I am enjoying vicariously house-hunting with SK so much that I figured you all might want to vicariously car shop with me.

In addition to my minivan and my husband's car, we currently have 2 Kia Souls - one was for each of my kids. LL#1 lives in San Francisco now and has no need of a car and LL#2 attends college in Rochester NY and doesn't currently have his car either. I have been driving the Kias instead of my minivan because I love how easy they are to handle and park and how much better they are on gas than my van. I have honestly LOVED these cars and they have been great starter cars for my kids. Up until a few years ago, I planned to keep both of them til they died and then buy another Soul without hesitation.

But a few years back, some genius on tik tok came out with a video showing that certain models of Kias and Hyundais could be stolen with nothing more than a screwdriver and a USB cable. Since then, teenagers have made a hobby of stealing these cars and joyriding them, filming their exploits for social meda. And both of my Kias fall in this unfortunate affected group. This means our insurance rates have gone through the roof and that LL#2 could never take his car to Rochester even if he wanted to -- for some reason Rochester is a hotbed of Kia theft to the point where the local police are offering free steering wheel clubs to all Kia and hyundai owners and putting out press releases begging people not to bring Kias and Hyundais anywhere near the city. Kia came up with a half-ass fix that prevents people from stealing the cars but unfortunately, even people who have their cars fixed are getting screwed -- kids are still smashing the window and jacking up the ignition with a screwdriver in an attempt to steal the car, so while the cars don't actually get stolen, they end up screwed up and undrivable for months because the window glass and ignition parts are on backorder because of so many affected cars. And while newer push-button-start Kia Souls are not affected by this problem, they are still expensive to insure since I think some kids just see the kia logo and smash the window without realizing there's no ignition to hijack. And at any rate, I think Kia screwed the pooch in the way they handled the whole issue from the get go, so I really don't want to purchase from them or Hyundai again.

So sad as it is, we need to ditch the Kias. My son will eventually need a car for his co-op/internship and we are pretty sure we are going to go with a subaru for him because he lives in Rochester. I, on the other hand, would like something that is as small, fun to drive and good on gas as the Kia. (And cute -- our one Kia is alien green and it is definitely a car with personality!)

I am currently torn between the Volkswagon Golf GTI and some kind of Mini Cooper. There are pros and cons of each and neither is exactly perfect. The VW takes regular gas, is small but extremely zippy (almost too zippy?? I see tickets in my future in that car), and has Android Auto and a heated steering wheel. The Mini Coopers are adorable and have so much personality and seem like a more appropriate choice for a woman in her 50s but they have very limited and weird interior storage and don't have android auto or the heated steering wheel. Oh and while the Mini gets better gas mileage, it also requires premium gas, so that will offset the savings from the better mpg.

We are looking used, so choices are a bit limited for each. It doesn't help that I really really really do not like leather seats and finding used cars with cloth seats has gotten really hard!

And I'm overall concerned about reliabilty - We've had nothing but asian cars (Kia, Honda, Toyota, Subaru) since giving up my Saab in the late 90s and if that Saab is any indication, European cars are much less reliable than Japanese/Korean ones. Not sure if that's true anymore, but moving to a German car worries me a bit (Mini is owned by BMW so is technically a german car as well.)

I'm open to other suggestions as well - not wed to VW or Mini. My absolute must haves are cloth seats, heated seats, sirius satellite radio, and a small hatchback body style....I'm kinda flexible on everything else but would like something cute and good on gas. Cannot do an all electric car (no place to charge at home and not willing to deal with the issues surrounding charging on long road trips) but I would consider a hybrid. Alas, I haven't found a small hatchback hybrid other than the prius and used priuses seem hard to find and very expensive.

So anyhow, any feedback you have on mini or VW or any other suggestions for cars for me to consider would be most welcome.

I have a 2020 Kia Niro (pushbutton) and really enjoy the benefits of driving a hybrid. The "Kia problem" has died down around here - sorry to hear it is still a mess by you.

If I were shopping again, I'd really give serious consideration to the Toyota Cross hybrid... It hasn't been around too many years, but you might be able to find one used?

A friend loved driving their Cooper, but thought it was horrible in snow or nasty weather. We've driven VWs in the past and repairs tend to be pricy - but probably the same with a Cooper!

My son swears by his Subaru Cross Trek (or however you spell it).

Minis have a low reliability rating.
Is there a newer Kia you like? Honda Fits have a surprising amount of room.
Saw a small Toyota with a name something like Aris or Aria. Looked good.

Maybe it was the Toyota Yaris?

quote:

I am currently torn between the Volkswagon Golf GTI and some kind of Mini Cooper. There are pros and cons of each and neither is exactly perfect. The VW takes regular gas, is small but extremely zippy (almost too zippy?? I see tickets in my future in that car), and has Android Auto and a heated steering wheel. The Mini Coopers are adorable and have so much personality and seem like a more appropriate choice for a woman in her 50s but they have very limited and weird interior storage and don't have android auto or the heated steering wheel. Oh and while the Mini gets better gas mileage, it also requires premium gas, so that will offset the savings from the better mpg.

