Cars for med school

[Renoir]

I've had excellent luck with cars in the ~4-5K range at 9 years old. I'm starting to lean away from imports since repairs can be more expensive, but if you have a friend who is quite knowledgeable in mechanics, you can save a lot of money and stress by getting an older car. I personally can't afford an outlay for a 3-4 year old car, and so I pay a little bit extra for those repairs that come up as general maintenance and save a lot on initial investment.

 

Sometimes with vehicles it turns into the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know.

[Renoir]

Fuel economy is also another huge issue that never seems to crop up until you add your bills together at the end of the year.

 

Fuelly.com has self-reported "real world" results for makes, years, and trim lines (engine/options) and displays economies on a histogram. Generally a single-mode peak is going to give you a very accurate representation of your fuel costs. I highly recommend adding this into your decision!

[holiday1001]

05s and older rusted quite a bit. later on they fixed the exterior rusting problem

[Renoir]

Just worked on my sister's '02 protege this weekend. I had to weld in about 2 sqft of rust holes, ugh. As for handling and the manual stick handling and clutch, I can only conclude that they were very cheaply made.

 

Which is nice because they are decently cheap to repair these days.

 

But yeah, the rust problem was rampant with older (early 00s) mazdas. I think a med student should live in style with the RX-8

[schmitty]

Just worked on my sister's '02 protege this weekend. I had to weld in about 2 sqft of rust holes, ugh. As for handling and the manual stick handling and clutch, I can only conclude that they were very cheaply made.

 

Which is nice because they are decently cheap to repair these days.

 

But yeah, the rust problem was rampant with older (early 00s) mazdas. I think a med student should live in style with the RX-8

 

Lol, the RX-8 rotary engines are not exactly known for their reliability! Pretty cool car though in their day...

[Renoir]

Lol, the RX-8 rotary engines are not exactly known for their reliability! Pretty cool car though in their day...

 

Really?? I thought that they were doing ok with the latest design, but I really haven't lusted after them for a few years. so haven't been paying attention.

 

the RX7s were a beast to repair though. :S

[A-Stark]

Quite subjective! Certainly Car and Driver would disagree given that no non GTI golf/rabbit has been a top 10 car for a long time, and the Mazda 3 has been there multiple times over the past ten years (including this year).

 

The GTI is still quite respectable however.

 

Maybe not in Car and Driver but Consumer Reports would beg to differ!

 

I drove my friend's Mazda 3 a fair bit before deciding on what to get. Light steering, felt a lot less stable on the road - maybe it was just his car, but I didn't like it. Comparable Civics were just as expensive as my Rabbit, but not nearly as nice.

[NLengr]

Maybe not in Car and Driver but Consumer Reports would beg to differ!

 

I drove my friend's Mazda 3 a fair bit before deciding on what to get. Light steering, felt a lot less stable on the road - maybe it was just his car, but I didn't like it. Comparable Civics were just as expensive as my Rabbit, but not nearly as nice.

 

Reading consumer reports to find out about how good a car drives is like reading popular mechanics to learn about physics.

 

Car and Driver is probably regarded as the Gold Standard auto review magazine to car enthusiasts. Consumer reports is ignored because it's written by people who know very little about cars.

[Renoir]

I drove my friend's Mazda 3 a fair bit before deciding on what to get. Light steering, felt a lot less stable on the road

 

Agreed. I've never liked the handling of cheaper mazdas, J-bodies (sunfire, cobalt), etc, but jettas always feel solid. The seats, steering, tactile components, shifting, are all super-solid and I think that adds a lot to their curb appeal.

 

Agree with NLengr though, that VWs are horribly expensive to repair and ironically need repair to little things more often because they are "over-engineered".

 

Lemon-Aid had a good statistical discussion of the number of average repairs in german cars being slightly higher than average for a make, but that consumer satisfaction (subjective but standardized surveys) was still higher. Biases FTW!

[NLengr]

Agreed. I've never liked the handling of cheaper mazdas, J-bodies (sunfire, cobalt), etc, but jettas always feel solid. The seats, steering, tactile components, shifting, are all super-solid and I think that adds a lot to their curb appeal.

 

Agree with NLengr though, that VWs are horribly expensive to repair and ironically need repair to little things more often because they are "over-engineered".

 

Lemon-Aid had a good statistical discussion of the number of average repairs in german cars being slightly higher than average for a make, but that consumer satisfaction (subjective but standardized surveys) was still higher. Biases FTW!

 

My father in law used to be a mechanic. He hated working on VW's. Poorly designed for maintenance and you need all kinds of stupid unique tools that you don't need in other cars.

[futurefamilydoc]

Lemon-Aid had a good statistical discussion of the number of average repairs in german cars being slightly higher than average for a make, but that consumer satisfaction (subjective but standardized surveys) was still higher. Biases FTW!

 

The thing I've noticed about VW's is that people have insane levels of brand loyalty towards them. At least where I live, if someone owns a Volkswagen, odds are their parents drove one, and eventually their children will end up owning one as well!

[rmorelan]

The thing I've noticed about VW's is that people have insane levels of brand loyalty towards them. At least where I live, if someone owns a Volkswagen, odds are their parents drove one, and eventually their children will end up owning one as well!

 

any idea why? coming from a non car person here

[A-Stark]

My former family car was a Saab 900. It even had the ignition switch on the centre console (along with the window controls). So it's fair to say that I've been raised on expensive-to-repair European cars, though sadly Saab is no more (for now at least).

[ameltingbanana]

The thing I've noticed about VW's is that people have insane levels of brand loyalty towards them. At least where I live, if someone owns a Volkswagen, odds are their parents drove one, and eventually their children will end up owning one as well!

