I read several articles a couple of years ago that said the thinking of the past was that if you wanted a fair return on trade-in plus reliability then purchase a luxury vehicle. That has all changed as the worst appreciation is now for luxury vehicles and the thinking has changed to put little emphasis on reliability and oriented towards cutting edge technology that you cannot get on lower end vehicles. The new thinking also goes that if you can afford to buy a higher end vehicle then you can afford to fix it. This also seems to be the on-going agreement among auto bloggers. If you have been paying attention, then you have probably noticed that the non luxury vehicle you can purchase today has most of the technology that was a test bed on luxury vehicles from three or four years ago. My conclusion is that only reason for buying a high end vehicle these days is because you think you want a so called status symbol and for those that always have to have the latest technology.

Have you ever ridden in a high end vehicle vs a low end vehicle? Try it, your bones will thank you.:)

I would drive an AMC pacer around. It is such an unloved outlier that I find it "COOL"!

Stay away from Nissan, they are in trouble.

The SUV that I took a beating on was in 2003. I almost had a bad outcome during a hospital stay in N.J. and when I got home my step son said why don't you buy that Hummer that you've been watching for a while.

Before you knew it it was in the driveway. As far as we can figure it was a 2003 H2. It had everything and MSRP was about $59,000 to the best of our memory. After three months I had enough already and started looking to get rid of my dream, gotta have it now, can't live without it another day vehicle.

It was a rough lesson but I probably made up the money I lost on that mistake on the vehicles I've bought since. My two favorites were a 2019 Ford Flex and a Ford Excursion Ultimate with a V-10. I have no figures to offer but feel like those two gave me pretty good bang for the buck.

I traded in the Hummer on a Mini Cooper. Go figure.

I own a 3-year-old $20,000 car now that will hopefully last me till the end of my life. All in all, I'd rather ride in our Golf Cart anytime.

Great subject OP. Brought back a lot of memories. Some good some bad. Thank You!!

Legend has it that all 3 American car makers made a decision about their 1970, 1980, and 1990 cars and trucks to design each part on them to fail after 3 years of wear. All designed to force trade-ins at the 3-year mark. Any part lasting more than 3 years on average was re-designed to be cheaper and less reliable.

I think I will have to file that one in the same urban legend file of the 100 mile per gallon carburetor supposedly invented in the 70's, that would work on any gas or diesel engine. According to some versions of this false urban legend, this is what happened: 1. The inventor was assassinated by a hit man hired by the oil industry. 2. The oil industry bought the plans and patent for this non-existent carburetor, whereby they then destroyed the plans/drawings. 3. Various combinations of 1 & 2. :)

Along the same lines, here's another (much older) version.

Miracle Carburetor | Snopes.com

I still have my '99 10th Anniversary Miata. Still after all these years so fun to drive.

Legend in you’re mind.

We’ll see how long the Honda 1.5L and 2.0 turbos last? Why they would quit making the the best engine in the world 2.5L VVT is beyond me. Ming gets 24/35 MPG. 9 years old and still runs like new, don’t leak drop, don’t use Oz of oil, don’t rattle, and rides like new.

I once had a 1986-1/2 Toyota Supra. It was an incredible car, drove like a dream and had very comfortable seats. Toyotas do last.

Driving I-10 and I-40 between CA and NM two or three times a year 20 -30 years ago on two separate occasions I saw terrible wrecks where Honda cars were literally cut in half. They appeared back in the 1980s and 1990s to be so fragile I would not consider buying one although their reliability and performance were good. I would like to survive an accident.

Although I am not sure I think it was Honda which at one time offered to supply the US with free vehicles for safety tests which offer was initially accepted. It was discovered the Japanese company had specially constructed the donated vehicles to perform well in crash tests, double welding floor pans and more. Afterwards the government agency then bought the vehicles to be tested randomly off car lots. Here is a more recent cheating from Suzuki. Suzuki is recalling 2 million cars in Japan after cheating on safety tests

cars
 

Not sure if it will be good or bad but just bought a 2021 Buick Envision. I know is was made in China but what isn't and some of the newer things are quite superior to others. Looked at all the others and it seemed better. On a side note the sales person Blake Kelly at Phillip's Buick was by far the best of all the other ones I saw some salespeople made me feel I was taking up their time hope the car is good as the deal.

