My grandmother has a Mercury Sable with 50,000 miles on it. I have a 1997 Honda Civic with 140,000 miles on it. Grandma wants to give me the Sable. Which car I am better off with? Thank you!!!
The Civic still has some good miles and years left in it. Due to age and mileage you’ll have some repair bills down the road.
You didn’t give the year of the Sable?
What is most important is what you know about the maintenance history of both cars. A poorly maintained low mileage car can be a pile of junk and a well maintained car with high mileage can be perfectly sound.
So far not enough info to venture a guess on your question.
One thing I would be thinking about is comparing the neighborhood of 25 mpg to the neighborhood of 35 mpg.
I think the Sable is a 2003. Both have been well maintained with reagular oil changes at 3,000 miles. Thank you.
What do you mean?
I mean that the Civic probably gets 8-10 more miles per gallon than the Sable.
Oh! Thanks.
The 2003 Sable has been a pretty good car as far as repair record in general. The '97 Civic has been much better than most cars regarding repairs. I’d give the advantage to the Civic as far as future repairs even with the higher mileage.
If the body of these cars are both good, no rust and still shiney paint when waxed, I’d give the advantage to the Honda again. The paint quality, weather stripping, and integrety of hinges and hardware is better.
If you need more room, advantage Taurus.
If you want to spend less for fuel, a big advantage to the Civic.
They both sound like decent cars. How do you like driving the Taurus compared to the Civic? They are very different rides. The Honda is tight, quick, and easy to manuver and park. The Taurus has more power, more comfort, smoother and quieter ride, perhaps a bit disconnected and floaty feeling on some curvey stretches of road. If you like the feel of one car over the other that could make the decision for you.
The Taurus will use a lot more gas and the tank is much bigger so you’ll need to be ok with $40 to 50 dollar fill ups vs the $20 to 25 needed to fill up the Civic.
Thank you. I haven’t driven the Sable. But it looks like the Honda rules.
The Sable has 90,000 fewer miles and is newer by 6 years. The Sable does not have a timing belt that needs to be replaced on a periodic basis for $600 as does the Honda. For me, the choice would be which car is the most comfortable to drive. We have Honda Civic Hybrids in the fleet at my institution and I can’t find a comfortable seating position. We had a 1988 Ford Taurus and inherited a 1999 Mercury Sable. My wife really liked the Taurus, but didn’t care for the Sable at all, even though it had more features–power locks, power seat, more plush interior, power mirrors, etc. The Taurus had the 3.8 liter V-6 engine and the Mercury Sable had the 3.0 liter V-6. My wife thought that the Sable was noisy and didn’t accelerate as well. Drive the Sable and see whether you prefer it to the Civic.
Good points. Thank you.
The free one.
You are crazy! A grandma driven sable with only 50,000 miles that is 6 years newer than the Civic should be the more reliable car. Also the civic would be the car I would expect to rust first, even if they were the same age. Go with the Sable.
LOL. It truly is a grandma driven car! Good point.
Take the sable (much more comfortable) and sell your Civic and keep money for repair/maintenance fund.
Civic is a tin can compared to the Sable in drive comfort.
However that is all subjective after having a Sable as a company car and wife had a well worn 96 Civic. The Sable was trouble free for my use(50k-150k) and all I did was oil changes every 3-5k.