 

I've noticed that too actually! Have a friend who's parents drove a VW, then bought another one which the friend inherited, and now he's buying a VW before starting professional school. The plural of anecdotes is data, right?

[NLengr]

VW's are essentially the Apple of the car world.

 

Saab center counsel ignitions were classic. It's a shame GM destroyed the brand and then killed then when they restructured.

[A-Stark]

If our Saab hadn't needed thousands in body work and (probably) an engine rebuild, I would have wanted to keep it. It was an amazing car and still made it well over 400,000 km.

 

It would be interesting to see if there's an association between Golf/Rabbit ownership in the under 35 crowd and the presence or number of Apple products.

[futurefamilydoc]

any idea why? coming from a non car person here

 

I'm really not sure, my best guess is they like driving cars with "German engineering" which has a reputation for quality that may or may not be valid (doesn't seem to be valid in my opinion, at least for VW). But this is pure speculation.

[GT1]

I'm really not sure, my best guess is they like driving cars with "German engineering" which has a reputation for quality that may or may not be valid (doesn't seem to be valid in my opinion, at least for VW). But this is pure speculation.

 

My friend had nothing but VW's and they had non-stop transmission issues and electronic issues. He got so fed up with going to his mechanic's shop every 2 months and finally switched over to honda and toyota and never looked back! People seem to be really attached to the VW brand however...

[NLengr]

My friend had nothing but VW's and they had non-stop transmission issues and electronic issues. He got so fed up with going to his mechanic's shop every 2 months and finally switched over to honda and toyota and never looked back! People seem to be really attached to the VW brand however...

 

VW's aren't really known as a super high quality build brand. Toyota and Honda own that label.

 

VW had major problems with quality when they switched production of some models from Germany to Mexico.

[futurefamilydoc]

My friend had nothing but VW's and they had non-stop transmission issues and electronic issues. He got so fed up with going to his mechanic's shop every 2 months and finally switched over to honda and toyota and never looked back! People seem to be really attached to the VW brand however...

 

Exactly what two of my friends went through, except they both had problems with their turbos. The cost of VW parts alone are ridiculous.

[Renoir]

VW's aren't really known as a super high quality build brand. Toyota and Honda own that label.

 

VW had major problems with quality when they switched production of some models from Germany to Mexico.

 

For certain models, yes, quality was an issue. But remember that some higher end models are comparable to BMW engineering - overdone, quite nice, but therefore prone to more expense.

 

As for the other comments, I don't think it's fair to call VWs poorly engineered. Audi and VW had electrical issues in the early 00s, and the Jettas/Golfs occasionally have transmission issues because they are undersized. You get what you pay for, and those are the lower end models. This is no different than many other makes with spot-year issues.

 

Honda/Toyota have been excellent engineers for several decades now.

 

Remember, the plural of anecdote is data. To the OP, I would suggest looking at actual stats and reports from somewhere like lemon-aid/edmunds.

[NeuroPreMed]

VW's aren't really known as a super high quality build brand. Toyota and Honda own that label.

 

VW had major problems with quality when they switched production of some models from Germany to Mexico.

 

While normally I would agree, I bought a 2002 civic after my previous car was totalled, and I have had nothing but issues with it. Something's wrong with the brakes, something is wrong with the tranny, something is wrong with the axles joints. Blah blah, it goes on. I know all of these can happen to any car, I understand that fully. But when everyone says "it's a Honda, it's a Honda, and at 190k all of this is happening... It doesn't really live up to "it's a Honda". I will never in my life buy another Honda. But that's just my 2 cents.

[futurefamilydoc]

While normally I would agree, I bought a 2002 civic after my previous car was totalled, and I have had nothing but issues with it. Something's wrong with the brakes, something is wrong with the tranny, something is wrong with the axles joints. Blah blah, it goes on. I know all of these can happen to any car, I understand that fully. But when everyone says "it's a Honda, it's a Honda, and at 190k all of this is happening... It doesn't really live up to "it's a Honda". I will never in my life buy another Honda. But that's just my 2 cents.

 

I have heard mixed things about Honda as well, I had one family member who put 300k+ kilometres on their Civic with few issues, another bought a new Civic and after 2 years traded it in due to all sorts of problems, and said they will never buy another Civic as it was the worst car they ever owned.

 

In the end, every manufacturer has bad cars and good cars, with a few models/model years from each manufacturer that were universally horrible. Ultimately its up to the buyer to do their research, and thoroughly look into any used car before buying it (best idea is to have a mechanic inspect it before buying).

[A-Stark]

Apart from my exhaust assembly half falling off (ascribed to Nova Scotia weather), I've had a few things that were done under warranty (new timing chain, O2 sensor x 2, some other minor stuff I can't remember) and, more recently, some brake work. Nothing with the transmission or any major electrical system. That's an 8-year-old car with admittedly somewhat lower mileage. I've put about 30,000 km on it since I bought it in 2011.

[schmitty]

While normally I would agree, I bought a 2002 civic after my previous car was totalled, and I have had nothing but issues with it. Something's wrong with the brakes, something is wrong with the tranny, something is wrong with the axles joints. Blah blah, it goes on. I know all of these can happen to any car, I understand that fully. But when everyone says "it's a Honda, it's a Honda, and at 190k all of this is happening... It doesn't really live up to "it's a Honda". I will never in my life buy another Honda. But that's just my 2 cents.

 

As said above, the plural of anecdote is not data! The stats bare out that Toyota, Honda, etc are some of the most reliable vehicles. What you are describing is called bad luck.