a reliable compact sedan would be a Corolla or a Civic, maybe a Prius. you should be able to get one that is 1 year old for 15 thousand dollars. Chevy Cruz or Ford Focus would not be as reliable and a Cadillac ATC would be the opposite of reliable.

 

I saw one of these last weekend (Camry DX), and it had a badge on the trunk that said DX. For it to be driving around like it's any other car is pretty impressive--not sure if a lot of them are spotted in Calif., but this was NJ, where imho salt would have destroyed a car of this vintage long ago.....I also spotted an elderly man recently driving a 1980 Celica GT 5 spd coupe, not hatch, and it had the honeycomb grille indicating it was a special edition--another car I thought that would have been destroyed by rust. If I'm not mistaken and I know my Toyota history, it would have a 20R motor (I think the 24RE is a grandchild)

1987 CAMRY

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/1987-toyota-camry-archived-instrumented-test

1980 CELICA


Funny the indie reminded me, "You can tell this car is not from here when it's on the lift." He was referring to my car which was in FLA for its first 8 yrs. I actually would like to see what a 2006 northeastern car looks like, because I do have rust on my car. He said the differential is nothing, it's like that because it's not treated.....

No doubt some of the Toyotas would fit the bill. I dunno about the 2014.5, but as of Thanksgiving last year, the 2014 Camry LE was under $15k and a CPO from dealers. If we all could stand plain cars, who in their right mind wouldn't buy one? For less than $15k, your transportation needs are done for the next likely 15 years.

I spent $2900 in spring 1990, for a 11 y.o. Volvo, and drove it through March 1998. It was still going, just that I had finally gotten my ducks in a row for a new Maxima SE. That is the equivalent of $5,500 today. If one wants to go cheap, it can be done, but imho it takes a lot of DIY and taking more care of the vehicle than a 3 y.o. car. Curses on the Volvo I had a special Snap On driver to open the drain plug--I'll be darned if I can find it, it was 4 moves ago....

 

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/rankings/small-cars

US News I think is pretty good. I vote Prius or Civic the Corolla never turned me on, korean cars no, VW not reliable as Japanese. Never thought of Lexus but don't know their small car line

 

But ya know alot of compact cars are reliable.....to the point one may be a 600 dollars more repair prone than another over 100k miles. Like Subarus watch head gaskets though, VW just don't have japanese or american reliablity at all IMO.I would not worry about Prius batteries those things are bulletproof. The old Korean compacts where wrecks but people love Sonatas but the SOUL is questionable. I myself like a little steel around me in the event I get whacked by some drunk texter. The G series is as small as Infinit gets, the G37 is a fun car more reliable than a Beemer 328 but even the 328 is pretty reliable the newer models, 15k not gonna get one reliable.

 

I'd say any Japanese brand compact car is going to be pretty damn reliable...Civic, Corolla, Elantra, Sentra. I wouldn't want to drive any of them, but when you're dealing with tight little four cylinders, less options, less gadgets...combined with Japanese quility engineering and design? Tough to beat. All of them will get you 35 plus mpg too. Throw the Prius in there as well - aren't there taxis in NY with over 500,000 miles on them? With little to no repairs? And you can rebuild the batteries now for a fraction of what it costs for a new battery pack. You'd think the Prius would be a problem car with all its systems (these things have electric water pumps, thermos's to keep the coolant hot when the engine shuts down, and more), but Toyota really built it right...these things are almost never in the shop for anything more than general maintenance.

 

Man with VW, tell that to my former friend who had a 2006 6 cyl Passat 4Motion, what a joke, that thing was so unreliable and VW seems to like to charge BMW prices for service. Actually, I think people had better luck with 4 cyl. turbo Passats. And true, BMWs are going to have issues that are actually more maintenance items, where with a Japanese car, they last the life of the vehicle. Water pump for example, could go at 40k, could go at 120k, but will go. Oil filter housing gasket, it's gonna go at some point, could be 50k, could be 100k, and you can't simply just deal with topping it off, it can leak onto the serpentine belt causing more issues.

