cerberusM5

We all know how utterly reliable our LS430's are. Mine has been fantastic for the 75k miles I have owned it and plan to keep it a long time..

With that said, what do you think is most reliable compact sedan for under $15k that is less than 10 years old? I'd like to find a compact beater that will run forever if properly maintained to park in those risky congested parking lots and not worry about dings, dents and scratches. Basic luxury features like leather and premium sound a plus.

Cannot be a Camry or ES, since I find those cars ugly and bland.

Jkallinen

Avalons by far, are way better then any Camry. Drove a 97 XLS with 181,000 on at purchase for only $1750. Drove for just under 10 years till this past
January buying my first 2002 Lexus LS430 CL with 138,000 on it for only $3636 after trading in the Avalon with 227,000 miles for $400.

Jabberwock

You sir sound like a guy that knows how to get his money's worth out of a car. Nice work.

Jkallinen

Thank you.
I spend months researching prices and and locations nearby and then go through reviews of the car types. Sometimes taking over 5 months
to make a decision. Sucks when you wait to long and loose out though. Went through it all before only loose out at the last minute, takes a
lot patience. This last buy I made the call in the morning and he told me someone was coming out to test drive it. 112 miles away, I jumped
in the car and drove with everything needed to make a trade. Weather was sucky. For MN in January you would think it would be snowing,
nope foggy and rain. Sealed the deal and drove it home. Paid in cash. Was the wife ever surprised when I picked her up from work at Walmart.
Just so happened I bought that Avalon for her. But she suffered a stroke a year ago in Sept. and has been unable to drive. Did the same with
the Avalon. Hoping she will regain enough to drive the Lexus.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

For $15K, the Nissan Maxima is a pretty solid option, at least it used to be, it would put you around a 2012.

LS430Lexus

You might take a look at a GS 300 (2nd Gen - 1998 to 2005). I believe they share the same chassis as an Avalon and reliability similar to the LS. My son has an '02 and we are very happy with it. That generation is priced reasonably and holds up very well. While good examples are hard to find, the guys on the GS forum seem to come up with some diamonds in the rough on a regular basis. (Around $7500 to $9500 with 70k to 100k. Longevity similar to the LS.) Only unusual issue is the ball joints which can be replaced very reasonably. Also, door actuators but forum has several good DIY solutions.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

^Not even close to the Avalon and the suspension, while easy to change, is a pain to deal with and will cost you a few grand at least to change everything

cerberusM5

Keep the comments coming!

My parents have two Avalons (first and current gens) and the original one has about 200k and bulletproof.

L8RSk8R

2011/2012 Equus should be close to $15,000 "soon" Although not a compact, you get a lot of features for the money.
I've never owned one older than a 2014, but my 2014 has 207,000 miles & runs great.
I have 4 X Equus in my fleet.

jayclapp

Gee, I thought this was a LS430 forum! Guess not.

warminwisc

Just saw a 012 with awd relatively loaded 41 k miles 15$ 2 door accord EX-L has a nice motor and a lot of stuff in it. But these I think are not really compact G37 pretty reliable.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

Genesis flew right over my head even though I briefly looked at 2013-2013 R-Specs. Fit and finish isn't as nice as Lexus, even ten year old LSs, but a tiny bit better than toyota and if you want, available with a rwd and 4.6 V8 without sacrificing reliability or dealing with poor build quality for low teens, and no American or European cars come to mind that can do the same thing without being way more expensive, or really outdated (town car comes to mind).

RRocket

Since when is an Avalon a compact sedan? And for that matter none of the other cars mentioned are in the compact category either.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

We used to have a 2000 Avalon XLS in the family and it was amazing and trouble free for the most part up until about 165k miles when it was totalled in an accident.

Currently have a 97 Avalon XL base model with about 175k miles that's been in the family for over 10 years with also no issues at all. Has been super nice to us. Only issue is it's starting to rot pretty bad underneath and on the body panels which is expected out of a 20 year old daily driven, never garaged IL car.

BradTank

I don't know about most reliable, but the Lexus IS are a really good choice. You can pick up IS300s for a song right now.

It's sort of funny though that you're looking for a "beater" that's worth more than your LS430.