Wow! Everybody's opinions are really helpful and appreciated and confusing at the same time! Personally, I really haven't found that the Japanese cars have gotten cheaper. Between 1991 and 1996, for less than 0 each, I bought an 83 sentra, a 72 toyota corona, an 80 something nissan pulsar, an 83 subaru gl, and an 83 accord. Except for the accord, which had 150K, the others all had less than 100K when I bought them. It seems that right now, you can't get anything japanese that you can even drive home for that price. I just saw an ad for the very same 83 subaru that I bought for 0 in 93 - 280K, needs a clutch - 0. firm. A pickup would be nice, but wouldn't really work with the newspapers and the baby too. Wilson is right that I don't really know how to fix anything (but not right about me being a guy!) I'm open to learning stuff, and I was so proud of myself when I replaced a piece of heater hose in my Subaru, - I even had to move the alternator to get to it. But it's frustrating because my only power tool is a black and decker screwdriver with 2 AA batteries! Also, it's hard to try and fix a car and watch a 2 year old at the same time. Anyway, I'm pretty good at finding nice people who like fixing cars. Last winter a really wonderful guy replaced the rack and pinion on my tercel and the clutch on the subaru for only 0. But the sub no longer runs and the tercel is making horrifying noises and I'm afraid it wants to kill me...and I've spent way too much money trying to fix both of these cars (which have 255K and 225K) So Wilson is also right that money is a huge issue for me. Me and my baby are living on about </body>,000/month in Seattle. Cash flow is always an issue and I'm completely dependent on my car for work. My contract even requires me to have a back up car, so they could technically fire me if I ever couldn't work because of a car problem. I really need reliability. I found it really interesting that many of the volvo classifieds that I've seen mention that the car "never breaks down" and "won't die", and I've seen lots of them with 300-400K. Not exactly what I'm in the market for, but it sure does leave a good impression of the car's durability. I still talk too much, and I need a nap....