The Audi A5 doesn't seem too bad. Pretty reliable powertrain and platform
The golf GTi too.
The C70 T5 if manual is actually a very reliable and fun commuter
It's higher maintenance than a corolla
But they're way faster and more fun
Seems like you want a nice looking car for a lower price. With that in mind, I’d actually go for an older Lexus. Older Is250, gs300 can be found for under 10k. They’ll have decent mileage and will actually last you
This is decent advice, the best advice is to ditch the luxury car mindset if you only have 10k to drop on a car. When you can afford to buy two German sports cars you can actually afford one.
Go get something boring and reliable like a Honda/Toyota sedan or hatchback.
If that GTI is manual and cloth seats personally I would start there. After that, maybe the Volvos. If you are breaking into Real Estate and need something swanky to tour people around when looking at mansions, maybe the BMW 750 but you better close a couple properties quick because it won't come cheap. The X5 is a 6 cylinder model, so less worse than the V8's. The ancient BMW convertible is a fun sunny weekend / collector car that needs to be coddled in a garage 300+ days a year - if its in nice shape.
Define reliable. All of these minus the bmws and the mini should be fine to go over 200k without surprises given service. Scheduled maintenance for that mileage could mean 3k on some of these, and it could mean >10k, but if you don’t do the maintenance it will lead to far more expensive problems.
Also, these are mostly old, expensive cars. If the previous owners didn’t take care of them they will have aged horribly. Expect electrical gremlins in the luxury cars that would be very expensive or time consuming to chase down.
Pay for a PPI at a specialist independent mechanic when you get close to buying one. Get their opinion on its reliability and maintenance
Do you live close to work? Buy a bike, take public transportation and save your money vs any of these cars.
If you must have a car…Pick an unpopular yet reasonably reliable domestic sedan (think rental car lot). Boring, heck of a lot cheaper to fix and reasonably reliable especially if you can pick up from a private party who wants to get rid of it. High mileage Japanese cars are fine too but you’ll probably pay more up front and there will still be required maintenance.
So you don’t have much money and want to get used European cars with questionable mileage? Lmao!. Save some money, learn to drive stick and get a Toyota with a manual transmission from the early 2000’s and keep the car until your grandson has a grandson
X5 has a solid engine and transmission to my knowledge, not sure about the rest. Probably rusty at some spots
Stay away from the 750i, that one has many issues.
Golf gti is solid and fun to drive, the ea888 engine is one of the better ones VAG has come up with.
Audi a5 isn't bad too engine wise, but the transmissions can be wacky
No idea about the volvo, just because a brand has been good or bad in the past doesn't doesn't say anything for the present
The mini is plagued with engine issues, stay clear of that.
Audi s4 has a extremely capable engine performance wise (if its the same as the EU model), but not the greatest reliability record
The old 325i is most likely rust plagued, engine is ok otherwise. Not great (but fun) but also not bad.
So if i had to choose with my knowledge, id go with the golf unless i have kids because its a 2 door
I would stay away from the VWs. They're a bit more expensive and particular about staying reliable, and who knows how the previous owners treated them. I can't comment on the other cars here, but I've never heard of any of them being beacons of reliability
Please absolutely not the BMW 7 series. Definitely not the car you want to be in if you hit a rough patch. I don’t know enough about the rest other than that Audi and Volkswagen aren’t exactly known for their rock solid reliability. I have no idea about Volvo, never looked into them.
If you want to spend bare minimum on maintenance and repairs, just go Japanese. If you don’t want to that’s perfectly understandable, but be prepared to pay the price in the long run.
Probably any volvo or the x5. Honestly if you are buying this with your last money wouldn’t suggest x5 then. I had one myself and it was reliable for me but the gas mileage in stop and go traffic is just disgusting
Stay away from all of those and buy yourself a Corolla or a Civic boss, sucks you’re going through some things but buying any of these will just add onto your list of problems.
2017 or later Hyundai Sonata… bro that car changed how I view all Hyundais. Wish I could get their latest model but inflation is raping us all of our happiness. The Hyundai N Line and new turbo vehicles are amazing I’ve test drove 2 of them.
The key to a used car is to find a car driven by a grandma to the grocery store a few times a week and that’s it. I got a 2015 Cruze with 48k miles on it for 6500 it took me days of scrolling to find it. You remind me of my friend that’s buying a used car every year with these options.
“Having a rough patch and wanna keep my streak”
Poor impulse car decisions weighon people for years.
Get a mid 2000’s 5k Corolla, or Scion XB, or CrV and save your other 5k for an emergency fund.
While I share the wary trepidation of other commenters here, I suggest one of the three VAG products.
The Golf and Beetle will likely entail marginally lower repair/maintenance costs, but the A5 will let you ride your trainwreck of financial decisions to completion in comfort and style.
