Replacement car for my daughter

My wife's 2013 Corolla has 60k miles on it and has already needed a new water pump. Now it has some kind of rattle that I haven't investigated yet but I'm hoping is just a loose heat shield or something like that.

 

I completely forgot that Toyota/scion is/was a thing. I’ll keep this in my back pocket.

 

As mentioned by lots of people already. I would go with Toyota Camry or Corolla if looking for reliability. Maybe Scion TC if want something little sportier. Or Honda Civic and Accord. I had Subaru in the past. I love them, great cars. But simply not as reliable as Toyota. I recently picked up a 2011 Camry v6 bc I needed a commuter car.

 

Seems like her daughter don’t want a car that’s everyone have.

 

I see a lot of Subaru suggestions, which is fine if it isn't is a salted road during winter (buying used). We looked for a car for my college daughter last march. She is off in Montana and the Honda Civic isn't helping here with minimal maintained roads and ground clearance.

Looked at used Subaru vehicles in Minneapolis, anything over 4-5 year old seemed to have major rust issues. Walked into the garage area of a Subaru dealership and talked with a couple of their long term mechanics specifically about the undercarriage and rust. The flat out said don't, get one from a non road salt state and have a mechanic look it over first. She ended up with a used 2011 RAV4 with AWD, and is enjoying it.

 

Just bought a 2013 Camry for my Son, he had an 04 Corolla before that, spun a rod bearing at almost 300k. The Camry is a nice step up for him.

 

When my daughter is driving, she gonna have the CT 200h, but have to change all tires, cause my wife can’t keep those tires off the curb.

 

Why bother? You think your daughter will do any better in that department?

 

"I’ll start convincing her that it’s her idea now..." Haha! A caring father and a very wise and understanding married man.

 

My wife need to drive a rav 4 so I could put some ko2 on it…she have cuts on the side walls. on both passenger and driver side…have flats every 3 months…I don’t know who is working on a construction site everyday

 

Well, the search has started and somehow she has decided that a fiat 500x is her dream car. Little known fun fact, it is mechanically identical to a jeep renengade. Both made in the same factory in Italy. I’m unsure how I feel about this, but she found one within a 2 hour drive with less than 100k on it. I’ve been doing a lot of research and showing her a ton of other more common sense cars (Toyotas, hondas, a scion or two…). We’re going to look at it on Saturday. I’ll let y’all know how it all comes out.

 

If you get lucky, she'll hate driving it as much as my friend hated the 500L we rented in Europe.

 

I rather get a Mini Cooper,

 

I’ll probably be one of the few to say no Subaru….head gaskets, timing belt, and usually lower rings EVERY 100k…..and it’s not cheap.

 

Pontiac Vibe AWD, a 2009 if you can find it. Its a Toyota Matrix AWD with a rebadge, great car.

Like this..

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/ctd/d/vancouver-2009-pontiac-vibe-toyota/7347080274.html

 

Super practical, too. My dad had a 2003 that he did nothing to except oil changes over 100k miles.

 

Four kids here and I'm on my fourth and last teen driver. I've had European cars that I knew the sellers and got good deals on. A 2011 Volvo and a 2003 BMW, both were at the shop too often and the repairs are definitely more costly. I should have just flipped both of them. The older two kids shared a 2000 4 cyl. Honda Accord I already had been driving for work. We put 70k miles on before it was in an accident. I still got almost 1/2 my cost out of it from insurance. One of the kids also had a 2003 Honda Element. He put over 40k miles on it and I sold it for more than 1/2 of what i paid. It was also a 4 cyl. like the Accord and both needed very few repairs, brakes, o2 sensor, etc.
I shopped forever for my daughter, she now has a 2014 4 cyl. one owner Camry and has put about 15k miles on it. It gets 30 mpg going to and from school and no repairs as of yet with about 2 years of ownership. It is currently at 110k miles. My youngest just got a 2012 4 cyl. Accord in April with 80k miles. Drives great for the two months we've had it. We did add a rear view camera to it for safety. This is inexpensive at Best Buy and a good safety feature for an older model.

My shopping experiences are very similar to the messages above. My key takeaways from experience:
- As a rule of thumb I didn't look at cars with three or more owners. I just couldn't track the care and maintenance at all.
- Civics and Corollas are great cars but for the cost you can get a very similar Camry. I did this because its just a little bigger car.
- RAV4 is a great car. But in my used car for a kid price range ($10K) I couldn't find anything that didn't look like it had been driven really hard. Usually 150k+ miles
- The Accord is awesome in either the 4 or 6 cyl. My experience is that for the same money you spend on a Camry you will have to shop Accords 1-2 years older with about 20-30k more miles. Lots of Camry's from rentals and leases available. Either way be diligent with the Carfax to get one you have history for. The 2012 Accord I bought was almost as much as the 2014 Camry but with only one owner 80k miles I decided to do it.
- Lots of Jettas out there and inexpensive. I already know the repair cost is more and my daughter-in-law has had so many issues with her 2017 Jetta I didn't even look seriously at them.
- The BMW (especially) and the Volvo cost me more to insure than the Japanese or American cars.
- When looking at cars over 100k miles look at the history for new belts, water pump, brakes, etc. With some of those repairs done you have found a car worth consideration.
- If you have a trusted mechanic its worth $100 for them to put a car on a rack and give you their opinion on what repairs are coming and the state of the car overall.

