[Sirrotica]

Damn, what's wrong with an American car? I bought a 1991 3.1 Z24 cavalier in 2000 for $200 that needed some body work on the front end from a wreck. The car had 110,000 on it when I bought it, at just over 200,000 miles in 2009 the nylon timing sprocket let loose and bent some valves so I junked it for $350. Tough to do that with a furin car. Other than general maintenance items, brakes and tune up parts it ran me from Memphis to Pa many times and all over Ohio and once to Prescott Az.

If you want a GM/Toyota made in the US (Calif.) car the Vibe would be tough to beat, bought one for my wife new in 2008 and it now has around 165,000 on it now. Tires brakes and a tune up with regular oil changes is all I've done to it so far. We even pulled an enclosed 6X10 trailer with it 1600 miles with it when almost new, and have used it to pull that trailer and even haul tow dollies with cars on them since then. They hold their value well and used ones bring decent money. A toyota Matrix is not the exact same car and many parts don't interchange between the 2 cars. Many do, but not all parts interchange.

Being a former tech in a Honda dealership the factory parts are way overpriced on Hondas as well as Toyotas. Most aftermarket parts for either brand DON'T work nearly as well as factory parts do or last as long. JMO.