Again, it seems not that hard to determine what car is reliable (many Japanese), but we look elsewhere because reliability isn't the only factor in buying a car....if it were, there'd be only Camrys and Accords on the road...

 

Thought I would bump this since my search is still going. Almost bought an IS350, but the PPI revealed some issues.

LOL to the beater costing more, but true. If I can stay at $10k would be better, since I really do want something I could care less if it gets dinged and scuffed in parking lots.

 

I have not read each post carefully. Stick with the most popular Asian Cars (Toyota, and Honda), Korean next (Hyundai), and stay away from European. We are talking about reliability here.Not trashing on European cars ok? Of course Lexus is reliable because it's a Toyota and of course Acura is reliable as it is a Honda. I'm not going to trash so many European makes and I do like many of them and although not European I actually own a British Car! a Jaguar! I know......Tata owns Jaguar and is an Indian Company.... Well? the way of the world today! What can I say?

 

At your original price point of $15k, you need to start looking at brand new cars. Kia Rio, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris(hatchback made by Toyota), Toyota Yaris iA(sedan made by Mazda but sold under the Toyota name, called the Mazda 2 in foreign markets), Chevy Sonic, Ford Festiva and Focus, Mazda 3, Honda Fit, all of these are decent cars for around 15k(okay maybe more like 16-17k in some expamles) I'd call your local dealers and ask if they have any of these cars in the base model in stock, shop around.

Little cars are not moving right now, dealers are dealing, especially on something that has been sitting on their lot forever. If you are going to buy used, find the best last gen Prius you can IMO, great fuel economy, more room than those other cars I mentioned above.

 

LOL. I was thinking this exactly. Love my LS but with 135,000 miles and now 13 years old its worth maybe $ 8,000 in Canada.

 

At your original price point of $15k, you need to start looking at brand new cars. Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Nissan Versa(a miserable car, but lots of room for the $$$$), Toyota Yaris(hatchback made by Toyota), Toyota Yaris iA(sedan made by Mazda but sold under the Toyota name, called the Mazda 2 in foreign markets), Chevy Sonic, Ford Festiva and Focus(only buy the Fords with manual transmissions, their automatics suck), Mazda 3, Honda Fit, all of these are decent cars for around 15k. I'd call your local dealers and ask if they have any of these cars in the base model in stock, shop around.

Little cars are not moving right now, dealers are dealing, especially on something that has been sitting on their lot forever.

 

How about a 2015 Chevy Cruze LTZ? They can be had absolutely LOADED for less than $15k!.

Remote start that you don't have to pay an annual subscription for (unlike a Lexus ES), remote start that stays running when you open the door (unlike the ES), heated leather seats (like an ES), navigation (like an ES), WIFI (unlike an ES), and really nice styling with the chrome accent strips! Cruzes can EASILY be had for less than $15k with 30k miles or less on the ticker!!! They are becoming Civic busters! Heck, they even have a DIESEL model! Check out the Chevy Cruze! (2015 is the last year of that bodystyle--2016 is an ugly (imo) bodystyle.)

Check one out!

 

Under 15K is tough. New cars are now close to 35-40K minimum. Once again...Stick with Asian.. Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura.......Otherwise... Hyundai and Kia is a second choice and may still work.

 

I just listed a slew of new cars in that price range. Granted a couple were more than $15k, but some of them were WAY less than 15k(Nissan Versa was $12,100 for a base model MSRP lol)

 

If you follow YouTube, you'd come across a 2007 S600 as being the obvious choice lol (don't I wish)

I think in life, we are boredom averse, meaning, we always if possible want something exciting and nice. Fact is, I think, that CPO Camrys are in the high $14's. They were all just under 36k is what I noticed, so had a very short time under the b2b left.

If Camry's last forever, why wouldn't every man/woman/child buy a almost 3 y.o. Camry for the $14's? Because generally speaking, they are boring (coworker got one), but actually, the interior fit/finish imho isn't what it once was. But it is a car that will likely last forever....