Mechanics: What car/truck would you buy?

[twinrider1]

Here are the parameters.

--You plan to do your own maintenance/repairs.
--No more than 8 years old
--Daily driver; family man, don't need a sports car. Truck, SUV, sedan is fine.
--Best combination of dependable and easy to work on.

Seems like every model has it's quirks. Heater cores and a few certain sensors are notoriously bad on early Durangos. I recently learned Windstars have turd torque converters. I had a Beretta and they designed the serpentine belt to go THROUGH a motor mount.

So which vehicle have you found super dependable.....and surprisingly easy to work on when it did need something?

 

[jlee]

1995-2004 Tacomas are practically bulletproof.

 

[manimal]

1995-2004 Tacomas are practically bulletproof.

and cool to boot!



so many different options with so many different trade offs. When it comes to car shopping buying on opportunity will usually make your money go farther. Every car has a flaw though some are fatal.


Whats your budget?


Take the long plug 5.4 ford engine. rather robust but prone to carbon buildup and ruined blocks from plugs that wont come out. Outside of that its a great engine lol


funny enough I picked up an expedition with 250k miles and bad cats and a miss from hell for a winter beater cheap last year really cheap because nobody touches those with a ten foot pole. I pulled the plugs with an impact when the truck was warm and they all came out in a pull. Sure the cats were a few hundred but plugs and wires and some TLC and she drives like a new truck.



You could also expand your search a bit and look at 2000+ since a ton of models were redesigned within that window.

How about a 2-3k dollar altima with 120k miles. Super easy and parts galore. One of the best options since they are plentiful and can put on the miles. Sure there are cars with better mpgs but few will be as peppy.

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

1995-2004 Tacomas are practically bulletproof.

This.

I once rolled one that was a 1990 or so. Did one complete roll back on my wheels and then drove off. Ended up selling the truck a few months later for only 1k less than I bought it for.

 

[Sluggo]

Not a mechanic by trade, but I do most of my own work.

Personally, I have had excellent luck with 1999-2007 (GMT-800) GM trucks. My first one went 280,000 miles (bought it new) with no major issues, my second one is at about 190,000 miles with no major issues. The second one I bought with 100,000 miles already on it, but I figured if it went to 200,000 miles with no issues I would be fine with it.

I have also had excellent luck with Ford Expeditions. Our first one, the older body style, went to 250,000 miles with hardly any work besides maintenance. I then sold it to a guy I work with who uses it for a work truck, and it's still on the road. Found my wife a newer body style from our neighbor, bought it two years ago with 75,000 miles, and now it's at about 110,000 miles, and all we have done is put ball joints on it.

Of course it will be easy to find lots of people to say everything I listed is junk, and they wouldn't touch that crap with a 10' pole.

 

[T2urtle]

Not a mechanic as well but do a lot of work.

Most of us have our own likings mainly due to being familiar with a engine. Everyone talks about those 4 cylinder Hondas but I rarely work on them (which seems like a positive), lot of people love 3800 by GM. I love Nissans VQ and Toyota 5sfe motors. They are rather bulletproof.

I used to think 4 runners are dead solid til my friends have a small price of the engine block blow up and he takes great care of the car. It was at 150k but I think it should of made it too 300k.

 

[phucheneh]

GM fullsize trucks are kind of shitty but pretty cheap and easy to work on. GM's smaller trucks are shit-covered crap.

Hondas earn their rep for a reason. Engines are relatively bulletproof, and things that actually need service are usually pretty simple to do. Timing belts, valve adjustments, ect.

Toyota isn't much different, but I'd rank them a notch below Honda.

GM V6 cars are generally pretty decent. My biggest gripe with GM is always accessory failures. 'Government motors' is a fitting slur when you start to see that things like water pumps, alternators, A/C compressors, ect on all their modern cars are generally lowest-bidder garbage, and they tend to have clusters of failures somewhere in the general realm of 100-125k miles. Simple as hell to work on, though.

