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nnodley on 05 September 2012
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Axerob said:
nnodley said:
Thanks everyone for your opinions. I still have a while to decide, but I'll try to take some of the things said here and hopefully be able to choose. I still have no idea what I want. I hated trying to find what car I wanted when I got my jeep and this will probably be worse because I know that I have to pay for it.

I do have another question because as homer stated I need to see which ones are easier to fix. So out of the three listed does anyone know which one is the easiest and has the least amount of problems based on there own experiences.


I've owned a lot of cars from different manufacturers and have worked on numerous vehicles in general.  Here's what I have to say.

If you take care of any car, it's going to last 200,000+ miles.  Proper care of a car is very expensive, but fifteen years down the road you'll be thanking yourself. There are always, however, bad eggs that just like to constantly fail and it happens with EVERY type of car.

Honestly, any vehicle from the 2010's on from any manufacturer is made with similar quality and reliability(With the exception of Dodge/Chrystler/etc..yuck).  GM stepped their game up(GM is still the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world for a reason, people), Ford learned from their mistakes, etc.

Of those three, i'd probably go with the Cruze. Driving toyota's is always a bore and I've had nothing but troubles with Kia(pre 2005 mind you). I did get the opportunity to test drive a Cruze when car hunting and it was my second favorite of the few i tested.(I tested a 06 Mazda 6s, a 02 Pontiac Bonneville, 08 Honda Civic, and a Cruze).  I did end up buying the bonneville because it was my favorite of the three(I'm a joyrider, it was more powerful by far than anything else and I still get 32 mpg highway)

I really don't see why everyone is saying American made vehicles suck.  In the 90s they were bad, but i have seen a lot of Pontiacs ranging from 2000-2005 and they have ALL made it to 200,000+ miles.  Even my 2002 Bonneville has 151k miles on it and the only thing i've had to replace on it is a plastic hose. My father has a 93 explorer with 250k miles on it, the body is shot(bondo!) but it is mechanically sound and is still a daily driver.

In terms of repair, every vehichle has things that are extremely easy to repair and things that are a complete pain in the ass.  If you plan on changing your own oil in your car, you'll want to avoid anything that's difficult to work on maintenance wise.  I haven't worked on any of the three vehicles so I can't really say much about them, but i've come to notice that working on Foriegn vehicles is more of a pain. In terms of costs, buying the parts for foriegn vehicles are going to cost you an arm and a leg and you'll be surprised at how expensive some things can be.  

Bottom line, if you beat the shit out of a car constantly it's not going to last.

Thanks for the response.  I am not a rough driver and I try to be as carefull as I can.  My 02 jeep grand cherokee has 130,000 miles on it and it is still driving really good. It's got some problems but it is at least drivable.