Daily Driver Dilemma

Inexpensive commuter only
Means reliable , depreciated, low miles

Honda Civic (2007+), Accord (2013+ imo)
Toyota Corolla, Camry
Hyundai\KIa 2009+
Lexus 10+ years old depreciate well

I live in Chicagos burbs and I drive into the city daily. Anything with FWD is fine in winter.

Find anything older then 7 years as that is Tier2 lendingand most Tier1 banks will not bother with them because of depreciation

Shank said:
AWD car could be consideration. I have kind of steered clear of AWD cars - my sister in law's chrysler had a bunch of problems with awd,
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I may be flamed for sayin this but
Chrysler historically (besides the Jeep division) doesnt make very good vehicles. Quality control VS Japanese, Korean, and even domestic is pretty loose

Past 15 years or so it has dramatically improved with the Ram division, but I wouldnt buy a used Chrysler vehicle, let alone a more complex SNAFU vehicle
 
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CreepinDeth said:
I may be flamed for sayin this but
Chrysler historically (besides the Jeep division) doesnt make very good vehicles. Quality control VS Japanese, Korean, and even domestic is pretty loose

Past 15 years or so it has dramatically improved with the Ram division, but I wouldnt buy a used Chrysler vehicle
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Agreed. They bought it brand new and it was pretty well junk.

The now last gen grand cherokee's have seemed to be decent. I think it's the only other thing I would consider from the brand besides a Ram truck.
 
By the way, if u can drive a stick shift look for those because newer generations dont like learning to drive them

I nearly got a 2014 Accord 5 speed with 50K on it for $11,900 recently in mint condition for my mother. Someone beat me to it
 
CreepinDeth said:
By the way, if u can drive a stick shift look for those because newer generations dont like learning to drive them

I nearly got a 2014 Accord 5 speed with 50K on it for $11,900 recently in mint condition for my mother
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I'm toward the newer end of the generations, my wife and I both can drive manual.
 
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Honestly as a car for commuting on the cheap (Until the hybrid battery dies, you can bypass it and run off just the ICE) and one that also offers manual transmission as an option, the Gen 1 Insight is great. Slow, but light weight and very aerodynamic, not to mention can be picked up used under $2k. I hadn't price checked them in a while, so not sure what they go for currently. These were also built along side the old NSX IIRC.

I plan to get another one some day for this purpose. It was actually more fuel efficient than my motorcycle at the time. For me, paint colour isn't really a consideration at all. But I assure you, I didn't pick this one intentionally, and that it does come with more choices. This Citrus yellow isn't a common one, only made in the first model year.

Went from an S197 Mustang GT to this Insight, then to my TJ. I'm all over for car choices, I know! :ROFLMAO:

My partner and I drove from the East to Western US in this fully packed without issue. I believe I was doing ~600 miles a tank on that trip, but my memory sucks. Total fuel one way was like $60. I was also looking at a Honda CRX around the time I bought this car.

Driving around town or around your region, this car does very well. I lived in the mountains of Virginia when I first bought this car and it did just fine.

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Also has a great community online as well!
 
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Update:

Current car has 2 bent wheels. Balanced best they could and it's mostly tolerable now.

I will likely hold off as long as possible - trying to find a set of wheels now. If money wasn't the biggest factor, I would likely be in a newer Tacoma.
 
Buddy is selling a '95 5 speed 4wd 4Runner with 185k miles. Quite clean but not sure that would be logical...
 
I'd look for a Subaru notwithstanding the negative comments above, below is my 2014/100k Crosstrek, unstoppable, comfortable, reliable, efficient (33mpg average), & can haul a crap ton of, crap. My living room tv croaked the other night so I ordered a new one & picked it up on my way home from work the next day, 65 inch tv in the box fit in beautifully. A cheap AWD hatchback is tough to beat for a DD

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Westtown Willy said:
I'd look for a Subaru notwithstanding the negative comments above, below is my 2014/100k Crosstrek, unstoppable, comfortable, reliable, efficient (33mpg average), & can haul a crap ton of, crap. My living room tv croaked the other night so I ordered a new one & picked it up on my way home from work the next day, 65 inch tv in the box fit in beautifully. A cheap AWD hatchback is tough to beat for a DD

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I really wanted to like Subaru's but my family and friends have had way too many issues with them.
 
