Scotty, love the channel! My husband's 2018 Honda Accord was just totaled and we need a new car. We want to buy a 2018 or newer. Which do you recommend: Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla Hatchback, or Honda Civic? Then, which year is a safe bet between 2018 - 2021? We want the most reliable car with fewest problems/ defects. Thanks, Scotty!
Honda fit. Or any of the ones you listed, the fit has a lot of cargo room, head room, ect but it's still smaller, I've talked about my wife's whenever someone asks this question. She's got an orange 09 fit 5 spd sport it has 179k and runs like new. And hasn't needed anything but maintance, and a front right caliper, so I did both of the calipers ,pads and rotors.
I think the fit would be good but my husband doesn't like them. We're choosing from the cars I listed. Thanks!
All your options are pretty sound, however, the Corolla hatchback from 2018 had a known issue with the CVT which should’ve been fixed before the car was sold to the original owner.
If you want to try something different, get the Camry. Otherwise pick up another Accord.
No matter which car you buy, have it thoroughly checked by a good mechanic, before you buy it.
*2019 Corolla Hatchback. In 2018, the Corolla Hatchback was not a model.
Actually it was... Except it was called the IM.
Go standard with those things.
Check out the buying guide in the FAQ
I would say the 2017-2019 Corolla sedan, the 2019+ Camry, or 2017+ Civic with the 2.0 engine.
For the hatchback they fixed the CVT issues in the 2020 model year.
The Civic hatchback has the 1.5 Turbo engine so I would avoid it.
All of those sound like great options
-2019+ Camry : I have a 2019 Camry SE and I love it. Comfortable seats, decent amount of power, great gas mileage, and it doesn’t have that cvt BS unless you get a hybrid. People complain about the transmission in the 2018 shifting weird so that’s why I skipped the 2018 model year but that appears to be more of an annoyance rather than an actual reliability problem. My dad has a 2018 and I noticed it feels different and I don’t really mind it but a lot of other people do.
-2018+ Accord : Fairly reliable but the only problem is that they have turbo engines. Either a 1.5t or a 2.0t and they got CVT transmissions. My sister’s husband has one and he loves it tho.
-2018+ Civics : You want to either go for the LX, Sport, or EX models but stay away from the EXT, EXL and SI models because they have the turbo. If you want leather seats, don’t get a Civic because the trim level that has leather ahas the turbo engine. I’m personally not a fan of compact cars as I could no longer tolerate my Civic due to the lack of room and the uncomfortable seats
-2018+ Corollas : probably the most reliable option other than the 2019 hatchback. Then again, they are smaller and pretty slow. Not very enjoyable to drive
All good choices. You didn’t say how long or how many miles you wanted to put on it, but if your priority was longevity I would go with the Toyota Camry. I would avoid 2018 model year as they had some issues with the transmission (see post here: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/2018-toyota-camry-transmission-and-reliability/#post-50479). 2018 was also the first year of that Camry generation, so I recommend going with the newest model year you can afford (at least 2-3 years in) so the bugs/issues will have been ironed out.
The Hondas comes with turbo charged GDI, which won’t be as good for longevity.
Any of those sound great. If possible stay away from any Turbo charged engines, even from great brands.
Also a manual will outlast any automatic
