Need some car suggestions for my wife

My wife's car is getting old and worn out. 2001 Grand Am. Having been a mechanic years ago I still have my tools and a Solus Pro and Vantage Pro purchased a few years ago. The cooling system ate through head gaskets at about 100K, but I fixed it and it's nearing 170K and too many silly things are beginning to happen. Plus 6 or 7 years ago Connecticut started using tons of awful types of road salt rather than sand.

Time her to find a newer (1-4 year old car). I don't have any idea what she will want yet, but it won't be fancy or expensive.

Generally what brands these days are okay cars? (I know that is a tough question). NOT hi performance or fancy. Prefer a brand that is well built that doesn't require lots of work, is relatively easy to work on, parts are easily available, etc. (She will either want a mid to smaller car, or a smaller type SUV or SUV "cross-over".)

Maybe I should ask this way: What brands are total crap to avoid wasting any time looking at?

Focus/Mazda 3 are hard to beat for a useful car. Subarus are nice, and surprisingly easy to work on (not so hot on fuel mileage with the newer ones). Gobright has more experience with a new Subaru, he can probably offer more advice on that front.

That's about all I have experience with.

Porsche Gt3.

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Grant Hughes

rav4 awd with 3.5. super quick grocery getter with capable awd and safety. 2007-08. plus toyota bulletproofness. that or a camry

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All bridges burnt, island life is beauty

Avoid Nissan at all cost. They still have not yet figured out how to make a car that doesn't rust audibly.

Aside from that, spin the wheel and roll the dice, everyone's generally got things sorted out.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

A Blue Subaru, Jens! Great job trolling the entire US rally community with that Extreme American Rally Championship. Nice work!

For a transportation appliance, several people I know have bought Hyundai Elantras and like them for that. Otherwise, I'd think something like a Focus or a Corolla, I mean reliable. I would add any Mazda made before 2016 to the potential rust bucket list, although they generally are considered most fun to drive.

Honestly, I don't know on serviceability. I've been avoiding the purchase of a modern car as long as possible (aside from my wife's Toyota Sienna). I'm just getting my skill set up to speed on 10-15 year old junk (03 Subaru Legacy, 97 Volvo 850). Although with an OBD2 scanner and inter web forums, you can often figure out the annoying check engine codes and sources pretty easily on anything, so it's really a matter of whether the manufacturer designed with serviceability in mind…

Good to hear from you.

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Big caution on any CVT equipped car.
Accord tops my list of great cars, Camry close second.
GM started losing their way again (car wise) in '05 or so. Engine issues, tranny issues.
Ford held their ground pretty good. Taurus,Focus and Fusion all decent.
Hyundai/Kia have been gaining leaps and bounds in reliability and style.
Nissan is crap mostly, Mitsu ok. Mazda ok. Sube ok plus but with some head gasket issues...easy to work on.
Chrysler is generally the very bottom of the barrel or worse.
Eurotrash I know not so much.

How have you been? You're missing all the fun with the sanctioning body bullshit.

I think there is a 1990 Eagle Talon for sale in the classifieds...

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

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heymagic
Big caution on any CVT equipped car.

I'll second that.

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heymagic
Accord tops my list of great cars, Camry close second.
GM started losing their way again (car wise) in '05 or so. Engine issues, tranny issues.

Have you sat in a recent Camry? The inside is a pile of shit. There is more cheap plastic in that interior than a Little Tikes car

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heymagic
Ford held their ground pretty good. Taurus,Focus and Fusion all decent.

I agree with the Focus and Fusion. Good cars. Fusion with a 1.6L and Ecoboost is great on gas mileage, lots of space, and has lots of power.

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NoCoast
Porsche Gt3.

Smart ass

Why didn't you suggest a 917 30 K?

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fiasco
A Blue Subaru, Jens! Great job trolling the entire US rally community with that Extreme American Rally Championship. Nice work!
......

You saw what I did thar, eh? EDIT: I thought you were joking about something else. There is a post below with a link to Extreme rally or something. I haven't clicked on it yet. I haven't trolled anything about it.... for that matter this is the first I've heard of it. Will check out the link in the next day or so.


I'm up for a little fun, but the wife's car is about done. It is wearing me out, so I need to get some suggestions for a non-sooped up mommy-mobile grocery-getter.

So far most suggestions are interesting (Ford, Toyota, Subaru, etc). I am surprised Nissan appear to be universally hated. Datsuns (yes, I wrote "Datsun" were rust buckets in the 1970's. Too bad they are still shit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2015 01:41PM by Jens.

Quote
heymagic
Big caution on any CVT equipped car.
Accord tops my list of great cars, Camry close second.
GM started losing their way again (car wise) in '05 or so. Engine issues, tranny issues.
Ford held their ground pretty good. Taurus,Focus and Fusion all decent.
Hyundai/Kia have been gaining leaps and bounds in reliability and style.
Nissan is crap mostly, Mitsu ok. Mazda ok. Sube ok plus but with some head gasket issues...easy to work on.
Chrysler is generally the very bottom of the barrel or worse.
Eurotrash I know not so much.

How have you been? You're missing all the fun with the sanctioning body bullshit.

CVT? Is that constantly variable transmission? Are they common, or only in a few vehicles? I'm not familiar with them. What is bad about them?


How have I been? Okay. Gonna have another stent or two soon. All the anti-gun crap here in CT has been driving me nuts for the past 2 years. Our legislature just opened 1/7/15 for a 6 month session of bending us over and screwing us more.

More sanctioning crap? What now? (I don't need you to write, but maybe give me a link or two to read and giggle at).

You still in the car fixin' biz?

Still fixin cars. Maybe another 4 years and I can look at retiring and give the shop to my son.

CVT..well I've read that two companies make them and supply everyone. Sube, Chrysler ,Ford,GM,Nissan,BMW all use a version...maybe more . Alot of the small engined cars use them because they make the engine work better to move the car. Seems if they slip once due to anything they are pretty much a done deal. Lots of issues both mechanical and electronic. Cost to fix is pretty high compared to a normal trans. That will likely change over time. I've only had two in here but when I researched them lots of broken hearts on the'net.

http://www.specialstage.com/forums/showthread.php?69506-Official-Announcement-of-USRA-Partnering-with-Mad-Media

http://www.specialstage.com/forums/showthread.php?70257-USRA-New-Press-Release-Details-Point-System-Classes

Linkies will get you grinning. There are a couple more threads on SS in the US section . I'll look to see if I still have your email.

The wifes Scion tC is a pretty nice car. Great mileage. Easy to work on. 2.4l. Decent room for 4. Hatch. Hers is an '05 auto and still kickin ass at 100k. I dont like hers in particular cause everyone seems to enjoy backing into it or running into the back end. in general its been a great car with no issues.

Gene, you missed the best sanctioning-body link:
http://www.extremeamericanrally.com/

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com