What are the best used cars to buy ?

I am not sure what your budget is. $5000 is about the least amount of money you will want to have to find a reliable car. This would be one that has been well cared for, which will help in reliability but also causes the vehicle to command a higher price.

Stay away from Kia or Hyundai, because although they are CHEAP, there is a reason why! They are designed to breakdown as they age, so you will either go buy another one or else spend all your savings on parts, forever!

Nissan's tend to be less expensive than Honda or Toyota, and if you can find a little 96-02 Sentra, they are great little cars if they have been well looked after. The Altima's have a timing chain, so they can save you some on maintenance as long as the oil has been changed regularly, they are also great little cars, but tend to leak oil from the crankshaft seals as they age.

Toyota Camry's are awesome, particularly the 92-96 models. (I know this is older than what you are asking for, but these are a really good run for Toyota) Stay away from the V6's from years 92-93, as the engine was too powerful for the transmission and many times it will need replacing, if it hasn't been already. The 97-02 are good, but believe it or not, just not as good in quality as the production run from 92-96! If you can find one with a 4Cyl engine that has been well looked after, it's a keeper. Corolla's are second to these.

One of my all time favorite Honda's is the 98-02 Honda Accord Coupe 4cyl. engine. I love the slick style (the back end looks similar to the older Maserati) to it's great Honda reliability. Speaking of which, stay away from the 6cyl. engine with automatic transmission. They seem to have problems with that particular combination, like the older Camry, in that the V6 engine is too powerful for the automatic transmission gearing & wears it out prematurely. Civic's are also good, but watch out for quality issues from 96-02.

For great value of money spent, reliability and longevity, these are what I would recommend, which is why they hold their value so well.

Now, with that aside, the absolute best advice I can give you is to go to:

www.SmartWomansGarGuide.com

This site was put together by a Lady that was ripped off when she was 19 purchasing her first car.

She then decided to change the car industry. She learned tons of stuff about cars and eventually became a buyer for dealerships or something like that... Then she became a personal car shopper for people, like a broker!

She is now devoted to teaching women how to be smart around their car buying decisions.

She has a DVD that teaches everything you need to know. Then there is her Audio Companion that you take with you when viewing cars, it holds your hand through every step so you don't miss anything. She also has a vehicle checklist so that you have a record of every car you see so there is absolutely no way to get confused.

If you can find a honda accord or a toyota corolla, those are two of the best, most reliable cars around.

It almost doesn't matter how old they are, if they've had basic maintenance, they will last forever.

Jeeps, because they last forever