It's hard for me to recommend new vehicles these days.

[macarose]

I own a car dealership and write for a few different automotive sites. It used to be incredibly easy for me to recommend a couple dozen different new vehicles for my customers and readers.

These days? I feel like the old guy with the old truck. Nearly everything I see out there isn't worth keeping for the long haul.

I was asked to highlight three new vehicles that I would recommend for folks who don't drive often. My first choice was quick. A Toyota Tacoma. 2023 is the last of the conventional powertrains and the reliability is stellar. Easy choice.

But then what else is worth buying? A Corolla? A Highlander? I can't make two vehicles a Toyota right off the bat. So I think, "What about a Honda Pilot?".

That has a 10-speed automatic. I don't know if that transmission will be constantly shifting and I wouldn't spend my own money on that overpriced SUV. Maybe a TLX, or a Civic, or the Mazda CX-5... but Honda CVTs aren't holding up according to my reliability study (nobody maintains their transmission anymore) and the Skyactiv engines also have issues.

I ended up recommending the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. The Model 3 is an incredible value right now. The Model Y is great for the SUV owners, but I can't embrace a $7,000 premium for the same powertrain. If someone put a gun to my head and made me pay for a new car in my garage, and I drove only about 5,000 miles a year, it would have to be a Tacoma or a Tesla.

One other car I wanted to reccomend was the new base Nissan Versa with a 5-speed. But most folks aren't even interested in shifting their own gears. May as well be recommending Oldsmobiles.

If you didn't drive much, say 5,000 miles a year, and absolutely had to buy a new car which automotive bullet would be worth the financial wound?

 

[Bailes1992]

I find the total opposite. Our choices here in the UK/Europe are somewhat different to you guys accross the pond. However, being the petrolhead that I am, I get asked quite regularly by people what I think of certain cars.

I think you'd be hard pressed to go buy any car and not get a reliable 200k out of it over 10 years with suitable maintenance.

Cars are more reliable now than they have ever been.

 

[MalibuRam65]

Recommend Nissan to your Customers Quality vehicles at a Decent Price

 

[macarose]

I find the total opposite. Our choices here in the UK/Europe are somewhat different to you guys accross the pond. However, being the petrolhead that I am, I get asked quite regularly by people what I think of certain cars.

I think you'd be hard pressed to go buy any car and not get a reliable 200k out of it over 10 years with suitable maintenance.

Cars are more reliable now than they have ever been.

The right transmission goes a long way. The article focused on folks who don't drive that often so with that framework it gets a bit more complicated than an American daily driver that typically sees 15,000 miles or more here in the USA.

The auto auctions and repair shops out here are loaded with bad CVTs and engines that can't hold up. Reliability is worse now than 10 years ago when I began my study.

 

[PWMDMD]

I feel the same way. I'm not a huge fan of my RX 350 as it drives like a refrigerator on wheels but it's reliable and comfortable and my wife drives it. I love my Tundra for its "simplicity" and I plan to keep it for a long time but it is a 13.5 mpg dinosaur. I'm probably 6-10 years away from looking for replacements for either and the options will be different then but right now I'm not excited about anything.

 

[Aredeeem]

I own a car dealership and write for a few different automotive sites. It used to be incredibly easy for me to recommend a couple dozen different new vehicles for my customers and readers.

These days? I feel like the old guy with the old truck. Nearly everything I see out there isn't worth keeping for the long haul.

I was asked to highlight three new vehicles that I would recommend for folks who don't drive often. My first choice was quick. A Toyota Tacoma. 2023 is the last of the conventional powertrains and the reliability is stellar. Easy choice.

But then what else is worth buying? A Corolla? A Highlander? I can't make two vehicles a Toyota right off the bat. So I think, "What about a Honda Pilot?".

That has a 10-speed automatic. I don't know if that transmission will be constantly shifting and I wouldn't spend my own money on that overpriced SUV. Maybe a TLX, or a Civic, or the Mazda CX-5... but Honda CVTs aren't holding up according to my reliability study (nobody maintains their transmission anymore) and the Skyactiv engines also have issues.

I ended up recommending the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. The Model 3 is an incredible value right now. The Model Y is great for the SUV owners, but I can't embrace a $7,000 premium for the same powertrain. If someone put a gun to my head and made me pay for a new car in my garage, and I drove only about 5,000 miles a year, it would have to be a Tacoma or a Tesla.

One other car I wanted to reccomend was the new base Nissan Versa with a 5-speed. But most folks aren't even interested in shifting their own gears. May as well be recommending Oldsmobiles.

If you didn't drive much, say 5,000 miles a year, and absolutely had to buy a new car which automotive bullet would be worth the financial wound?

