Hey Scotty (or anyone who can help),
I can spend up to around $25K on a vehicle, and am looking most likely for a sedan or compact SUV as the vehicle will be for driving disabled parents to doctors appointments, etc. I'm mostly looking at Toyota/Lexus, Mazda, Honda/Acura (though, we've had bad luck with Honda's in the past, almost always with leaky gaskets and seals), but I'm dismayed at the apparent drop in quality with these top brands over the last few years, especially.
Vehicles under the Stellantis umbrella seem to be coming up in quality and reliability lately, especially Dodge. But I'm not sure I'm willing to pull the trigger on that. Unless someone's really convincing.
We considered Hyundai or Kia, but I've heard bad things about the warranty and customer service experiences with those brands, so I think we'll continue to stay away for now.
Onto the real issue─I'm seeing so many complaints for Toyota Camry lately, from parasitic battery drain, clunky rear suspension, noisy fuel pumps, poor interior and exterior quality control, transmission issues, sluggish acceleration, problems with the infotainment system, and a whole lot of Toyota saying "Oh that? That's normal."
So, I guess my question is, if Toyota is this bad now (probably went downhill around the same time they started getting manufactured in the US─go figure, leave it up to us Americans to ruin a good thing) but it's still in the lead for reliability, are we just all totally screwed?
And, if so, should I just buy a used car and accept that even with more miles, it still might be the better option? My other question is, if so, what car should I get? What year is the best? How many miles are too many? We're looking for something that won't need any major maintenance or parts replacements for a while. Maybe 2019-2020 year range, to stay away from the pandemic quality drop, but stay as new as possible? Maybe I'd be better off getting a used Lexus? Seems like their quality control has stayed a bit above average as compared to Toyota.
The other problem is, for this very same reason of low quality control in newer vehicles, not so many people are trading in or selling their used cars. And the one's that are, probably do so for good reason (used cars with problems they want to get out from under..)
Any info would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Chris
Vehicles under the Stellantis umbrella seem to be coming up in quality and reliability lately
In what universe? Maybe the Bizarro world? Here and now they are horrible, as are GM and Ford unless maybe you were looking at heavy-duty trucks which is not the case here.
I'm seeing so many complaints for Toyota Camry lately
Quality is down across the board for all manufacturers. Most of their money and engineering effort needs to be spent on compliance with increasingly insane stringent government regulations rather than vehicle quality.
Toyota is still overall the best of a bad bunch, with Honda coming in second and Mazda third. You just have to do your homework and avoid models and years that have known problems. (This information can be easily found via online search with your favorite search engine.) Lexus is similar to Toyota of course but being a luxury car there is more to break on them, plus parts and service are more expensive.
