I hate Ford. I have had so many problems with my car it makes my head hurt. What ticks me off the most is when I take it to the mechanic, he always tells me “Oh, Ford has a service bulletin about that part”. Never a recall where they would have to pay for it. The last straw for me was the quoted price $2,385 to fixed it. Dang transmission!
Anyway, people have been kindly sharing care buying advice with me as this next car will be the first one I get on my own. If you have any awesome advice, feel free to share!
Filed under: crazy rants, other
Not sure it’s awesome, but I always have advice on cars. I’m generally a very buy-American person, or, more precisely, a buy from any country that has labor laws and doesn’t use slaves or children to manufacture stuff person, but when it comes to cars, I make a huge exception.
Whether it’s the pernicious influence of the UAW or just the market-driven design rather than technology-driven design of the cars, but American cars just suck rocks for the most part. It was true 25 years ago, and it’s still true. Look at any repair or reliability indicator for evidence of this, or look at the return customer statistics.
If it’s about reliability, value, and practicality, buy a Toyota. Hands down the best cars on the road. A Toyota Corolla, properly maintained, could drive to the moon and back. No, not fancy or sexy, but nice, comfortable, and adult (as opposed to the cheap cars from the Big Three - which are like motorized versions of Fisher Price ride-on toys).
Don’t buy a Subaru, which is what I drive. Sure, you can drive the damn things through hell, and with great traction, but their mileage sucks rocks. We bought ours in Utah, when we actually did things like drive in blizzards and through sand drifts. For fun. I’d never buy one here in Kansas unless they do something about their fuel numbers.
Honda is a fine mark, nearly Toyota’s equal, but, frankly, less refined (louder and less solid feeling) for the money. Still, hard to go wrong with a Civic or Accord, and their fuel economy rocks.
Avoid: Volkswagen, Volvo, Nissan, Saab, etc., unless you don’t mind a few mechanical hassles to get a lot of flash and power. I’d love to buy a VW GTI tomorrow, but only with the knowledge that it would be a love-hate relationship.