Dad needs new car wants to spend between 5-15 k

[DVad3r]

My dad's 1992 Toyota Camry station wagon with the I4 engine is approaching the 560,000 km mark. It's so corroded that it can't go on a lift anymore because it will collapse lol.

My dad is a pure station wagon guy, he likes cars the size of a Camry with space so he can haul his junk. By junk I mean going to home depot and throwing stuff in. Getting a real Christmas tree and throwing it in. Etc...

He wants something that will replace his Camry. It has be be similar on gas or better, have enough space, and be reliable like his Camry, that thing was pretty much bulletproof aside from routine maintenance.

His ultimate car would be finding a similar Camry somewhere in the US with lower mileage etc. The dude is batshit crazy 😛

Any advice on what to get?

 

[thedarkwolf]

toyota matrix/pontiac vibe
Station wagon built on the corolla platform. I just bought an o3 vibe with 200k miles on it a couple months back for $2200 and so far so good. The rear hatch area is all textured plastic with a rail system for tying crap down and standard tie downs all over the damn place.

 

[BurnItDwn]

A buddy of mine had a Toyota Matrix for like 6 or 7 years ... He spent less than 15K back then for brand new, and even with nearly 200K miles on it, the dealer gave him 5K for trade in.... was a pretty nice car too IMO.

I have a Subaru Forester, a little less economical, and not quite as long, but I can carry a 5 foot long 30ish inch height TV stand or a two 24 inch wide kitchen cabinet bases in the back of my car ...

 

[CraigRT]

If he wants to keep it in the family he really doesn't have any other options aside from a Matrix (if he wants newer especially) and it is right within his price range. We had an 07 pool vehicle Matrix at work, it was reliable.

 

[ballmode]

chevy malibu maxx

rear seats slide foward!
vibe/matrix
outback
mazda protege wagon

 

[BudAshes]

If he's in canada I'd go subaru. AWD is nice in the snow.

 

[50 mpg by 2012]

Try

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/powerSearch.jsp

This is a very powerful "single pass" search engine all the way back to 1984.

Pick year(s) range, MSRP (for 2010 and newer), brand, style, fuel, MT/AT/don't care, etc ... even mpg range or greater than (city/highway/combined) ... for results up to 300 vehicles.

I just ran a single pass search for new vehicles under $15k and found 41 with fuel economies between 26 and 34 mpg combined (36 if he's interested in a Smart fortwo).

Oh, and IF data is available it displays USER MPG Estimates.

And ... just looking at the results ... the 2012 Hyundai Accent might work

Hope this helps ...

 

[NutBucket]

An Accent is way too small if dad is used to a Camry Wagon.

I'd have to say Forester or Outback. Pretty hard to find midsize wagons these days.