• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

Car Advice

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
inliner311 said:
Did they check for oil in the coolant? With a bad head gasket, oil will contaminate the coolant alot of times.

I feel like if you spend 30k on a car and want it to last 15-20 years, you are going from a new car to a decent used car to a POS at some point. I would rather spend 10k on a car have a decent used car for a while then do the same thing 8-10 years down the road when it becomes a POS.
Click to expand...

I 100% support this contention. A 10k used car is really nice. You can even get a few years old luxury car for that price. I feel like I have less information on a brand new car. For one thing you don't know if the one you got just has gremlins in it. For another, it takes 5 years for people to realize if a new model year is any good or not. A 5 year old car you can almost diagnose with googles searches on common things to go wrong with your car. Personally, I think a certified used car from a dealer is a much much better deal than buying a new car. They have usually had everything inspected and fixed, and they are also usually not lemons because they are trade ins of people buying a new car to get a new car instead of someone trying to get rid of an old car. A lot of times it is the just the older version of the car they are getting new.

Buying a new car is for suckers unless you just have the cash laying around and you don't have to sacrifice anything for it. If you are rich and you want to impress people go for it. If you don't care about cars, it is the easiest way to waste money IMO.

In my experience, the CRV sucks. It is one of the few Honda's that suck. Maybe it wasn't designed by the same people as the accord and civic or whatever.

Also in my experience a Toyota Camry is the most reliable car of all time. It just works everything works and everything is super durable. I know more poor people driving those cars for 20 years, doing no maintenance, loving their car, and they just won't stop.
 
The Wizard of Moz said:
I’m nervous about a used car because I don’t know the warning signs to look for that say “you’re being sold fool’s gold”

I feel like it’s a risk for a scrub like me who knows so little about cars
Click to expand...

It's so easy now to research what common problems a car has by just googling the car model and year with "common problems". Just do a 15-20 minute deep dive and you will find really anything that goes wrong with them.

A new car doesn't guarantee you much more than you won't pay to fix a problematic car for the warranty period. Most problematic cars that my friends have had are ones they bought new and they just end up in the shop all the time.

As @Cavatt said the older the car the more info on potential issues and fixes are out there. Also when you decide on a make and model, it's usually best to buy the last of that generation than the first. By time the last year of the generation it's has been fairly sorted thru and the manufacturer has made changes to all the known common issues to try to resolve them.
 
Cavatt said:
I 100% support this contention. A 10k used car is really nice. You can even get a few years old luxury car for that price. I feel like I have less information on a brand new car. For one thing you don't know if the one you got just has gremlins in it. For another, it takes 5 years for people to realize if a new model year is any good or not. A 5 year old car you can almost diagnose with googles searches on common things to go wrong with your car. Personally, I think a certified used car from a dealer is a much much better deal than buying a new car. They have usually had everything inspected and fixed, and they are also usually not lemons because they are trade ins of people buying a new car to get a new car instead of someone trying to get rid of an old car. A lot of times it is the just the older version of the car they are getting new.

Buying a new car is for suckers unless you just have the cash laying around and you don't have to sacrifice anything for it. If you are rich and you want to impress people go for it. If you don't care about cars, it is the easiest way to waste money IMO.

In my experience, the CRV sucks. It is one of the few Honda's that suck. Maybe it wasn't designed by the same people as the accord and civic or whatever.

Also in my experience a Toyota Camry is the most reliable car of all time. It just works everything works and everything is super durable. I know more poor people driving those cars for 20 years, doing no maintenance, loving their car, and they just won't stop.
Click to expand...
All of this
 
Cavatt said:
I 100% support this contention. A 10k used car is really nice. You can even get a few years old luxury car for that price. I feel like I have less information on a brand new car. For one thing you don't know if the one you got just has gremlins in it. For another, it takes 5 years for people to realize if a new model year is any good or not. A 5 year old car you can almost diagnose with googles searches on common things to go wrong with your car. Personally, I think a certified used car from a dealer is a much much better deal than buying a new car. They have usually had everything inspected and fixed, and they are also usually not lemons because they are trade ins of people buying a new car to get a new car instead of someone trying to get rid of an old car. A lot of times it is the just the older version of the car they are getting new.

Buying a new car is for suckers unless you just have the cash laying around and you don't have to sacrifice anything for it. If you are rich and you want to impress people go for it. If you don't care about cars, it is the easiest way to waste money IMO.

In my experience, the CRV sucks. It is one of the few Honda's that suck. Maybe it wasn't designed by the same people as the accord and civic or whatever.