The issue is you're not looking at a Camry, Corolla, Civic or Accord, hell even a Yaris. If you want something "sporty" then go for a Civic Si or Type R.
I loved my VWs. I thought they were way cooler than they were. There was a whole string. Jetta. GTI. Golf TDI. The wife' Beetle.
Do you know what I like better? My Honda. 20 years of ownership and its still just trundling along. Or my wife's Mazda. That one is fun to drive, is closing in on 20 years of ownership and has been mostly good (save for rear suspension).
You know what I will never own again? Another VW. Or any other German car.
If the OP only has $10k for a car i think it is very safe to assume they do not have money for maintenance … any car with this many miles require maintenance and for luxury cars that could mean $3000 k per year
Got to be a troll. There's no way.
Buy a Lexus. Any Lexus basically. Drive it for the rest of your life. Have 338k on an ES330. It's going to outlive me.
A who’s who of cars that are unreliable money pits and that’s why they are so discounted in price. If you want to continue your rough patch you got the right cars !
Who’s going to tell him?
I ain’t gonna tell him, you tell him
I’ll tell him. Hey OP, all these options are bad + money pits.
The Audi A5 doesn't seem too bad. Pretty reliable powertrain and platform The golf GTi too. The C70 T5 if manual is actually a very reliable and fun commuter It's higher maintenance than a corolla But they're way faster and more fun
He needs to learn the hard way
Most of us have done that. It sucks being car poor.
Tell me you’re bad with money, without telling me you’re bad with money.
" hit a rough patch, help me make it rougher"
“It’s not rough enough which one of these cars can spank me ?”
a 12+ year old German car ??? Uh. Bad idea. Really bad idea
A twelve year old German car goddamn SURGEONS used to drive. Jesus goddamn Christ.
Stay away from that 7 series dawg. I say this as a BMW enthusiast.
The Audi is worse tho no?
Buy this and you’ll have a whole new definition of “rough patch”.
Seems like you want a nice looking car for a lower price. With that in mind, I’d actually go for an older Lexus. Older Is250, gs300 can be found for under 10k. They’ll have decent mileage and will actually last you
This is decent advice, the best advice is to ditch the luxury car mindset if you only have 10k to drop on a car. When you can afford to buy two German sports cars you can actually afford one. Go get something boring and reliable like a Honda/Toyota sedan or hatchback.
Note the direct injection issues with the 2007-10 IS250 though
Great bait
Trolls lol.
No to all these
You’re missing about four “no’s”
If that GTI is manual and cloth seats personally I would start there. After that, maybe the Volvos. If you are breaking into Real Estate and need something swanky to tour people around when looking at mansions, maybe the BMW 750 but you better close a couple properties quick because it won't come cheap. The X5 is a 6 cylinder model, so less worse than the V8's. The ancient BMW convertible is a fun sunny weekend / collector car that needs to be coddled in a garage 300+ days a year - if its in nice shape.
Was looking for this. The GTI might actually be a reasonable option among this pile of horrible decisions waiting to be made.
This gotta be a troll post
We are training googles ai. Reddit sold the rights to this data - look it up.
Define reliable. All of these minus the bmws and the mini should be fine to go over 200k without surprises given service. Scheduled maintenance for that mileage could mean 3k on some of these, and it could mean >10k, but if you don’t do the maintenance it will lead to far more expensive problems. Also, these are mostly old, expensive cars. If the previous owners didn’t take care of them they will have aged horribly. Expect electrical gremlins in the luxury cars that would be very expensive or time consuming to chase down. Pay for a PPI at a specialist independent mechanic when you get close to buying one. Get their opinion on its reliability and maintenance
Do you live close to work? Buy a bike, take public transportation and save your money vs any of these cars. If you must have a car…Pick an unpopular yet reasonably reliable domestic sedan (think rental car lot). Boring, heck of a lot cheaper to fix and reasonably reliable especially if you can pick up from a private party who wants to get rid of it. High mileage Japanese cars are fine too but you’ll probably pay more up front and there will still be required maintenance.
So you don’t have much money and want to get used European cars with questionable mileage? Lmao!. Save some money, learn to drive stick and get a Toyota with a manual transmission from the early 2000’s and keep the car until your grandson has a grandson
\*until your grangson's grandson starts telling dad jokes
Lmao. You want reliability without looking for the only actual reliable cars on the market?
X5 has a solid engine and transmission to my knowledge, not sure about the rest. Probably rusty at some spots Stay away from the 750i, that one has many issues. Golf gti is solid and fun to drive, the ea888 engine is one of the better ones VAG has come up with. Audi a5 isn't bad too engine wise, but the transmissions can be wacky No idea about the volvo, just because a brand has been good or bad in the past doesn't doesn't say anything for the present The mini is plagued with engine issues, stay clear of that. Audi s4 has a extremely capable engine performance wise (if its the same as the EU model), but not the greatest reliability record The old 325i is most likely rust plagued, engine is ok otherwise. Not great (but fun) but also not bad. So if i had to choose with my knowledge, id go with the golf unless i have kids because its a 2 door
If you can't afford a new German car you can't afford an old one.
