Post by illgetthere on Feb 26, 2014 14:11:30 GMT -5
Would you keep a 2008 Ford Fusion with 100k miles or get a 2005 Honda Accord with ~120k miles? There are no known problems with the Fusion, the Honda is an unknown. The Honda gets appx 10 more mpg (!) Hondas are known to last forever, but these new Fords seem to be getting high ratings.
We will probably only keep whichever one for another 4 years or so.
I'd get the Honda. I had a 94 Honda Accord that went $180,000 miles before the transmission went out, and it never had any other repairs. My 2006 Ford Escape had it's first major repair at 73,000 miles, and another big one at like 115,000 miles.
Is the Honda a hybrid? Because even a hybrid Accord won't get quite 10 more MPG over a Ford Fusion, unless the Fusion has some sort of performance updates that are sucking more gasoline. Comparing a standard Accord vs. a standard Fusion, the mileage is within a few MPG's.
That aside, I'd keep the newer car with lower mileage. Ford has really built up their reliability over the years. They may have roughly the same amount of life left, who knows, but an older car with more mileage still has more wear and tear on the body of the car.
Is the Honda a hybrid? Because even a hybrid Accord won't get quite 10 more MPG over a Ford Fusion, unless the Fusion has some sort of performance updates that are sucking more gasoline. Comparing a standard Accord vs. a standard Fusion, the mileage is within a few MPG's.
That aside, I'd keep the newer car with lower mileage. Ford has really built up their reliability over the years. They may have roughly the same amount of life left, who knows, but an older car with more mileage still has more wear and tear on the body of the car.
I do think I was quoting from the Civics we looked up, but it is still a decent difference since the Fusion is only getting 19 mpg (6 cylinder).
The plan has been for H to get mine after I upgrade this year, but he has been eyeing the Accords (had one and loved it a couple years ago) so I didn't know if it would be a bad move to trade even with the whole known/unknown aspect.
Unless I am missing something here, I would not trade a running car with no issues for an unknown older car with more miles on it. Yes, Hondas are great cars and can run forever, but at 120,000 miles, a lot can go wrong and things start needing to be replaced.
I would drive what you have into the ground, and save like crazy to upgrade to a newer car when you have no choice.
Agree with this poster. Not sure why you would trade in a working car for a used car with 120,000 miles. My Honda has twice as many miles as that but there was a point where things started going wrong and it was a lot of repairs. So I would keep the working car and try to save for a newer used car.
Unless I am missing something here, I would not trade a running car with no issues for an unknown older car with more miles on it. Yes, Hondas are great cars and can run forever, but at 120,000 miles, a lot can go wrong and things start needing to be replaced.
I would drive what you have into the ground, and save like crazy to upgrade to a newer car when you have no choice.
I agree with this.
Hondas are very reliable, but I think domestic cars have improved too. We have a Pontiac G6 with 179,000 miles on it and we've only done about $1,000 - $1,500 of non-routine maintenance over the whole life of the car (and half of that was a repair from something H hit on the road, not a mechanical failure - and it wasn't until 165,000 that anything had to be done.) Way cheaper than a payment on a new car!
I'd probably keep the Ford for now, since the maintenance history is known/there are no current problems. I will almost always take that over a similar age/mileage car with un/lesser-known history.
Plus, it'll take a bunch of 10 mpg savings' in order to come out ahead on the transaction costs associated with trading/buying/selling. Sales tax, tags, blah blah blah.
Post by CrazyLucky on Feb 26, 2014 15:34:30 GMT -5
Consumer reports list the FWD 2008 Focus as excellent for reliability. They list the AWD as average. Neither have any "trouble spots." The 2005 Accords are all very good or excellent, also with no trouble spots. Since both are very reliable cars, I would definitely keep the newer, less miles car.