Good luck with your purchase and I'm glad your daughter wasn't hurt.

 

This might be the only wrong answer.

 

I had a Fiat once.. never again.

 

Same here xactly!

 

Well the Fiat 500 has a few things going for it, at least depending on your preferences as her father.

1.) It is a Fiat, so reliability will be so poor your daughter might be hesitant to pick an out of state college in a few years for fear of being stranded on holidays. What you pay out in repairs will be made up for in tuition savings!

2.) The 500 is a very small car, limiting the number of distracting friends your daughter can give rides to.

3.) Very small and easy to park. Won’t take up much space in your driveway.

4.) Being small and underpowered the cost of fuel will be minimal. Additionally being a Fiat fuel savings from frequent break downs might be significant. Hard to burn gas if the car doesn’t run amiright?

Downsides to the Fiat:

1.) The horrendous reliability and build quality will scare your daughter into never leaving. Before you know it you’ll have a 30 year old cat lady in your basement. All because she got stranded by the Fiat one too many times.

2.) The Fiat being a very small car the next time your daughter hits a deer, the poor critter might end up inside with her. It’s already too small to give rides to all of her friends, much less injured wildlife.

3.) Being very small and easy to park the car might become misplaced. There is a risk the little Fiat may go unnoticed by your daughter’s peers and get hit in the school parking lot.

4.) A quick glance at Consumer Reports shows the car will in fact be broken down more frequently. Where is the nearest Fiat dealer?

 

Camry

I currently have two at the moment. 2001 Camry (paid $1300 about 4 years ago) coming up on 300k miles that I gave to my brother. He commutes 100 miles a day and I commute 95 miles a day on my 2003 with 150k miles.
Third one blew a head gasket at 250k miles. 1999 Camry

 

Those cars… are sooo bad. Lol. If they sit for a month or 2 they won’t run. They need new plugs. If you lose all the keys? They need a new computer… they’re a mess

my buddy at the Chrysler dealer has the stories of the renegades they had coming off the trucks needing engines before 1 mile because of excessive blow by. Their quality control is almost non existent

 

I hate to say this, but the Fiat 500 is at the bottom of the list for reliability. Sorry. I have a daughter and I don't like to burst their bubbles.

My first choice for a girl would be a Corrola or Civic. (Not a sport model because they are typically driven hard) Get a base model or a loaded old person model if you buy used.
My son is 6'-4" so Corrola would be a little tight, so I got him a Camry. He loves it and so far has about 70,000 trouble free miles on it.

Then, my daughter wanted a VW Beetle. So if my daughter wants a Beetle, I am going to get her a Beetle, even though I know Corrola is a better buy. I found her a 2019 Beetle and she loves it. So I am Happy.
In your first post you mentioned that she likes VW Golf or Jetta. They are very solid and safe vehicles. Problems are usually electric related, and parts are more expensive than Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc., but they are not bad vehicles.

But again, do a little research on the Fiat.

Good luck!



Safety concerns also:

 

Get her a Pontiac Aztec. It will keep the boys away from her!
(Sorry, just dad-thinking)

 

I'll be another of the few that avoids Subaru. Especially a Subaru with a CVT automatic as those things die around 75,000 miles. If they make it any longer than that, it is on borrowed time.

 

I appreciate all the candor. I have been doing my research as any good dad/car buyer should. I agree that they are low quality cars, but I also wanted to point out that @Boerseun quoted info for the 500L and the 500. The 500X actually ranks quite a bit better during my research.

@Coal Dragger, it is small but so was her Altima. I’m amazed the deer didn’t end up in her passenger seat, luckily it was a glancing blow off the front driver corner. I told her there was a reason so many people drive trucks where we live.

Hell, I’d put her in a 70’s 2wd suburban missing 2 plug wires if I had my way. I’m hoping it sells before we get there on Saturday. Gonna be a long day of driving and looking at cars. I have no desire to buy local.
Wish me luck!

 

Sounds like she doesn’t want some plain Jane common man car. Why not a Lexus of some sort? Still common, but not Corolla common.

 

I think she want to turn that 500x into Gucci-500…

 

Look into a Toyota Avalon. You can likely find one in the Camry price range. Original owners tend to be older folks and they keep up on the maintenance. Avalon’s are bulletproof. My older daughter drove 2nd gen Avalon XLS through undergrad and she currently has a 4th gen Limited. I had a 3rd gen Touring….super reliable until it was totaled by a distracted driver. We still have the 2nd gen (on its way to 300k) and my wife drives a 5th gen XSE. My younger daughter drives a RAV4…..she’s more comfortable in a SUV vs. a sedan…….plus my neighbor’s would think I’m crazy if I got another Avalon.