Hello Scotty,

I have been in quarantine for 4 days so far out of the 10 days I have to be home and not at work due to a coworker testing positive for COVID-19. It has been very educational and entertaining to watch your youtube videos for hours and really appreciate your honesty about cars and car for your viewers. Its rare to find this quality in people these days, or find a trusting mechanic to help you these days. So thank you. So I am locked here haha in my room from from my beautiful family and I have been looking for a used, good quality, low cost (under $15,000), good power to jump on a freeway in busy Bay Area, CA dumbass old designed onramps that require you to take off with the foot pedal all the way down from the start of the traffic light placed a few yards from the freeway itself. The way people drive around here they won’t slow down most the time they will try and merge into you no matter if you go slow or fast on the freeway. So you see my concern here. I need something that can go fast and quick if I need to to avoid getting hit haha. My commute is about 80 miles to and from work a day. 

After studying your many great, funny side pictures, laughs on your videos and studying about cars on my own I joined your website. I know you have a billion people on here and maybe it won’t be you but someone Scotty Approved who is like minded that can help me. Please can I ask for your opinion on which of my options listed below from least to best and if you don’t mind please can you give me a few suggestions that I do not have here on my list that I might consider adding to it at is typically below $15,000 or near this price.

I am hoping some of these options I chose will last me another 10 more years or another 100,000 miles with regular expected maintenance, good of fair gas milage and low cost to repairs and get me on the freeway without getting too much difficultly playing ‘pickle’ with other cars.  I still want the power, fun, comfort, reliability so somewhere in the middle will do. I think thats why I chose a Mazda for the first time so if there is anything like it you can help me with here. I grew up with Toyotas and understand their quality and value as you do but some models can be boring, slow to respond unless its a higher end model and not as comfortable for long drives everyday but they are more comfortable than basic Hondas and Subarus.  I owned a 2007 Honda Civic LE and it was all sorts of problems with the suspension air conditioning unit was over heating the engine and it kept breaking down, I can go on and on about the problems it had all at once at only 68,000 miles. It was zippy, parts where cheap, a good car until all the problems started flooding in and it wasn’t comfortable on long drives. I guess the newer ones look and feel better but I fear I may come across the same problem with getting a Honda again someday. 

I currently have a leased 2019 Mazda CX5 base model. I am very happy with it but I was supposed to drive it 2 miles a day to and from the bus stop, this was done before Covid came out and shut down my bus line too and from work. I am sadly giving up my Mazda because its a combination of many things that costs too much. It has too many miles over the 12,000 a year limit, its not the best on gas for long distances, we need to avoid leasing, just buy something good and stop throwing away money. On top of that I will need to get a better reliable family car where I would put more money on that than my commuter. We plan to get a newer Toyota Highlander as you suggested in a video. We use to lease a 2016 Highlander L V6 model and we loved it very much and the space was great, everything was great about it. We will definitely buy one for the family.  For me for everyday use the Mazda has great power to jump on the freeway, its way more fun to drive, comfortable on the freeway than the Rav4 but either way I want to consider your best advice. Here are my choices from top to least:

1.Ford Mustang 2015 EcoBoost 54,000miles  2 dr but can fit 4 people. With Always wanted sports car but the insurance may be too much compared to my other choices. But I learned they make these better now so they may last with regular maintenance and parts are typically cheaper?

2. 2016 Lexus IS 200t Base model 68,000miles. You mentioned Lexus are typically lower on insurance would it still be alot more compared to the other cars I listed?

3. Lexus 2007-2012 IS 250 58-65,000miles

4. Toyota Camry XSE 2018 66,000miles

5. Mazda, Mazda6 Sport 2018 32,000miles

6. Toyota Camry SE 2018 61,000miles

7.  Subaru XV Crosstrek 2.0i Premium 2013 60,000

8. Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Limited (hatchback or nonhatch)2013-19 options ranging from 14,000-50,000miles

9. Mazda Mazda3 Touring or Grand Touring 2018-2019 15,000-30,000 miles

10. Toyota Camry XLE 2018-2019 60-75,000miles

11. 2015 Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid (All Diamond HWY Access stickers) 71,000 miles (worried especially learning about your hybrid videos but the gas milage and diamond astickers

12. 2017-19 Honda Civic EX/EX-T 53,000 miles

13. 2018-2019 Toyota Carola (Hatch Back or regular) SE 30-55,000miles.