What car should I get?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I don’t want to get a new car. I drive a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix and it makes me perfectly happy. Plus, if I were to trade it in now I couldn’t trade it for nearly as much car as I’ve got.

However, I have a baby. And the Grand Prix is one low slung son of a bitch. Putting the infant carrier in was hard enough (it had to go in the middle.) Little boy just graduated into a convertible car seat, which must be rear facing until 1 and should be until 2. This is a seat that I researched up and down and it was a clear choice for a great seat for small cars (Maxi Cosi Prima 70). And I can barely get him in there, between the shape of the door frame and all. Like I have to slide him into the seat like a snake and then half-squidge my way into the car to do the straps, and then it’s hard to tighten it. (It was a stone bitch to install, too - no room to work with, couldn’t recline it all the way and have anybody ever sit in the passenger seat, and to tighten it I had to sit in it while my husband hauled on the straps.)

We can’t really put a seat in my husband’s car as it is a pickup with no back seat. Yes I know you are allowed to if you turn the airbag off, but he isn’t comfortable with it (and then of course you couldn’t ever take anybody with you anywhere.)

My husband can’t drive my car. I mean, he could, and he does on long trips, but it’s hard for him to even get into and hell on his back to drive for long.

We’ve gotten a bit of a windfall via tragedy in that we might be getting one of my parents’ cars now that my father has died. So if she extremely graciously allows us to not pay her for it with what we get for selling the truck, I was thinking, huh, we could sell both cars and buy something with what we get from both put together. Which really irks me, though, because my poor Pontiac deserves more than I’d get!

According to the blue book, our cars put together might bring somewhere around 10K. We need a reliable car that’s easy to put a kid in and out of as he gets older. I’m used to having the long distance car but I guess my husband will now with whichever we get from my mom. I want something comfortable, not crazy expensive to repair, that I’ll have for a good long time.

Oh, and it’s better if it’s an American company. (Yes, I know they don’t make them here. I had this fight with my dad over and over and over again for three and a half decades. And yes, I know that it is time to let World War 2 go, dad!) It was important to my dad, and I would feel kind of oogy taking money from cars that he frankly bought us (mine was the last car he bought me when I got my masters’ and said “this is the last car I’ll ever buy you so make it a good one!”, the truck was his that he “sold” to us for way below market value when they downsized) and buying a car he had serious and deeply held antipathy towards. However, like I said, he’s gone, so if the foreign car is so much better I’ll consider it.

So given those conditions, where would I get the best bang for my buck?

2

It’s not clear what you budget is.

3

Assuming the Kelly Blue Book is a rough estimate, about 10K. (I should have highlighted that in bold or on a separate line, I’m sorry.)

4

Can we boil that story down to what you’re looking for in a car?

If it’s an American, roomy, comfortable, full-size sedan that’s made for long distances, my choice would be the Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis or Town Car (they’re all essentially the same car). I’ve had two Crown Vics over the last 10+ years and never had any major problems with either (the first one was totalled when I got rear-ended stopped at a light). Got each of them for under $10k with relatively low miles (under 50k). There are a ton of them out there, though probably increasingly rare with mileage that low.

5

Well, it doesn’t HAVE to be our long distance car. Frankly I’d be fine with my husband having our distance car (he’s either getting the Explorer or the Town Car) and me having a little commuter that gets great gas mileage, but it has got to be car seat easy. Which doesn’t necessarily mean “roomy” in the Town Car sense (my mother’s is the long version which feels like going sailing or perhaps flying a jumbo jet) but well configured for messing around with the back seat. My back seat isn’t particularly tiny but it’s low.

ETA - same thing with the trunk - the Grand Prix has quite a large trunk, considering. But you can’t fit a jogging stroller in it without some very advanced Tetris skills because it’s also low.

6

I would imagine a Crown Vic would have pretty much the same issues as the Grand Prix. Not to mention dismal gas mileage.

For ease of entry, you’re probably going to want to look at a car-based SUV/crossover. With the “buy American” caveat and the $10k price range though I think that pretty much limits your options to two: the Ford Escape and the Jeep Liberty. (Although I guess there’s also the Chevy Tracker, but that’s really a rebadged Suzuki.) I think unless you’re interested in the offroading pretensions of the Jeep, the Escape is probably the way to go. They’re pretty nice and Ford sold a whole bunch of them so they shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Of course one other terrible thought. If you wanted to stick with a Pontiac, you could try to find an Aztek. I hear they’re actually quite nice, although you will be the butt of many jokes.

