The devil you know

[drypowder]

Toying around with the idea of getting a used car to replace my old Honda - car runs fine, but just bored of driving same car for 7 years in an age where we've been conditioned to upgrade our phones every 2 years. Then I discovered https://www.carcomplaints.com/

Not sure if they are scaling reported problems relative to the number of that particular year/model sold. I.e., a lot more Camrys are sold than Darts, so if complaints aren't scaled, it might appear that the Camry has more problems than the Dart.

Looking at the list of complaints for various vehicles I was interested in really turned me off. My car isn't perfect, but I know all the quirks, and I know what's been done and not done to the car. Of course not every complaint for a year/model is going to apply to every vehicle of that year/model. But it's an unknown, which brings me to the thread title - I might just ride with the devil I know until the wheels fall off.

 

[Grits]

My first truck was a 1985 Ram. I drove that truck 14 years.

My current car a 2012 Accord has 151000 miles. I will keep driving it until it dies. I don't like car payments.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

 

[Mirac]

^agreed.
130,000 miles on a 2011 Fusion and 110,000 on a 2007 Tundra. I'll put $5000 into them before another Car payment.

 

[Slacker]

It really depends on your situation.
Do you commute to work daily?
Do you take long trips?
Etc.

If your car breaks down and your biggest inconvenience is you can't make it to the paper plate party...then just drive the beater.

If you may get fired because it broke down, different story.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Went 17 years on a Honda Accord, 7 on a 4 year old used Volvo, I'll probably die before another change

 

[RedneckFur]

When it comes to car shopping, I recommend getting something that's been around for a while. Don't buy brand new re-designed model that just came out. Get something they've been building for a few years so they've had time to work out all the bugs.

I tend to keep cars for a while. Drove my 99 chevy blazer until 2012, and then bought a used mustang that I still own and drive sometimes. 2 years ago I bought a nissan frontier, and hopefully I'll be able to depend on it another 10+ years.

 

[noway2]

When it comes to car shopping, I recommend getting something that's been around for a while.

Watch out for 2018 models. That was the year that it became mandatory to have the back up cameras and other features and I have been hearing of complaints from drivers as the manufacturers try to get the bugs worked out. For example, in the Nissan Rogue they integrated this with the stereo and other system (apparently designed by Apple) and there are compatibility issues.

As far as a new car, well, my daily commute vehicle is a 10 year old Toyota / Scion with just under 280,000 miles on it and peeling paint. It gets me to work and back reliably and while I have had to put a few moderate repairs into it, it is far less expensive than a car payment.

My wife's vehicle (which I will probably inherit) is a 12 year old Toyota 4Runner with about 135,000 miles. It too has had a couple of repairs, like the AC evaporator coil and a few other things are starting to fail, but I think it has a lot of life left in it.

About a month or so ago, I sold my 20 year old Ford Ranger with 125,000 miles on it. It needed about $2,000 in repairs and I just wasn't going to put that into a 20 year old vehicle that was burning oil.

My wife wants a Mazda CX5. As old as our cars are and as long as we've kept them, it is time to start replacing them (10 years old being my newest). Being bored with a car, whose function is to get you from place to place, that does that reliably doesn't sound like a good reason to trade for potential problems. There is a reason someone got rid of that car - you just don't know what that reason is.

 

[Mike Overlay]

been in the auto game for 30 plus years. It still baffles me at the folks who use a vehicle as a means of projecting a perceived status.
I say buy what ever you want, but drive it in the ground before replacing it

 

[Button Pusher]

My last two cars I go 10 months old from Hertz car sales, '99 Sable 24K and a month later '99 Taurus Wagon, 22K.
I got two almost new cars for less then what people pay for one new car. I still drive them today, 234K on Sable
and 298K on the wagon. I do all my own work on the cars except for tires, alignments and state emission inspections.
Most of the cars at the car rental lots are off lease vehicles, the rest go to wholesalers in Statesville, NC.