tminz posted:

I'm looking at likely buying a 2010 Subaru Forester soon, the internet has told me to be wary of head gasket issues -- I would be buying from a local subaru dealer, I have access to the carfax and don't see any mention of replacing them or other major repair work. Looks like just routine maintenance for the most part. Car has 93k miles. Is this something that absolutely needs to be done before I consider buying or is it a wait and pray I don't have issues this far down the line thing?

Edit; closer look shows 'Valve cover gaskets replaced' in 2017, is this referring to the head gaskets?

limp_cheese posted:

Quoting myself so I don't have to write that again. I'm down to 2 different vehicles. The 2019 Toyota Camry XSE and the 2019 Subaru Crosstek Limited. The Crosstek starts at $29,500 but I haven't started negotiating and the Camry is $34,900 after negotiation with taxes and all that poo poo included. I don't want to spend more than $30k but I like the Camry and its fuckton of safety features. The Camery price is doable but I don't want to spend that much. I like the Crosstek and I'm honestly leaning towards that. Looking for some opinions.

Yes I understand one is a crossover and one is a sedan so its a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

Edit: I should mention the only thing I don't like about the Crosstek is it has no front end parking assist. I can install one myself for around $100 but I would rather have it integrated.

nwin posted:

DI?

Interesting on the touchscreen only interface...I saw a video of it and it seemed a bit laggy, but I didn’t think the touchscreen would be a big deal. Food for thought during the test drive.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

if they want a fun to drive car they're barking up the wrong tree

Brotein_Shake posted:

What this is sounding like is a Subaru is a pretty meh choice. Accurate?

McKracken posted:

Proposed Budget: 30k
New or Used: Either
Body Style: Don't have a strong preference
How will you be using the car?: Daily driver (urban/city commute) and a few road trips to national parks each year
What aspects are most important to you? Gas efficiency, safety, low cost of ownership/reliability, good tech/audio system

My beloved 04 Acura TL is nearing 150k miles and the radio recently died, needs a new set of tires and mechanic recommended sparkplugs in the near future. I'd like to replace it with something similar but significantly better on gas. Acuras current hybrid options look underwhelming so what's my best option?

The Wonder Weapon posted:

I posted this a week or two ago, and you all heavily recommended A. buying Hondas new, and B. looking at the Si. I've been poking around local dealer inventories, waiting for a few lump sum payments to come in before I made a purchase.

Well, today I stumbled upon a used 2017 Civic Type R. 29k miles, $31k. Would I be crazy to buy this? Daily driver year round, ~30 mi each day. Typically it will be just me, or me and one kid. I figure it's on the higher side of what I wanted to spend, but I'd get a ridiculously fun car, it's still a Honda, so maintenance won't be as bad as a German vehicle would be (right?), and resale should hold up well, should it come to that. A bit of the best of both worlds. And -- say of me what you will here -- I love the styling.

Would I be a drat fool to buy this car if I could get it south of $27k?

nm posted:

Did the RS fix the hg issues?

JnnyThndrs posted:

In the 1996 universe maybe, but I don’t think modern Accords are easily or commonly stolen. If they are, please don’t inform my insurance company.

GodspeedSphere posted:

So I found this:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/802675853/overview/

Everything looks good to me, but then again I assume everything will look good to great because that's how it's sold.

Space Racist posted:

Hey everyone, been mulling this over the weekend and needing to bounce it off of someone else to tell me if I’m crazy or not.
A couple months ago I poked in here asking about used car choices and mentioned a Miata as a ‘comedy option’, only to get told that should be my main option (per the famous phrase). Anyway, I shopped around, keeping an eye on early ND and late NC model Miatas, but ultimately wound up going with a ‘19 Civic Sport sedan with very low miles and 6MT.

The problem? I like it... but I don’t love it. It’s fun-ish to drive, but with Covid-19 lockdowns in place, a lot of my recent weekends have spent just going on aimless backroad drives and I can’t help but regret not picking up a Miata. This is maybe a case where I should have listened to my gut instead of my brain.

