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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / General Car Topics / February 2005Best Bang for Buck Buy?
Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: 1. Must be reliable, requiring minimal repair so long as regular required maintenance is performed 2. Must be presentable (but need not impress) 3. Must be reasonably safe (good crash-proofing, not given to roll-overs or other untoward behavior). Beyond those requirements, the goal is to minimize cost of ownership over, let's say, a horizon of the next five years. What vehicle would you recommend? What you will get in reply is personal opinions of the brand the responder personally owns or the one he once owned not facts. I'm in the business for nearly fifty years. I can tell you in reference to new vehicles corporate fleet buyers look at that same type of information. They buy more Ford brand vehicles than any other brand because years of record prove them to be the most overall cost effect in terms of the cost of acquisition, insurance, maintenance, parts, repair and replacement costs. Having said that I would point out from what we see in our business every manufacture is building good vehicle today, the only real difference is style and price. JD Powers bear that out as well. Their report titled "Problems reported per 100 new vehicles" ranges from the best one at 1.1 problem per 100 vehicles to 1.5 for the worst vehicle. The average for the industry is 1.2 problem per 100 new vehicles sold. I would suggest forget what other tell you and go drive and get a total 'drive home' price for all of those that meet you needs and buy the one that best suits your budget. mike hunt > Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > What vehicle would you recommend? Thanks, Mike. I can the Edmund's Total Cost of Ownership suggested by James Reeves. The Fords did come in lower than Toyotas and Hondas. I'm just reluctant to buy anything other than a Honda or Toyota because of decades of bad experience with everything else. Right now I have a 2001 Honda Odyssey and a 1998 Honda PC800 motorcycle, and neither of them ever do anything except run perfectly. I know the American makes have gotten a lot better, but I'm still gunshy. Greg > What you will get in reply is personal opinions of the brand the > responder personally owns or the one he once owned not facts. [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] >> >> What vehicle would you recommend? > Thanks, Mike. > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Greg Well then it seems you already have your answer. :-) You either go with TCO from a source that has the ability to adequately research it or you go with your gut. I have not had a bad experience with nay of my vehicles in many years, not matter who built them. I owned a dozen or more Honda bikes, from small up to Gold Wings, till I switched to Harleys. None of those ever did anything except run perfectly, but the Harleys appreciated in the two years that I keep my bikes, the Hondas on the other hand lost fifty percent of their value in two years. ;) mike hunt > Thanks, Mike. > [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > >> > >> What vehicle would you recommend? > What you will get in reply is personal opinions of the brand the > responder personally owns or the one he once owned not facts. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > business every manufacture is building good vehicle today, the > only real difference is style and price. Really I have experienced FORD and GM fleets. Lots of problems and quickly. Check engine lights, AC not working etc.. Maybe the pickups are better but the minivans are atrocious. > Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > What vehicle would you recommend? www.edmunds.com does a total cost of ownership calculation. I don't know how accurate it is though. Thanks, James - that's handy! Greg >> Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > www.edmunds.com does a total cost of ownership calculation. I don't know > how accurate it is though. You're welcome.... > Thanks, James - that's handy! > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >> www.edmunds.com does a total cost of ownership calculation. I don't know >> how accurate it is though. >Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >What vehicle would you recommend? The less expensive cars to run/own are the smaller one's (use less gas and cost less to insure), and among those, the toyota corolla & honda civic are among the most reliable around. As far as roll-overs, they are minimized by both these models by simply being built low to the ground (having a low center of gravity compared to SUV's or trucks). Small cars don't do really well if smashed into bigger cars, so the simple answer is to be sure you get a car with air bags, and, more importantly, the driver have good driving habits, always. * Wear the seat belt *, and NEVER drive impaired or distracted by cell phone calls, reading maps, beautiful members of the opposite sex, etc.. It's always far better to avoid the accident, than to plan on something like airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones, etc., to save your life. Dave Go Metric! >Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >================================== Honestly.... Most new vehicles are going to be virtually trouble free IF you have the regular maintenance done ... And if you drive normally roll over really should not be of any concern... One of the biggest Cost of ownership IMHO is depreciation...which can be decreased in a few ways....(Buying used...is a sure fire way to cut down on depreciation) another way is to keep the damn car a lot longer then 5 years... Gasoline, insurance, State Plate & registration fees & saftey or emission inspection fees all have to be factored in... along with replacement costs of tires which are going to be needed every so often no matter what... Sorry I can not offer any specific suggestions ... Bob > Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > What vehicle would you recommend? Any Japanese brand. > Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > What vehicle would you recommend? Kia Sorento The Ford Crown Victoria, or the Mercury Grand Marquis. There is nothing on the market today that even comes close to them in reliability, durability and safety at anywhere near what it costs of drive one home brand new, nothing period. Room for six and their luggage, modern fuel efficient high powered SEMFI OHC V8 that uses regular fuel, with TC and LS axle that will go anywhere you want it to go, low insurance rates, available at any level of equipment you could want, a lot of it standard equipment. All that for as much as $10,000 less than many competitors smaller FWD V6 cars that get around the same fuel mileage and may use premium. Drive one and get a drive home price before you decide to buy any other vehicle, including other Ford models, WBMA. If you are interested in one that is fully loaded, pay particular attention to the Mercury Grand Marquis GS. It can actually be driven home for less than a Crown Vic similarly equipped. mike hunt Greg Dunn wrote: Suppose a person's criteria for selecting a car to buy were only these: 1. Must be reliable, requiring minimal repair so long as regular required maintenance is performed 2. Must be presentable (but need not impress) 3. Must be reasonably safe (good crash-proofing, not given to roll-overs or other untoward behavior). Beyond those requirements, the goal is to minimize cost of ownership over, let's say, a horizon of the next five years. What vehicle would you recommend? I have to agree with you. I know several people with Crown Vics and Marquis with 200K+ miles on them. Hard to beat that!!! Not only that, but no one will pass a Crown Vicky... <g> You can drive five under the speed limit, and everyone will get behind you. Never figured it out... <RBG> >I have to agree with you. I know several people with Crown Vics and Marquis >with 200K+ miles on them. Hard to beat that!!! > Not only that, but no one will pass a Crown Vicky... <g> You can drive > five under the speed limit, and everyone will get behind you. Never > figured it out... <RBG> > >>I have to agree with you. I know several people with Crown Vics and Marquis >>with 200K+ miles on them. Hard to beat that!!! I'd try to get a black one and paint the front doors white. Not necessary, any simple color will do! But, black or white works best--drivers think it is a police car that just hasn't been painted up yet, a common technique for 'unmarked' patrol cars, after they get a few miles on them, then make them regular partrol cars. >I'd try to get a black one and paint the front >doors white. |
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