Low ownership cost cars

[retiredunder50]

I like checking carcomplaints.com before I buy a car. You could see the trend of problem areas for your car, especially if it is a current generation that has been around for a few years. For used car buyers, it's even better as there are more data points for older cars. Although Toyotas and Hondas are manufacturers of typically low maintenance cars, you will see quite a few years of popular models with serious problems.

[Bamaman]

I've probably got you all beat on cars--over 100 new cars. Thankfully most were company cars. But in my ER, I'm more careful with choosing brands/models since I'm paying.
Fortunately, I'm up to over 600K miles driven without any warranty work on new cars. I did have a recall on a Explorer exhaust manifold that was fixed, however.
My current cars are a Lexus IS250 that's 10 years old and never had more than brakes replaced. I've had 2 Honda Civic SI's that never had any warranty work. My F250 diesel is 16 years old and running great at 150K miles--no warranty work was done. A 2014 Explorer is our grandchild/travel vehicle. And my 2018 Camry Hybrid with 24K miles has never seen the shop except for expensive oil changes.
In many cases, the most durable cars are also relatively low depreciating vehicles and those that are easily sold (high demand) on the used car market. I've always tried to stick with 1st tier car companies as they have the resources to stay on top of modern engineering and just perform well in the long run.

[CoolRich59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoByFour If you want low maintenance costs, don't buy a German car. They are well engineered but when something goes wrong, it costs a bundle to fix them is our experience.

Learned my lesson. I had a couple of Accords, then a couple of Maximas, then a Lexus.

But, I just *had* to have an Audi. What a mistake. I dumped it after only 18 months. I got some grief from the DW, but there was no way I intended to keep pouring money into that car.