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What makes a car a classic? And what makes classic cars so valuable?

Which car company makes the best quality cars?

  • I kind of already asked this question, but I'm looking to buy a new car and I can't decide on which one to buy and there was some stuff that I left out of the previous question. The number one thing I'm looking for is reliability. How long the car will last and how well it will run years from now under good maintenance. Exterior and interior are important too but not as important to me as quality. I was looking at a Chevy Sonic and took it for a test drive. I loved it but it was way too small. I felt like a giant in the drivers seat and it was a turn off for me. Then I had test drove a Toyota Corolla. I liked it a lot more than the Chevy Sonic. It had much more space. I didn't get to test drive any other car but those, but I continued to look online and I saw that the new Dodge Dart will be coming out soon and it looked pretty cool. But I don't know much about cars so I'm not sure about it. I've looked at Honda Civics as well. Then a coworker of mine told me that Mazda's have great cars and that the Mazda 3 is a good one. From what I hear it gets great reviews but it seems like every car has it's haters and lovers. Also, what's the difference between front wheel drive and rear wheel drive? Is either better than the other? Call me dumb, but like I said, I know nothing about cars. And a car salesmen will be the last person to be honest with me about this stuff. I'm going with every company's most cheapest new car. Automatic of course.

  • Answer:

    No single company makes the best car in every class (by class, I mean SUV, compact car, truck, etc.) It looks like you're shopping for a compact sedan. One thing I want to mention is that the Chevy Sonic is not intended to be cross-shopped with a Corolla or 2013 Dart. The Sonic is considered a mini-car, while all of the others are compact sedans. Chevrolet's compact sedan is the Cruze. The Sonic is intended to be cross-shopped with cars like Toyota Yaris and Ford Fiesta. That is why the Sonic feels so small. It is in a whole different class than the others. As far as which compact sedan is best, it used to be I could say without hesitation that the Civic and Corolla were the class leaders. Now, the Corolla is actually near the bottom of its class. The Civic is still a solid choice, but not exactly a class-leader. According to edmunds.com, the class leaders are as follows: 2012 Ford Focus http://www.edmunds.com/ford/focus/2012 2012 Hyundai Elantra http://www.edmunds.com/hyundai/elantra/2012 2012 Chevy Cruze http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/cruze/2012 2012 Mazda MAZDA 3 http://www.edmunds.com/mazda/mazda3/2012 The 2013 Dodge Dart is, according to Consumer Reports, going to be a class leader too once it hits dealer lots in about 3 weeks. http://www.edmunds.com/dodge/dart/2013 For comparison, here is the Corolla's review too: http://www.edmunds.com/toyota/corolla/2012 Also, if you're looking to save some money by buying a mini-car, the Fiesta is the roomiest minicar you can buy. So here is its review: http://www.edmunds.com/ford/fiesta/2012 The Chevy Sonic is a class-leader, but as you found is not very roomy. http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/sonic/2012 As far as which car will be most reliable, as a matter of fact, you can't really buy a new car nowadays that isn't reliable. Ford and Mazda (Mazda is actually owned by Ford now) may have a good long term reputation of reliability, but the Dodge Dart's looks to be very reliable too as it is based on an Alfa Romeo platform that has been known to be very reliable. The only difference between Front-wheel drive (FWD) and rear-wheel drive (RWD) is which wheels the power is sent to. If you are shopping compact cars, you have only one choice-FWD. No automaker makes RWD compact sedans. Most mid-size and full-size sedans are FWD now too. Muscle cars and high-performance sedans are really the only cars that use RWD nowadays. RWD makes for better performance while driving at high speeds (really only necessary in a sports car), but has compromised traction in the winter. FWD, on the other hand provides much better traction on snow and ice. Good luck! EDIT: Nice to see the thumbs-down robot again...you know the one that goes around and automatically gives a thumbs-down to every answer whether or not it is correct.

Anthony A at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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The gap in quality and reliability has narrowed considerably. Everyone builds a good car. And new cars last a long time these days. You can use guides line Consumer Reports or the JD Powers reports to judge overall quality but everything you read or hear is going to be subjective and biased one way or the other. If you are buying a brand new car you just need to pick one that meets your needs and your budget. If you are looking at the smallest chepest cars that these manufacturers make the Corolla isn't Toyota's smallest car, neither is the Mazda3 or the Civic. So it's easy to see why you like the larger Corolla over the Sonic, you are comparing a subcompact to a compact. That's like comparing a Cadillac to a Malibu, of course the larger car is going to feel better. You've already driven the Chevy Sonic, now check out these cars: Ford Fieta - the top rated car under $15,000 Mazda2 - little brother to the very good Mazda3 Hyundai Accent - competes well with the Japanese brands. Nissan Versa - lowest priced car sold in the USA KIA Forte - new entry level sedan worth considering Honda Fit - can't go wrong with a Honda Toyota Yaris - Toyota remains the largest auto maker in the world for a reason. VW Golf - German engineering at a budget price.

mccoyblues

Toyota and Honda always seem to go on for miles beyond miles. I had a 1990 toyota tercell until this past year. I moved onto a new car not because the car died on me, but because it was time for a new one haha. The miles rolled over on it meaning the odometer reset and went all the way back up to 170,000. If you asked me, I'd say that's one reliable car.

Mike

Most "Japanese" cars are well made from high quality materials, even if most are not actually built in Japan any more. If I had to go Japanese, Mazda or Subaru are more sporty, Honda can be OK but they're often too clever for their own good and expensive for what you get. Toyota are reliable but boring as Hell and if you've got a soul, you'll want to slash your wrists before long. If you know nothing about cars, maybe you'll be ok. Keep on top of servicing and they'l last a long time, but note that spares for Japanese cars can be very expensive so they don't break often but if they do...

Bertsta

Toyota's quality slipped for a while and it is debatable if they are back up to the same level they were in the 90's. Now I am prejudice, and prefer Fords or a Mazda. However if forced to be subjective, Subaru is about as good as they get. If I was forced to own only one car, that car would be a Subaru Impreza or an Outback. The jury is still out on the Dart, which was one of the most reliable cars ever built. My dad owned one for 250000 miles with no engine work and then some one stole it. But right now in the area I live in, Subaru's are the car of choice. They don't sell a lot in any given year when compared to Toyota or even Ford- but they seem to last forever. So I see a lot of them dating back into the 80's still running up and down the road.

Old Man Dirt

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