recommendations for used car for longer drives/ reliability

[wag123]

Originally Posted by umungus1122
How are the supercharged 3.8s in the GTP reliability wise? Looking at a nice one with 100k miles for just shy of $4k.
The engine is very reliable if it has been properly maintained and not abused, but the transmissions can be problematic because of the increased power. You should know that premium fuel MUST be used in this engine or you will have problems.

 

[donnyj08]

I recommend a scion TC in the 2006-2007 range with a 5 speed.

The reliability and gas mileage of a Camry for half the price.

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted by donnyj08
I recommend a scion TC in the 2006-2007 range with a 5 speed. The reliability and gas mileage of a Camry for half the price.
Bad advice. Being a Toyota product, it should be just as reliable as a Camry, but such is not usually the case with the Scion tC. The problem is not the car itself, but the car's typical owners. The vast majority of tC owners were in their teens and early twenties, mostly girls, and had the cars purchased for them by someone else. Most of them were loaned-out, abused, crashed, and neglected. One that is is truly good shape would be a rare find.

 

[JustinH]

We purchased the xb for my wife and she loves it. Paid about 10 grand about 5 years ago and still going strong.

Ours came with a stack of maintenance receipts from the firestone car care center, and we have done nothing to it but maintenance items.

Only gripe is it gets what I would consider to be poor gas mileage, and it has a very small fuel tank. But when its paid off you stop caring about fuel mileage.

 

[donnyj08]

Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by donnyj08
I recommend a scion TC in the 2006-2007 range with a 5 speed. The reliability and gas mileage of a Camry for half the price.
Bad advice. Being a Toyota product, it should be just as reliable as a Camry, but such is not usually the case with the Scion tC. The problem is not the car itself, but the car's typical owners. The vast majority of tC owners were in their teens and early twenties, mostly girls, and had the cars purchased for them by someone else. Most of them were loaned-out, abused, crashed, and neglected. One that is is truly good shape would be a rare find.



Recommending the TC is not bad advice just because you think they are all poorly maintained because they are driven by mostly women. I know several girls and younger men who service their vehicles as well as many adults or have parents who take care of their vehicles for them. Just because a car is a "cute" car doesn't mean it is automatically hot rodded or abused.

The TC is definitely not a car your Street Racer dude cares about as it is slow and uninteresting just like every other Toyota product. The only plus is the reliability.

My Brother has one and it was purchased from a middle aged woman and has been well maintained. Due diligence of the purchaser (op) is required regardless of type of vehicle.

 

[wag123]

I didn't mention any other Scion model other than the tC and I didn't use the word "all" or "every", I used the words "majority", "mostly", "most", and "usually".
One case in point, my next door neighbor bought his 17 year old granddaughter a new tC when she graduated from high school. Off she went to college. The next time they saw the car the entire right side of the car was damaged, she let her boyfriend drive the car and he sideswiped another vehicle. The next thing I heard was that the left rear suspension had been torn out of the car when another boyfriend was driving it, playing boy racer he engaged the parking brake to do a donut and hit a curb sideways. The next thing that I heard was, when she was quizzed about the last time she had the oil changed, she looked puzzled and said "never", when my neighbor checked the oil there was nothing showing on the dipstick so he changed what was left, the between 1-2 quarts of oil that came out was ugly. He also told her that she needed to keep an eye on the tires because they were getting worn and would need to be replaced soon, 6 months later she was driving in the rain (going too fast), hydroplaned, lost control, and totaled the car. All of this happened in less than 3 years.
Before I retired from the car business I saw MANY tC's that were subjected to this kind of treatment. All of them? Of course not, but, I stand by the statement I made... "one that is is truly good shape would be a rare find".

 

[joemo]

3.8 supercharged comes with the heavy duty transmission.