The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: jkitiara on June 09, 2017, 08:48:53 AM
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After 15 years of being car free, the hubby and I are giving in and getting a car. The last list I see from MMM of great used cars to get is pretty old. What is your favorite recent-ish car to own? We're thinking something in the 2013-2015 range. We often rent the Honda Fit, but that seems a mite small--it barely fits our kiddo in a car seat plus all his junk already. So a size up from that.
Thoughts?
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What is your target for cost? What will you be using it for? How many miles will you drive it a month?
If you need more room than the Fit, you could look into the Toyota Rav-4, the Honda CRV, or the Honda HRV. We'd be able to give more accurate suggestions with more info.
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FWIW my wife has a Honda Element and we love it. Honda reliability, pretty cheap to fix, decent gas mileage, and the cargo space of a boxcar. And it is AWD which is great for winter.
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Would the Scion xB be suitable?
Realistically, most of the cars from common brands are fine. Pick the one that suits you best.
Maybe a mini-minivan like the Mazda5 if they're still available.
I think people are taking the MMM list a bit too literally, it's there as a guide. Similar cars from a few years later are fine.
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Looks like you're in SF, and CA still has an electric vehicle rebate (https://driveclean.ca.gov/pev/Costs/Vehicles.php). So, I'd recommend a Nissan Leaf (we have had two for three years now; love them both). MMM wrote an article about buying his.
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Thanks all. After poking around on my own, I'm leaning toward a Honda Civic or Toyota Camry. The leaf is too small and I don't want an SUV or crossover type vehicle. I think you're right that the common brands are fine.
I was thinking $12k for price, but I suspect I may be delusional.
Mileage--who knows? I haven't owned a car in so long. Neither of us will be commuting. It's a groceries/doctor/weekend trip car.
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It's pretty hard to go wrong with a Corolla, Camry, Civic, or Accord. My son recently picked up a 2007 Camry with about 60k on it for 9 grand. It'll get 32-34 mpg on the highway and last forever if it's taken care of.
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You're dragging too much kid stuff around if the kid and stuff can't fit in a Fit, but when we went from one to three we got a C-Max Energi off-lease for about the price you're stating.