My wife started law school this week. Its an 80 mile (all highway) each way commute. both of our cars are already pretty used. 200K on our freestyle and 165K on our taurus (which is on its 3rd transmission.) She's going to need dependable transportation for 3 years, including 3 Lake effect snow winters of Northern IN.

We have some cash saved up and are considering buying a $10K or less law school mobile. But we hesitate because we know she's gonna put 100,000 miles on it in those three years... and whatever we buy will be worthless when she's done.

should we buy something more expensive with less miles to ensure greater longevity, or something cheaper with more miles so the depreciation doesn't hurt so badly?


Any car recommendations would be appreciated as well. Thanks!

 

My wife had a long commute for work (>50 miles each way) and we got her a Focus. The last one was over 125,000 miles when I sold it. That car was her second Focus for commuting and served us well. The nice thing about it for the winter is you can get heated seats. MPG was great as well.

Now that she is retired she prefers the Lincoln MKZ I got for her and the heated and cooled seats. LOL

I'm looking at another Focus or Fiesta now because I have a long commute. Tell your wife good luck in law school, I worked full time and commuted to law school at night in the early 80's

 

Fiesta!

 

I would look at a 2000 to 2004 Buick Le Sabre with the 3.8L V6.

You can get one barely used for $5000 every day of the week, and it will get high 20s for gas mileage (mine averages 29) and do so in extreme comfort. Front drive with traction control will laugh at winter weather (I'm from Iowa).

I average 300k + out of the three that I have owned. They are the best American car ever made, imo.

Drew

 

A mid 2000s Honda Accord can be had for your budget and they run forever. It's a big enough car to be comfortable for your wife and gets very good mileage.

 

Anything Toyota or Honda should get the job done.

 

I have a commute that's 90 miles a day (45 each way) and drive a Mini Countryman AWD S. It gets great gas mileage and we have the service contract that goes through 70k miles I believe (the first 30k miles are on Mini). We had the Cooper S before, which I actually prefer, but we needed a car with a usable back seat... LOL! If I didn't like the Mini's so much, I definitely would be looking at a Fiesta though. I like the look and they too get some great gas mileage...

 

Reliability should be concern 1 for commuting in the snow. I've been stranded in a snowstorm, it's not fun. Find something reliable for around $9k and then pay for some new, quality winter tires that you can throw on when the white stuff comes. I'd recommend a Focus that's no older than 2007, but that's because I like the Focus. Honestly, there are a lot of Hondas, Toyotas, and even Mazdas that could fit the bill.

Don't worry about depreciation until you're ready to sell it, resale value don't mean **** when she's stuck in the snow waiting for a tow truck. And by the time you're ready to sell it your wife will be a big-city lawyer so she'll be shopping for a BMW anyway

 

I like the way this guy thinks. Plus you will have so many miles on it....it wont matter anyways. :-)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-GS-Base-Sedan-4-Door-4-0-l-traction-control-rear-wheel-drive-tires-front-performance-power-/140919258492?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item20cf713d7c&vxp=mtr
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-Other-GS-300-GS-300-/330952327376?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4d0e4bc0d0&vxp=mtr
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-GS-Base-Sedan-4-Door-UPGRADED-CHROME-WHEELS-HEATED-LEATHER-TINTS-SUNROOF-SPOILER-/221264769626?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item338468725a&vxp=mtr
we had a 2k gs300 and loved it. Yes its rear wheel drive but we never had 1 problem with it through the winters around here. These cars will go well over 200k miles. Ours had 167k on it when we sold it and still running strong.

 

thanks for all the responses! We're still about 2 or three months away from making the purchase, but we're looking at maybe a 2003-2006 Sebring. There seems to be a lot of them out there around 7-$8K with 60K miles or so. The other makes seem have higher mileage with higher prices on average. Would totally consider a mini, so i'll keep searching those for sure. but the Sebring is bigger, option for 4-doors (we have two small children, ages 2 and 3) or convertible which doesn't hurt either. Does anyone have any experience with a Sebring?

 

I know of several people that have had them. A few had top end problems. That's all I know and I would doubt that they will go to far beyond 100k miles with out having to do some work on them. There's a reason there's so many Sebring out there for sale. I would vote against those strongly. I also would not want my wife driving a focus or a mini just because there isn't enough metal around her. I know crash test bla bla bla. Go for a mid sized car at least. Yea you might lose a mpg of two but you will at least know she will be safer in the long run. Look around and test drive one of those gs300's good size safe with plenty of room in the back seats and a great track record.

on the other hand maybe another one to look at would be the mazda6




I like going on fleebay and using the search fuction
price range and distance from zip code

http://www.ebay.com/motors

something always catches your eye that way.

 

After having done the math, mpg should be the absolutely last thing you should consider. Fuel costs just do not amount to much, in the long run, compared to buying and maintaining a car.

I will also recommend against the Sebring. I occasionally walk through our local junkyard and am noticing a lot of 2000-ish Sebrings out there. I call that an "indicator".

I will reiterate: Buick really got it right with the 3.8L Le Sabres. I get it's an old guy car, and it's zero on the cool meter, but they are consistently Good Cars that are reasonably efficient, low cost of maintenance and run forever.

 

+1 to avoid the Sebring ... or pretty much anything Chrysler from that period. My old '97 Dodge Intrepid was ready for a junkyard by the time it hit 100,000 miles. I sold it for $1,500 back in 2008 when I bought the Fusion.

Last year I bought a 3 year old Honda Fit automatic, with ~50,000 miles, for $10,000. That was my budget and I thing I got the best deal possible, even though I'm not a fan of Hondas. Very reliable, a lot of space and I've been averaging 40+ mpg on the highway. Plus, its a Honda so resale value is gonna be really great.

 

I'm also trying to battle the "I don't want to drive that" with her. We are going to have to compromise on a car she'd be willing to actually drive. She's not too excited about the Buick lol, but I tried to sell it, I really did. She'd probably be all over the Lexus though if I can find one with decent miles. I've also been looking at Volvo S40s

 

Yeah, I get that. I had to take a shot, though.

I've found with the competent Japanese built cars "decent miles" has an entirely different meaning.

If I were in the market for one right now, I wouldn't be shy of picking up an under 150,000 mile Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Lexus, Acura for under $10k, and replace all the service limited parts, if you could. I'd consider that the equivalent of a 50,000 mile US built car, with a few exceptions.

 

My dad had a 1999 Lexus GS300 back in the day...fantastic car, great ride comfort, super reliable...arguably one of the best cars Lexus has ever made.

As an added bonus, it's also sweet looking!

Nick C.

 

Just avoid 1998-2004 Hondas and Acuras with automatic transmissions, they have a lot of issues.

 

I had two Accord autos. V6 and I4, an 03 and 04. Neither had any issues but I have heard that before. Wish I hadn't sold either some times.

 

My gf has a 04 civic and has no tranmission problems, and my grandparents 99 accord with over 230k miles has had no transmission problems.