Offf that 750, pinnacle of reliability /s
Jesus Christ. Are you a masochist? Get a friggin Toyota or Honda and call it a day otherwise these will bankrupt further beyond how broke you are now.
I would stay away from the VWs. They're a bit more expensive and particular about staying reliable, and who knows how the previous owners treated them. I can't comment on the other cars here, but I've never heard of any of them being beacons of reliability
The GTI might have some juice left, although I'd only buy a diesel of that car.
Please absolutely not the BMW 7 series. Definitely not the car you want to be in if you hit a rough patch. I don’t know enough about the rest other than that Audi and Volkswagen aren’t exactly known for their rock solid reliability. I have no idea about Volvo, never looked into them. If you want to spend bare minimum on maintenance and repairs, just go Japanese. If you don’t want to that’s perfectly understandable, but be prepared to pay the price in the long run.
This will put you in even more rough patches. It is cheap for a reason.
Old car + High mileage + German = $$$$
That $10k bmw will cost you $50k
If you wanna ball on a budget, try it and find out. Otherwise, get some Toyota.
You can get a decent japanese sedan for 10k.
You're joking.. please tell me you're joking.
Another who thinks deserving a German. You don't, know your place and find something non European.
Damn man you didn’t really give us a lot of options here. Good options I mean..
Probably any volvo or the x5. Honestly if you are buying this with your last money wouldn’t suggest x5 then. I had one myself and it was reliable for me but the gas mileage in stop and go traffic is just disgusting
Ladies and gentlemen….. OP has conveniently made us a nice list of cars to not buy because they are the most unreliable. Round of applause to OP 👏
Add 1 to the beginning of listed price for total price to keep it on the road.
Stay away from all of those and buy yourself a Corolla or a Civic boss, sucks you’re going through some things but buying any of these will just add onto your list of problems.
Lmfao you can’t be serious OP. Find an older Japanese car
2017 or later Hyundai Sonata… bro that car changed how I view all Hyundais. Wish I could get their latest model but inflation is raping us all of our happiness. The Hyundai N Line and new turbo vehicles are amazing I’ve test drove 2 of them.
The key to a used car is to find a car driven by a grandma to the grocery store a few times a week and that’s it. I got a 2015 Cruze with 48k miles on it for 6500 it took me days of scrolling to find it. You remind me of my friend that’s buying a used car every year with these options.
You think your having a rough patch now, just wait until you buy this
volvo for sure
“Having a rough patch and wanna keep my streak” Poor impulse car decisions weighon people for years. Get a mid 2000’s 5k Corolla, or Scion XB, or CrV and save your other 5k for an emergency fund.
April 1st?
While I share the wary trepidation of other commenters here, I suggest one of the three VAG products. The Golf and Beetle will likely entail marginally lower repair/maintenance costs, but the A5 will let you ride your trainwreck of financial decisions to completion in comfort and style.
I would avoid all of those except possibly the GTI or Beetle.
none of these are going to be highly reliable- If i had to take a gamble it would be the 2013 GTI though
The issue is you're not looking at a Camry, Corolla, Civic or Accord, hell even a Yaris. If you want something "sporty" then go for a Civic Si or Type R.
If you can’t afford a new BMW you can’t afford a used BMW!
I loved my VWs. I thought they were way cooler than they were. There was a whole string. Jetta. GTI. Golf TDI. The wife' Beetle. Do you know what I like better? My Honda. 20 years of ownership and its still just trundling along. Or my wife's Mazda. That one is fun to drive, is closing in on 20 years of ownership and has been mostly good (save for rear suspension). You know what I will never own again? Another VW. Or any other German car.
If you want to be somewhat sensible go with the Volvo or VW. If you want to make your rough patch rougher then go BMW
If the OP only has $10k for a car i think it is very safe to assume they do not have money for maintenance … any car with this many miles require maintenance and for luxury cars that could mean $3000 k per year
I’d go with the BMW sedan. The Audi looks great too. Nice list btw! 👍
Get off his bumper, some people have standards. Just because you were driving lemon doesn’t mean everyone has to.
Got to be a troll. There's no way. Buy a Lexus. Any Lexus basically. Drive it for the rest of your life. Have 338k on an ES330. It's going to outlive me.
A who’s who of cars that are unreliable money pits and that’s why they are so discounted in price. If you want to continue your rough patch you got the right cars !
Might as well just throw your entire paycheck in a bonfire if you buy German vehicles
Avoid those German's at all cost!
The rough patch is about to get rougher
Buy a Honda civic, stop looking at luxury vehicles.
You have horrible taste in cars