Hey Scotty, I have loved all your videos and your thoughts on specific cars. I’m on the hunt for a vehicle for around $5,000. I have 5 that are in my radar and would like your opinion on which I should or you would pull the trigger on. All of these cars are automatic and from private sellers. 2003 Acura MDX EX-L with 142,000 miles and says drivetrain is new and been replaced with genuine Acura parts, 2006 Honda Civic LX with 130,000 miles, 2005 Mazda5 Grand Touring with with only 48,000 miles, 2008 Mazda CX-9 grand touring with 145,000 miles, or a 2005 Nissan Altima SE-R with 148,000 miles. All these vehicles look in decent shape, just not sure really what would be best for longevity. Please give me your opinion. Thanks 🙏🏻 🙂
You're talking about cars that are 15-20 years old so it's mainly going to boil down to which has been maintained and treated the best over that period of time and is in the best condition. Models that have exemplary reputations for longevity can crater on you quickly depending on what previous owners did over the years. Bear in mind that you can't believe anything that the seller tells you.
To find out specific problem areas for each model you can go to carcomplaints.com and plug in the make, model, and year. However it's going to take an inspection by a good mechanic to determine the fitness of a specific vehicle that you're considering.
Get the Civic. Out of all of those cars you're deciding which one to buy, the Civic would be your best bet. My mom has one that's also a 2006 and it's also the same trim as the one you're looking at. Only difference is that it's a coupe. The CX-9 and the Mazda5 do hold up too. But I don't know if you like driving bigger vehicles at this point of time. The Acura MDX is a great vehicle, but it's weakest point is the transmission. So I wouldn't recommend you buying that vehicle unless if you like driving as conservative as possible with it. And the Nissan, if it has that wonky automatic transmission, walk away from it. So from all of those vehicles, the Civic will definitely outlive all those other vehicles as long as it well maintained and change the oil after every 4 to 5 thousand miles or so. With that Civic, I wouldn't think it would be a bad idea my friend!
