Hyundai vs. Subaru maybe Kia or Mazda

[perlslacker]

I have a 2016 Forester, because the only way to get a small SUV with AWD and a manual transmission in 2016 was to buy a Forester.

Shit sucks. The body is too big for the engine so it's slow as shit. Boxer engine + 0W-20 oil (for CAFE reasons) = oil burning; my block was replaced at 25k under warranty for oil burning issues. The infotainment is trash. I think the only OEM with worse infotainment than Toyota is Subaru. I didn't think this was a big deal until I rented a Chevy Malibu that was unimpressive in most ways but had decent infotainment. Based on my experience I can't in good conscience recommend a Subaru.

From your list I'd recommend the Mazda. I had a Mazda 3 for 10 years and I liked it a lot. I've driven friends' Mazdas and I always found the driving experience to be pleasant.

[Navin Johnson]

They made a huge mistake calling the CVT fluid a “lifetime” fluid, and making it so hard to service. I’ve had my CVT fluid drained and filled every 75,000 miles by Subaru, and have been to good-to-go.

There's no mistake...... they want the transmission to s*** out and you to buy a new one.

[Duces Tecum]

Whichever car you select, the situation seems to favor leasing -- not buying -- a car.

[rayrevolver]

I have never owned a Corolla but it would be my choice for a daily driver. I know guys who drive about 2 hours to work and went down this path, no complaints.

For me, I would love one of these manual Hatchback models to daily drive. And its a manual, so modern car thieves can't steal it!

https://www.genemessertoyota.com/inv...a4rbe1l3090957

[JodyH]

Retaining value is not a concern. I keep cars until they're piles of junk (preferably 250,000+ mile piles of junk).
My 2000 Toyota Tacoma is still banging around great at 200,000 but would suck at commuting. Loud, bouncy and 16mpg.

All service will be at the respective dealer, I don't have the time to do it myself and the quick lube places around here are retards.
Keeps the warranty claim issues at a minimum as well.
That's one thing keeping me from Toyota, the local dealers are bad... really bad.

The only extended warranty I'm interested in right now is the Subaru factory extended (highly rated and can be negotiated down pretty cheap).
Might look into what Mazda offers as well.

I researched the Subaru CVT before buying my son a 2020 Crosstrek. At the local dealership Subaru seems to be really easy to get along with when it comes to warrantying them. From what I heard the biggest issue by far was getting them hot slipping on ice/snow/sand or not replacing all four tires at the same time (a big no no with AWD, and a drawback to AWD since I do not need it).

[JodyH]

Whichever car you select, the situation seems to favor leasing -- not buying -- a car.

Not at the annual mileage I'll be doing and the price of car I'm looking at. 2000 miles a month is going to be the minimum I'll be doing, probably closer to 3000.
High mileage and commuting wear and tear kill you at the turn in.

[JodyH]

And its a manual, so modern car thieves can't steal it!

That third pedal is a Millennial anti-theft device.

[Nephrology]

Not at the annual mileage I'll be doing and the price of car I'm looking at. 2000 miles a month is going to be the minimum I'll be doing, probably closer to 3000.
High mileage and commuting wear and tear kill you at the turn in.

For what it's worth, you can probably get a CPO Mazda CX-5 in your price range. I think I paid just about $23k for my 2015 GT AWD with about 23k miles on it in July 2018. if you're not looking for AWD (I was) you can definitely get under $20k on a CPO CX5.

[LOKNLOD]

Late model Camrys with 30-40k or so on the clock are all over here for well sub-20k. (Haven’t looked in last month or two so may be messed up with pandemic)

Would be a great commuter.

[JRB]

Among all of your options, I'd be looking at the Subaru Impreza or Crosstrek (especially the 6MT models, I hate CVT's) or the Hyundai Kona.

While most Korean makers like Kia are still lagging behind across the board, I personally believe Hyundai is ahead of Toyota and Subaru in the CUV segment. One of my sister's girlfriends has a 2018 Hyundai Kona and I was pleasantly surprised by the interior quality, comfort, stereo, and HP from the 1.6T. She has about 50k on it so far, no issues that she's mentioned and she gets mid-high 20's MPG most of the time. Toyota and Honda CUV options are reliable but dated and overpriced.

The Subaru needs no introduction and while Subaru's reputed to have improved the CVT circa 2018 I still don't fully trust it, but going with the CVT is almost a must for resale value these days. The Subaru will be down on HP and the stereo/infotainment is weaker than the Kona's but it'll be better off road and has much better third party/aftermarket parts support.
Perlslacker touched on the engine issues, Subaru going to 0w20 was a pants-on-head idea for a flat 4 and definitely not Subaru's first pants-on-head engine idea.
Boxer engines fight gravity on the bottom side of their pistons and naturally will need thicker oil with higher shear strength at operating temp to endure that. Some Subaru die-hards I have on social media switch to the Mobil 1 0w40 Euro formula or the Rotella 5w40 synthetic and report none of those early oil burn/compression loss issues. I'd emphatically recommend the Mobil 1 over the Rotella for a gas engine of any kind, though.

If going clean-slate with the intent of never working on it myself and just driving it, I'd probably pick the Kona. If I was intending to keep it for a long time and do my own maintenance, or actually use it on some rougher dirt roads, I'd go with the Subaru.

Whichever car you select, the situation seems to favor leasing -- not buying -- a car.

Every lease I've ever seen has some pretty strict mileage limits per year, and exceeding that limit is either expensive or straight-up highway robbery at the end of the lease.
I haven't seen current lease options for any of these brands, but I'd be very surprised if the high mileage nature of JodyH's needs wouldn't price him right out of a lease and into buying instead.