<p>Less than a month ago I bought a 2010 certified pre-owned Nissan in your price range. Our last five cars were brand new, and we keep our cars forever. Buying a used vehicle is a new decision for us, and so far I’m very happy. If you buy certified pre-owned and tack on an additional warranty for a few years, you won’t have to worry about much. Some manufacturers even run special financing offers on their certified pre-owned cars. We’ll see how I feel about the car in a couple years, but so far the car feels like an excellent purchase.</p>
<p>Hondas seem to do pretty well. I once had a coworker that exclusively bought used Hondas > 120K miles… then drove them into the ground with his many commuting miles.</p>
<p>I’m a Toyota fan. Ive owned five cars/vehicles made by toyota. They all worked great when I drove them away from the dealer. They still worked great four years later. The only issue any of them had was an actuator on the remote door lock mechanism. That happened after 70K miles, but it was disappointing to me based on my expectations of Toyota.</p>
<p>I never believed the unintended acceleration claims. The only one that got my attention was the loaner car one with the policeman as the driver. Can’t explain that, but I think it is probably floor mat issues, which are much more dangerous than most people realize.</p>
<p>Re: dangerous floor mats. I took the floor mat out of the driver’s side of my Land Cruiser several years ago b/c it was so warped that I was afraid it would get wedged under the gas pedal. The car is now thirteen years old and driving just fine w/o the floor mat. Have had good experiences with Honda Accord (200K miles), Infiniti (aka Nissan Altima), and Toyota but not so great with BMW (electronics, run-flat tires, & expensive general service).</p>
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<p>Actually, it was concluded that the floor mat was the problem in that case. In the investigation, it was found that a previous user of the loaner car had the same problem (floor mat jamming the accelerator down), but just pulled the floor mat back out. The floor mat in the car happened to be an incorrect one put in by the dealer, although Toyota decided that the proper floor mats and the closeness of the accelerator pedal to the floor was still a risk (so the recall fix was to replace the driver’s floor mat and replace the accelerator pedal with a shorter one that had more space between it and the floor).</p>
<p>There was a different problem involving accelerator pedal mechanisms from one particular supplier that were somewhat sticky (apparently someone got “lucky” and had it occur right in front of a Toyota dealer and managed to park it there with the engine running without crashing, and there was no driver’s floor mat in the car). That recall replaced the accelerator pedal mechanisms.</p>
<p>Of course, the background noise of driver error induced unintended acceleration incidents made for a lot of hype that clouded the issue (the drivers who accidentally pressed the wrong pedal typically do not realize that they pressed the wrong pedal).</p>
<p>As far as floor mats go, make sure that they are properly fitted for the car, and secured using the attachments in the floor that cars come with these days.</p>
<p>Re: certified pre-owned</p>
<p>Remember that the certification inspection is only as good as the dealer doing the inspection. Also, different brands may have different standards as to what can be certified.</p>
<p>Where are you located? What are your requirements? How many people normally ride in your car? Do you have dogs that ride in your car? Do you need all-wheel-drive or just like it? Do you have a service person that you like and want to continue using? Do you carry stuff around? </p>
<p>One of the most reliable used cars out there is the Mazda Miata–but it’s not for everyone, obviously. It’s hard to give advice without more information…</p>
<p>Personally, our recent experience with a business car from Toyota has led me to say “never again”–I <em>hated</em> dealing with the dealership; they’d say service would be an hour, it would take two… No problems with the car, but I dreaded every maintenance appointment. They twice forgot to turn off the “time for service” warning light and I had to take it back in, and it took another hour. We also have a Ford (Transit) for our business, and dealing with the Ford dealer is a joy. They apologize if it takes 61 minutes when they promised 60. We bought another Ford to replace the Toyota.</p>
<p>My H and I both hit deer, one month apart. Both times the deer appeared from nowhere, it was scary and nothing we could have done to prevent it.</p>
<p>One car we was fixable and the other wasn’t. I bought a Subaru Outback. I think I got a 2010 for the price you are looking at. I really looked around. Love it so far, it isn’t using oil yet, I’m hoping they fixed that problem.</p>
<p>FWIW - when I was looking to get another Honda about five years ago, ago the price for a recent used one was almost exactly the same as anew one. one It didn’t make sense to buy a used one so waited until the end of the model year and bought a new one.</p>
<p>The current Corolla is a VERY old design.</p>
<p>I may be able to keep my car - the estimate looks to be lower than the value of the car, but I won’t know for sure until next week. And since it’s under comprehensive coverage, it doesn’t raise my premium. </p>
<p>But this has been an interesting conversation - I know this car is going to have to be replaced at some point, and I’ve had it so long I’m totally out of touch as to what’s out there. And my husband’s car is even older …</p>