So, I’m toying with (at least once lockdowns are a little more eased in a month-ish) trading in my Civic for a late-model NC Miata with PRHT (don’t currently have a garage, so a hardtop is a must-have). Based on KBB, I’m about $3500-$4000 above water on the Civic, but accept that I won’t get exactly out of it what I put into it a couple months ago. But, from what I’ve seen, I could hopefully do a lateral move to a late model, nicely-optioned NC without having to put much if any extra money down.

The NC would also be a step back technologically, but the flipside is I could easily get a CarPlay-capable head unit installed. The rest of the technology in the Civic (i.e. Honda Sensing) I’m kinda meh about.

So, should I talk myself out of this and just hang onto the Civic for a few years?

Godzilla07 posted:

NC1 Miatas should also be in that price range if you're interested and willing to mod. A 2.5 Duratec from a wrecked Fusion bolts right up to the NC for more mid-range torque, and the NC1's wonky 4x4 suspension can be fixed easily these days.

remigious posted:

Ok guys. Please be nice to me because I’m feeling very dumb right now. I bought a 2015 Nissan with 60k miles on it. If the transmission is truly as bad as it sounds, then I’m hosed, right? Is there some kind of extended warranty I should get? I tried doing some googling but I’m not sure what is legit.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

how the hell do you fall in love with a lovely refrigerator this stuff never makes sense to me

Grimes posted:

Hey so that dude took the Civic out to show it to me and crashed it with me inside (neat) so I'm looking at cars again. Right now I'm targeting 2009-2011 manual Civics, but I'm open to suggestions for sporty-ish commuter cars in the same price range (just looking for, reliability, gas mileage, and fun).

Ape Has Killed Ape posted:

I'm looking at a 2015 Subaru Legacy, in great shape, in my price range, the only issue is the screen on the car has lines checker-boarding it, and its kind of dim. This makes me think that the screen is on the way out, and looking online shows that replacing this is about 2000 dollars, which would put the car at more than I want to spend. Am I right to be concerned about this or will the screen be fine?

Mr Interweb posted:

so i was gonna think about getting a standard corolla, but the corolla hybrid is lookin' mighty fine and comes with a lot of the stuff you guys already mentioned (plus it saves me from having to decide which trim to get).

thoughts?

Mr Interweb posted:

mostly to save gas. the additional goodies that come standard are really nice icing, tho

MJP posted:

I'm curious - how often, either in terms of years or mileage, do people replace their cars (other than returning one lease for a new lease)? Either out of ongoing repair costs, unreliability, or just "I'd like to get something different"?

Deketh posted:

My money sink Mini finally died and I need to replace it, looking at 09-11 Honda Civics mostly around 70k miles at £4000.
I've found a nice 2009 model with 58,000 miles and a relentless service history for £3900 which seems really nice to me, so I'm going after that.
https://www.asmotorgroup.co.uk/used-honda-civic-worcester-worcestershire-3420825
Here in the UK we are on a Covid lockdown and showrooms are closed, test drives aren't permitted unless you are lucky and can jump through some hoops and have a solo one somehow, not sure how they work that.
In different times I would test drive a car before buying because that's what you do. Personally I'm not into cars, so test drives have never really appealed - I don't really care about handling, feel, power, whatever info you're trying to get from a test drive. I cared very much about those things for motorbikes but I just want a car that will be reliable and not cost a fortune to keep on the road. That's really it for me. Any differences in operation I'll adapt to easily enough. Mechanical issues are different of course. There would be a 6 month warranty so I feel covered in that regard anyway, and the service history and mileage is a comfort.
So the question is, given my above preferences, the warranty and service history, and the lockdown situation, am I being stupid for considering buying this used car without test driving it? If I wait until test drives are allowed again, the car would probably be taken by someone else who also doesn't mind so much about these things.
Thanks for any advice you can give

MJP posted:

LionArcher posted:

Okay, I found a local corolla I want. 2009, (white color ) third owner, 108K, clean title for 7.5K. We talked on the phone, and he agreed to my term of driving it to a local auto shop I trust to do a safety inspection (which I'll pay for). He's leaving town for ten days tomorrow, and I said that's fine, and he'll call when he returns to set up the day to do this. That all sounds good, but he was then a little vague ramble about title of car, since he bought it recently from a friend, and something about the dmv taking " sixteen weeks for more paperwork"and he's only selling because his job went remote so he doesn't have to drive between the two towns he was planning too.