Shank said:
I really wanted to like Subaru's but my family and friends have had way too many issues with them.
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My daughter loves her 2014 Nissan Rogue AWD. Great for a DD. Great on gas mileage. Great in the snow. $9600 with 114,000 miles.
 
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I wanted a 'new' DD and ended up buying an 04 Sahara last year, only 68K miles. Though it was closer to $15K. I didn't want to pay the bucks for a new vehicle. Plus, I have a 14yo, so the Sahara will probably be his in about 1.5 years. It's stock height on 31's. I do enjoy driving a vehicle it's size. I forgot how nice it is to be able to find a parking space easily. Driving my wife's Expedition is like driving a cruise ship.

For $10K you should be able to find a used 1500 truck. I like the F150's, but any 1500 should do. If you don't need one that large, a Ranger, Chevy Colorado, or Tacoma maybe.

A friend totaled his 5 yo Tacoma a couple years ago. The insurance co paid him $5K less than he originally paid. He joked that he would try to total the next one in 5 years. They hold their value pretty well.
 
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suicideking said:
I wanted a 'new' DD and ended up buying an 04 Sahara last year, only 68K miles. Though it was closer to $15K.

For $10K you should be able to find a used 1500 truck. I like the F150's, but any 1500 should do. If you don't need one that large, a Ranger, Chevy Colorado, or Tacoma maybe.

A friend totaled his 5 yo Tacoma a couple years ago. The insurance co paid him $5K less than he originally paid. He joked that he would try to total the next one in 5 years. They hold their value pretty well.
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I'm pretty intrigued with Toyota as of late but man do they hold value. I'm going to check out a 4th gen 4runner at some point hopefully. Also considered a half ton early 2000's gm truck.
 
Shank said:
I'm pretty intrigued with Toyota as of late but man do they hold value. I'm going to check out a 4th gen 4runner at some point hopefully. Also considered a half ton early 2000's gm truck.
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Agreed, I'm considering the 4runner when my son gets the Sahara.

Wife asked why I don't want a Tacoma. I figure if I'm going to get a truck, I would get a F150 or similar that has decent towing capacity.
 
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suicideking said:
Agreed, I'm considering the 4runner when my son gets the Sahara.

Wife asked why I don't want a Tacoma. I figure if I'm going to get a truck, I would get a F150 or similar that has decent towing capacity.
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Agreed. I plan to keep my Duramax and my wife drives a Yukon XL so I really don’t need a truck.
 
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100K you are looking at vehicles that need $$$ put into them in some or many ways. If you want something with that kinda mileage but reliable look at Honda or Toyota.

I typically bought 30K-50K max
The Jeep is my first very high mileage vehicle but its also NOT a daily driver, its for my youngest in 7 more years 😂
 
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CreepinDeth said:
100K you are looking at vehicles that need $$$ put into them in some or many ways. If you want something with that kinda mileage but reliable look at Honda or Toyota.

I typically bought 30K-50K max
The Jeep is my first very high mileage vehicle but its also NOT a daily driver, its for my youngest in 7 more years 😂
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282k on my wife’s Yukon and just drove it to the beach and back (18 hours)
 
Shank said:
282k on my wife’s Yukon and just drove it to the beach and back (18 hours)
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Well I own a Tahoe that has a 5.3L and Ive blown two engines @ 125,000 each. Not kidding.

1st engine blew 125K because oil pickup ring rubber seal shit the bed, engine ran dry (very common fail point)

Replaced with 100K LKQ sourced engine, and that blew at 125K with a cracked block in winter. Both engines had the notorious piston slap at startup

I just put a new reman in last Feb and my son is getting it now. This is the remnant oil burning out of the cylinders at first startup
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Westtown Willy said:
I'd look for a Subaru notwithstanding the negative comments above, below is my 2014/100k Crosstrek, unstoppable, comfortable, reliable, efficient (33mpg average), & can haul a crap ton of, crap. My living room tv croaked the other night so I ordered a new one & picked it up on my way home from work the next day, 65 inch tv in the box fit in beautifully. A cheap AWD hatchback is tough to beat for a DD

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The newer subs don't have the typical head gasket issues that the older ones did and that is why most people shy away from them. We have a 2016 Outback and a 2019 crosstrek and 2019 outback in the household, all holding up great in NY, PA and NH.
 
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