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OP, apparently you totally ignored my post.
Unfortunately, for $3500 cash - or less - you will NOT find more reliable vehicles than ones suggested.
SO look for single owner Buick LeSabre (does over 30mpg on FWY, btw), Buick Park Avenue, if you want old school luxury, non police Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis. Parts are cheap and abundant, cars are very easy to work on and tend to literally run forever.
I'd stay from imports, especially ones from Europe, as they tend to be "our way or freeway" and require special tools and spendy parts to work on.
Merc Sable, aka Ford Taurus, is not grandma car.
Consumer Reports says the 2008-2009 Ford Taurus is more reliable than most American cars of that vintage. And it's not hugely huge - a little easier to park. They're also among the safer cars of that era - Ford partnered with Volvo during that period, and Volvo in the late 1990s and early 2000s, led in safety. Demand for Taurus is not high, which for a buyer, is good. Mercury Sable is the same car, by the way.
You should stop reading once you hear someone mention Consumer Reports. Their data is not accurate and does not correlate to real world quality data - at all - and should never be used for a car buying decision.
On the Ford side, a Ford Fusion or Mercury Milan would be a better choice than a Taurus in my opinion.
Its really difficult to recommend a used car anymore. You arent going to get a super low mile car for $3500 unless its ancient. Cause everybody is looking for bargain. Also the really old ones that didnt get driven much tend to have problems with leaking oil seals which can be expensive due to labor costs, the actual seals are cheap. Also watch out for rotted dust boots. I replace before the joint is ruined from water and dirt. The high tech cars with age on them and out of warranty, means the smartest way to go is to carry along a screwdriver. When the magic smoke exits along freeway, remove license plate and grab any important papers. Stick out your thumb and go find another car.
This is completely against my philosophy of life. But facts is facts, unless you pretty good mechanic with place to work on it and do all repairs yourself, most low buck cars are throw away.
My best advice is if you need reliable for low bucks, find the simplest car that runs decent and has a manual transmission. Low buck cars tend not to be worth ever replacing an automatic. Again unless you have space and place to work on it and want to play whack a mole with Upullit junkyard transmissions. Seriously replacing an automatic on modern car not for feint of heart. If I were going to do one, it would be a factory rebuilt one cause I wouldnt want to do it ever again.
Would she be willing to go down in size? Some compact class sedans offer EPA midsize car rated interior passenger volume. These include the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, and VW Jetta. At that price range I think your best bet is a low mileage American or Korean brand vehicle because of depreciation. To get a Japanese brand vehicle at that price range would mean either vehicle damage and or high miles and age. No matter the brand, buying used at that price point is a risk. You may get lucky and get a good vehicle to last 3 to 5 years or you may end up with one that dies after a little more than a year.
Would she be willing to go down in size? Some compact class sedans offer EPA midsize car rated interior passenger volume. These include the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, and VW Jetta. At that price range I think your best bet is a low mileage American or Korean brand vehicle because of depreciation. To get a Japanese brand vehicle at that price range would mean either vehicle damage and or high miles and age. No matter the brand, buying used at that price point is a risk. You may get lucky and get a good vehicle to last 3 to 5 years or you may end up with one that dies after a little more than a year.
Yea, that's what I was thinking. Why does she need a midsize sedan? Why not a small compact vehicle which likely costs less and has better fuel efficiency for the same price?
Also, does she need to be doing freeway driving or go any longer distances? Would she need to do any hauling? If the answer's no to those, then a moped might make more sense with that budget.
$3500 is going to be an acceptable car, with some problems. If you want a dependable car, you're going to need to look more around $10,000. You can make a $3500 work if it's a backup car or if you're really handy and can fix it on the side of the highway when it breaks down.
For my daughter, no, I would not be looking at a $3500 car...
How about a Scion tC.. Sporty looking on some level, drives nice, lots of storage room. You could probably find one with 125K miles on it for around that price
You should stop reading once you hear someone mention Consumer Reports. Their data is not accurate and does not correlate to real world quality data - at all - and should never be used for a car buying decision.
On the Ford side, a Ford Fusion or Mercury Milan would be a better choice than a Taurus in my opinion.
You should stop reading when you hear someone bluntly dismiss Consumer Reports. Their data is accurate and is real world quality data. Moreover, it's aggregated over many buyers, it's not just an anecdote or two, so it's statistically more reliable.
You should stop reading when you hear someone bluntly dismiss Consumer Reports. Their data is accurate and is real world quality data. Moreover, it's aggregated over many buyers, it's not just an anecdote or two, so it's statistically more reliable.
As a long time Consumer Reports subscriber:
Consumer Reports automotive survey data comes from paid subscribers - not the general public.
When I hear the Consumer Reports survey results - I do take it with a grain of salt. The results come from paid subscribers who may or may not have an agenda or bias.
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