The Right Car for Me: reliable use car for a single woman

reliable use car for a single woman

packhound1

I bought my 1997 Nissan Sentra GXE in January 2000. I have done all of the regularly scheduled maintenance, and it has given me 17 years of reliable service. It has never left me stranded. Now it is 20 years old, and I'm starting to have unscheduled repair costs. I'm deciding whether to keep repairing it or buy another car. I wish I could just clone it! I LOVE my car. It's perfect for me. RELIABLE, compact, easy to park, good gas mileage.

I would like to repeat my experience: Buy a used car, 2-4 years young, do the regular maintenance on it, and drive it reliably until it's 20 years old.

I would automatically buy a Sentra, but the newer ones appear to be a little bigger on the outside. I don't like that. So I'm also considering a Toyota Corolla, or maybe a Honda Civic, although the Civic seems to be more expensive for the same years and features.

I'm looking for recommendations on which of the 2 is best for me. Or is there a third make and model that I should consider? I'm primarily looking at reliability and then price.

One more thing...I've read that the Continually Variable Transmission on some Sentras is not good for city driving. Is that true? I mostly drive around my small city, not much on the highway. Should I avoid a CVT?

Priorities: Reliability & durability / Safety & braking / Fuel economy

Need minimum of 4 seats

Will consider both new and used cars
Maximum mileage: 80000
Maximum age: 4 years

Maximum price: C $ 12000

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So I'm not an expert on the Canadian car market, but assuming it is similar to the US car market I would avoid another sentra. Newer Nissan vehicles have been getting much worse ratings, and they just aren't keeping up with other vehicles in terms of features and refinement.

If you would still like a car similar in size to the Sentra, I would recommend a Chevrolet Cruze. It has a small footprint (similar to what you are used to), better than average reliability, and much more comfortable.

I would also recommend the Honda Civic. Between the model years 2013 and 2015 they were slightly refreshed, and offer quite an impressive package. Their reliability is well above average, and maintenance costs are low as well. It is not uncommon to see Honda Civics with north of 200,000 miles on them.

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reliable use car for a single woman

packhound1

Response from lmoore1436

12:18 am August 10, 2017