With the extremely wide range of criteria, it's just hard to recommend anything in particular. There are a lot of generally reliable cars out there. And there are a lot of 'cheap to fix' cars; often domestics, especially. It will boil down to what type of car/truck you actually desire, and whether you would rather save more money up front or do more work in the end.

If you rule out the Europeans, I honestly can't come up with much to stay away from. As a general rule, I would say buy as small as you're comfortable with. I.e. if you buy a 5000lb+ SUV, expect more failures than with a <3000lb sedan/hatchback.

Doing this for a living, all else I can volunteer is that I do generally prefer working on Japanese cars. I could write a multi-page diatribe on GM aggravations. And Ford is notoriously bad for 'HEY LOOK A BUCKET OF PARTS WE FOUND LYING AROUND! MAKE THEM WORK ON THIS CAR!' They honest-to-god seem to just throw anything together that works. Never seen so many unpublished 'split year' changes and whatnot. Never seen something as simple as a door panel with eight different size fasteners on it.

The Japanese are far from faultless, though. The best way to do this would be to say "hey, I'm looking at 'x' car, what should I be on the lookout for?"

 

[pcgeek11]

1995-2004 Tacomas are practically bulletproof.

This X 1000.

 

[Meghan54]

GM fullsize trucks are kind of shitty but pretty cheap and easy to work on.

Bullshit.

But, OP, I wouldn't consider any pickup for a daily driver UNLESS you have a specific reason for owning one----towing, need to haul crap routinely. The compromises you have to make to own a pickup---gas mileage, comfort, interior space---aren't worth it unless you're towing a boat/trailer a LOT or need the cargo capacity of a truck. Better off looking for a good car.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Personally, since I do my own repairs, I'm fine with owning something a little quirky. Someone who doesn't know how to work on cars needs a 100% bulletproof car.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Bullshit.

But, OP, I wouldn't consider any pickup for a daily driver UNLESS you have a specific reason for owning one----towing, need to haul crap routinely. The compromises you have to make to own a pickup---gas mileage, comfort, interior space---aren't worth it unless you're towing a boat/trailer a LOT or need the cargo capacity of a truck. Better off looking for a good car.

I have a ranger as my rain car and I agree with this. I would trade my ranger for a well-maintained subie in a heartbeat. I love the truck, but no real rear seats is a pain. Overall comfort and gas mileage is not that bad.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I picked up an 03 Silverado ext cab v6 for $5500 cash. Added a trailer hitch and Bluetooth pioneer deck with new door speakers for about $400 total. Installed it all myself or it would have been around $700. So under 6k invested total and it's a sweet daily driver. I'm averaging about 16.5 mpg and it's a mix of city/hwy.
I definitely suggest a pickup for under 10k. Trucks are built to last and usually outlast anything on the road.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Bullshit.

But, OP, I wouldn't consider any pickup for a daily driver UNLESS you have a specific reason for owning one----towing, need to haul crap routinely. The compromises you have to make to own a pickup---gas mileage, comfort, interior space---aren't worth it unless you're towing a boat/trailer a LOT or need the cargo capacity of a truck. Better off looking for a good car.

Comfort and interior space? Have you driven a truck within the last 10 years? Sure doesn't sound like it.

 

[halik]

Here are the parameters.

--You plan to do your own maintenance/repairs.
--No more than 8 years old
--Daily driver; family man, don't need a sports car. Truck, SUV, sedan is fine.
--Best combination of dependable and easy to work on.

Seems like every model has it's quirks. Heater cores and a few certain sensors are notoriously bad on early Durangos. I recently learned Windstars have turd torque converters. I had a Beretta and they designed the serpentine belt to go THROUGH a motor mount.

So which vehicle have you found super dependable.....and surprisingly easy to work on when it did need something?

Given the specs, why would you even consider a truck? Literally the only reason to own is a) if you're a contractor b) live on a farm.

 

[Alienwho]

Not a mechanic but I used to work for an autobody parts company. They would only buy Toyota trucks for their fleet vehicles because with regular maintenance they would last 3x longer than any other brand. They'd put on about 70k miles per year on those trucks and they'd last 5 or 6 years where all non toyotas only lasted 2 or 3.