LouisB

Owen778

Difficult to say without an idea of your budget. Maybe a Honda Accord? My wife loved hers, and was really sad when we decided to replace it with a vehicle with AWD for Alaska. I would also recommend the Ford Fusion, that I had, except I don't think it makes sense to buy a vehicle that's going to be discontinued soon.

Noorah101

I second the Honda Accord. I used to be a Nissan Altima fan, but then I test drove a Honda Accord and never looked back. That's what I have now and plan to continue with in the future.

Rene

StuBear65

Although I have just bought a Subaru Legacy, the Hyundai Sonata is a nice car as is the Santa Fe, both very reasonably priced. I think Ford are going to be concentrating on trucks in the future so would avoid them for cars.

The Camry and the Accord are in the top 5 most stolen vehicles in the USA, so don't know if that will affect the price of insurance?

LouisB

LouisB

SpoogleDrummer

How tall are you? I only ask as I had a Mazda 3 for a few years from work and it was great but at 6ft 5 it was a bit small for me. Mazda 6 and CX-5 are meant to be pretty decent too.

MidAtlantic

Those theft figures are just the numerical count. If they were calculated by proportion on the road the list might well be very different.

My OH recently purchased a Toyota Corolla and I am surprised by how good it is as a general run around.
I second Honda Accord and Toyota Camry also.

petitefrancaise

toyota 4runner has just about the lowest insurance cost around. So, perhaps a highlander if you want less of an suv and has 7 seats?

tom169

The new Honda Civic/Accord interiors are pretty awesome.

Rete

Truly dislike Toyota. Have driven then as rentals and now ask for anything but Toyota. Love my Hyundai .... have had the 2001 Elantra, 2006 Sonota, 2013 Elantra. Alarm systems are standard in Hyundai. Daughter still has her 2000 Hyundai Santa Fe on the road and it is on it's second go round ... standing at about 135,000 currently. I'm considering the new 2019 Santa Fe for my next car. My 2013 fully equipped, bluetooth, sirrus radio, heated seats, etc. was $17,250. For insurance, if you buy while still living in Manhattan your rates will be high regardless of the make and model of car but the price will go down when you move to NJ and the car is housed in your homes garage. Try GEICO and Nationwide.

Winston_the_Great_Dane

Rete, what don't you like about Toyota? Even as a BMW driver, I had one for a week recently and was quite impressed with it. Granted they are a bit tinny for the money they command in the US.

W

petitefrancaise

since our USA move was not our first international move, we knew how flipping costly the first year(s) can be and knew there would be unexpected costs. As such, we decided to keep ongoing car costs as low as we could. As a family of 5 ( 3 kids but the eldest were teens so adult sized), we realised that we weren't all in both cars all the time, mostly it was a maximum of 4 of us (1 parent 3 kids) going to/from school etc.. Sometimes all going out together locally - about 25 miles away max. We had enough savings to buy 1 car and used IAS to finance a Ford Focus. If all 5 were in either car it was a squeeze but ok for up to an hour or so. When we made longer trips (skiing in New Mexico or camping in the summer) we hired a minivan for about $750-$1000 a week. We saved on the insurance, on car buying costs and car leasing costs.....
After 2 years I sold my car and bought a 4Runner and insurance costs went down - halved IIRC- from the Honda Fit. Basically, it's a really safe car for those in it, the depreciation is amongst the best and it's a great car to drive.

Octang Frye

Toyota is the gold standard of vehicles. Yes, they can be boring, like driving an appliance, but Toyota beats out everything in terms of reliability and longevity.
Spend time in Africa or any tough environment - it's 90% Toyota. (Drives VW)

Guindalf

I would choose the Accord over the Camry. I've owned both - in fact, the only two brand new cars I've ever bought! I was a road warrior, putting 30-40k miles a year on a vehicle.

If I had to choose again, I would go for the Accord.

Now if it's a family vehicle you're looking for, then the CR-V is a great compact SUV which will last a long time and command a good resale value.

Personally, I would steer clear of Kia and Hyundai, especially if you ever want to sell it. They plummet in price much faster than just about anything else out there and the build quality is generally shaky. There's not too many people out there that actually buy a second one.

Ford have some good looking vehicles now and, if you want an SUV, you could do worse than the Escape or the Edge. If you're leaning toward the Japanese cars (more likely to be built in the US anyway!), then I would suggest buying new as opposed to used. They hold their value so well that you'll end up paying almost as much for a second-hand one as you would for a new one, especially when you consider incentives, etc.

One thing not many people realize is that insurance is often cheaper for a new car with leasing being even more expensive.