Also in my experience a Toyota Camry is the most reliable car of all time. It just works everything works and everything is super durable. I know more poor people driving those cars for 20 years, doing no maintenance, loving their car, and they just won't stop.
Click to expand...
My chevy cruze used to be a rental and I bought it as certified preowned. Definitely better getting the discount on essentially a new car
 
Toyota Camry - great car but 150-160,000 miles is the limit.

I had a black 1992 Camry that started breaking down so my stepson named it Black death. Bought a used Camry from a coworker that eventually became my daughters car. It died on I-71 - that was Champagne death. My mom got in a wreck a year ago and totaled another one -Maroon death. She still has one she bought in 1996 - Beige death. I had another that we gave to my brothers stepson - Green death. My wife bought one in 2003 that is my moms second car, but my stepdad can't drive anymore so we're giving it to my wife's grand niece - Blue Death.

Six Camrys, all different colors.

I also had a 1980 Corolla (Gray Death) that threw a rod on I-71. I managed to exit at Brunswick heading westbound and managed to do a u-turn on 303 and ran out of momentum at the gas station. Towed to North Olmsted, took the bus downtown, picked up my wife's Toyota Celica GT-S (Red Death), drove to work in Akron where my boss docked me 3 hours vacation time (worked until 8pm catching up anyway). Bitch.

So I hate cars.

If you want a car that will last get a Mercedes, BMW or Audi. I loved my 2008 Audi A4 6 speed. But they are expensive to buy and maintain, and if you drive them as they're meant to be driven the cops have no sense of humor. 83 MPH in third gear is pretty awesome though.

If you want cheap, buy a used rental car from Avis or Hertz on Brookpark road near the strip clubs (have not been there in awhile so no idea if the strip clubs or used rental sales lots are there).

New - buy Korean.
 
Not a car expert. I drive a Toyota as do most of my family. Never any issues. They’re extremely dependable. I thought Honda was good too though, so. Always gonna be exceptions but certainly understand not wanting to go with another Honda.
 
2 For The Brew said:
Toyota Camry - great car but 150-160,000 miles is the limit.

I had a black 1992 Camry that started breaking down so my stepson named it Black death. Bought a used Camry from a coworker that eventually became my daughters car. It died on I-71 - that was Champagne death. My mom got in a wreck a year ago and totaled another one -Maroon death. She still has one she bought in 1996 - Beige death. I had another that we gave to my brothers stepson - Green death. My wife bought one in 2003 that is my moms second car, but my stepdad can't drive anymore so we're giving it to my wife's grand niece - Blue Death.

Six Camrys, all different colors.

I also had a 1980 Corolla (Gray Death) that threw a rod on I-71. I managed to exit at Brunswick heading westbound and managed to do a u-turn on 303 and ran out of momentum at the gas station. Towed to North Olmsted, took the bus downtown, picked up my wife's Toyota Celica GT-S (Red Death), drove to work in Akron where my boss docked me 3 hours vacation time (worked until 8pm catching up anyway). Bitch.

So I hate cars.

If you want a car that will last get a Mercedes, BMW or Audi. I loved my 2008 Audi A4 6 speed. But they are expensive to buy and maintain, and if you drive them as they're meant to be driven the cops have no sense of humor. 83 MPH in third gear is pretty awesome though.

If you want cheap, buy a used rental car from Avis or Hertz on Brookpark road near the strip clubs (have not been there in awhile so no idea if the strip clubs or used rental sales lots are there).

New - buy Korean.
Click to expand...

I own Audi's and I don't even recommend them to my friends. My dad had an A6 and there was always something wrong with it. The reason they last is just because if you don't maintain at a high level it won't run. We have had a TT, A4, S4 and A6 in the family. I work on the cars myself, Audi are a pain but Quattro and the ride quality is worth it. It wouldn't be worth it if I was paying someone else to fix it though.

Really if you want a car that last it isn't a BMW, Mercedes (not modern one), or an Audi. Its Japanese luxury brands particularly Lexus's that will last without breaking the bank and they are built extremely solid. If you buy a model that is built in Japan, you will get a car that will last 25+ years and 250k+.

When we went searching for a new (used) car for my dad we focused on a Lexus GS350 AWD. He had a GS400 and it would have ran forever if a tree limb didn't fall on the roof.
 
2 For The Brew said:
Toyota Camry - great car but 150-160,000 miles is the limit.

I had a black 1992 Camry that started breaking down so my stepson named it Black death. Bought a used Camry from a coworker that eventually became my daughters car. It died on I-71 - that was Champagne death. My mom got in a wreck a year ago and totaled another one -Maroon death. She still has one she bought in 1996 - Beige death. I had another that we gave to my brothers stepson - Green death. My wife bought one in 2003 that is my moms second car, but my stepdad can't drive anymore so we're giving it to my wife's grand niece - Blue Death.

Six Camrys, all different colors.

