I don’t mean Porshe or Lamborghini. I mean one that real people can afford.
Ford? Honda? Kia???
For what type of car?
I think Toyota has already been in the #1 region in terms of inital quality and customer satisfaction. The fact that I own one notwithstanding.
If you want “cheap but decent” Hyundai’s pretty good. Suzuki as well.
If you want really cheap, a low end GM would do. In terms of price over quality, I could live with a Sunfire for $11k CAN with zero interest finance. You would then use the money you save to fix the car in 3-5 years and still save more money than a Civic.
Toyota! Mine is 10 years old and I’ve never had any serious problems with it. It’s very dependable, and gets great gas mileage, and they are affordable. (I have a Corolla). I had a Ford once, and it was a piece of crap. I had more problems with it then it was worth.
I’ve found that Honda and Toyota make good, reliable, safe cars. My Civic has over 150,000 miles on it and it’s still in good shape. Still gets 35 mpg, too.
Be sure to look up the crash tests and dependability data on what you shop for. At the time that I bought my Toyota, 9 of the top 21 most reliable cars were Toyotas. No other manufacturer had more than one model on the list.
As far as safety - my son wrecked it a few weeks ago, did $22,000 worth of damage (total loss) - and walked away.
Nissan, BMW and Suzuki. Pick them up when they are 1-3 years old and “real” people can easily afford one. New cars are for “real suckers” if you ask me.
Toyotas are fantastic, but for the money, why not get something nicer, like a BMW? Of course, the Toyota is virtulaly maintaince-free, by comparison.
Just don’t buy a Chevy (term all-GM-inclusive). All junk, in my opinion.
I’m in great shape because I walk alot. I own a Jeep!
For the money, I think Honda is a better buy than Toyota. I’ve had both and Honda seems to come with more items as standard equipment. Also, for some reason Toyota seats hurt my lower back, especially the trucks/SUVs. I presently have a 2003 Honda CR-V EX, which comes with side airbags and drives like a dream, 6 CD player, moonroof, AC, removable picnic table, etc. for about $22K. They’re about equal in reliability.
Food for thought… best selling car ever, Toyota Corolla… world’s largest engine (not car… that would be GM) manufacturer- Honda.
And before you go “who buys just an engine?”, I’ll explain: Honda is the #1 seller of motorbikes, lawnmower engines, portable generators, hell, pretty much anything with an internal combustion engine but cars and trucks (and they’re in the top ten for cars)
Quality is a really subjective thing. Just because a car maker has a really well screwed together interior, doesn’t nessecarily mean that the engine components are of good quality. Just because the car has nice paint, doesn’t mean the sheetmetal under it won’t rot.
For any new car, it is impossible to gauge the long term reliability, since it is impossible to look 10 years into the future.
Basically, I would be looking for the longest warranty. You will hear people chiming in on how their Toyota or Honda lasted 150,000 miles, or 200,000 miles, and it really isn’t that spectacular.
We have a 1990 Grand Prix with 190,000 on the clock on the original engine and tranny. I know people with Dodge Dakota’s at over 250,000 miles. Most all cars built recently will last forever. Take american manufacturers for instance. GM is known for fairly low-tech engines. The 3.8 liter v-6 for instance, dates back to the 60’s. Car magazines will harp on the engine because it lacks overhead cams, and advanced valve management. In those respects, it doesn’t compare favorably to a, say, Nissan VQ engine. In the new Grand Prix though, this “old” engine produces 260hp, and due to the amount of time it has been in production, refined, upgraded, and tweaked, it will last practically forever. It is a well proven engine. It just lacks some modern wizardry. Is modern wizardry how one defines quality? Or is it a well proven, long lasting, simple design?
A cars reliability is directly proportionate to the amount of care taken with the car, maintenance, history of the car, etc. With as many complaints american cars receive, in the long run, they are no worse than Japanese cars. American cars rust after so many years, and so do Honda’s and Toyotas. Older Toyota trucks from the 80’s rot like crazy, same with Accords and Civics. These are all “quality” cars.
A lot of people would say the K cars from the 80’s were all junk, but on a daily basis I still see dozens of these cars driving around locally, still chugging along. Even more of them than the equivalent japanese cars. Is that how one defines quality? By that measure, a K car could be one of the best cars ever built.
Same with Chevy Celebrities and their platform mates. I see these things running around all the time. My buddy had one with the 2.8 v-6 with 150,000 on the clock, and it ran like a top.
Rusted to hell, but ran awesome.
And this was when GM cars were “horrible”
Cars are far more alike than most people like to believe. And all manufacturers build some bad cars. You can’t get around it, but it helps to do your homework and see how many problems people actually have with their cars. Civic’s and Corolla’s are great cars, sure, but while they may be more refined than a Cavalier, one can’t necessarily say they last longer.
If you want to find out about actual quality and reliability, you need to actually research the cars you are looking at, look at them with an unbiased perspective, that is, don’t glaze over the Honda’s faults, and focus on the Dodge’s just because the Dodge lacks the reputation and marketing.