Vehicles to Avoid
We have some vehicles that we find are not reliable enough, are in need of constant repairs or have premature major drive train failures. Vehicles that we recommend avoiding are the following:
- Any General Motors vehicle 2005 through present with a 2.4 L 4 cylinder engine. Timing chains stretch and fail causing catastrophic engine damage and good used engines are almost impossible to find.
- Chevrolet Cruse with the 1.4 L turbo: high oil consumption, fluid leaks, turbo failures.
- Any older high end European vehicle (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Mini). If you can't afford to purchase a new one then you definitely can't afford to repair and older one with high mileage.
- 2009 through 2015 Hyundai/ Kia with the 2.4 L engine (timing chain failures).
- 2012 Ford Focus with the dual clutch automatic transmission (high failure rates, one customers had three transmissions replaced while under warranty).
- VW and Audi with the 2.0 L DOHC engines: timing chain tensioner failures cause the engine to fail.
- Any new diesel equipped vehicles: the cost of maintaining the emissions systems, higher cost of fuel in the winter and general cold winter issues do not justify the higher purchase prices and slight better fuel economy over gas engines. If you want a true diesel, buy something pre 2002 if you can find something worthy of rebuilding and maintaining.
- Any vehicle with a CVT transmission if you are going to tow with it. While CVT's have received bad press, we have many that have gone over 240,000 kms with proper maintenance.
- Mid 2010 Nissan Quest: there are not enough of them on the road to have aftermarket parts available. Many parts are dealer only.