need a new dd (5 to 7k) opinions

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » May 16, 2008, 11:16 pm

if you had 5 to 7 k to spend on a reliable dd what would you buy? this would be for my wife. she drives about 50 miles a day round trip. it has to get good gas mileage and be very reliable so i don't get the weekly phone call asking for me to come rescue her off the side of the road somewhere.
i need some input please! NO NISSANS!!!! i am ready to burn her 02 sentra to the ground and then push it into the river. f'in pos. japanese build quality-yeah, right.
remember, good mpg's and reliable!
and just to head some off at the pass, i don't think i could get her into anything like a 69 falcon 170 3sp. it will have to be newer with some creature comforts. lol

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » May 17, 2008, 12:11 am

sorry cant help , my wife drives a slick.

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » May 17, 2008, 1:09 am

my wife would explode when confronted with a three on the tree. "what the f%^$ is the left pedal for?". lol

oldtrucks · Post by **oldtrucks** » May 17, 2008, 2:28 am

ezernut9mm
I would go look at some 2000 or so Taurus's or some thing along those lines. We have a 96 Taurus with over 186000 and it has not had any problems. Doesn't use oil drives great. I am a truck person but I like to drive this car because it sticks to the road like glue. I drive it over the twisty mountain passes here at 70 plus and it is fun to put in the corners. Stops on a dime too. I think it is a very safe car.
That is where I would put my money.

blackagatha · Post by **blackagatha** » May 17, 2008, 5:17 am

I dont know what year it was, but we rented a late 90's Taurus to go on a vacation to Cali.... I dont know if ours just sucked, or if your perception of a great car is just demented...

The steering was HORRIBLE... When you're going down the freeway, the slightest movement of the wheel makes a twitch, so the car is in a constant wobble (and this was with my dad- ie professional driver etc driving) and yet the turning radius was terrible. It was worse than dad's 68 LTD 4 door.

I dont remember a lot else about it... seems it wasnt real comfy either though. At least not the back seats.

DV65CustomCab · Post by **DV65CustomCab** » May 17, 2008, 5:30 am

Not typical.
We had Taurii for fleet cars for years. They were nice to drive, 5 star safety rated, got mid to upper 20s mpg and were very trouble free. We had the plain-jane engines. I've heard the DOHC's weren't as good.
My wife loves her Subaru Impreza. 224,000 miles and still going strong. Fuel mileage is only solid mid 20s with the awd though.
Hondas are always good, but you'll pay for the name and Civics are high on the theft list these days.
Acura Integra, as above. Some of the bigger Acuras are darn nice cars too.
I keep telling people to consider Hyundai. They make really nice cars and are very dependable. No longer the Excel of the 1980s, and a great used car bargain.
Not a fan of Mopar build quality.
Not much of a fan of GM stuff either but have to admit we like the HHR. Have not driven one though. It's got a lot of nifty features if you can get past the styling.
Toyotas are over-rated, IMO.
Mitsubishi = POS
VW/Audi = AVOID!!!

Ford4jack · Post by **Ford4jack** » May 17, 2008, 8:14 am

I would suggest a Taurus as well. Between the wife and kids we run three of them a pair of vulcan powered and one duratec.
They are good dependable cars in my opinion.

Check out the post Ford tuff in the off subject forum here.
This car is still going and made a trip to the Florida keys last winter.

Red62Uni · Post by **Red62Uni** » May 17, 2008, 8:22 am

i like the sn-95 mustangs. 94-04 V6's still enough power but not a gas hog. i get 30 mpgs highway out of my 95. dependable, affordable, and a Ford. what could be better.

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » May 17, 2008, 9:07 am

it's gotta be a 4dr red, or i would go for an older used stang.
everyone with the taurus-what engine? 3.0? any one to stay away from?

ras4434 · Post by **ras4434** » May 17, 2008, 9:20 am

ezernut9mm: My wife just had to have a Toyota 4runner. 4 doors,white the bigger engine, sun roof and all the bells and whistles. It gets mid 20 mpg and 4x4 is also nice. She spent 8 something for it with 110,000 miles. It has been a great rig for her, it feels safe and is easy to drive. It sits high enough so she can see but is easy to get into. She was hit not to long ago and the best part was the $200 bill to fix her rig and the $2500 for the van. Its important to factor in the "I want to live through a crash" factor when getting a new rig. Thats why I have a slick. PS, my slick came with chrome "powered by ford" valve covers.