I also had a 1980 Corolla (Gray Death) that threw a rod on I-71. I managed to exit at Brunswick heading westbound and managed to do a u-turn on 303 and ran out of momentum at the gas station. Towed to North Olmsted, took the bus downtown, picked up my wife's Toyota Celica GT-S (Red Death), drove to work in Akron where my boss docked me 3 hours vacation time (worked until 8pm catching up anyway). Bitch.

So I hate cars.

If you want a car that will last get a Mercedes, BMW or Audi. I loved my 2008 Audi A4 6 speed. But they are expensive to buy and maintain, and if you drive them as they're meant to be driven the cops have no sense of humor. 83 MPH in third gear is pretty awesome though.

If you want cheap, buy a used rental car from Avis or Hertz on Brookpark road near the strip clubs (have not been there in awhile so no idea if the strip clubs or used rental sales lots are there).

New - buy Korean.
Click to expand...
Can confirm the strip clubs are still there
 
inliner311 said:
I own Audi's and I don't even recommend them to my friends. My dad had an A6 and there was always something wrong with it. The reason they last is just because if you don't maintain at a high level it won't run. We have had a TT, A4, S4 and A6 in the family. I work on the cars myself, Audi are a pain but Quattro and the ride quality is worth it. It wouldn't be worth it if I was paying someone else to fix it though.

Really if you want a car that last it isn't a BMW, Mercedes (not modern one), or an Audi. Its Japanese luxury brands particularly Lexus's that will last without breaking the bank and they are built extremely solid. If you buy a model that is built in Japan, you will get a car that will last 25+ years and 250k+.

When we went searching for a new (used) car for my dad we focused on a Lexus GS350 AWD. He had a GS400 and it would have ran forever if a tree limb didn't fall on the roof.
Click to expand...

I have had a couple of Audi's, love them, but my friend who was an Audi mechanic moved to Vegas. While he comes into town a decent amount, him being out of town took Audi off my list of cars I can own. Its nice to have a best friend mechanic, Audi's are awesome, but just like a beautiful woman, they are very high maintenance.
 
Lee said:
I have had a couple of Audi's, love them, but my friend who was an Audi mechanic moved to Vegas. While he comes into town a decent amount, him being out of town took Audi off my list of cars I can own. Its nice to have a best friend mechanic, Audi's are awesome, but just like a beautiful woman, they are very high maintenance.
Click to expand...

Exactly. You definitely get alot of car for the money with how they depreciate when you buy them used but if you can't work on it yourself you will end up paying more in the long run to maintain them.

It doesn't help that my local Audi dealer has a ridiculous mark up on parts, they might be one of the highest in the country. I have to buy everything online even though their parts guys are helpful. I will only go to them for bolts and cheap stuff that I unexpectedly break or lose in the process of working on the car.
 
The Wizard of Moz said:
Also if I scrap it, I need advice on a new car.
Click to expand...

Stop burning gas, get Tesla Model 3. After the $3750 tax credit, the $35k is just barely over your limit, you'll make the difference up in money saved on gas.
 
Just sold our Jeep Patriot and Jeep Cherokee, because we had to upgrade to three row SUVs. Got a couple Buick Enclaves. Can't speak to the Buick Enclaves, since we've only had them for a bit, but the Patriot and Cherokees were good rides, affordable, and relatively low maintenance. Purchased both used. I am very similar to you with respect to cars. They are strictly utility to me and I hate spending money on something that depreciates in value so quickly.

BTW, try Carvana.
 
Oh, and I'll add - if you do go used. Target cars that are a couple model years old. You get passed the big depreciation events, while still having a car with most of its life left to go (and a good chunk of its warranty).
 
So I never buy new.. never..

I am an engineer. 10 years ago I was looking for a car. I figured out how to download all of the cars of a specific model for sale in a 100 mile radius with mileage and year..

The value of a car is an S curve and is more strongly related to mileage than year.. the steep part of the curve where you lose the most money, is the first 30k miles.. then comes a relatively flat curve until 100k and then another step decline to about 150k..sp if you buy a car at 30k miles and sell it at 90. It costs you the least..

The measure of value is how much value do you lose from when you buy it to when you sell it. If you buy on the flat part of the curve you want to lose as little value per mile as possible.

The Toyota models are very good . Especially the Matrix, Camry and the regular Prius.. Honda Civic, Honda minivan and Honda Pilot are also very good. I have owned three honda Van's and one pilot with zero problems. The last van we gave to my brother in law is at 300k miles..Suburu Forester and Outback are also very good..

That said NEVER buy a used car that has been in any kind of wreck..Also if you buy a used honda, buy it Certified and take it to the dealer for repairs exactly as recommended.. they are good at service, and my Hondas (my wife's cars) all went 150 plus without ever breaking down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top