"USA imports" daily driver, whats good?
Rusty...
Since you already seem to have some criteria, Instead of disagreeing with just about every recommendation made, why don't you just cut to the chase, and tell us what cars you would consider, and why?
I haven't disagreed with everything. I haven't even disagreed with Subaru. I disagree with AWD. I don't like it. It's trouble. It's stylish. It's eye candy. Something to sell cars. Now, 4WD I got no problem with. There's a big difference.
Ford has a lot of new cars that get really high marks. Kitty's 03 Escape, for example. Two weeks after we bought it, the battery died. Riverside came and got it, put a battery in it and brought it back. After that, I have done regular maintenance on it and that's all. It's 12 years old now and has given us zero problems. It's still low mileage at under 130K. I haven't even put spark plugs in it yet. I need to.
The new Ford Fiesta gets good marks. Of course the Taurus always has. I tend to steer clear of new models like the Fusion, the 500 and all that. But the Fiesta is a new model and it's done very well.
I like pretty much anything Toyotee.....again, cept AWD. I also don't like the CVT transmissions. They break. A lot. And parts are not available for some of them. From anywhere. We had a Ford 500 with the CVT in the shop that a used car dealer sold and then it went out. We got it out and apart, found the problem, but could not find parts anywhere. Couldn't even find a used one. For MONTHS this went on. We ended up having to put it back together like it was, the dealer took it back and gave the customers something else. It was a mess.
I cannot STAND Nissans. The valve bodies in their transmissions from about 1998 on are wear items and have to be replaced during a transmission rebuild. BAM, you just added at least 1K to the transmission job. That's just stupid. Even before I found that out, I never liked Nissan anyway.
Honda makes good stuff. Again, steer clear of the AWD and CVT transmission. My sister has a CRV? the little SUV they make....not sure I think that's it and she likes it.....BUT it's a gas hog! Yeah. A Honda. It doesn't get any better than Kitty's Escape and Kitty's car is a 4WD. It gets a tad over 20. Probably 23 or 24 on the highway. I've done the math several time. I get a "2" and stop dividing. That's good enough for me. Kitty likes it. It hauls ***. She feels safe in it. It's reliable.
IMO....and I know I'll get some hate, Ford makes the best domestic product in an automobile right now. Far as I'm concerned, they always have with their trucks. Perhaps with the one exception being the 6.0 PowerJoke, which of course was what "I" had. LOL
Even the little Kia has come a long way. Hyundai too. I wouldn't buy another new anything though. As much value as they lose soon as you sign the papers, I would get one a couple of years old, still in warranty.......OR maybe even lease a new one. But I am not in the position to and probably never will be or WANT another new one. The bad luck I have had with newer cars has jaded me forever.