Ah, I just went through this whole process with my parents. And with my father, it is DEFINITELY a "process."
As far as good experiences - we just bid a sad farewell to my dad's Pontiac Bonneville. It had over 300,000 miles on it and was still in really good shape, even after having been sideswiped by a deer. I highly recommend them, and since they stopped making them in 2005 (they're coming out with a redesigned version that looks like crap), "used" will definitely be your option. We only got rid of it because the junkyard would give us $2,000 for it, and after you hit 300,000 miles in five years, you're kind of expecting to stop at a light and have all the doors to fall off 'cause it's just freakin' TIRED.
In fact, we liked the car so much, Dad bought another one the last year they were made so he'd have another one after the first one died. Which obviously took a lot longer than we ever expected. (And as I'm assuming you wouldn't be driving 60,000 miles a year, a car like that would last a whole lot longer.)
Seriously, a big factor in whether or not a car's going to last a long time and be reliable is how well it's taken care of. Find someone who's taken damn good care of their car and it won't really matter if it's a few years older or has a few thousand more miles on it. I have more faith in the car we just took to the junkyard than some of my friend's relatively-brand-new cars. And, lots of highway miles generally means a used car with less overall wear and tear than one with not-so-many miles that are predominately in-town.
Might want to check out fleet cars or something owned by someone who traveled for work, 'cause again, higher chance of the miles being primarily highway and previous owners making sure it's been properly maintained.
And even though it can be as boring as hell, try out a bunch of different things. Make sure you find something that's comfortable for YOU to drive, 'cause a nice cheap car isn't worth snot if the steering wheel won't adjust to a comfortable level or the way you sit in it means you have a blind spot big enough to hide a semi (both things that have killed otherwise great car possibilities for us in this latest search).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-04-12 06:11 am (UTC)As far as good experiences - we just bid a sad farewell to my dad's Pontiac Bonneville. It had over 300,000 miles on it and was still in really good shape, even after having been sideswiped by a deer. I highly recommend them, and since they stopped making them in 2005 (they're coming out with a redesigned version that looks like crap), "used" will definitely be your option. We only got rid of it because the junkyard would give us $2,000 for it, and after you hit 300,000 miles in five years, you're kind of expecting to stop at a light and have all the doors to fall off 'cause it's just freakin' TIRED.
In fact, we liked the car so much, Dad bought another one the last year they were made so he'd have another one after the first one died. Which obviously took a lot longer than we ever expected. (And as I'm assuming you wouldn't be driving 60,000 miles a year, a car like that would last a whole lot longer.)
Seriously, a big factor in whether or not a car's going to last a long time and be reliable is how well it's taken care of. Find someone who's taken damn good care of their car and it won't really matter if it's a few years older or has a few thousand more miles on it. I have more faith in the car we just took to the junkyard than some of my friend's relatively-brand-new cars. And, lots of highway miles generally means a used car with less overall wear and tear than one with not-so-many miles that are predominately in-town.
Might want to check out fleet cars or something owned by someone who traveled for work, 'cause again, higher chance of the miles being primarily highway and previous owners making sure it's been properly maintained.
And even though it can be as boring as hell, try out a bunch of different things. Make sure you find something that's comfortable for YOU to drive, 'cause a nice cheap car isn't worth snot if the steering wheel won't adjust to a comfortable level or the way you sit in it means you have a blind spot big enough to hide a semi (both things that have killed otherwise great car possibilities for us in this latest search).
Good luck!