Secondary Car Purchase Update

Dawn and I have investigated the purchase of a second daily driver car for some time as our primary car gets up in mileage (160K+). I figure better to stay ahead of the curve in case this car breaks down.

I've spent the last few days researching used cars in the range of 1999-2005, which seems to represent the price range we can afford right now. Top considerations (in order):

1. Safety
2. Reliability
3. Insurance cost
   
4. Looks
   

I first visited the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which operates SafeCar.gov. SafeCar reports driver/passenger frontal and side impact assessments, as well as rollover assessments. Next, I visited the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) which reports similar information on impact ratings.

For local and national pricing information, I relied on Edmunds.com and their partner site, autotrader.com.

For reliability information, I visited MSN Autos which lists reliability for the current and previous years in a table.

And I enjoyed reading Samarins for used-car buying information (and reviews).

Initial picks (in no particular order, in the range of 2000-2005):

• Volkswagen Golf
  
• Five-star frontal- and four-star side-impact safety ratings from NHTSA, reliability seems pretty good.
• Honda Civic
• Nothing really needs to be said that hasn't already been said--great safety ratings and reliability.
  
• Dodge Neon SRT
• Vroom-vroom! ;)
  
• Honda Accord

I've said since college that I planned to purchase a low-emissions vehicle as my next car purchase. I still want to make that a reality--and the later-years Toyota Prius seems the likely bet, if I can afford one!