 

[Skippy722]

Barring my (probably irrational) need to own 2 vehicles capable of seating a family of 6…

Yeah, I’d be getting a Tesla Model 3. Maybe a regular cab long bed Ram 1500 Classic, 2WD V6 with a limited slip diff, chrome plus package and the power & remote entry group for a few minor creature comforts for $35,000 MSRP.

 

[Aredeeem]

I‘ll take another Versa, thank you. With the amount of driving I don’t do anymore the 5 speed would be just fine.

 

[Bailes1992]

The right transmission goes a long way. The article focused on folks who don't drive that often so with that framework it gets a bit more complicated than an American daily driver that typically sees 15,000 miles or more here in the USA.

The auto auctions and repair shops out here are loaded with bad CVTs and engines that can't hold up. Reliability is worse now than 10 years ago when I began my study.

That is a major contributing factor. The majority of cars over here are still manuals which seem to be a lot more reliable.

 

[JustN89]

Really, there seems to be two concerns here:

1) As stated, you don't know what you'd recommend for roughly 5,000 miles/year of driving, and
2) You don't think the new cars today, with new technologies, will be as reliable as cars of yesteryear

For the first, this is a lot of hand wringing for such little annual driving. If someone approached me and asked what new car should they buy for 5,000 miles/year of driving, I'd tell them to go and pick whatever car they thought looked the best. You'd be hard pressed to find a car that wouldn't last 100k miles anymore, and that would require 20 years of driving by your scenario. Seriously, they could pick whatever and be just fine.

As for point two, as @Bailes1992 already mentioned, the cars of today are orders of magnitude better than the cars of yesteryear. Between driver assistance, power, gas mileage, etc, you really can't compare to what you can buy today to what you could've bought 20+ years ago. Now, sometimes, these evolving technologies have teething pains, sure. The ZF 9 speed wasn't great for most OEs that used it, and the new 10 speed transmissions seem to be hit or miss. However, the ZF 8 speed is, almost inarguably, the best automatic transmission ever built when looking at performance and reliability. Also, lets not act like the 4 and 5 speed autos from two decades and more ago are really much better.

 

[OilUzer]

You are right. Between DI, CVT, and/or 8-10 spd auto trans, they ruined everything. Instead, they play engine noise through your speakers. lol

I like a 5-spd manual trans with a good size non-turbo MPFI engine like my very old v6 Tacoma.

I think Toyota 4Runner maybe the only one that passes my requirements these days and it's not a DI yet. It's auto but i think it's a 6 spd and I don't mind my Tundra but I always lock it in the 5th gear so it hardly ever sees the stupid 6th gear. Going 60-70mph under 2000rpm is not me. No way I would buy an 8 or 10 spd auto!

 

[Lubener]

I honestly can't answer your question what I would buy. I would likely buy something used. To me, they all look alike, lack style and are very ugly compared to cars years ago.

 

[John105]

.

If you didn't drive much, say 5,000 miles a year, and absolutely had to buy a new car which automotive bullet would be worth the financial wound?

I had heard years ago that people who own family car businesses had long term plans to exit.

I see that one family in my area (Phila suburbs) has done the opposite.

I figured what I heard has some credence as my employer shares a suite with the car dealership and one time at a hockey game, I was in it I heard the owner talking about the car business and the woes and exiting.

At any rate imho low miles opens up the choices. How about a BMW M2? One never knows not only might it be a candidate to resell for what it was purchased for, but it may even go up in value. There are others.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I would buy the Honda Civic non turbo or a Toyota Corolla. A Rav 4 Hybrid would be nice or a Corolla hybrid. I agree, there are lots of very problematic cars being produced that can have expensive repairs after the warranty is expired. I agree the Toyota Tacoma should last a long time. But on the other hand if you have to fix a couple things almost any vehicle will last a long time. It's that darn sales tax when you buy a new one that is the most expensive repair hahaha.

 

[supton]

5k/year? I’d buy whatever I liked, and not cared too much about anything else. Maybe look at tire costs, as at this level of driving, items will age out, not wear out. Just spot check that quality tires are less than a grand a set, call it done—expecting a mechanical thing to go 20 years, regardless of miles, and not have some sort of repair, is foolish.

I’m not sure what is going to happen with these 8/9/10 speed transmissions. I know the CVT’s have been expensive to replace and short lived, but I’m not sure if economy of scale will eventually get remans “cheap”. Get a CVT R&R below $2k and over 100kmile lifespan, and… would that be that bad? not great, but is it awful? Meanwhile, those shifty 8/9/10 speed transmissions—have we seen them actually wear out early in life, say only getting 200k before being done? Thing is, the ECU/TCU/whatever has full control over everything. It can lift throttle (torque) during the shift and execute every shift under no load conditions (*if so programmed).

