My daughters bf has a 2006 FJ cruiser. 160k miles. Had it checked by a mechanic. Cleared. Was fine 6 months.
Then bad alternator. Now it’s the transmission. $5k.
There’s lemon new cars too. But I like the warranty, ability to fix of new. And lesser likelihood of repair.
The trade off is cost of course.
The FJ Cruiser went on sale in early 2006 as a 2007 model year (which is why some people refer to an ’06 FJ Cruiser, even though there is no ’06 model).
That was the first year this car was sold in the U.S. Nevermind that a 2007 would now be 16 years old. That’s an older car…and things do fail over time. How much did he pay for this? And also…is it a manual transmission?
We get used, but newer models when we buy a car…typically off lease. The last car was off lease, and the one before that was only a year old…and had been traded in. Both were certified preowned by the dealer and had very good warranties. My car had a bumper to bumper warranty…everything except tires and wiper blades…that came as the manufacturers warranty for that car…up to 60,000 miles. Car had only 25,000 when I bought it.
Both of our kids had Camrys that had just come off lease. Lower mileage too when we got those… but that was a while ago (2015 and 2016).
The used car market is a bit of a mess right now. But then costs of new cars isn’t exactly a bargain either.
I’ll ask on transmission. Assume auto. I know he air $16k which he said was a steal - they were going for $6k more. He found 6 hrs away.
To me it was crazy.
That said his previous car - a bmw - also used but not sure how used - was stolen from a repair shop. He got paid out but it’s a bummer. In essence he shouldn’t have the fj. Getting stolen from being in for repairs. Raw deal.
Just for reference…I bought only a couple of cars new. One was a Honda Civic. I think I posted upstream…car was not a year old and the transmission completely failed. I drove tons of miles in the jib I had then, so the regular warranty was over. But luckily, I bought an extended warranty for this brand new car. Still…it took MONTHS for them to get the authorization to fix the thing…it was a headache. And the care was brand spanking new…the first new car I bought.
We have also had a LOT of problems with Hondas. I had to replace a clutch several times in an Accord, and we finally got rid of our relatively new Odyssey minivan which had a terrifically hard time accelerating from full hill stop. It was actually quite dangerous. None of our other cars (all non-Honda) did anything like this.
I would not get a Honda, new or used. I am sure others have had different experiences, but that’s been ours.
There was a snow/ice storm in our southern city in the 1980’s and I almost made it home in my little opel (remember those?). But got stuck on and ice covered hill. Some total stranger stopped to help me and being young, stupid and cold, I got into his car (a Honda) and he got me home. A few weeks later, I sold my opel to a friend (no more snowstorms to contend with) and bought a honda civic. It was a great car. Kept it for quite a while until an au pair from England didn’t quite remember which side of the street to drive on. Goodbye civic. We had another civic which we ultimately sold to a friend for his daughter to drive. Fortunately we had great luck with them, but we have mostly preferred a Toyota/Lexus.
For those looking for a good used car, see if you can find someone knowledgeable who buys cars at auto auctions. I have a friend who has had great luck getting her cars that way. Its too risky for my blood, but she knows someone who does this for a living and it’s worked for her.
I’ve never had a Honda, but I know of several people who got new lemon Hondas and dealing with the dealer/company has been terrible. My coworker now has a minivan that is constantly (for the last few years) been in the shop for weird electronic problems. The latest is the car alarm won’t stop going off and they can seem to fix it permanently. I think they’ve had it there 4 times. It’s only a 2017!
Was it the same number of times you used the car to teach a new driver how to use a manual transmission?
Nope. No riding of the clutch at all.
I finally took it to a non-Honda mechanic who put an aftermarket clutch that lasted the rest of the life of the car.
Transmissions don’t seem to be a strong point for Honda.
We had excellent luck with subsequent (used) Hondas. We have had three Honda accords and all have gone to over 200,000 miles. Had a civic sedan that I posted about upstream. Didn’t really get a chance to see where it would go, but it had a LOT of miles on it when we bought it…but sadly someone else hit the car and totaled it.
On our three accords…all were sold privately. And the new owners had them for at least a couple of years.
Sometimes…I think it’s just the luck of the draw…new or used!
We’ve had great luck with Hondas, both new and used. And it really is luck of the draw…
We’ve had good luck with Certified pre-owned cars. And we’ve had warranties with those too…
Well cars can be expensive to own weather they’re new or old. We’ve always maintained our cars well and kept up with service, which is probably one reason why are cars run well for years.
H and I had never owned a Honda vehicle until 9 years ago when we bought my Acura RDX new. It has been a really great car and currently has 110K miles on it and is still going strong. D2’s roommate is going to have to get rid of her 15 year old Acura MDX and she told D2 that if your parents want to sell their car she would love to buy it.
Your daughter’s roommie wants to buy your car? Nine years old is young for a Japanese car! Sounds like a keeper (the car!)
Meant to post this here: ABC news just said average age of cars on the road today is 12 years. And the average cost of a new car is $48k and used around $29k (Cars are getting more expensive. Here’s how to keep yours on the road longer to avoid costly payents - ABC News)
Or this article.
I believe that was the one that was reported by ABC but somehow it didn’t link to the article on line (an article on car maintenance seems to have, but it could be operator error 
)