what car, well, truck or suv better... daughter edition

So having cracked the oil pan on the e30, and now a failed half shaft (recently replaced, but somebody's reman - I should go pull one from a bone yard...), and daughter is thinking of buying a car. Figure somewhere around $8k budget, bulletproof gas/oil only required (she likes cool vehicles, but cares not about maintaining them beyond...). She doesn't much pay attention to the surfaces over which she drives (thus, cracked pan...), so a small truck might be a good idea.

How are the suzuki vitara 4x's? We had an 02 tracker 2wd auto (man, was that a slug), and that was bullet proof, hope the 4x's are. The bonus seems to be that they're dirt cheap.

What else like that? I know y'all have said Rangers, and my parents have had pretty good luck with Tahoe's when they pick up a used one.

I thought about Tacoma's, but a lot of those seem really high mileage.

What else?

I was going to say Ranger, cheap and easy to fix, at that price point you can get a dang nice one in the south

Given your parameters, I'd say CR-V or Rav-4. At 8K, you should be able to pick up a pretty nice one.

Escape, Exploder, Colorado. Any of those at $8K should be in great shape.

The Suzuki stuff is pretty good, but the V6s have some timing chain issues that will take out the engine.

And if she isn't already, make her pay for the repairs. It makes them a much better driver.

Has an older Venza fallen into that price range yet?

Toyota Matrix AWD or Pontiac Vibe AWD, though the Honda CRV would be a close 2nd. Though you really only need the AWD if you live in a snowy climate like me.

She's been paying for repairs recently, and due partially to that is now considering getting something else. Timing wise it's probably just as well.

Her desire after she graduates is to move to somewhere snowy (why? probably because she's never lived in it before...), where there's culture and a city and theater and such.

Hadn't thought about a Matrix, and didn't know they made awd. As long as it's bullet proof, because if she moves, no access to the spare car. That and dad worries about his little girl (which, she'll be when she's 50 - should I live that long...).

kazoospec wrote: Given your parameters, I'd say CR-V or Rav-4. At 8K, you should be able to pick up a pretty nice one.

These two were my first thoughts as well, although I do like the Vibe/Matrix recommendations as well.