Hello I’m looking to purchase a vehicle years 2018+. Specifically have been looking at these models and makes just due to liking, specs, etc. trying to get some info on whether they’re worth the $ and reliable. If anyone has any insight on these models please let me know! Trying to narrow down my search
I’d stay away from the Nissan, Their transmissions have a high failure rate.
Either of the Mazda’s or the Honda Accord will serve you well,
We just bought our 3rd Mazda 3. Fantastic little cars.
+1
While it’s possible–even likely–that Nissan finally eliminated the bugs in their Continuously Variable Transmissions, older Nissans with a CVT are essentially ticking time bombs, until the trans inevitably fails.
My family and I own a number of Mazdas. Two Mazda3’s, two Mazda 6’s, and two CX-5’s. The oldest is a 2014 Mazda6 with 192,000 miles that is rock solid and doesn’t burn oil or have any transmission slippage. Fantastic reliability across the board. Three are NA and three are turbos. No difference in reliability (but big differences in “zoom, zoom”).
Honda or Mazda. If Mazda, and you’re in the rust belt, get it rustproofed regularly. They seem to rust out more than other manufacturers.
Personally I’ve had good experience with Hyundai, similar quality but generally trading at a significant discount.
The caution with Hyundai is that you only want to buy a car that has had Dealer Maintenance.
The reason, Hyundai has a 5/10 year warranty which they’ll stand behind but in practical terms their treatment of claims is a whole lot less understanding if you went outside their network for maintenace.
But on a practical level, would you want to buy ANY 5 year old car without a good maintenace record?
Rusty Mazdas were from an earlier era. I’ve owned Mazdas for over 10 years now. The oldest one I have now is almost ten years old with over 190,000 miles and I live in the “rust belt” city of Rochester, NY where we get tons of snow and road salt. I have never rust proofed and the car has some rust underneath that is typical for its age and mileage, but nothing terrible. The body is still almost immaculate with a couple of small spots just starting to show a little rust bubbling up from underneath.
Just like my Hondas and Toyotas of similar age and mileage in the past, there are parts that start to rot at this age. Fuel lines, gas tanks, and (in the case of only the Hondas and Toyotas) subframes and frames underneath. I have replaced many front subframes on my older Hondas and Toyotas but zero subframes on any of my Mazdas. That’s a pretty significant repair. Plus, I have never replaced a Mazda exhaust. Not once. My Toyotas all ate exhaust pipes and mufflers as they aged and ultimately required at least one “cat back” exhaust replacement and, in some cases two.
Hyundai and Kia make much better cars now and they do offer good value, but even with perfect maintenance, engine longevity for these brands is consistently worse than Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and even Subaru (depending on the year). I’ve known folks who have had great luck with Hyundai/Kia and I’ve also known folks who have been happy for the first 60,000 miles and then, when an engine failed they have been denied warranty claims because of bogus accusations of improper maintenance. A word to the wise, if buying a Hyundai/Kia I would do all of my maintenance on schedule at the dealer until the warranty expires.
My brother is in that group. He owned both a Santa Fe SUV and an Azera sedan. The Santa Fe was trouble-free for the 10 years or so that he owned it, and the Azera’s sole problem in about 10 years was a defective engine temperature sensor.
Right now, he owns an Outback Touring model, which he really likes, and an Avalon hybrid which he isn’t very fond of, for some reason. He is considering replacing the Avalon hybrid with a Hyundai plug-in hybrid if he finds that he likes their current Tucson or Santa Fe plug-in hybrids.
At one point you had to put an oil cooler on the CVT on the Altima to make it last.
I wouldn’t consider the Altima because the only transmission offered is the unreliable CVT.