7

If I could get a bit more for our trade ins or do a little more scraping (from where, though, I have no idea, and I’d really prefer not to have a car payment) it looks like Honda Fits, used, start in the 13K range? I know that’s quite a popular mom-mobile, although I’d be giving up passenger space to the angry ghost of my father. (“Damn, don’t you have heated seats?” “Yes, but that’s the cold spot.”)

8

If you’ll go with used and non-US check out Suburu Foresters and Toyota RAV4s. Those are mom-mobiles and you’re going to be moving around a lot more than just a baby seat before long. If you’re buying used the money is going to an American. If you can’t get a used car with a decent warranty you’ll need to be prepared to put money into it at some point.

9

You could get a new Fit for about $16k. Given the pretty flat depreciation curve on Hondas, sometimes it makes more sense to just do that instead of getting a slightly-used one.

Although if you are interested in something Fit-sized, the Ford Fiesta is actually pretty nice, could probably be had used inside your original budget, and doesn’t have the angry ghost issues. (Although I think early in the run the US might have got some that were made in Germany.)

Another thought I had is since South Korea wasn’t an Axis nation, maybe the Santa Fe would be another SUV option.

10

Ford Focus hatchback
Mazda 3 (much the same car, it’s Japanese but has Ford parts)

11

I guess the issue is really how high and straight the inside back seat area is? Because I don’t mind a small car, and I would love a more fuel efficient car, as long as I don’t feel I need a can opener to get in and out of it, but I don’t want one that’s going to be just a little bit easier to worm a two year old into a rear facing seat into. I want one that’s a lot easier.

(And I ain’t driving the whole damned Little League team. Let Supermom do that.)

12

Too bad about the foreign caveat because a Mazda6 would also be a good choice. Alternatively, what about a Ford Fusion (basically the same car) or a Chevy Malibu? They have a decent size trunk, have been pretty reliable, and are in your price range for a 2010-2011.

13

Looking at all these cars; my god, when did they stop making cars in colors? I mean, it’s not like I haven’t noticed that, obviously, but it’s really clear when you’re looking at a ton of cars and they’re all black, white, silver, or every so often red.

14

I’d agree, and I’d broaden the list to include the Saturn Vue and the Chevrolet Captiva. Of course, GM shut down saturn in 2009, but I still see a number of Vues on the road. The Captiva is essentially a Vue that Chevrolet still builds for it’s fleet market. The don’t sell new models to individuals, but used ones turn up all the time around here.

15

Alas, the carmakers cranking out mostly cars in inoffensive colors is another consequence of the general move towards offering fewer options.

Another couple of other suggestions if you were able to stretch the budget a bit but want something that’s really easy to get in and out of are the Ford Transit Connect and the C-Max. Size-wise the Connect is more like a minivan of the 1980’s variety (as opposed to the behemoths things like the Caravan and Odyssey have become now) whereas the C-max is kind of half mini-van half hatchback that’s only sold here as a hybrid. Both of them are very popular as taxis specifically because it is easy to get in and out of the back seats. The only thing is Ford only brought them over in the last few years (although they’ve been staples of their European branch for years) and so used ones are probably going to be more in the mid-$10k’s range.

16

Oh, good point I forgot about those. I have a friend who bought a Captiva I think from Hertz and really likes it.

17

How about the Pontiac Vibe? It was made in California (from 2003-2009) but is mechanically identical to the Toyota Matrix - meaning it’s basically a Corolla hatchback. They even made a few AWD ones (although those are pretty slow). Should be a reliable car.

18

So, how many miles is too many miles on these cars?

19

There’s not really any hard and fast rule. Any of the cars mentioned should be good for 200k+ and beyond if they’re taken care of, but obviously higher-mileage examples would warrant a bit more scrutiny during the inspection process.

I personally try to shoot for around average mileage, which is usually defined as 12,000 miles/year. I think that cars with usually low mileage tend to command a premium that’s not really justified, but on the other hand I personally drive significantly more than the 12k/year so if I buy a car that’s already high mileage it’ll become very high mileage in short order. If I drove less, though, I’d probably be okay with getting a nicer or younger but higher mileage car.

20

Get a BMW. You’ll be glad you did.