Anyone have a favorite older car they would recommend?

[heatherlynnky]

I do have a great mechanic. He is an older guy, he hates my mini van and I hate it with him. Its about to die and its just shy of paid off. Now that I am so close to car payment freedom I don't want to go back but I have some money saved for a replacement. I want something older, easier to work on. Something my husband can do the easy stuff on and our lovely mechanic can do anything over our heads. There are 6 of us though and there is the issue. I am considering just getting something small and the rare times we all go somewhere we take both little cars. Church we just make my parents take one of our kids and we can fit in a smaller car. So have any favorites? I already love the Honda Accord but I am open to anything easy to work on and long lasting. I figure I have 2 or 3 months to find the right vehicle for us. Having some specific ones to keep an eye out for might make this process a bit easier.

 

[Emerald]

It is not the best on gas but I love my 2001 Dodge Durango.. it is an 8cylinder four wheel drive and we fit 8 in.. sure the three in the very back seat have to be the smaller ones but we often cram us all in.. Two in the front, three in the middle seat and three in the back. and still have room for the coolers and we got a soft carryall for the top of the beasty and pack that full and we all head to the beach.
I normally only have 5 to 7 in there tho.. and when it is just two of us (hubs and I) we can cram that beasty full and put the canoe on the top and just go.. it pulls anything too.. from camper to boat to trailer full of stuff.
We have to have four wheel drive as we are in a snow belt off lake michigan in the winter and can get up to 2 feet of snow in 24 hours if the wind blows the wrong way..
I had a Montana mini van and loved it.. too bad it was good on gas as hubby left for work one day a tree blew over in a storm on him and crushed the top.. no fix. and that Montana went thru the snow very well for a van. hope this helps.
We do have a small jeep and while it goes well thru the snow and is better on gas I can only get 5 in there but it does have room for a cooler and the carryall thing works up on top too.

 

[SSDreamin]

OK, I've braced myself and am ready to get slammed for this, but just about anything Toyota makes, pre 20--. I have come to my senses ( ) and now drive a Chevy 3500 crew cab dually ( *cough* gas sucking beast *cough, cough* ), but back when I drove across country on a whim and was a single Mom who needed reliable, gas sipping transportation, I drove Toyota's. A '78 Celica (traded it in when it hit 250K, probably still running!), a '81 Celica that I lost in the divorce, but got a fun little '80 cab and a half with a 20R in it - bet it would've run forever, but it was a Southern truck living in Michigan - salt ate it alive :/ '78 Toyota wagon, that was great until the ex flipped it. Then I bought a '81 (or 2? 4? ) Corolla. Fun car, got me through winter in the UP, which is saying a lot. Traded it in for my DS#1's dream car, a '82 Tercel. Fun car! But not meant for 6 people. Great mileage, never say die engine - so great in fact that, when DH hit a deer and totaled it, we bought a body to drop the engine into. DH became foreign car phobic a while back and traded it in for a '03 Malibu. :/ So ends my trail of fun little Toyota's I drove.

 

[Dawn419]

OK, I've braced myself and am ready to get slammed for this, but just about anything Toyota makes, pre 20--.

Slammin' ya with a high five, sister! I've had access to driving two different Toyotas and those things are like Energizer bunnies...they keep going, and going and going! Subarus are in that running, too!


Emerald,

We (doc and I) love the Durangos. Ended up with a 2000 Dakota because she was there at the right place at the right time, for us.

 

[Denim Deb]

Hubby has a 99 Durango.

I don't recall now what kind of gas mileage it got, but I used to have a Taurus wagon. This was B4 I had the horses and I don't recall the year. But, we got it used after my daughter was born and she was born in 91. I loaded the back of that thing w/firewood several times. If I had had the horses, I'm sure I would have put hay in the back too! It ran great, had the rear facing seat and handled great in the snow. There are times when I miss that car-and I generally don't like Fords!

 

[heatherlynnky]

I'm sorry, I saw "that was back before I had horses" in a comment and all I could think of was Amish buggy. Man that would solve the whole gas problem.

 

[Wannabefree]

I agree on the Toyotas, BUT don't forget about the SATURNS! We had a 96 Saturn SL2 car sitting on 250K miles when we had it. Now my eldest DD has it, and the little sucker just keeps ticking away, and is sitting around 350K miles now. It sounds like a buzz saw running down the road at this point because they haven't gotten the hole fixed in the exhaust system but she's still going! That car was GREAT on gas! I sometimes wish I still had it, buzzing and all Those little cars are akin to the Datsuns in how long lasting they are, and you absolutely can't kill the dang things if you TRY. I may go retro when I get enough cash to buy me another vehicle and get another older Saturn. I really miss it.

 

[elwood]

I will say that when it comes to easy to work on you want to stick with american made vehicles. Most of the time they are easier and cheaper to repair. I have a GMC Yukon (1998) with 245,000 miles. I get 18-19mpg driving the 30 miles each way to work. It hauls people and tows the horse trailer. Just my $0.02

 

[Mr.Andersson]

Small, but versitile? 4 cyl ford ranger, or chevy S10. Had botth, with well over 300,000 miles each, can't pick a winner between the two, extended cab though.

 

[Beekissed]

You're hauling a large family and you want something easy for you to repair and is easy on gas? Hard to get all of that in one package.

All the mini-vans I had were excellent vehicles and so very versatile...could haul the kids, furniture, livestock, hay..you name it, we could haul it.

But you don't want a mini-van.

I agree with the Toyota posts....you can run the guts out of those things and the body wears out before the engine.

Jeeps~NOT the Grand Cherokee~are another vehicle that have rave customer reviews and tales of 300,000+ miles on them. I currently own a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport and the thing is a tank!

Not great on gas and not as roomy inside as I am used to, but it has power to burn, climbs hills like they aren't even there and the metal of the body is very thick. It has over 200,000 miles on it and I expect to get 100,000 more out of it during my years of usage. The engine runs like a dream and this vehicle has been treated unkindly in the past....so I intend to do some good TLC type maintenance to baby it along for as long as possible.

It seats 5 passengers.