I'm not an idiot, and (i'll have my father who's a former mechanic with me at the actual sale) but just wanting to know what I need to make sure he has so I don't get screwed over scammed if/when he calls back and agree to before we meet.

LionArcher posted:

There’s a 2012 Corolla at the dealer for 12k with 78 thousand miles.

Carfax comes back clean, and as long as I can take it to my mechanic for a PPi, seems like an okay deal considering this poo poo market. What should I start as an offer?

LionArcher posted:

Okay test drive went fine. Small crack in the windshield (I figure great can lower price down). Young kid, his dad bought it for him, but he wants to get a BMW (I want a fun car to drive). Has a clean title, but hasn't registered it. WTF. So he just slapped plates on the car for us to test drive. Also won't hold it for my mechanic (earliest is next Tuesday, I offered him $50 as a good faith thing till the mechanic checks it out,) because it's first come first serve. Sure sure. Ran the Carfax and it came back with a ton of good records (all served by Honda dealers). A car accident from five years ago that replaced the headlights but Carfax deemed it as minor. Other issue is a biohazard leak of the back (no further description) that is also deemed (minor) by Carfax from three months ago.

My read on the guy is he's young and impatient and his dad bought this for him and he doesn't give a poo poo and wants cash. I was going to call the DMV tomorrow to see if this whole registration thing is bullshit (I have vin number obviously) but I'm guessing thread is going to tell me too many red flags?

Thanks again thread. Never really had to think about buying cars before. Whole new experience. (I've spent my entire twenties driving a corolla I bought from my grandfather who was the sole owner).

Motronic posted:

Just walk away.

This is not a unique car. There is not reason to deal with any one of those red flags to buy a used honda.

You need to stop bottom feeding this market or you're gonna get scammed.

Zauper posted:

So, my wife is on an environmental kick and wants to replace both of our cars with new EVs. New because given where pricing is on used vs new right now, and the federal/state (VA) incentives it makes a bit more sense we think? We also just got offered 85% of original MSRP for a 4 year old car that needs body work, so that's pretty neat.

Proposed Budget: $50kish pre-credit per vehicle. (VA incentive caps at 55k so that's the hard cap per vehicle)
New or Used: New
Body Style: SUVish or maybe a 'bigger' sedan; needs to be able to fit a rear-facing car seat (& child booster) without squishing a tall person in the front seat.
How will you be using the car?: Daily drivers; Mostly we drive to daycare and/or work. Our commutes are not super long; though daycare is in the opposite direction so those days are probably 50ish minutes each way for me. Her commute is mostly highway. We never drive 'too' far; our furthest trips are like ~2-300 miles.
Do you prefer a luxury vehicle with all the gizmos? Yes, we do.
What aspects are most important to you? (e.g. reliability, cost of ownership/maintenance, import/domestic, MPG, size, style): Wife is big on the environment so she wants to move to EVs. Not really interested in plug-in either unless there's a convincing reason to prefer them.

Safety features are very important as well. One of the two vehicles needs to have enough trunk space for 4 people to be able to travel with all their various luggage for a weekish somewhere.

Neither of our vehicles needs to be replaced with something immediately if there's a good reason to wait and/or cars are back ordered.

We've looked at:
Ford Mustang Mach-e, VW ID.4, polestar 2

and have:
Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 on the list to look at still.

Are there other cars we've missed that we should be looking at?

KillHour posted:

I can't believe you almost paid 9 grand over MSRP for a leased Honda Accord.

Pollyanna posted:

I’m considering trading in my 2011 Civic LX sedan for a 2021+ Civic in hatchback, higher trim than LX. Tempted to splurge on a 2024 Sport Touring hatchback, and I can make that happen, but I’m also considering earlier years in used/pre-owned/whatever. If I do buy used with a nicer trim (EX-L or ST I think), what do I need to look out for? What years were good, and what problems did the model have? I’ve only ever bought new, never used, so I have no experience there.

Nitrox posted:

The egress/mobility issue is something that you will need to figure out with your passengers. Older people don't like dropping down to the floor, in my experience. They tend to favor cuv/suv option.