Toyota has a special coverage on those for burning oil. Covered for 10yrs 150,000 miles.

 

I come from the land of Subaru. So I suggest a Legacy wagon.

 

Early 3rd gen Prius can be had under 10k. 2010-2015 model years.
Seats 4-5, 45-55mpg depending on driving style.

Cheap to insure.
Cheapest to maintain.

 

New reply, different thought.

With a 4yr old econo hatch and a 10k budget.. What is the payoff on your Mazda3?

Are you not better off simply paying off what you have and keeping it for a while with no payment?

 

^exactly what I was suggesting.

 

"Reasons"

 

I got a 12 year old 200k Prius. It was great till earlier this year and the hv battery died. I swapped it with a reman, and it just shat the third one in 8 months. If you keep cars forever, pass on a hybrid. And car seats are totally legal up front in a two seat car.

 

I took my own advice...and got another TSX!


Anyone want to buy an '04 TSX with hail damage and 179k miles? Super cheap!!

 

Bring it to oregon. I want it

 

k24 swap!

 

The ulterior motive behind buying a TSX!

 

I'll start researching and shopping for a TSX. Any major issues to look for?

 

Just make sure that it's had the recall work done. There are only 2 recalls I can remember - forget what the first was, but the second was a power-steering line re-route. A common problem can be the seal where the return line enters the power-steering pump - overnight, it lets a small amount of air into the pump. It doesn't cause any damage, just makes a supercharger-like whine for a minute or 2. I changed the o-ring with 2 different ones, didn't work. Dealer changed my pump about 10 years ago under warranty, but we couldn't fix the noise - it bugged me every morning, but it never caused a problem.
Other than that, mine had nothing but routine maintenance. It even survived an accidental rock-climbing incident.

 

We had a TSX a couple years back. No real complaints about the car except that it got crap gas mileage. Low 20's at best all city, which to me is very unimpressive for a slow 4cyl Honda
140k miles and it was still running like a champ tho

 

It seems silly to me to sell your current cheap commuter car in favor of an old, high mile, entry-level luxury sports sedan under the guise that you want a cheap commuter car.

Your '12 Mazda 3 hatchback is not a luxury car. It's a cheap commuter car. You've already endured, by far, the steepest part of the depreciation curve. Keep the thing a couple more years til its paid off.

just my opinion.

 

+1