Used car advice

[snake]

My daily car is almost done,I love my 71 and hope I do not have to sell her,Cindy and I are not well off .it's bean 8 years since we had to look for a car,I don't know what's good or bad out there.i can only afford another cheep car 2010 to 2016 year.my mom died 2 weeks ago and she left me a little money maybe 15 grand or less I have to wait till her estate is settled,I may be forced to sell the 71 .so if you could help me on my car search thet would be great.we do like the mini van for grandchildren to fit in.i was looking at a 2013 grand caravan but I found out most yeas caravan have head and valve train problems.i am lost and very stress out .thanks for taking the time to read my post.cheers Don.

 

[Darter6]

I hate to say it,but Toyota. I have a 95 Camry, the only foreign car I have ever owned.
Going on 7 years now.Used daily.Very reliable.People tell me they run forever.So far so good.

 

[JackR]

I hate to say it,but Toyota. I have a 95 Camry, the only foreign car I have ever owned.
Going on 7 years now.Used daily.Very reliable.People tell me they run forever.So far so good.

I have to agree. My wife has a 2013 Toyota Venza. 130k miles I think and still looks and runs as good as it did in 2013. Never had any repair needed either.

 

[Rusty knuckles]

Honda accord. Ford edge. Ford crown vic. Buick Park ave.

I've personally run, or have seen run by family all these cars to 300k with very minimal maintenance needed (other than basic oil changes and such). All very reliable cars and relatively cheap to get.

 

[RemCharger]

I agree with all the suggestions. We're very pro-toyota around here.
If you do want a caravan though,, look for a slightly older one in good shape, without the 3.6. Like a 2008 or so iirc

 

[493 Mike]

My daily car is almost done,I love my 71 and hope I do not have to sell her,Cindy and I are not well off .it's bean 8 years since we had to look for a car,I don't know what's good or bad out there.i can only afford another cheep car 2010 to 2016 year.my mom died 2 weeks ago and she left me a little money maybe 15 grand or less I have to wait till her estate is settled,I may be forced to sell the 71 .so if you could help me on my car search thet would be great.we do like the mini van for grandchildren to fit in.i was looking at a 2013 grand caravan but I found out most yeas caravan have head and valve train problems.i am lost and very stress out .thanks for taking the time to read my post.cheers Don.

I own 3 Chrysler T&Cs. All V-6 automatics. I've only had to do basic maintance on them-so far. We have been using the "mom trucks" for 23 years so far.
Mike

 

[Fran Blacker]

Bought a 95 Toyota Camry in 2003 for daughter with 60k. She drove that to 220,000. Have friends look around for you a relative may have a deal. Used car prices are high now!

 

[bigbluedodge]

I've owned 4 or 5 mopar minivans, mostly Grand Caravans or T and C's. They were all used, mostly 100k plus miles when I bought them. I've had very good luck with the V-6 automatics. Years ago I had one that had a 4 cylinder Mitsubishi in it....it was very reliable but always used a small amount of oil. I'll probably buy another (my wife loves them).

Having said that: Toyota's reputation is pretty good.

 

[roadrunnerh]

Honda.

 

[hunt2elk]

We bought a 2006 Honda Accord stick shift brand new. 4 out of our 5 kids learned how to drive in that car. Just flipped 320,000 miles yesterday.

 

[Billccm]

Grand Marquis is my 1st choice.
Crown Victoria 2nd.
Buick with 3.8 is a distant 3rd.
Certain years Explorer is a way distant 4th.

 

[JR_Charger]

Since you're in Canada you probably want FWD for the snow - that puts the Buick 3.8's at the top of the list IMO, money being a consideration.

People tend to think Lexus is tops in reliability and quality, but Buick is often at the same level, or above, Lexus.

Disclaimer - I've owned a supercharged 3.8 Buick for 16 years. It has needed some maintenance - HVAC modules, window switch and motor, starter relay, camshaft and crankshaft position sensors; and the regular stuff like water pump (actually that wasn't bad, it just made sense to replace it while I was in there), belts, tensioners.

If you come across a supercharged Park Avenue for a good price, take it seriously.

