The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Stacheintraining on May 06, 2014, 07:29:33 PM
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I currently drive a 2001 Nissan Maxima with 186,000 miles which gets 20-22mpg on averges. It is also not the most reliable car. I recently accepted a job which will be a daily round-trip commute of 50 miles. I know..not very mustachian. My current rent is $400, and I like where I live, so moving is not an option.
The longer commute is making buying a different car a necessity. I want to be mustachian with this purchase and am having a hard time figuring out where on the price spectrum to land. On one hand, I think it makes sense to spend 10k on a car with 40-75k miles which will easily last me 5 year without a lot of repairs. On the other hand, there are cheaper cars for 5-7k that are higher miles, but I don't know how long I'll get out of them before majors repairs are necessary.
So my question is.. what price range do you all think is best for this situation? Also, if you have any models you suggest that would be great! I want to get 33+ highway miles.
-Staceintraining
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It's hard to go wrong from the reliability standpoint if you stick to Honda or Toyota. For 33+ highway, in the small range, I'd suggest a 2006+ Civic, 2007+ Prius, or 2009+ Corolla. You can find all three for under 10k without much trouble. You'll get the best mileage from the Prius, followed by the Civic, followed by the Corolla. I didn't recommend any earlier years because none of the earlier years came standard with side head/torso airbags.
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I agree with the poster below on Honda Civics and the like. I'd throw in Scion xAs, Honda Fits, Scion xB, VW Golfs (starting around 2008-2009 or newer), etc. Consumer Reports is a great place to go for that info. If you don't already have a membership (or can borrow a friend/family member's online login, as I do), then it would be worth seeking out their used car buying guide.