Quote:
Originally Posted by 03NHVW
...gonna chime in to suggest/defend the VW...I'm currently driving my 2nd Jetta, this time an '03 wagon, 2.0L. The first was a '87 4dr. I love the car for its handling and cargo capacity when necessary...but you're right about quality being suspect. My wife actually has the same year, same body style, same color car...except hers is a 1.8L turbo...spends more time in the shop with quirky VW-specific problems than on the road...also gets less mileage than mine. Me-34, her-27..on average, but she...let's say...doesn't belong on the website. My car has been totally reliable...no issues at all.
However, if I were able to, I would have found one of the last generation Tercels...there's NO beating Toyota reliability and the two friends I have that have Tercels get 40 mpg with no effort, certainly they don't bother with any sort of mods or hypermiling techniques...just sensible driving and proper maintenance. The dang things just don't pop up for sale around here. If you live in a city and have to parallel park, their short, stubby trunks are awesome.
My 2 cents, if its worth that.
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Probably my most favorite econoboxes I've ever owned was a '87 Mazda 323 1.6 hatch. In the time I had it I could not kill that car, and then I sold it to to my sister, who drove it for another 5 years, and parked it.
I revived the car (repaired burnt valve at 170k miles) and made it my delivery vehicle for my business, until I gave it to one of my employees, and as far as I know, he might be still driving it now. That car sold me on the quality and reliability of Mazdas (and their Ford based bretheren like 91-94 Capri (aussie built mazda 323), 91-03 US Escort and ZX2 (2nd gen mazda 323), 88-96 Ford Probe (626), Ford Fusion (Mazda 6), Escape (tribute), Festiva and Aspire (mazda designed and kia built based on Mazda 121).