Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: lukejo
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Bottom line would be that if the young propective buyer does very many miles, neither the Subaru nor the Sebring would be a good choice.
That's exactly what I was getting at with my earlier post. I know the OP asked specifically about these two, but after describing his son's situation, he didn't tell us why these two were the only (poor) options for this situation...
The OP hasn't mentioned MPG needs. With a used car under $5k, sometimes reliability trumps mpg. There are always trade offs.
I'm not sure he's limiting his selection to these two, but rather asking opinions on two choices that he feels comfortable about the previous owners: a questionable very low mileage unit vs. a respected brand that already had it's major repairs, but also has the potential for rust and high upkeep. Subies seem to have owners that get great reliability or ones that claim they are very high maintenance cost during their later years. Buying used is always about balancing risk factors vs. allotted purchase price.
Personally, unless I was a very competent diyer, could afford down time,and the price is very low, I would keep shopping.
I completely agree. I wasn't referring to MPG, but rather reliability with higher mileage use/time owned.