Quote:
Originally Posted by jluck
Whats the budget Steve? The wife and I are in the same boat. both our rigs are getting long in the tooth. But we did the reasonable and practical (USED CAR) route and ended up putting about 10K in repairs over a two year period. I am now leaning towards a brand new entry level base model car with warranty. something to consider. We are looking at the KIA soul or Honda fit type cars and with careful shopping without any sort of financing we should drive one home for 12K.
I do know it will be a nice financial safety blanket to just drop it off for repairs with out that dreaded call from the mechanic with the bill.
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How many times do you incur warranty repairs in the 3 year/36k mile window? There's a reason why they only offer that in most cases, which is because there's virtually nothing that goes bad during that window. Also, there are plenty of good mechanics available that you can find through craigslist or whatever that aren't going to charge you $100/hour to repair as well and will allow you to provide your own parts (or buy discounted through them).
Look at the reliability of any make/model you're looking at historically and it'll give you some sort of idea what type of window you're looking at. My Avalon has ~ 103k miles on it and I think it has the reliability to get me another 100k miles without any significant repairs (unless I just jinxed myself). It's a 2005, but with laser cruise control, rain sensing wipers, heated/cooled seats, navigation...just what kind of new features would I get in a newer model until this one eventually craps out? Nothing.