said by jsbaker :

Had a 96 lumina for about a month before as a loaner, was a nice car but seen a lot of them with issues. It's a GM so it never would ahve been an option on my plate anyways. My sister has a 2003 Taurus and it has had some issues but she has 5 kids who don't care and a husband who is an idiot so I can imagine they had a lot to do with the problems but yes those two are known to be problematic.

I personally would never buy a Lumina or a Taurus just becuase of the reliability factor. I don't know what your price range or space reuqirements are but there has got to be something better

said by MJimLay :

I also read on carcomplaints that this model seems to have a lot of issues, especially with the spring coming out and blowing the tire out.

said by dirtyjeffer :

not many issues, and the spring issue you mentioned was recalled anyway, so they would have been replaced for free already (or should have been as it is covered)...of course, this may depend on where you are...the only ones affected were the ones sold in states that use salt on the roads, as the recall installs "covers" to prevent too much salt damaging the spring brackets...if the springs failed, they were replaced free of charge (i had mine replaced a couple of years ago).

you can search for recalls here: »www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/re···arch.cfm

said by nokiatech :

I would also strike a word of caution over the lumina engine. They were built with an aluminum head on an iron block. The engine was EXTREMELY prone to intake manifold gasket failures. In fact I believe GM was hit with a class action suit which forced them to repay repair costs associated with the failure even on out of warranty repairs.

See if there is a local police/sheriff auction near you. They often have Crown Vics in great shape with extensive maintenance records. Those cars are built to be abused and hold up very well over the long term. It also means repair parts are plentiful and cheap.

said by MJimLay :

Thanks. I have read some horror stories about the intake manifold gasket failures. I'm still pretty torn between the two of them but was told they should have some more car's on the lot by now.

Auction's aren't really an option for me as I am not able to pay cash for a car. I'm trying to stick with a small family owned car lot that my mom had really good luck with and aren't a completely rip off. Most of the "buy here pay here" places we have in town are complete and total rip off's. My mom got a 2001 Ford Focus from this car lot back in 2003 or 2004 which had 130,000+ miles on it. She kept this car for 2 years, when it was paid off, and never had a single problem with it. She still wishes to this day she didn't get rid of that car.

said by DrD :

The gas to power that beast would kill him!

said by dirtyjeffer :

in order to get a honda civic in that price range, it will be a 15 year old beater, in probably worse shape, as the resale value on a car like this is inflated...your best bet, for cost savings, is to get the newest, lowest mileage car you can afford that is still decent quality...in most cases, due to their low resale, the domestic will win every time (although, some of the Korean brands might be worth looking at, but i still think the domestic will be less expensive should it need a repair).