Car people--help, please?

[Immadismom]

My family has three Nissans with CVT (a 2009, 2010 and 2014) and we've had no issues with the transmissions. The two older ones had repeated issues with the mufflers rusting out. My parents' '09 Cube has around 180k miles.

We purchased a 2012 Nissan Sentra with the CVT and had 58,000 miles on it. At 96,000 we had to replace the transmission. We’ve also replaced the A/C, and now it’s showing codes for an O2 sensor, clutch solenoid sensor, and lean fuel code. It also needs a left front rack & pinion. We will NEVER own another Nissan anything. Currently looking to sell or trade it for a Honda or Toyota.

 

[DeeBee3]

I would also consider the weather where she will be. I love my Subaru, but it's not going to get you the best gas mileage. It will do wonders if you are dealing with snowy weather. I have had 2 - a Legacy and a Forester. They are also very high in the overall safety ratings.

 

[kymom99]

Yikes on the Nissan! We are a Toyota family, but DH's coworker had a 2017 Nissan Altima with low miles for a tremendous price in this market for our son. DH is worried about the transmission, but I said it was a deal we couldn't pass up. Hopefully I am correct!!!

I have a 2012 Altima that’s still going strong with about 150k miles. No transmissions issues ever.

 

[kymom99]

Unfortunately, my daughter will absolutely have to have a vehicle with what she is doing and where she is going. There is practically no public transportation and she will need to be able to get to two different parts of town on a regular basis, and is unable to live on campus and will have to drive there from her apartment as well.

I REALLY wish she could just take the old Lexus. I just don't trust it anymore. It continuously overheats, and every time it is supposedly fixed it's fine for a while and then something happens again. Anyway, my son will be driving soon and it makes more sense for him to drive it since he'll be local, and for her to have something more dependable. Although I would love to put off a vehicle purchase, it would just be kicking the can down the road for less than a year.

We're not at all sold on the Honda Fit or the Mazda 3, they're just vehicles that my brother (who knows more about cars than my husband or me) recommended as reliable, safe, and fairly inexpensive.

I hate that we have to purchase a car NOW but sometimes things don't go your way, haha.

any chance you could get yourself a new car and she take what you already have?

 

[DLgal]

We traded in a 2009 Honda Fit in 2017 for a new Civic. The Fit is a bare bones car, and it's fine for tooling around town, but it is the MOST uncomfortable ride I've experienced in a car. The seats are rock hard and unsupportive, the cabin is loud, and there is NO shock absorbing at all so you feel literally every bump in the road. Driving one of those across the country would be a nightmare.

My husband traded up to a Civic Sport Touring Hatchback for his 80 mile each way commute and has been very pleased.

The Civic is an outstanding car and I recommend one of those. 2017 or newer model. The hatchback model has a massive cargo space.

 

[kymom99]

We traded in a 2009 Honda Fit in 2017 for a new Civic. The Fit is a bare bones car, and it's fine for tooling around town, but it is the MOST uncomfortable ride I've experienced in a car. The seats are rock hard and unsupportive, the cabin is loud, and there is NO shock absorbing at all so you feel literally every bump in the road. Driving one of those across the country would be a nightmare.

My husband traded up to a Civic Sport Touring Hatchback for his 80 mile each way commute and has been very pleased.

The Civic is an outstanding car and I recommend one of those. 2017 or newer model. The hatchback model has a massive cargo space.

Agree with you on the Honda. My son has a 2018 that he/we have driven all over the country. It’s a very nice ride, even with the base model.

 

[Dan Murphy]

(There are sub $200 lease deals to be had still)

I'm confident that taxes, fees and some down payment would need to be paid to be under $200.

 

[morgan98]

We traded in a 2009 Honda Fit in 2017 for a new Civic. The Fit is a bare bones car, and it's fine for tooling around town, but it is the MOST uncomfortable ride I've experienced in a car. The seats are rock hard and unsupportive, the cabin is loud, and there is NO shock absorbing at all so you feel literally every bump in the road. Driving one of those across the country would be a nightmare.

