Our last three cars have been a Ford Escort, a Ford Focus, and a Ford Escape. The Escape is a 2015. We have been very happy with all of them. They hardly ever break down, and they’re not expensive to fix.
Land Rover. Love the looks and vibe, but repair history is supposedly horrible.
@sax our Sonata was a 2013
We LOVE our 2009 Honda CRV, and have driven 93,000 trouble-free miles since buying it new in 2009, but TODAY we received a recall notice for the Takata driver-side airbag. I am absolutely furious! Our car was added to the recall list in early February, and we just got the notice today. I had no idea, because I have checked the database in the past and our car was not on the list. They say these things can cause death, and we have been driving this car for 7 years, and the parts to fix it will not be available until this summer!!! So, I would say check this issue very carefully before buying any car, including new cars.
2004 Lexus. Got the same notice on Friday, otherwise its been a great vehicle.
There’s no way to have known about the airbag issue when you bought the car. Takata is the OEM supplier to most of the Japanese brands so there’s very little you could have avoided them unless you didn’t buy an Asian import.
http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/takatalist.html lists lots of cars, not just from Japanese brands, which have the recalled airbags.
We are trying to rent cars that H is considering buying, to get a feel for them. So far, he’s not been very thrilled with any of them, most recently, the Chrysler 200. I’m glad he is trying them out as rentals instead of buying and regretting.
He’s ambivalent about the push button starter rather than putting the key in the ignition, among other things with these “new fangled” cars. We do often have to hunt around to figure out how to fill the gas on each rental, as well as some of the controls. Somehow it’s not intuitive from brand to brand or model to model. The rear camera is a nice feature.
Chevy Malbu. Total POS. Had to get the engine replaced and then it developed electrical problems. Car would randomly beep when it was put in park - pretty embarrassing when picking my kids up from activities! The last two years, when it was cold the battery would totally drain some nights so I would wake up in the morning with a car that wouldn’t start (and no doors were open or lights left on). Couldn’t wait for that thing to die so I could get a new car!
Haha. Push button starters are hardly new-fangled. We had a Lexus several years ago that had one. Not sure why actually putting a key in the ignition would make anyone more confident.
I can’t imagine why anyone would still be driving a Pinto!
Never another Dodge of any model. Two well cared-for Caravans died at exactly 100,000 miles. Dodge got enough of our money trying to save them then. Never another Dodge, ever.
The Pinto is her second car. Her mechanic had to join a Pinto club in order to get her parts. She drives a 1987 Dodge Caravan most of the time. 
Even if her Pinto has had the modification, I hope she never gets rear-ended.
Haha Sportsman88, my first car was a Ford Pinto. High school graduation present in 1972. I drove it for 6 years, then sold it to a student from Colombia who (last I heard) took it back to Colombia with him when he graduated college. I have so many fond memories of that car and never had a single problem with it.
Anything Chevy.
You can’t blame any particular manufacturer for the airbag issue, the issue was Tanaka, the supplier, provided airbags with inflators that when they go off, can send shrapnel into the car. Tanaka supplies to a lot of manufacturers all over the world. The reason the list grew was because it was unknown how far back the errors went, and the recalls were based on manufacturer information, and not long ago they found more models had the same problem.
I will never buy another GM product. I had a 93 Astro Van for a little over two years and put five alternators on it. All covered by warranty, but a major inconvenience for it to be in the shop so often. Traded it for a 95 Pontiac Grand Prix which had a lot of little problems. The turn signal arm fell off in my hand while driving and the control knobs broke all the time and could only be purchased from the dealership and cost a lot for what it was. It had other issues, too. I am not hard on cars. I keep up with maintenance and only drive about 8,000 miles a year.
I have been driving my current 2003 Ford Mustang for nearly 13 years and it’s been the best car I have ever owned. My mother had a 2005 Taurus and never had any problems with it either.
I wouldn’t buy any car because I hate driving, but I do ride motorcycles now and then, though I don’t own one. I have a particular dislike for the Road King. It is true that I prefer light bikes with small engines to muscle bikes that weigh as much as a car, but even still I feel that Harley-Davidson is selling a really pretty noisemaker more than it is selling a performance motorcycle. The Road King feels like a loud and rumbly brick moving at highway speed more than anything else. It doesn’t really feel like sitting on top of a big bundle of horsepower. If I really, really wanted a muscle bike, I wouldn’t buy a Road King, and I probably wouldn’t buy a Harley at all. It just doesn’t feel like you are actually getting quality for the premium you’re paying.
Harley Davidson - the best 1920s technology your money can buy.
Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler Pacifica. We were told by mechanics to get rid of both of these cars ASAP. Both were terribly unreliable.
I will never buy a Chrysler again.
We have had 4 volvos. I had an 850 Wagon that was pretty bad and broke a lot but the 960, 240 and S60 were all good cars.