recommendations for cars/suv

[Neto]

Total mileage achieved before the vehicle's demise doesn't mean much anymore, because people drive lots more now than 40 to 50 years ago. It is commonly said that "newer cars last much longer than they did 50 years ago". The thing is, however, that the average miles per year driven back then was around 6 to 8 thousand, and generally that was for a family that was a single-car family when it was purchased. A vehicle would typically be 15 or more years old before it reached 100,000 miles, because by then it had usually been replaced as the primary "family car", and made a 'work car', as the family moved up economically. (At least that's the way it was in my parent's case. The 53 DeSoto that my parents bought in 1960, incidentally, before my mom even had a driver's license, only made it up to 115,000 miles or there abouts. It was 19 years old when it was retired. It would have been repaired had it been only 7 or 8 years old, the age it would be according to the high end of average annual miles now-a-days (around 16K/year).

Many sites will say the average is around 13,500 miles/year. But that is an average of the average for all age groups, separately for men & women, then an average of those separate averages. But in a single car family, those two figures would be added, not averaged. (On-line sites say that the two-car family became common in around the late 50’s to early 60’s, and this correlates with my parent’s case, as my Mom began driving in the early 60’s, after my Dad bought a pickup as a work vehicle.)

The US Dept of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration site shows a chart with the averages broken down by gender and age.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

EDIT: I don't think that the first age group, 16-19, should even be included, at least in respect to a family, or to adults in general.

All of that doesn't answer your question, but I think that it is pertinent information, so there it is....

That said, I come from a MoPar family. Historically that means Chrysler Plymouth Dodge DeSoto, but I guess now it just means Chrysler, Dodge, Ram. We own 2 Dodges, and a Ram pickup. The 2 Dodges I need to sell, something I'm really terrible at, because in my family, a car was run until it's retirement, then "put out to pasture" - literally. (My younger brother still has the 53 DeSoto, and the 62 Chrysler that replaced it as the family car in 1966, after which the 53 was my Dad's work car until 1972, when it was retired. The 62 Chrysler was later my own first car, which I took over when it was 15 or 16 years old, and finished it off so to speak several years later through a stupid thing I did, when it was at a bit over 112,000 miles.)

Our family car is now a 2019 Honda CR-V. I like it OK, but the automatic take over of driving choices by the electronics drives me batty. (For instance, if we're on the freeway with the cruise set, and someone pulls into our lane close in front of us, the car applies the brakes, even though the car in front is continuing to pull away from us. So I have to turn the cruise off every time that happens, if I want to continue to control the vehicle myself.) But I WILL say, it gets fantastic MPG, even with a small 4 cylinder engine. It has a Turbo Charger. (Now I'm thinking that I should figure out how to install a Turbo on my 46 Plymouth....)

[Judas Maccabeus]

In all likelihood, I'll never buy another domestic vehicle again. Last summer, for the first time in almost 15 years, we became owners of a second vehicle. We bought a Hyundai Elantra and we are very happy with it. Paid more than I wanted to but it was lower milage and in decent shape. I would not hesitate to buy another.

Don't ever buy a Hyundai or Kia of you live in Baltimore, or some other major city. 12-14 year olds steal them all the time. Only true defense is a manual transmission. The kids can't even get those started.

[steve-in-kville]

In all likelihood, I'll never buy another domestic vehicle again. Last summer, for the first time in almost 15 years, we became owners of a second vehicle. We bought a Hyundai Elantra and we are very happy with it. Paid more than I wanted to but it was lower milage and in decent shape. I would not hesitate to buy another.

Don't ever buy a Hyundai or Kia of you live in Baltimore, or some other major city. 12-14 year olds steal them all the time. Only true defense is a manual transmission. The kids can't even get those started.

I heard those stories.

[Judas Maccabeus]

In all likelihood, I'll never buy another domestic vehicle again. Last summer, for the first time in almost 15 years, we became owners of a second vehicle. We bought a Hyundai Elantra and we are very happy with it. Paid more than I wanted to but it was lower milage and in decent shape. I would not hesitate to buy another.

Don't ever buy a Hyundai or Kia of you live in Baltimore, or some other major city. 12-14 year olds steal them all the time. Only true defense is a manual transmission. The kids can't even get those started.

I heard those stories.

They are true. You can steal one of these with a USB cable. Interestingly enough, 40% of stolen vehicles here are never recovered. Joyriding kids? Yes, but than you would almost always find the vehicle. Suspicion in some quarters it that these kids are working for one of our gangs, and the cars are being exported out of the Port of Baltimore in containers. It will be interesting when this container ship that hit the Key is unloaded. I wonder how many of those containers have cars in them?

Sure protection is m Manual Shift. The thieves do not know how to drive them.

[ohio jones]

My current car is a 2005 Malibu.

A newer Malibu would be a solid choice as well. That's probably what I'll look at next.

[PeterG]

Get the nicest Toyota you can find in your budget and preferred size/body style. While Toyotas aren't the only good cars, this is a nice way to keep it simple. You'll often pay more for a Toyota than for comparable vehicles from other makes, but you get what you pay for.

This guy offers a lot of sound advice on his YouTube channel.

[mike]

Just about can't go wrong with a Honda or Toyota. Accord or Camry. Rav4 if you prefer a smaller SUV. That's what I'd recommend to somebody looking for reliability. My parents' Rav4 is just about bulletproof and they've had it for years. We have run both older and newer Accords and Camrys in my family and they just run and run.

[mike]

When it comes to something decent for a low price, I think something like a Chevy Cruze works well. My son is an auto body tech and collects random parts and parts cars for a certain model year range, and has restored a number of wrecked Cruzes often with mostly parts he has on hand. Parts are reasonable and readily available. There is a lot to be said for looking at a short list of best selling cars and going with something on that list. The less common the model, generally the more expensive it will be to work on.

[steve-in-kville]

If I had to buy a mid-sized truck today, it would be the Tacoma. Several coworkers have them and love them. My one boss has the full size Tundra and is very happy with it.

[mike]

If I had to buy a mid-sized truck today, it would be the Tacoma. Several coworkers have them and love them. My one boss has the full size Tundra and is very happy with it.

I have a customer with three Toyota vehicles. He has a Civic with 600,000 miles on it. One of the others is a Tundra with (I can't remember exactly) 200,000 or 300,000. His dealership asked him once to use his vehicles in their ads.