I've narrowed it down to:
Camry
Avalon
Accord (scared of trannies)
TL (scared of trannies)
RL
Altima
Maxima

My gf's dad totaled his avalon last night and needs to find a car under $7K. I've been looking at quite a few 2nd gen TL's and 1st gen RL's. Personally I'd like to find an RL but it's kind of tough. I'm pretty open to miles...under 120K for sure though. Would like to get as new as possible. Been looking at some 00-02 Avalons as well.

Am I missing any other models? Any suggestions?

 

camry

 

2001-2003 maxima

 

since he drives an avalon it sounds like he's a point A to point B in comfort kinda guy.

In that case, RL or another Avalon.

 

Accord, Camry, or Avalon.

 

Lincoln LS (V8 preferably)
Cadillac CTS/DTS/STS
Buick Regal or Park Avenue (also available supercharged)
Pontiac Bonneville SC or Grand Prix
Oldsmobile Aurora
Lexus ES or LS
Infiniti J30, I30/I35

I have no idea how reliable/unreliable some of these are, though.

 

Yeah - sticking with Japanese vehicles. Staying away from American and German. The I's are nice but the turning radius is unbelievably bad.

 

Run the cars that y'all have in mind thru this:

http://autos.msn.com/home/reliability_ratings.aspx

or another reliability program.

Honda/Acura > Toyota > Nissan IMVHO... except the auto tranny Hondas from 2001 to 2003 (correct my dates if I am incorrect... thx!)

Enjoy!

 

LOL... check out the one for a 2001 CL (like I am rollin')

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/re...Acura&model=CL

Looks pretty accurate to me...

 

About 8 months ago my cousin bought 2G TL with 120K miles for 5K and he drove it to Canada from PA at least 5 times with no problems at all.

 

It did look that way.
The Lincoln LS does get 5/5 reliability per MSN Autos per DarkSith's post. I didn't check the other cars, but Buick has generally been pretty good for a number of years now.

ES300 or Camry XLE??
The 3G TL has a similar turning radius as the I30/I35- about 40 ft.

 

The LS is an alright car, and the value on those goes down fast, so you should be able to pick one up pretty cheap. The V8 is auto only, if that helps.

 

My 6 sucks too....

 

One of the things I DON'T like about my car.

 

This is the ONLY thing that I dislike about my car.

 

rl and maxima if i remember correcctly, use premium. But since the rl is made in japan, i would vote for that

 

IIRC, all the Japanese V6 engines of that vintage use premium gas, including the Camry/ES V6 and Avalon V6.

 

ahhh this i did not know...