Hi,
My wife and I need a new, used car. We are in our 50's. We no longer have children at home. Our old Corolla has 400,00 mile son it and not worth putting more money in.

I grew up with the cars from the 50's 60' 70' and new, later cars...

To tell the truth I am tired of front wheel drive cars, they work great if you buy them new, they run a very long time, but when the parts wear out, they are hard to get to and lots of parts, cv axles, and nickel and dime you to death, etc..

I like the idea of a rear wheel drive, sold, safe car, dependability, and safety. I am tired of timing belts, cheap plastic, and since we can't afford a brand new car right now, a good used Volvo, even going back to a rear wheel drive model is appealing.

I love bigger cars but don't want to pay a lot in gas money. Wife uses the car for work mostly, not far from home and in Southern California, not much worry about cold weather nor much rain.

I have driven several Volvo, and while many models are solid but not fast, unless you get a sporty model, turbo etc... they are dependable

I am afraid we can't afford a decent model that is less than 10 years old. Maybe even up to 15 years old.

The last cars owned, (1993 Toyota Camry, daughter is currently driving it, she is a full time college student). 1989 Corolla, 400,000 miles, ready for the boneyard, but still dependable.

Time to move on.

Any suggestions?

Would like 4 door, a decent trunk decent gas mileage.

I really would like rear wheel drive, my wife want a stick shift but I have a bad knee and in bad health. So, an automatic is more what I would like. My wife does almost all the driving. As I just go to medical appointments maybe the store once in a while. But, want a very dependable car, and strong in case it gets hit, and none of the unibody b.s., that if you get hit the car it totaled because of the construction leaves twisted cheap metal.

Any ideas?

prices, models, years. I have looked a little online, and it looks like somewhere between $6,000 to $10,000 is about the range although we can't go to $10,000, because we don't want payments. Well, if we had too it would be very little borrowed.

we have owned full size cars, vans, small pickups, Toyota's Hondas, Buicks, Chevies, the list is extensive. Have driven, All over USA, Europe, South America. Even motorcycles many years ago. I have a high technical background. Mechanical background too. I no longer want to do much work on cars, and when I get very sick I cannot even drive. But when feeling better I can do stuff. But, can end up in a wheel chair again at any time.

So, what cars might make us happy?

Thanx..

 

Lexus GS300 maybe an '03 model.

All of the Volvo's have timing belts. Other than that a S90 would be perfect.

 

thanx,, seen a few xc90 models for about $8,000 with less than 100,000 miles. wife likes them,, but we haven't taken them for a test drive yet.