Single Mom needs an Appliance Car.

ProDarwin wrote: Appliance? Prius.

+1. My co-worker beats the ever loving crap out of his 2004 Prius and it's still going strong at ~160,000 miles. He does oil changes when the light comes on. That's about it.

12k budget.
Seems that she may not be the type to take care of her stuff (you do the maint.)
Does not have car now?

My caution would be to not buy her a $12k car but rather, buy a $6k car. Then split the remaining $6k into debit accounts that you manage/oversee. A $3k budget for insurance and a $3k budget for repairs/maint.

These may be some harsh assumptions but if she is as hard on equipment as some other people I know...
If you giver her a $12k car, she will struggle with the insurance payment (potentially letting it laps) leaving you with a wrecked car with near zero value.
or/and
The $12k car will need multi-thousands worth of maint in a brief time once the tires are bald, the suspension shot and the brakes metal to metal. To this type of driver, as long as it still gets to the store, it is not perceived as needing fixed. When it does need fixed...boy...does it need fixed!

lnlds wrote: 07-08 4 cyl accord. They don't really hold their value that well compared to their 6 cylinder counterparts. They have similar power to the v6s of yesteryear and have more passenger room than the mazda 6/fusion/milan. Gas mileage should be better than those guys as well, so if mom isn't good with her money at least she'll have less money going into the fuel tank. The k24 also has a timing chain. http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/cto/4215108194.html

If you do go this route, find one with a complete maintenance history. The K-engines do not handle long OCI's very well. They will eat chains/tensioners/guides to the tune of $8-900 in repairs.

Are -13 Darts down that far yet?

I support the 4cyl Fusion/Mz6, the mazda3, the Prius, a CPO hyundai/kia with a bangin warranty, vibe/matrix, corolla..

Buying cars for non-car people is easy.

1: Prius

2: Prius

3: Prius

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Prius yet. I'd probably go with one for anvil reliability and low maintenance costs. Fuel econ is great, too.

Fusion/Milan would be a great option.......especially being a domestic leaning decision. Skip the awd version(not great economy) The 4cyl ones would be alright. Otherwise, a 500/montego would be a good option as well(old people bought them and rarely drive them) My grandma's is an '05 and has 24k on it.

I hear Prius is a great option (are they really that good? I'd worry about battery degradation)

mndsm wrote: I hear Prius is a great option (are they really that good? I'd worry about battery degradation)

Per a close friend of mine who is responsible for maintaining a few of them professionally, they are that good. I've also read it on the Internettes, but that alone doesn't mean E36 M3.

amg_rx7 wrote: Women usually get swindled by mechanics.

berkeley you. And if you were serious, delete the smiley.

Screw the Prius. Fusion hybrid.

honda element

JohnRW1621 wrote: 12k budget. Seems that she may not be the type to take care of her stuff (you do the maint.) Does not have car now? My caution would be to not buy her a $12k car but rather, buy a $6k car. Then split the remaining $6k into debit accounts that you manage/oversee. A $3k budget for insurance and a $3k budget for repairs/maint. These may be some harsh assumptions but if she is as hard on equipment as some other people I know... If you giver her a $12k car, she will struggle with the insurance payment (potentially letting it laps) leaving you with a wrecked car with near zero value. or/and The $12k car will need multi-thousands worth of maint in a brief time once the tires are bald, the suspension shot and the brakes metal to metal. To this type of driver, as long as it still gets to the store, it is not perceived as needing fixed. When it does need fixed...boy...does it need fixed!

This is an interesting thought and has crossed my mind.

I too am worried about battery replacement costs for a Prius. Would like to keep things as simple as possible.

A Dart might be a not horrible idea. Might take a look at those.

Was hoping Cruze prices were a bit lower, wonder what 2013 holdouts would go for right now with a employee discount.

You can buy a lot of Tahoe for $8k, and have enough left over from your $12k for gas and maintenance for the next 2 years.

$12k plus whatever she is driving now and she can drive home and brand new Mitsubishi Mirage or Nissan Versa. There is something to be said for brand new when you are buying an appliance, and the Mirage gets Prius mpgs.

I don't know about the newest ones, but Toyotas seem pretty easy to run out of oil for people who are good at abusing things.

One exception would be the Lexus LS400 and similar, I see many of those that look like that have been abused badly for years but still run and don't even sound bad.

Another vote for the mazda based vehicles, and my old 2.0 MZ3 and MS3 were both chain's

Powar wrote: I'm surprised no one has mentioned Prius yet. I'd probably go with one for anvil reliability and low maintenance costs. Fuel econ is great, too.

it's been mentioned several times

oh … and he mentioned in his first post, that, since living in Detroit, he like to stay with a domestic brand

Careful with all that "transfer" jazz. I don't know how it works in Michigan, but if you try and transfer title after you bought the car you might get hit for paying sales tax twice, not to mention other fees.

I have an 07 Prius... Great car if you're not picky!!

We bought ours with 209k and... im pretty sure it has had ZERO repairs. Due to regen braking an a 99% highway one-owner lifestyle before us, it STILL HAS THE ORIGINAL BRAKE PADS.

Prius batteries are way more reliable than your average automatic transmission and dont cost any more. Keep that in mind.

As you can tell by my last post, i didnt come in here specifically to push the Prius, but it IS a great car, especially for a non-enthusiast.

I have to agree with the others about the fusion/Milan. A 4cyl fwd Escape would be good too. Keep it simple, keep a little cash for maintaining it (maybe just get it all services before you hand it over). A previous gen impala would be cheap and anvil reliable as well, but it would use more gas.

Alan Cesar wrote: That said, I don't think I've ever heard a normal person complain about a Toyota Corolla.

I'll bite. I'm seeing a LOT of oil burning issues on 10 year old examples. Can't say I know how that relates to newer ones, but it sucks when the ultimate idiot-proof appliance smokes and uses a more than a quart every 1000 miles.

belteshazzar wrote:

Alan Cesar wrote: That said, I don't think I've ever heard a normal person complain about a Toyota Corolla.

I'll bite. I'm seeing a LOT of oil burning issues on 10 year old examples. Can't say I know how that relates to newer ones, but it sucks when the ultimate idiot-proof appliance smokes and uses a more than a quart every 1000 miles.

That's what 10 year old 4cyl Accords do too.

I know domestics are hip in Detroit, but just as a data point, we bought an '05 Accord with 120K on it 3 years ago for $8K. The previous owner had essentially nothing go wrong with the car and couldn't remember repairs other than a radiator/bumper after a deer strike and some oil changes. I tackled the deferred maintenance immediately. Brakes, battery, plugs, valve adjustment (which wound up being unnecessary), fluids and a ball joint.

Since then, it's not been babied, being driven almost entirely in <3 mile trips around town in traffic. But in the last 35K the only non-consumable I've had to replace was an O2 sensor.

And except for the berkeleying oil filter location, every time I've worked on it I find some helpful piece of engineering that leaves me feeling like someone thought out every goddamn detail on the car. The marks on the cams for valve adjustments. The cutout in the fender liner to let you get a socket on the crank pulley. The alignment holes you stick a metal rod through to hold the control arm in the right position so you can torque the bushings without having the car on the ground. Coming from european stuff, it's absolutely stupefying how good it is.

Maybe people have that kind of luck with Fusions, too. But this car gets a solid 10/10 from me.