My son was an auto mechanic for many years. He's now a subway train mechanic of the Boston subway system (MBTA).

After working on hundreds of cars of different makes and models for several years, it was his opinion that BMWs and Audis were over priced junk. In his opinion, Toyota and Honda make the best cars on the market today. The best US made cars, Ford.

As many have mentioned, from a financial perspective anyway, buying a low mileage vehicle that is a couple of years old is by far the smartest move. Not only has it taken the largest hit on depreciation in those first few years, but it will also have established a record on reliability that can be researched. The popularity of SUV's has had a detrimental effect on my favorite class of vehicles, that being the 4-door sports sedans (especially those where you 'row your own'). A number of manufacturers have dropped lines of sedans in favor of SUV's and crossovers in the last few years and even the ones left, have limited choices for manuals. While many modern dual-clutch automatic gearboxes are better than modern manual gearboxes, to me there's still nothing more satisfying than the perfect rev-matched downshift with a manual, so count me as a dues-paying member of the - "Save The Manuals Club."

What???

Purchased a 2020 Silverado brand new “Custom” one step up from basic model /Costco 1000 off plus 7000 dealer promo 30k all in luv it!

FORD = fix or repair daily

Fords keep getting better. GM and Chevys keep getting worse. Not just my opinion. It's all out there and you just gotta let it in.

Had 3 BMWs. Loved driving them. Trans and engines hummed along. Electronics were continually failing and expensive to repair. Again, don't buy new and be prepared to pour tons of money into them as they age.

VWs = fun to drive. Horrible depreciation and cost of ownership. Step son had a Tiguan which was horrible for repairs. Typical now. I had a bug back when I commuted to Boston. Was bullet proof. Those VW days are gone.

Chevy and Ford owners are like the Hatfields and McCoys. Except one of them is on that river in Egypt.

Back up noth the airwaves are flooded with Silverado ads. Not because they're a better truck, but because they have to advertise more than other brands simply to compete.

Chevy Equinox, Traverse and Silverados are all vehicles that are not recommended for purchase by any independent and reputable source.

No such thing anymore. Most Fords and Chevys are manufactured in Mexico, Canada or South America.
Hondas and Toyotas are manufactured in USA.
:popcorn::popcorn:

So true. And BMWs are built in South Carolina. So go figure.

We certainly don’t know what you are talking about. You need to hit the quote button when referring to a certain post or your post has no teeth.:lipsrsealed:

I agree that's why I just bought a 2021 Mazda CX-5, my previous 4 cars were Acura Tl's. The quality of the Acura brand has dropped considerably in the last decade.

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!!