Good grief. This is not hard.

Avoid European cars at any cost, especially used, especially anything British, anything Italian, anything French, and especially anything associated with VW or BMW. No one can afford to keep these cars running. Everyone knows this and now you do too.

Mazda just passed Toyota as the most reliable cars available in the US, and they’re less expensive than Toyotas or Hondas. Even so, any Toyota is a good choice, as is any Honda. Those are the choices if you don’t want to screw with expensive repairs. Constant, recurring, expensive repairs you may not mind if you have a lot of money but are never preferred. There is no reason to consider any other brands unless you’re looking at full size pickups.

The toddlers buy Kias/Hundais and are always amazed when they suffer major engine failure at 80K miles. They’re sure their car was an exception and buy another one that fails similarly. Subaru owners are remarkably loyal and blow off engine rebuilds at low miles but there is no reason to suffer such awful engineering. If your car won’t make 300K without the heads coming off it’s a piece of crap by modern standards. In fact, if your car doesn’t last so long you have to replace the drivers seat you’ve chosen poorly. AWD is available from any of the reliable brands, no reason to take a chance with Subaru.

These cars are boring. They’re not sexy, but the ultimate luxury is turning the key every single day for decades and knowing you’re going to get where you want to go.

YMMV.

Anyway, Kias.

If they’re approaching 100K miles the best you can hope for is someone will steal them. Make sure your insurance is up to date and leave them unlocked. The motors are likely to fail any day and the insurance payoff will be the best deal you’ll ever get.

Low miles? Any competent mechanic can install a hidden switch that will make the engine impossible to start. I had to put them in several several service trucks (very popular theft targets) and they work perfectly.

You already own the Kia’s and dumping a couple $hundy might be your best bet.

BTW, if you’re looking for high end Motorsport with a cachet approaching the Euro junk you’re looking at, consider Lexus.

Price is consistent with VW, etc. but the quality is superior.

You might be tempted to look at Acura but I don’t recommend it and the facts are easy enough to find on line. When Nissan moved from CA to Tennessee the quality of their cars went right in to the bin. They’re cheap but not a great choice.

Now that Toyota has moved to Texas you can expect the same result. Mazda is going to be the brand you want.

I would endorse Steve's recommendation to look at Mazda. We've had good experience with that brand going back to a couple of Proteges and more recently Mazda 3s, one a hatchback and another a sedan.

That being said, the car I drove the furthest without any significant problems was a Ford Focus. I only parted ways with it at 295,000 miles because of body rust that was going to be expensive to repair.

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by big al:
I would endorse Steve's recommendation to look at Mazda. We've had good experience with that brand going back to a couple of Proteges and more recently Mazda 3s, one a hatchback and another a sedan.

That being said, the car I drove the furthest without any significant problems was a Ford Focus. I only parted ways with it at 295,000 miles because of body rust that was going to be expensive to repair.

Big Al

I don’t follow Ford cars but everything I see tells me they’re a solid choice. I do know that Escapes are very popular here in salt country and if I was to consider an inexpensive car for a kid they’d certainly be on the list.

No one wants to hear this story, but I bought a 2000 Toyota 4Runner for $2500 , drove it 150K miles with piddling repair cost and traded it in for $2500.

Wouldn’t happen here - those trucks rusted all to hell within the first 5 years, but if you can’t buy a car with $0 ownership cost it you’re not paying attention.

When I sold the biz it included 2003 Ford pickup. That truck just cleared 499K miles without major incident.

Lisa, I had no idea the Kia theft problem was so bad and I didn’t even think to consider its impact on insurance! You have my sympathy!

We currently drive a Honda Fit, but if you’re considering a Mini Cooper. I think a Fit is probably too boring for you.

In any case, I would also recommend you choose based on reliability first and fun second.

I didn’t know Mazda had such a good track record, I’ll keep that in mind when we buy a new car (which won’t be for a while!)

What is fun to do is to look up the forums for enthusiast of whatever car it is you’re looking at. These guys talk about their cars all day and all night and will tell you the good and the bad.

Look at the mini forum for example. Look at any Volkswagen foum and look at what they have to say. You’re gonna find a lot of threads discussing what is wrong with their cars and why it shouldn’t be that way and why they still insist on paying a lot of money to fix them.

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
My son swears by his Subaru Cross Trek (or however you spell it).

i was going to suggest this, too.

steve, the only issue i'm aware of with subaru is the headgasket failure on models from the aughts. IIRR the issue was fixed somewhere around 2011. the forester is the highest rated crossover SUV by CR. the newest small toyotas i've driven i disliked, and they are no longer rated as highly reliable. hondas supposedly don't fall apart but our CRV has been nothing but problems over the past couple of years. we just took it in for a going over by our mechanic prior to selling it, and the starter had to be replaced, the wiring to the headlights has failed, and the abs system needs work--again. was replaced only 18 mos ago. the wheelbearings went last year...

we are going to have to spend $1k just to make it saleable. and 2006 is supposedly one of the best years ever for this model.