My husband traded up to a Civic Sport Touring Hatchback for his 80 mile each way commute and has been very pleased.

The Civic is an outstanding car and I recommend one of those. 2017 or newer model. The hatchback model has a massive cargo space.

This is actually what I currently drive - a 2018 Civic Hatchback Sport. I love it. It has many of the upgrades of a more expensive car and tons of space for what you get. It is comfortable and fun to drive. Previously, I had been driving larger and much more expensive vehicles, but it is only me in this car 99% of the time, so it was ridiculous (to me) to get something larger.

Thanks to the pandemic, and being able to work from home much more, I have hardly put any miles on it in the past two years or so. I plan on keeping this car for a very long time.

 

[LYSE]

I'm confident that taxes, fees and some down payment would need to be paid to be under $200.

In most cases yes, still easy to be around 10k all in for 36 months.

 

[Moliphino]

We traded in a 2009 Honda Fit in 2017 for a new Civic. The Fit is a bare bones car, and it's fine for tooling around town, but it is the MOST uncomfortable ride I've experienced in a car. The seats are rock hard and unsupportive, the cabin is loud, and there is NO shock absorbing at all so you feel literally every bump in the road. Driving one of those across the country would be a nightmare.

My parents drove their Fit from MA to GA to pick me up from college when I graduated and they quickly learned to never do that again. My dad used it as his commuting car for years, but once he developed back problems he had to switch to the Cube. It really is terribly uncomfortable.

 

[Sinder]

Op an ad popped up on my Facebook for nissan versa sedan summer savings- msrp starting at $15,5xx
Thought of you

 

[_19disnA]

What matter more when deciding to buy a 10+ yr old used car is how many miles it has, how it was driven (i.e. city vs. highway), how well it was maintained and what part of the country it is from. Rust can be a significant issue in older cars from parts of the country when snow/ice/road salt are common. Poor maintenance can cause of lot of issues as cars get older and has nothing to do with the 'reputation' of a particular model/brand. I would also get a reputable mechanic to check over any used car you are considering buying. I would prefer to buy from a well-known dealer's used car lot instead of some privately run car lot where you have NO idea if anything the person is telling you is true about a vehicle.

 

[leahgoogle]

I drive one every day. It's 8 years old with almost 80k miles, no plans to replace it anytime soon. My only issue has been mice getting into my air vents.

We had mice getting into our Toyota Highlander's air vents! It was a total pain!

 

[robinb]

It’s my opinion that teen drivers should have all the possible safety features.

 

[_19disnA]

I am not so sure that new drivers should have a car with all of those latest safety features. Things like anti-lock brakes or 4 wheel drive are good since they happen automatically. However, I drive a new car and it has ALL kinds of things that beep/buzz/chime/flash various warnings during normal driving which I find a huge distraction. You have to take your eyes off of the road and scan the displays to see what the vehicle thinks you are doing wrong. For a new driver, I think that would take their attention away from watching the road. Fortunately, there is a way to turn all of these random warnings off.

Makes me wonder how practical it will ever be to have 'self driving' vehicles when they currently can't even provide me meaningful warning messages during normal driving. The software/sensors/cameras/etc. would have to be enormously complex and work flawlessly every time. I just don't see that as being currently practical.

 

[kymom99]

I am not so sure that new drivers should have a car with all of those latest safety features. Things like anti-lock brakes or 4 wheel drive are good since they happen automatically. However, I drive a new car and it has ALL kinds of things that beep/buzz/chime/flash various warnings during normal driving which I find a huge distraction. You have to take your eyes off of the road and scan the displays to see what the vehicle thinks you are doing wrong. For a new driver, I think that would take their attention away from watching the road. Fortunately, there is a way to turn all of these random warnings off.

Makes me wonder how practical it will ever be to have 'self driving' vehicles when they currently can't even provide me meaningful warning messages during normal driving. The software/sensors/cameras/etc. would have to be enormously complex and work flawlessly every time. I just don't see that as being currently practical.

