Can you all help guide a beginner in the auto world decide on a used car to buy? It will be for both me and my wife and will have a car seat. We live in a place where driving in snow will be a factor. My first thought was a Subaru forester because of the things I’ve heard about safety and reliability from those models. Are there any years to avoid when buying used? We’re test driving a 2016 Forester with 115k miles this week. Are Subaru’s good enough for me to not have to drop $3k in maintenance over the next couple years? I’m open to suggestions on other cars as well if this is lesbian mobile isn’t a good SUV/crossover choice. I had a bad experience with a Chevy trailblazer that I bought used years ago from a shady used dealer. It wouldn’t pass a legitimate inspection and I had to bring it back to the “dealer” to get most of my money back. The shop owner was screaming at me, but I had my .45 in my jacket, so my composure helped me get most of my money back. Never again!
>>28911977Have you read the sticky thread?
>>28911977unlike most boards the sticky is pretty relevant and should help you quite a bit like >>28911982 said
>>28911977Good luck OP. Beyond the basic performance and reliability reputations, alot of auto shopping is subjective to your own preferences.Make a short list (3 to 5 different vehicles) you think your interested in.Research them by whatever means available to you, one by one, intensively.Narrow down to 2 or 3 top candidates that satisfy your checklist.Shop and make final selection based on most/best of all requirements met for lowest projected cost.Personally, I am hesitant to buy anything with a turbo engine or a cvt transmission.But that's just my own personal preference based on some nebulous conclusions
>>28911977The car seat thing shouldn't worry you, most cars come with them. My car actually came with four seats from the factory.
>>28911982Isn't this 10 years outdated kek
>>28911977You should genuinely buy a minivan. They're the absolute best for car seats. They make AWD models, but AWD is a meme. If you actually get bad winter weather you should buy a set of winter tires. Way more important than AWD.
>>28911977>Help me choose a boring gay cuckover!No.
>>28911977depends on where you live but subaru doesnt have the best worldwide support. for snow its good, but you get the same or better awd in vag. or you can just buy toyota, jeep or landrover instead. the best winter reliability you get from proper winter tires.
>>28911977If you're buying used you should always have an extra 3k-5k ready for maintenance and repairs, unless the car is like a year old.
>>28911977Just buy a 2010 - 2015 Lexus RX to end your used car shopping misery.
>Are Subaru’s good enough for me to not have to drop $3k in maintenance over the next couple years?this is a possibility for any car at 115K. much less likely with a 115K subaru than a trailblazer though. as for meeting your needs, the forester will do just fine (I have a '22 and two kids). but since you're open to 10 year old cars, the 5th gen outback ('14-'18) would work too and it was available with the 3.6 engine which is much more durable than subaru's 4 cyls. subaru's safety tech improved a lot in the '19+ outback and '18+ forester, so those are very good options if they work for your budget. also, try to find something that has a decent service history so you know it was at least maintained properly>>28912046this is like 2x OP's budget you dolt
>>28912003Anything less than 10 years old isn't worth buying.
>>28911977Miata>but muh kidsgive them up for adoption>muh wifeget a divorce
>>28912142Based Chad (future lonely broke hermit)
>>28912181>futureI'm already there
>>28911977Check the fucking sticky new fag/thread
>>28911982>>28911984became outdated like a week after it was released due to COVID lol
>>28912003Inflation made it pretty relevant again. a 5K car is pretty much the same as it is on the sticky. The only differences are the mileage (most examples now are probably 180-220K instead of 120-150K) and the fact that the major repairs the sticky warns about should've been done by now. if they aren't then run.
>>28913052>Inflation made it pretty relevant againlol sad but true
>>28911977Subaru's are good for snow weather, but I would advise you to look at either newer or older models. 2015 to 2018 Subaru had issues with CVTs just like everyone else. Only difference is that since Subaru makes their own instead of buying third party from a dogshit manufacturer like Nissan did, they were about to get on top of their shit pretty quickly before they suffered a major reputation hit.Go 2020s and up, or go back to 2010-ish models that still used their old reliable automatic transmission, last year it was used was 2013 I believe, but I don't know what model was the last one to have it, most got swapped on 2010 with the death of the EJ for their new engine platform.
