What car, $15k, 15 years, 150k edition?

Brian wrote: Alternatively, rock another beater until a self driving car is an option.

If I thought autonomous cars would be viable in 15 years, I would.

So... there's like no way of knowing what car needs the least amount of work. I know people who owned a Cayman for 10 years that needed nothing and people who had civics and Toyota's in and out of the shop for the decade they owned them.

Tell her to buy something with the longest warrenty then get an extended warranty on top of that. She's asking for something that has no real answer.

yupididit wrote: So... there's like no way of knowing what car needs the least amount of work. I know people who owned a Cayman for 10 years that needed nothing and people who had civics and Toyota's in and out of the shop for the decade they owned them. Tell her to buy something with the longest warrenty then get an extended warranty on top of that. She's asking for something that has no real answer.

Good point. There's no way to be certain. A reason I'd suggest the Prius over a Corolla, is IIRC, the maintenance intervals are longer, so you may have a bit more upfront cost, but it'll hopefully spend less time being serviced, and it sounds like this is a person who wants to see the inside of a dealership as little as possible.

EvanR wrote: She came to me with this question... "Is there a car I could buy for $15,000 and drive trouble-free for 15 years?"

No. Nothing mechanical will function that long without some level of care and feeding and things WILL wear out.

The local VW dealer is advertising new Jettas for lease at $59/month with $2000 down. That is what she should do. Lease whatever she can get for under $100/month every three or four years.

I'm voting Knurled in this general election if my suggestion was somehow wrong (WHICH IT WASN'T).

Is there anything built these days that won't go 150k? You are going to have to convince her to change the oil 15 or 20 times, and buy brakes and tires once or twice.

Just don't shop German, and it's easy.

Sue may as well be my brother. Only he does the 150k in under 5 years.

String of last year leftovers Hyundai weth extened warranty has been his answer until the new tacoma (he needed a truck)

Usually about 150k lifespan, and he could usually get them for about 15k with tbe first 50k of service free. He does all in town, hard miles. Much like a taxi. Only hes a realtor.

New or 1 year old CPO kia or Hyundai with an automatic. 10yr/100k warranty and a timing chain.

If there are any Chrysler/fiat/keep products she likes, there's supposed to be a lifetime extended warranty available for purchase. I thought it was somehow connected with Chrysler, but I never looked enough to confirm.

Another thing to watch for is the emissions warranty. Some models have a longer warranty for "emissions" items including sensors, fuel system, and hybrid components (if a hybrid).

In edit: this is the warranty I was referring to: Mopar warranty

I'll throw in for the Elantra too. Most lots have them in the $14K range with incentives, Ford is also running some pretty crazy deals on the 16 Focus stick.

Assuming she has decent credit, I'd start with who's offering the best "incentives" and go from there. We got 0% interest on both our Fit and Mazda5.

Honda

Definitely Prius. But a lot of the suggestions in this thread are good.

Follow up:

Sue is, apparently, a woman of action. Once she gets an idea in her head, consider it done.

As "car folks", we know a lot of civilians ask for our advice and then ignore it. Sue mostly didn't ignore it!

She went to the Toyota dealer and didn't like how they treated her, so she left.

She went to the Hyundai dealer, where she apparently found a good sales person, i.e. one who actually listens!

He put her in a CPO 2016 Accent SE (base) sedan with 6AT and under 9,000 miles. CPO means she gets all the factory warranty, and maybe more.

$12,3XX out the door, including "$500 for the Pontiac". Which we all know is BS, but the overall numbers were agreeable and she avoids the hassle of dumping her heap.

She wrote a check and took the car. She was happy to spend $2700 less than she thought she would have to spend.

So I asked her how she liked her new car. In typical fashion she replied...

"Well it goes in reverse. And the radio works, which is nice."

She shoulda bought a Suebaroo.

Man, if all of my non-car people were like Sue, I'd be a happy camper. All too often someone asks my advice, then hates the options ("Korean" and "quality" are still antithetical in some people's minds) and are stuck repairing malaise era Hondas for years.