Looking for a second car not necessarily a Subaru

[SE95]

Pontiac G5s are decently reliable, but don't buy one expecting refinement. They are a cheap, clunky FWD car using 20 year old minivan suspension. The rear wheels are not even independent... 2 wheel alignment only. Ecotec is a solid engine though, they run for quite a while. Just keep the oil changed on schedule and they will keep going. By the way, the Ecotec 2.2 is the easiest engine I've ever had to change oil on.

[upflying]

Corolla is the ultimate proletariat transportation appliance.
Civic if you want a bit of sportiness thrown in on your drive.

[SE95]

Originally Posted by upflying

Corolla is the ultimate proletariat transportation appliance.
Civic if you want a bit of sportiness thrown in on your drive.

That is a pretty good description of most Toyotas.

"Hi, Welcome to Toyota!"
"Yes, I would like to purchase a beige transportation appliance"
"Okay, small, medium, or large?"
"Hmm. I think I'll take a small"
"Okay, here are the keys. Have a nice day!"

*drives away in Corolla*

[there4igraham]

Avoid the Kia Soul and Pontiac. I've had the displeasure of driving both as rentals and I can't even imagine what it would be like having to drive them to work every day.

Any Carolla will give you years of reliable service. Said service will be a tad noisy due to interior rattles but that's not why you buy a Toyota. Go pre-2005.

I'd go with the Fit over the Civic which isn't to say the Civic sucks. The fit is just a better package.

The Altima coupe is an also-ran but plenty great.

The Mini is a bit of a crap shoot. They're a lot of fun but older models tend to have a lot of squeaks and rattles. Reliability won't be an issue.

Have you looked at the Impreza?

[fatabbot]

Originally Posted by there4igraham

Avoid the Kia Soul and Pontiac. I've had the displeasure of driving both as rentals and I can't even imagine what it would be like having to drive them to work every day.

I owned a Soul for a year and a half. It was fine as a daily driver, just ultimately wound up being too small. Much more satisfying to drive than my OB was. Didn't have a single defect show up in the time I owned it, compared to about 8-9 warranty repairs on the OB in the same time period.

For the price, I'd recommend a Soul to anyone considering it. Just don't buy the ! package with the 18" wheels. Very rough ride. Stick to the base 15" or the +'s 16".

[vr4Legacy]

I can only second the Toyota/Honda comments.

But I'll throw in Hyundai as a good competitor. I just sold my wife's '06 Elantra with 50k miles and it had 0 issues. She kept up with regular service before we met, a I continued. Honestly, if it was a 5 speed, I probably would have kept it and drove it into the ground. IMO, Hyundai has come a LONG way in the last decade and can easily stand with Honda and Toyota in terms on long cost of ownership.

If I were looking for a cheap 2nd car and didn't care about AWD, Hyundai would probably be top on my list.

[hiker74]

Thanks for all the feedback all. I have thought about an Impreza but the ones up her for sale all hae over 120K miles and are still over $10K Nuts. I guess it goes to show Subies hold their value

[subiesailor]

Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix run the Toyota Corolla engine which is a chain TB. My brother has the Matrix 230,000 miles on it all he's basically done is put tires on it and change the oil. Not the smoothest riding or the most quiet interior but as a cheap get from point A to B type car you can't get anything else thats as low cost and reliable for the money. Lousy in the snow though so be prepared to put good snow tires on it if you go that route.

[vr4Legacy]

Originally Posted by hiker74

Thanks for all the feedback all. I have thought about an Impreza but the ones up her for sale all hae over 120K miles and are still over $10K Nuts. I guess it goes to show Subies hold their value

Same here, any Subaru less than 10yrs old and 100k is well over $10k. Keep any eye on Autotrader and expand your search area. It took me a few months, but I was able to find an '06 Forester, original owner with less than 75k for $10.5k. Just have to find the right person wanting to sell at the right price.

I shyed away from Imprezas simply because they tend to be "tuner" cars and I wouldn't trust a used one with moderate mileage, unless it was truly a single owner and I was buying straight from said owner.

[1 Lucky Texan]

test drove a Matrix when we were shopping years ago. Glad to hear they are holding up.

it was on our short list, but rejected as too small for our purposes.(needed more cargo space as we were replacing a minivan)