02-10-2011, 06:16 PM
The Versa looks to be a decent car, but nowadays I think you'll be hard put to find a true lemon... all cars, domestic and foreign, are much better than they were even 10 years ago.
That said, find the car that fits your needs and your budget. You might look at Kia/Hyundai as well. Good reliability, and don't know about down there, but up here and Canada they're both offering 0% financing.
I suspect that as you're getting older, you're less inclined to want to grab a wrench and do the shadetree mechanic schtick, and while the cost of fixing an older cheaper car may be less, the hassles of having to worry about the possibility of fixing it/actually fixing it at increasing intervals may be a detractor.
North American manufacturers have never been good at small cars. Even now, they've had to go to their European or Japanese divisions to find a good platform. The new Fiesta/Mazda 2 looks like a really nice car, but it's about $5k overpriced for what it is. I think Ford's biggest boner is in not offering the hatchback as the base model. If you're going to get a compact car, why would you want a sedan? For the same or less money you can get a Honda/Nissan/Hyundai/Kia that's not first-model-year, very reliable, and probably, as good or better-designed.
I haven't owned a big-3 product for 20 years. They never produced anything other than full-sized trucks that I considered to be well-designed and reliable. I've never been a brand-loyal-buy-it-because-it's-our-brand kind of guy. If it's good, I'll buy it. My last car was a Honda Civic, built in Alliston Ontario, by non-CAW workers. It's got 350k km on it, still gets 50 mpg, and if the previous owner had taken care of the body, I'd still be driving it.
My latest "new" ride isn't a domestic either, since nobody on this continent is building small diesels. I've wanted a TDi for a long time, and this one came along at the right price and in very good shape. With some light maintenance and tuning, I should be getting 55-65 mpg.
That said, find the car that fits your needs and your budget. You might look at Kia/Hyundai as well. Good reliability, and don't know about down there, but up here and Canada they're both offering 0% financing.
I suspect that as you're getting older, you're less inclined to want to grab a wrench and do the shadetree mechanic schtick, and while the cost of fixing an older cheaper car may be less, the hassles of having to worry about the possibility of fixing it/actually fixing it at increasing intervals may be a detractor.
North American manufacturers have never been good at small cars. Even now, they've had to go to their European or Japanese divisions to find a good platform. The new Fiesta/Mazda 2 looks like a really nice car, but it's about $5k overpriced for what it is. I think Ford's biggest boner is in not offering the hatchback as the base model. If you're going to get a compact car, why would you want a sedan? For the same or less money you can get a Honda/Nissan/Hyundai/Kia that's not first-model-year, very reliable, and probably, as good or better-designed.
I haven't owned a big-3 product for 20 years. They never produced anything other than full-sized trucks that I considered to be well-designed and reliable. I've never been a brand-loyal-buy-it-because-it's-our-brand kind of guy. If it's good, I'll buy it. My last car was a Honda Civic, built in Alliston Ontario, by non-CAW workers. It's got 350k km on it, still gets 50 mpg, and if the previous owner had taken care of the body, I'd still be driving it.
My latest "new" ride isn't a domestic either, since nobody on this continent is building small diesels. I've wanted a TDi for a long time, and this one came along at the right price and in very good shape. With some light maintenance and tuning, I should be getting 55-65 mpg.