leg at the dealer vs. a trusted independent.

[Ralph]

My 4 cylinder 2012 CRV has a timing chain. Believe all Honda 4 cylinder's use chains now. Believe V6's still use belts.

[cinema]

The answer, if you don't keep your camry, which you probably should, is a gen 2 toyota prius. New gen 2 hybrid batteries are about $1k online and can be put in in your driveway after watching a youtube video.

my 2007 has 150k on it and the battery works great. it runs like a clock. no issues, and it has a timing chain.

[jbreebs]

These are all great things that I haven't entirely considered all the way through, so thanks for the advice and keep it coming! I'm trying to make the best choice going forward and I value your input!

Originally Posted by HenryA

Two unexciting answers:

1. Keep the Toyota and fix as needed. Probably cheapest solutuion.

2. Buy a newer Camry or Accord to the extent you can afford it.

For sure stay away from the German cars. I am not so sure on the Outbacks as my wife is on her third one and the first one went about 250,000 before it died. The second got totalled at 110,000 but still no hint of trouble. What is good gas mileage? We think the Outback is pretty good.

Do the math on what your current car is worth. It might be good to get while the gettin’ is good. Cars like that might bring a premium if clean and nice. Imagine you had a crappy or dead car and could buy your current one to replace the dead one. Probably a great value for someone in that situation. And it probably is for you too.

But we’ve not heard what you think might be wrong with it. If its just minor things that will not cause the car to strand you I bet you have another 100,000 miles of life in it. If its not life threatening to the car just fix as needed and save your money for the inevitable final demise of your Camry.

I have a history of driving all the good out of my vehicles and you might be there or not. If you drive 20,000 a year you could get 4-5 more years of cheap driving from what you have now.

Currently, I think the car is worth $800-1000. The bumper was hit recently (by the daughter of a guy I was buying bike parts from, lol). So I took a small payment out of that rather than fix it. Other problems: the engine is leaking oil from somewhere, low, and probably hard to get to. Likely one of the 21 year old gaskets is failing, and I'm sure others are heading that direction as well. The left rear control arm bushings are going bad and cause a rattle; while the parts aren't particularly expensive, it requires dropping the gas tank to remove the a 12" long bolt that holds both arms on. Need a new front left wheel bearing, and an alignment after replacment. The tires are getting to the point of needing replacement as well. I have access to a shop with a lift, and I can probably do most of the work myself, but the issue is that once I get these problems fixed, where does it end? It seems likely to me that there will be more minor issues that add up over time. I'm not particularly opposed to doing these fixes but think it might be wise to find something different now, while the car still maintains some of its value.