Red62Uni · Post by **Red62Uni** » May 17, 2008, 9:48 am

oh well i tried. lol. the taurus then to a guy at my company has one with 280k on it(he wont fly). he swears by it. says when it dies he is going to get another one just like it.

shawns fords · Post by **shawns fords** » May 17, 2008, 10:47 am

I would recomend a taurus too, they have been great cars. I had very few come into the dealership after the first generations were faded out of course which was not many compared to the millions sold.
Another Car you might want to check into and I am only saying this because its a larger car with more portection and still gets incredible gas mileage is a crown victoria. you can find one from any year in good shape and know its a good solid reliable car with some wright and comfort behind it. Nice to drive. plenty of room if you have passengers, etc etc

Slick Fan · Post by **Slick Fan** » May 17, 2008, 1:18 pm

I like Crown Vic's too.

My Son has an '04 Grand Am (non GT) with a V-6 that's been a trouble free car. It's got good power, handles well & is fun to drive. He hasn't figured out the mileage though, but I'd think it's probably in the 26-28 range.

I just sold this 97 Taurus for my Grandpa-in-law last month. I was really impressed with the car. It was highly optioned & had more bells-n-whistles than I ever dreamed they had. I had always thought they were a basic transportation, bare bones type of car.

Original miles!!

This 3.0 V-6 had some pretty good power, too & was good for about 26 mpg, for the short time I drove it.

This buddy seat/flips forward for cup holder use, I think that's a purty cool idea.

jakdad · Post by **jakdad** » May 17, 2008, 1:48 pm

You might also look at Sables. We bought an 01 new and it was a really great car. Also, you might go Focus shopping. I have a friend that bought a new Focus about five years ago. It has also been a great car.

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » May 17, 2008, 1:52 pm

blackagatha wrote:I dont know what year it was, but we rented a late 90's Taurus to go on a vacation to Cali.... I dont know if ours just sucked, or if your perception of a great car is just demented...

The steering was HORRIBLE... When you're going down the freeway, the slightest movement of the wheel makes a twitch, so the car is in a constant wobble (and this was with my dad- ie professional driver etc driving) and yet the turning radius was terrible. It was worse than dad's 68 LTD 4 door.

I dont remember a lot else about it... seems it wasnt real comfy either though. At least not the back seats.

B.A.
i borrowed a late 90s tore-@ss a few years back fr0m my friend for an afternoon while my slideback was being worked on , drove exactly as you described.slightest movement of the wheel and its going out of the traffic lane.i thought it was a POS as far as steering,and not very comfy either. my slick is better than that. only reason i even borrowed it was my dog had a vet appointment and my slideback was not going to be done in time.
my wife drove the one her boss had once too, she said she would never want one.

Ford4jack · Post by **Ford4jack** » May 17, 2008, 6:29 pm

On our Taurus engines there both 3.0L. The vulcan is a 12 valve pushrod engine it makes something like 155 hp.
The duratec is a twin cam overhead 24 valve engine and uses a chain to drive the cams it has around 202 hp.

The vulcan is a trational cast iron engine. The duratec is aluminum and has a split bottom end and bolt on aluminum oil pan that is a stressed member to the transmission. The duratec likes to weep oil because of the stacked bottom end. Both seem very dependable to us so far.

I remember when researching these cars the 2000 and up models had some good safety upgrades done to them

I did notice our 2002 model has bigger front brakes than the kids 2000 models.
The vulcan is easy to work on compaired to the duratec room wise and gets better mileage but the duratec is fun to drive in my opinion anyway.

Never noticed any steering issues with ours.

Alan Mclennan · Post by **Alan Mclennan** » May 17, 2008, 7:32 pm

ezernut9mm wrote:my wife would explode when confronted with a three on the tree. "what the f%^$ is the left pedal for?". lol

Just like mine she`s going to say where`s the steering wheel and whatsthat stick thing on the right for

Alan,

Phil · Post by **Phil** » May 17, 2008, 10:12 pm

Civic. Hands down. Sorry rice haters.

30mpg, dead reliable.

Post by **Greg D** » May 17, 2008, 10:20 pm

Too bad your price range isn't abit higher. I'd say Ford Fusion, only about 2 MPG less than a civic and a whole lot nicer car. I4s do go for abit less than the loaded V6 we have though. Next best bet would be a Taurus, dead reliable, drives nice and just plain cheap to buy. Any Honda with about 100K more miles than a comparable Taurus right now sells for about $3000 more than it is really worth, leave them for the dumbass teenagers. If small is good take a look at a Focus, bout the same pluses as a Taurus in a smaller package, mid 30s for fuel mileage.
Rice is for eating.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » May 17, 2008, 10:27 pm

The older 90s cars hold their value but also the reliability.

The dumbass teenagers are smart enough to fix, swap and get 500 reliable hp out of them. but I am not talking a modded Honda.
They are just solid runners stock and get 200K+ miles on the engines.
I wouldn't buy new. Used doesn't bother me much.

Just don't buy a 2.3 mustang. Mine gets 19mpg mixed driving at best with a tuneup. Fed EPA says that's just about right