Nothing can really replace safe, defensive driving.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I would also consider the weather where she will be. I love my Subaru, but it's not going to get you the best gas mileage. It will do wonders if you are dealing with snowy weather. I have had 2 - a Legacy and a Forester. They are also very high in the overall safety ratings.

My thoughts exactly. We are a Subaru family. DH has an Outback, I have a Legacy Limited and son (in TX) has a Forester Sport.

When our son went to college we bought a new Subaru Impreza for him to replace his rear wheel drive BMW which wasn't good in the winter. He has had one more Impreza, two Crosstrek's and is on his second Forester. We've never had any major issues with these cars though we do all seem to trade at around 50K for new.

Value holds really well, in fact my Legacy (2020) and DH's Outback (2020) are both worth more than what we paid. We're in NH and never worry about getting around in the snow. There is a Starlink subscription service we both have to start our cars in the winter - priceless!

Good luck!

 

[DLgal]

I am not so sure that new drivers should have a car with all of those latest safety features. Things like anti-lock brakes or 4 wheel drive are good since they happen automatically. However, I drive a new car and it has ALL kinds of things that beep/buzz/chime/flash various warnings during normal driving which I find a huge distraction. You have to take your eyes off of the road and scan the displays to see what the vehicle thinks you are doing wrong. For a new driver, I think that would take their attention away from watching the road. Fortunately, there is a way to turn all of these random warnings off.

Makes me wonder how practical it will ever be to have 'self driving' vehicles when they currently can't even provide me meaningful warning messages during normal driving. The software/sensors/cameras/etc. would have to be enormously complex and work flawlessly every time. I just don't see that as being currently practical.

I agree with this so much that my son is currently learning how to drive in my 2007 "dumb" CR-V, and he hasn't even been behind the wheel of my husband's 2017 "spaceship" Civic. He has ADHD and the display alone will distract him. Once he actually has his license (has a permit now) we will let him start driving DHs car every once in awhile.

I do think drivers should have experience on many different types of cars, because a driver should be able to get behind the wheel of ANY car and drive it competently. And for what it's worth, the safety features on the Hondas, at least, are active, meaning if you don't react to the alerts immeduately, the car will take over and "do the thing" for you (steer back into a lane, apply the brake, etc). Those features have saved my husband from many accidents in the last 5 years. He was struggling with daytime sleepiness due to undiagnosed sleep apnea and that car stopped him from running off the road/out of his lane more than once when he nodded off behind the wheel going 80mph on his commute home. Thankfully, he now has a CPAP and this is no longer an issue.

 

[tvguy]

And for what it's worth, the safety features on the Hondas, at least, are active, meaning if you don't react to the alerts immeduately, the car will take over and "do the thing" for you (steer back into a lane, apply the brake, etc). Those features have saved my husband from many accidents in the last 5 years. He was struggling with daytime sleepiness due to undiagnosed sleep apnea and that car stopped him from running off the road/out of his lane more than once when he nodded off behind the wheel going 80mph on his commute home. Thankfully, he now has a CPAP and this is no longer an issue.

Our Toyota has those features, and to be honest, I find them at times to be a safety distraction. The lane monitoring feature in particular because so many of our roads have the remnants of old lines on them that the car can't tell what is the current lines or the old lines that have been partially removed. Especially on freeways where they have done lane shifts during construction, then the faint lines remain when they end the lane shifting. I have left the safety features on, but more than one of my neighbors with Toyotas and Lexuses have turned it off because of how distracting they are.

 

[DLgal]

Our Toyota has those features, and to be honest, I find them at times to be a safety distraction. The lane monitoring feature in particular because so many of our roads have the remnants of old lines on them that the car can't tell what is the current lines or the old lines that have been partially removed. Especially on freeways where they have done lane shifts during construction, then the faint lines remain when they end the lane shifting. I have left the safety features on, but more than one of my neighbors with Toyotas and Lexuses have turned it off because of how distracting they are.

I turn it off when I'm driving his car in a carpool lane for the same reason. The sensors get confused by the solid lines.

Luckily it's an easy thing to turn on and off when needed. It is an eerie feeling when the wheel starts turning in your hand on its own or you feel the brake depress under your foot.