Help With Buying New Car?

Logic should tell you that the cars with great mileage are going to have small engines and not be very heavy. Hybrids re the exception to that rule. Honda Civics have long been among to best for mpgs and are quality small cars. But some years have had transmission problems, you can check that online. I would avoid cars with CVTs, even tho they get better mpgs. People don't SERVICE them like they should and they have a high failure rate because of that. Mazda 3s are also real good on gas and well made. You can go to Fuelly.com and look at the Real World mileage for lots of cars. But stay away from Mitsubishi and Suzuki cars even if they get great mpgs. They are low quality cars. And stay away from high mileage or old Hybrids because the Battery Packs are so expensive to replace. But if you get a well maintained Civic or Mazda 3 you will be happy with it... I'm sure.

For at least the past 20 years, Honda and Toyota have been at the top of the list when it comes to overall reliability, but any used car can present big problems. It depends a lot on how gently it has been driven and how well it has maintained.

A car that has had a lot of short distance driving in stop-and-go urban traffic is less preferable than one which has seen longer distance steady driving at highway speeds, but not excessive speeds. A car that has been maintained regularly according to the schedule in the owner's manual and has records to prove it is preferable to one that has not had regular maintenance and / or has no documentation.

For someone like yourself, the best option is to find a one-owner car then have it professionally evaluated at a shop who maintains those vehicles and is familiar with them. A seller has no legal obligation to tell you about any problems it has and many won't. If buying from a used car dealer, do not rely on their own shop, take it to a different one. Any seller who is unwilling to let you get the vehicle professionally evaluated is not someone you should buy from. Having it inspected and test driven is going to cost you money, of course, but it is the only intelligent thing to do when you lack the knowledge, skills and tools to do it yourself.

Toyota & Honda are usually best.

A used Suzuki SUV with less than 100,000 km

get the April, or May issue of consumer reports, they evaluate cars