I thought it was BITOG maxim that 150k was a good lifespan for an automatic transmission, at least when they were all conventional slushboxes. Yet I’m confused these days if that is true, or if that was true of some 4AT’s, or what. Regardless: the eCVT’s seem to not have the typical failure modes. But gain a high voltage battery which may age out and cost “a lot of money” to replace, so, trading one devil for another?

At 5k/yr I do wonder if a pure electric wouldn’t make most sense, yes the battery will age, but if it’s a popular model then I wonder if the repair will be cheap (in the future). A gamble but what car isn’t?

At 5k/yr, just move to the city or the ’burbs, buy a bicycle and an Uber pass. Take that $30-40-50k, invest it appropriately, and pull money out for bus tickets/Uber tickets/bicycle repairs/the rare car rental. Methinks you might be ahead doing so.

 

[John105]

I thought it was BITOG maxim that 150k was a good lifespan for an automatic transmission, at least when they were all conventional slushboxes. Yet I’m confused these days if that is true, or if that was true of some 4AT’s, or what. Regardless: the eCVT’s seem to not have the typical failure modes. But gain a high voltage battery which may age out and cost “a lot of money” to replace, so, trading one devil for another?

I sure hope it's not 150k as my DD is at 136k now. I've seen on YouTube 500-600k cars with no mention of trans issues, most recently 600, so unless I royally missed something, I have no plans on replacing my tranny

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I own a car dealership and write for a few different automotive sites. It used to be incredibly easy for me to recommend a couple dozen different new vehicles for my customers and readers.

These days? I feel like the old guy with the old truck. Nearly everything I see out there isn't worth keeping for the long haul.

I was asked to highlight three new vehicles that I would recommend for folks who don't drive often. My first choice was quick. A Toyota Tacoma. 2023 is the last of the conventional powertrains and the reliability is stellar. Easy choice.

But then what else is worth buying? A Corolla? A Highlander? I can't make two vehicles a Toyota right off the bat. So I think, "What about a Honda Pilot?".

That has a 10-speed automatic. I don't know if that transmission will be constantly shifting and I wouldn't spend my own money on that overpriced SUV. Maybe a TLX, or a Civic, or the Mazda CX-5... but Honda CVTs aren't holding up according to my reliability study (nobody maintains their transmission anymore) and the Skyactiv engines also have issues.

I ended up recommending the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. The Model 3 is an incredible value right now. The Model Y is great for the SUV owners, but I can't embrace a $7,000 premium for the same powertrain. If someone put a gun to my head and made me pay for a new car in my garage, and I drove only about 5,000 miles a year, it would have to be a Tacoma or a Tesla.

One other car I wanted to reccomend was the new base Nissan Versa with a 5-speed. But most folks aren't even interested in shifting their own gears. May as well be recommending Oldsmobiles.

If you didn't drive much, say 5,000 miles a year, and absolutely had to buy a new car which automotive bullet would be worth the financial wound?

I would take a different perspective. If I'm only putting 5k/yr on a car that means it would have around 50k miles after 10 years. 10 years!!!

Just about any new vehicle built today can go 10yrs / 50k miles will no issues.

 

[John105]

I would take a different perspective. If I'm only putting 5k/yr on a car that means it would have around 50k miles after 10 years. 10 years!!!

Just about any vehicle built today can go 10yrs / 50k miles will no issues.

Tell that to Nissan Rogue owners who had CVTs fail at 39k, which was not covered by 5/60 powertrain

 

[supton]

Tell that to Nissan Rogue owners who had CVTs fail at 39k, which was not covered by 5/60 powertrain

Fair point, there are still some models which should be avoided, at ”all costs”.

 

[supton]

I sure hope it's not 150k as my DD is at 136k now. I've seen on YouTube 500-600k cars with no mention of trans issues, most recently 600, so unless I royally missed something, I have no plans on replacing my tranny

10 or so years ago that was bandied about. I do think it had some truth—back in the 90’s and before. Before drive by wire, the transmission shifted when it needed to, and if it was under load, well… Wide gear ratios did not help, nor poor programming. Unlock the torque convertor to gain a few rpm, let the ATF cooler handle the extra heat load, hope the ATF doesn’t get too hot.

Thing is, while domestic 4AT’s seemed to wear out, I want to say the import 4AT’s did not wear out quite as badly. Maybe because they were lower torque engines driven differently (different buying audience).

Still, all the same, one reason (of several) that I got out of my Tundra was fear of transmission replacement. I figured it was a $5k bill if I was lucky. I couldn’t justify that. I mean, could I afford to repair? yes. Did I like the vehicle? yes. But would I be happy with an unexpected repair on a vehicle that I no longer “needed”?

This point in life I just need cheap low cost runabouts.