LectroFuel
My 18 year old son has been driving my 2005 Prius for a year now and it seems like it is falling apart. I've spent over $6000 in repairs this year. I've never spent any money for repairs on this car until this year and it has 250k miles. He wants as many features as you can get for the money, but the #1 concern is safety. He wants a comfortable car that is also fun and reliable. We will not consider a luxury car.
We are pretty sure on what we are going to buy, but I wanted to see if anyone else had an opinion. I am not buying a GM, Ford, or FCA product, sorry NormT. I realize the Chevy Spark is the cheapest new car on the market at under $10k. VW I think will have higher repair costs than we'd like.
Things he wants the car have include Bluetooth, backup camera, sporty handling, style, good MPGs, good safety ratings, and most of all, good reliability. Don't need AWD.
Our top four choices are the Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and Hyundai Elantra. I prefer the price to be more around $11k. The Elantra is a major rental car, and is hard to find a non-fleet car. Civic and Corolla have a CVT. I've spent the last two weeks with a fully loaded 2017 Corolla XSE loaner and didn't think much of it, except all safety features are standard. Also, the reliability is the best.
I found this listing and have already set up an appointment, even though the dealer is 50+ miles away. Seems like an extremely good deal despite the high mileage. The CarFax looks sort of weird because there is an 18k mile gap in the service records. It has bluetooth, backup camera, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic, a 7" infotainment system updatable to CarPlay in the future (supposedly), push button start, automatic headlights and windshield wipers, upgraded wheels, a 7 year/100,000 mile warranty, and all the other good stuff with the Mazda CPO program:2016 Mazda 3 i Sport w/Sport Preferred Equipment Package
Does it seem like a good deal and what other cars should I think about?
Thanks in advance!
Priorities: Reliability & durability / Feature availability / Handling
Need minimum of 5 seats
Will consider both new and used cars
Maximum mileage: 70000
Maximum age: 4 years
Maximum price: US $ 13000
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