My husband's favorite SUV was a Hummer, he has owned every car under the sun, I'm sure he would trade me in for another Hummer, he loved that car, sensible, not, but a man's love for his cars, never makes sense. I'm more a point A to point B girl.

If you're looking at an initially expensive used vehicle such as a Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, etc., and the sales price is dramatically lower than the original sales price, run and hide! It's not a good deal unless you absolutely got to have it and cost of ownership and time spent on repairs is of little concern.

These vehicles have depreciated dramatically because they are near or beyond their warranty and their reliability is suspect. Careful with drive chain warranties as they don't cover auxiliary components that are what actually go bad.

The AMC pacer. Quirky car for sure. I got stuck with it... augh.

However it was a tank. A guy blew through a stop sign and I T-boned his passenger side at about 25 mph. He told the policeman it was totally his fault due to sun blindness.

Thankfully he and I were both alone and no one hurt, but his car was a mess and the pacer had a couple of fender scuffs. Amazing.

".....but a man's love for his cars, never makes sense."


With all of the cars I've owned in my life, so far, I've heard that same sentiment from my better half more than a few times. She was never fooled either, when I tried pointing out that my "hot-rod" - at least had 4 doors for hauling the kids. lol

BMW is a vehicle that I would not buy along with a few others as I have my own opinions about them. My wife loves her Murano every day of the week. I will stick with my F350 though.

Any unibody vehicle going crumple like tin can, they are designed to do so up to certain speed. Just cause you spend more don’t mean it will crumple less. Just look at recent Audi crash behind the square. Ripped the famed Germany car apart. All compact cars from 50’s on are and were death traps. Now shall we take bout VW cheating? Maybe we should try to name one manufacturer that didn’t cheat at one time or another?

I believe I read that both Audi and Volvo have also diminished in quality.

Remember when Volvo was like bullet proof back when?

I believe that Volvo is the official State Car of Vermont. Don't be surprised. Vermont has a State Frog and a State Turtle. I kid you not.

Rumor has it that they're leaning towards Birkenstock being the official State Sandal. Except you gotta wear socks with them cause, hey, it's cold up in Vermont.

They have a popular bumper sticker that reads, " Keep Vermont Weird". Dead serious.

I know, I know, we got a State Turtle too. And don't forget the Aligators.

Are Flip Flops far behind? How can you wear those thing?!

[QUOTE=wereback;1931675]Not sure if it will be good or bad but just bought a 2021 Buick Envision. I know is was made in China but what isn't and some of the newer things are quite superior to others. /QUOTE]
.
.
wow. I tend to follow the automotive market pretty closely - but DID NOT know the Envision was made in CHINA! That said - unless parts etc were readily available in USA, I would not purchase a car made there (or even a golf cart). I know that China is a large importer of luxury American cars (lots of GMs), and no doubt have an agreement with GM to mfr some of their cars over there. No thank you. I have to buy enough stuff made in China - and that's were I draw the line.
.
.

I want a car that runs. Reliability is very important to me. The last 2 cars I've had have been Honda's. I've been very happy. I have a CR-V and when I look at Car and Driver and other vehicle reviews, I'll probably buy another CR-V. It's so reliable.
I'm not thrilled buying a car where manufacturers' ownership isn't in the US. I could never buy a car that is manufactured in China. I just can't.

Hard to find any vehicle now days that don’t have Chinese parts in them, Honda has parts plants in China, Volvo Chinese’s owned. I agree with late model Honda’s. 14’s and earlier. I’m on the fence with new 1.5/2.0 direct injection engine. Plus CVT transmission?