I’ve just recently had coworker with his 2018 Accord hybrid to undergo that kind of repair to replace the “central computer”, which incapacitated the car and he had to shell out $2,200, from which the part was under $400.
Given my own experiences, I would not recommend late-model Honda even to my archenemy.
Well, In my family (over the years) we’ve had three Mercedes Benz, one Jaguar, two Saabs, four Volvos, and two BMWs. All of them, started requiring regular repairs at around the 7-10 year range. That’s not exclusive to European luxury makes, it wouldn’t be uncommon for any car to have something go wrong after a decade of use. The issue comes up when you have pay for said repair. For example back in 2009 the driver’s side power window regular on my 2003 Mustang GT (not a car known for stellar build quality) went bad. I took it into a local shop, and had it repaired for $140 (parts and labor). A few months later my stepfather’s Volvo (2001 V70 wagon) suffered the same malady. He took his car to the dealership, the same repair set him back just under $800. He probably could’ve saved money going to an independent shop, but it would’ve still been significantly more expensive that than what it cost to repair the Mustang. There is a reason the depreciation curves on European cars get really steep after warranty period is up. Great cars to drive, but when something breaks outside of warranty it can get expensive.
OK, OK. I admit it. That was a bad analogy. What I should have said it that ones car is only as good as the regular maintenance performed on it.
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You put on 112000 mo;es on 8 years. The OP wants to buy a used car with almost that many miles and drive it 25 to 35 thousand mile a year. He also claims to be able to buy great used cars for incredible prices.
He should open a used car lot in my area and buy them in his. He would make a fortune.
The German cars are expensive to repair and have reputations for requiring much maintenance past ~ 100kmi, or so. There are individual exceptions, it’s a statistical game (we had a really great Saab once), but how do you which those will be?
Our Maine relatives have a number of Subarus between them, most over 10yrs old (with regular AT transmissions) and several over 200kmi. Only superficial rust (they have the underbodies sprayed with a lanolin solution late each fall). Overall they’re durable and they love them but it’s not uncommon to need to replace things like suspension components, half shafts, and cataylitic converter shields more frequently than on other cars, there’s the infamous head gasket problem with the 4cyl engines, and (at least) their early CVT transmissions failed early and are very expensive to replace - do you really want to risk that (maybe you can buy a warranty?). The 6cyl Subaru engines are good, but burn a lot more gas.
For the miles you drive it’s worth considering a RAV4 Hybrid (~40mpg), Toyota’s hybrid operating costs are low and they’ve proven to be among the most reliable cars on the planet. There’s also an AWD Prius which gets ~ 50mpg, but has low ground clearance so not for deep snow. A salesman friend has put over 200kmi ea. on two Priuses, both going strong when he traded them. Nearly all RAV4 and Honda CRV owners I’ve known over the years have been happy and kept them a long time, though Honda’s reputation has slipped in the past few years. Have you checked Consumers Reports ratings?
AWD is convenient, but do you truly need it? We lived in Ithaca - Cortland, NY area for 8 years (hills don’t come much steeper, or weather much worse), both driving RWD cars with cast iron engines in all conditions, and this was before studded tires - a few bags of sand in the trunk solved traction problems and I carried a good garden spade (used mostly for clearing frozen slush from wheel wells). We carried chains but only needed them a few times for steep hills after freezing rains, but an AWD would have required this too. Same experience in the Sierra. I’ve borrowed a 4WD drive for unplowed, unpaved roads, but otherwise always was able to get where I was going with RWD.
“A lot” is a bit of an exaggeration, in my experience.
My 6 cylinder Outback gets ~1.5 mpg less than my old 4 cylinder Outback.
I realize that a lot has to do with one’s driving style and driving patterns, but I don’t consider my relatively small drop in gas mileage to be significant, especially in view of the added smoothness and power of the larger engine.
This may be an “apples to oranges” comparison. You didn’t mention the years of your cars, but consider 2006: the Legacy 4cyl. EPA combined mileage was 23mpg (S4 AT transmission) and 19mpg (S5 transmission) - this seems the wrong way around but that’s what’s posted. The 6cyl. combined was 20mpg (S5 AT).
In 2015, the years of the cars the OP is considering, the Legacy 4cyl. is rated 29mph combined vs. the 6cyl at only 23mpg (equivalent to the 4cyl of 9 years earlier, but below the 4cyl. of 2015). For the 2015 models this is 3.45g/100mi. for the 4cyl. vs. 4.35g/100mi for the 6cyl, which over 100,000mi., what the OP will rack up in just a few years, is 3450gal. vs. 4350gal. Over this distance the 6cyl would extract several thousand dollars more from his wallet (unless 4cyl head gaskets still are failing, then it’s a wash).
Also a lot of repair shops will not work on some foreign brands because the dealers have a monopoly on spares and offer independent servicers little or no discount and refuse to sell certain parts, insisting that special equipment and procedures are required.
Will you be getting paid mileage or getting a tax deduction? Maybe you could afford a newer car or a car/truck like the new Ford Ranger.