Good Commuter Car

[Evia]

Id suggest a used camry, corolla, accord, civic, legacy or impreza with low miles. 35k miles driven a year? you might wanna consider buying new? Lots of killer 0% interest deals on new cars right now. Some even pay all your payments for this year.

I bought my new 2020 legacy through consumer reports in March and felt like I got a good deal overall. The dealership tacked on 800 dollars worth of bullshit i should have disputed after looking through the contract, but I take overpaying 800 as a win...could have been overpaying thousands.

If you do decide to go new, or relatively new, I cannot stress enough how amazing some of the new car features are. Lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control are two new features i wont go without anymore in the future after experiencing them. It takes a lot of the stressy mental work of driving and eliminates it, Allowing you to enjoy the fun aspects of the drive. My legacy also has automatic 360 braking, so that coupled with the lane assist and adaptive cruise control, and my car will essentially drive itself! even turning and braking for me and reaccelatating while I just monitor it. Its like a non electric tesla @ 1/3 the price.

I used to think i hated driving but I've learned I LOVE driving! I've just always been driving the wrong vehicles.

[Lojik]

Originally Posted by Evia [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Id suggest a used camry, corolla, accord, civic, legacy or impreza with low miles. 35k miles driven a year? you might wanna consider buying new? Lots of killer 0% interest deals on new cars right now. Some even pay all your payments for this year.

I bought my new 2020 legacy through consumer reports in March and felt like I got a good deal overall. The dealership tacked on 800 dollars worth of bullshit i should have disputed after looking through the contract, but I take overpaying 800 as a win...could have been overpaying thousands.

If you do decide to go new, or relatively new, I cannot stress enough how amazing some of the new car features are. Lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control are two new features i wont go without anymore in the future after experiencing them. It takes a lot of the stressy mental work of driving and eliminates it, Allowing you to enjoy the fun aspects of the drive. My legacy also has automatic 360 braking, so that coupled with the lane assist and adaptive cruise control, and my car will essentially drive itself! even turning and braking for me and reaccelatating while I just monitor it. Its like a non electric tesla @ 1/3 the price.

I used to think i hated driving but I've learned I LOVE driving! I've just always been driving the wrong vehicles.

My current car I bought new. The other cars I owned before were beaters. In all honesty I don't really think it was a bad purchase, it's just new cars lose so much of their value in the first 10,000 miles. 100,000 mile warranty for me was gone in 3 years. No major issues until 150,000 miles when different parts of the coolant system started to go, and then eventually I needed the turbo replaced. Before 150,000 miles, aside from oil changes/new tires I spent maybe $500 total on repairs. After that, nothing I've had to spend on repairs has been major $$ by itself except for a new turbo at $1800, but the last year it's been in the shop a lot and it's annoying.

I read a few articles this morning about how used car prices are high right now due to a lack of inventory and people not wanting to take mass transit anymore. So I'm back to being hopeful this damn leak can get fixed, cause the car is running great otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised in the next year or two for new car prices to dip a bit to be more competitive with used cars, then it might make more sense for me to consider new again. Then again maybe the government will just throw money at people and all prices will skyrocket? So many damn unknowns to deal with right now.

The good thing about my hour commute each way is I'm not really sitting in traffic so I can just throw on audiobooks. 1 hour sitting in traffic would be annoying as shit as I just can't absorb books the same way. Just getting a car with cruise control was huge, those other features sound cool too. It's weird how you can get used to a long commute.

[hobart]

At the price point I assume you're talking about considering the other cars mentioned, the only thing I'd add is Mazda.

I don't like the continuous variable transmissions that they put in a lot of the other Japanese brands. Mazda doesn't seem to use it, or at least they didn't. May be less of an issue if it's flat where you live, but it's very hilly/mountainous here.

[Topgunben]

Originally Posted by Lojik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think my Cruze is reaching the end of it's life, persistent oil leak can't seem to be fixed. What are the best commuter cars these days? Camry/accord/civic? I'd imagine now would be a great time to buy but what I'm seeing of 2012+ cars is $10,000 for 100,000 miles, seems like that's asking a lot? I average about 35,000mi/year.

Wow you drive a lot. What area do you live in and I’ll see what I can find in CL.

In the meantime you can run a heavier oil, non synthetic and that should help with the burning oil. I ran Delo 400 in my montero when it was burning oil like crazy and it helped for some time.

[Bigsham]

if your commuting an hour you need to move

[Blingy]

Originally Posted by Bigsham [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

if your commuting an hour you need to move

Depends on location and stuff. My house to Amazon HQ is about 15 miles. During rush hour this is one hour each direction. One of my friends teaches at University of Washington and lives about 30 miles away. Even during off peak times he's in an hour from doorstep to parking garage.

Other places such as San Francisco are worse.

[HalflingSpergand]

I vote fix oil leak.

[BlackBellamy]

Originally Posted by Lojik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think my Cruze is reaching the end of it's life, persistent oil leak can't seem to be fixed. What are the best commuter cars these days? Camry/accord/civic? I'd imagine now would be a great time to buy but what I'm seeing of 2012+ cars is $10,000 for 100,000 miles, seems like that's asking a lot? I average about 35,000mi/year.

A 2005 Civic LX in good shape is going to run you about 2k. I use it for commuting and also 300 mile weekend trips up to Lake Placid. I'm an aggressive driver and I beat on it and take racing lines and it's holding together quite nice. 235k miles, no leaks, had to do $500 worth of suspension work but that's only natural the way I drive.

Either that or around same year Corolla. Those 2 cars best value ever. Believe me, I have an expensive rock-crawler off-road Jeep habit so I did my research on the beater.

[Bigsham]

235k miles Lol
2k car Lol poor

jesus

[Gwaihir]

With the number of miles you're driving each year, you should be able to perform your own repairs on anything short of taking the head off for head gasket replacement. Coolant system issues such as replacing thermostats, water pumps, and inlet flanges are going to be a 3 year recurring problem buying brand new, even more frequently if you buy used, as the actual-time vs book-time difference on such minor repairs are where mechanics make their best margins on both the labor and the parts.