Martin James Smith wrote:

Hi all,

Say I wanted to buy the most reliable new compact car on the market
right now, the one least likely to ever break down on me in the
future, what would it be?

I've had fantastic luck with Toyota and Honda. I am driving a Honda Civic
hybrid now with over 160K miles on it. Other than standard maintenance, the
only thing needing service was the hybrid battery, covered under
manufacturer's warranty.

We are still running our 2000 Toyota Sienna van with 250K miles. The
plastic door handles are crumbling, and new old stock replacement handles
can be had, but they are also deteriorated, so there's no point in it.
The only service on that one, other than normal stuff (tires, brakes,
battery) is a radiator that I can chalk up to a deer collision years before.

Before that, I had a Toyota Corolla stick shift station wagon that I kept
for 19 years! I got at least 160K miles out of that one, and it was still
running after 2 accidents, when we decided to retire it.

Jon