Questionim currently in the market for a new car because of all the trouble i am having with my tauras. which in your opinion is the better car to get? it doesnt matter if it is foreign, i am currently looking at a toyota camery and also a honda accord. which would be the better buy in all companies too?
AnswerHmmm. I hope that you have a very old or high mileage Taurus or maybe just a bad egg because that is one of the cars that I like to recommend. The 2000-2006 Taurus is usually a really good car for the money, though the gas mileage is just so,so and the technology is kind of old unless you get a 24 valve Duratec. That is also the same engine that is used in the new Ford Fusion but I'm not ready to recommend the Fusion yet as they've only been out for about a year. I recently spent a week in a Ford 500 which felt solid as a rock, got great gas mileage and also has the Duretec. Lot of car for the money.
Personally, I drive a 2004 Chevy Impala and feel that this car is one of the best values on the road. Mine will carry 6 people, gets 21 city and 31 highway out of a 3.4 L V-6, has a big trunk, great front seats, power everything, excellent stereo and a decent safety rating. It just hit 70,000 miles and have had to do nothing other than two front brake pad replacements , tires and oil changes. There was one factory recall performed. My only real complaint about the car is that the rear seat bottom is too low and short for grown people to remain comfortable on long trips. I know independent insurance claim reps that drive these cars with over 200k miles on them.
I also recently rented a 2006 Impala which has been redesigned. I spent a week in it touring northern California. The new body is kind of plain, but the interior is much nicer and the new engines have even more power with no loss in fuel economy. I didn't try the new back seat, but really hated to give that car up.
I don't believe in buying new cars. With today's automotive technology, a good car will last 200,000 or more miles. With our information technology, it is easy to track the history of a car and with a good extended warranty, you get the same protection as with a new car. Because cars such as the Impala are not built by Honda or Toyota, they do depreciate faster and therefore a one year old Impala can be quite a steal.
The overall trend in the last 10 years is that the Japanese reliability has gone from Excellent to Good and that many of the American cars have gone from Poor to Good. The American cars are a steal because of old reputations for unreliability while the Japanese makes are overcharging based on a reputation for perfection that is now slipping.
The Camry and Accord are both excellent cars and I can't say anything bad about either. To me though, they are just not worth the premium in price, especially considering that you don't save that much by purchasing a used one. You cannot get a V6 in either car without dropping nearly $30,000. Contrary to popular belief, these cars are not perfect either. I've seen plenty of Honda's with transmission failures and Toyota's with oil system failures, but no more than any other car.
Because of mechanical and service issues, I'm not a fan of any Chrysler or Mitsubishi product. Nissan and Mazda are decent, but not as reliable as other Japanese cars.
The Europeans build some neat cars, but you still have to have deep pockets to keep them on the road.
Lastly, Hyundai has come a very long way and the later models seems to be put together pretty well. They sell alot of car for the money. I have found that this company makes up for the low purchase price by overpricing their parts.
To sum it up, let someone else take the inititlal depreciation hit, purchase a reputable, exclusionary (not stated) coverage service contract and the only thing I would truly avoid are European cars and Chrysler.
Good luck and let me know what you get!
I'd also appreciate your feedback.