 

[Ron H]

On our 2nd Hyundai Sonata (six motor). First one an ’07 handed off to our daughter and it has 220k on it. The first one was the first time I ever bought a foreign ride (although some mfg here) and was impressed with the reliability and near zero repairs needed. Located the ’09 having just 10k on it and have 70k on it now. I wanted the ’09 as it was the last year this model came with the six. Same deal, just routine service. The ’07 has been beat as my kid lives in the city with crappy streets. Drove it the other day and amazed how it still drives tight. The six motor is quite peppy. My other kid has an ’06 CRV she doesn’t want to part with; but damn the four motor guzzles oil, a problem with that era engine, a qt per 1000 miles that Honda said is ‘normal’. Yeah? Why change the oil since it requires 3 or 4 qts btw recommended changes? lol

 

[Chargered]

My daily car is almost done,I love my 71 and hope I do not have to sell her,Cindy and I are not well off .it's bean 8 years since we had to look for a car,I don't know what's good or bad out there.i can only afford another cheep car 2010 to 2016 year.my mom died 2 weeks ago and she left me a little money maybe 15 grand or less I have to wait till her estate is settled,I may be forced to sell the 71 .so if you could help me on my car search thet would be great.we do like the mini van for grandchildren to fit in.i was looking at a 2013 grand caravan but I found out most yeas caravan have head and valve train problems.i am lost and very stress out .thanks for taking the time to read my post.cheers Don.

You can pick up a really nice low mileage Mercury Grand Marquis for around $8-$9K. You can generally find them with around 60K miles or less and they are typically well taken care of if owned by an older person. They are extremely comfortable and plenty of room for the grandkids. Plus you get a very reliable 4.6 liter rear wheel drive V8. No boring front wheel drive or foreign cars.....American Iron. Really no reason to spend more than $10K on a used daily driver.

 

[snake]

Thank all it gives me some great opinions

 

[440 4 speed]

Since you're in Canada you probably want FWD for the snow - that puts the Buick 3.8's at the top of the list IMO, money being a consideration.

People tend to think Lexus is tops in reliability and quality, but Buick is often at the same level, or above, Lexus.

Disclaimer - I've owned a supercharged 3.8 Buick for 16 years. It has needed some maintenance - HVAC modules, window switch and motor, starter relay, camshaft and crankshaft position sensors; and the regular stuff like water pump (actually that wasn't bad, it just made sense to replace it while I was in there), belts, tensioners.

If you come across a supercharged Park Avenue for a good price, take it seriously.

We had a fair amount of snow fall one day. Co-workers with their front wheel drive cars, were parked on the street wondering how to get into the parking lot. I said hell you got front wheel drive. No one attempted it. So I said I will make a trail, they backed out of the way. I drove our 1975 Gran Fury into the parking lot and parked in my spot. They followed. And these were the same people that said their front wheel dive cars were superior to my rear wheel drive.
I have not seen a front wheel drive only tractor yet.
I do most of my winter driving with the 4 Runner in 2hi, if I start to get into trouble I use 4 wheel.

 

[JR_Charger]

A tractor is a completely different beast, but I'm not surprised you can drive your rwd car better than most normies can drive a fwd car. I've heard of normies getting HUMMVs stuck, back when those were all the rage.

Having driven both a FWD Buick and my Charger in very bad snow conditions, there is no comparison between them. The Buick wins, hands down.

If anyone knows who Terrence Popp is, he also compared his 90's Buick Riviera to his Crown Vics; and said the Riviera was superior in the snow.

I'm not against the Panther platform by any means. I think they get better looking every year. People are underestimating the supercharged Buicks though.

 

[440 PHIXX]

We had a fair amount of snow fall one day. Co-workers with their front wheel drive cars, were parked on the street wondering how to get into the parking lot. I said hell you got front wheel drive. No one attempted it. So I said I will make a trail, they backed out of the way. I drove our 1975 Gran Fury into the parking lot and parked in my spot. They followed. And these were the same people that said their front wheel dive cars were superior to my rear wheel drive.
I have not seen a front wheel drive only tractor yet.
I do most of my winter driving with the 4 Runner in 2hi, if I start to get into trouble I use 4 wheel.

I remember being in my Mom’s ‘89 Lebaron on an icy hill. All it did was follow the road crown, and the front end was going towards the curb. A rear drive car can be easily corrected for that situation.

 

[WileERobby]

Since you're in Canada you probably want FWD for the snow - that puts the Buick 3.8's at the top of the list IMO, money being a consideration.

People tend to think Lexus is tops in reliability and quality, but Buick is often at the same level, or above, Lexus.

Disclaimer - I've owned a supercharged 3.8 Buick for 16 years. It has needed some maintenance - HVAC modules, window switch and motor, starter relay, camshaft and crankshaft position sensors; and the regular stuff like water pump (actually that wasn't bad, it just made sense to replace it while I was in there), belts, tensioners.

If you come across a supercharged Park Avenue for a good price, take it seriously.

Buick 3.8 one of the best engines ever produced....

 

[JR_Charger]

The supercharged version is the one to get, provided one can afford premium gas. The plastic intake manifold on the NA motor is prone to warp, but the SC motor gets a metal intake manifold.

At 20 years old or so, some maintenance will need to be done, but if one can find a senior owned SC Park Avenue for a good price it is well worth considering.

And I'm still not knocking the Panther platform