Car Shopping

The double clutch trannys on the Focus are garbage.

I really liked the new Honda Civic when I test drove it.

Problem with newer cars is direct injection. And I'm not sure if the motors in the new Toyota sedans have timing belts or chains. Chains are wonderful, especially if it's a non interference motor.

If you're drive didn't involve traffic, I would suggest a manual transmission. Most manufacturers are going towards the CVT, which I'm pretty leery of. Some have pulled it off better than others, but all in all still aren't the most reliable.

I would simply Google the living crap out of whatever car you're looking at. But I would highly suggest staying away from pretty much all domestic cars especially Chrysler, European, and Mitsubishi. Nissan has also got considerably worse reliability wise, mostly concerning their CVT transmission.

Hyundai has come a long way and has a great warranty. But their cars look like ugly copies of European designs.
Not sure if Subaru fixed their head gasket problems.
Haven't heard much on KIA

Take a look at the new Civic. Much larger the earlier gen, and the base model I drove was only $18k. The Corolla is also a nice car, but visibly looks smaller than the Civic.

Subaru fixed their head gasket issues, but wound up having torque converter issues in their lineartronic transmissions..... Ask me how I know this...

Given the mileage you're going to be putting on this thing USAF, I'd highly recommend going with something that has a nice, long, comprehensive warranty. Take it from someone who has put 120k miles on their car in 4 years.

Kias are really reliable and have come a long way in their time on the market, but they're frikken LOUD when it comes to road noise.

Mazda is solid. Let me rephrase that... Mazdas are probably the most dependable and best cars out there right now for the money. My 6s was a tank when it came to dependability. The wife's '09 Mazda 3s is closing in on 100k miles and the most we've had to do to it is change the oil and tires. We're likely going to go with the CX series for her next car later this year.

Whichever car you decide to go with, lurk around an owner forum for a week or 2 before deciding to see what kind of issues people are having with it.  

The only thing you mentioned that I have any experience with is the fusion. I've got an '09, so its a little older, but its a fantastic car.
The one I have is in no way even remotely built for power, but for economy. It's not a sprinter, but its a hell of a marathon runner. Long road trips are a cinch in it. It gets excellent highway miles and is very comfortable.

Also quite safe in crashes which involve animals of the hooved kind. I bulls-eyed a doe with it a few weeks back, killed her immediately, and did a mere bend in the hood that I'm not going to even bother to fix.

Oddly, its even good in the snow.

I've got an 800 mile drive to Kentucky for a wedding coming up this April, and I'm looking forward to the trip, only because this car is such a good set of wheels under me.

Reb Cpl wrote: The only thing you mentioned that I have any experience with is the fusion. I've got an '09, so its a little older, but its a fantastic car. The one I have is in no way even remotely built for power, but for economy. It's not a sprinter, but its a hell of a marathon runner. Long road trips are a cinch in it. It gets excellent highway miles and is very comfortable. Also quite safe in crashes which involve animals of the hooved kind. I bulls-eyed a doe with it a few weeks back, killed her immediately, and did a mere bend in the hood that I'm not going to even bother to fix. Oddly, its even good in the snow. I've got an 800 mile drive to Kentucky for a wedding coming up this April, and I'm looking forward to the trip, only because this car is such a good set of wheels under me.

If any set of four wheels can survive Rebs luck it might be the best vehicle known to man.

I got my wife the new Honda HRV. It is a bit smaller than the CRV, but doesn't feel like it inside. I've literally hauled the kitchen sink in this thing and the way the seats fold down (or up giving you tons of room from the floor) are amazing. 

I haven't bought a new vehicle for myself since my '90 gmc, I like running used.  I'm not sure where you live, so if you don't need awd, I would avoid it.  You get better mileage and there's less maintenance costs down the road. Take lots of test drives, or if you know a friend or co-worker that has one that similar to what you want, talk to them about it, sit in it, check for things like blind spots which are different in every vehicle and depending on how tall you are; some are definitely better than others. I like the hunt of looking for a vehicle, I always have a make/model/ year range in mind and have spent up to a year looking for the right one.

Edited by JohnnyCanuck - 18 January 2017 at 10:40pm