Which do you prefer among Subaru, Honda and Toyota ?

[Catherineli]

Hello everyone!

By next month I'll be in America for five years. My driving skill is much better than when I was first settled. To reward myself, I'm going to buy a nice car, either Honda, or Subaru or Toyota.

May I be honored to have your opinion about the three brands? I am not mechanic at all. I'm not smart. I'm not living in a mountain area. I don't like to ask for help if anything wrong happens to my car. And this will be my last car in my life. So I want to make a careful and best decision.

Thank you for reading my post. I'd like to have your idea.

Be safe everyone!

 

Catherine

[Martin B]

All three are great brands, though I like Subaru the least of those three.

 

I drive a Toyota Highlander, my wife just bought a 2020 Honda Accord.

[Randy W]

I've usually just headed to the Toyota dealer to look for a new car, and have always been glad I did, including one here in China. Almost no problems ever.

[Allon]

I have driven all three. For safety, I would choose the Subaru. For style and a good degree of reliability, take the Toyota. Honda to me is more reliable and comfortable, although Toyota makes a good car. Depends on which one you like....

 

I drove the hell out of all 3 brands. But one thing the Japanese have yet to really learn how to do: paint a car, and make good brakes. Lately, not much good at air bags either.

 

Lots of periodicals on the subject. Kelly Blue Book, Motor Trend, Consumer Reports.But buy the one you feel is for you and that you like. Test drive the car. Do not buy a car that you have not test driven.

 

Luck....

[Catherineli]

Thank you Barf, Randy and Allon!! I so appreciate your attention here. I know very little about cars. Since I'm not a mechanic, I feel new cars more reliable and comfortable. I don't worry a lot about the maintenance. But many people don't encourage me to buy a new car. Please give me more ideas what you would choose if you were me : )

Maybe Honda is the best choice. Surely I must test drive and feel it myself.

 

I hope everyone is doing well. Where are those long-year friends? I avoid to say Old friends : )

[amberjack1234]

Hi, Catherineli. Honda Accords was the car of the year for many years. Had an aunt that had one for over 15 years and never had anything wrong with except for the air conditioner and that was well over 100,000 miles. I have never had one but I have had a Toyota and it lasted me 118,000 miles on it and then I gave it to my stepson and he gave it to his stepsons and they wreck it. Only had to change the oil, oil filter, air cleaner and put several batteries in it. Never had to replace the brakes on it. They were the old drum-type brakes. One of the most dependable cars that I have ever owned and the most economical to drive. I will say one drawback of any foreign car is that replacements parts are very expensive. I can't tell you anything about the Subaru's I never had one. If I could afford to buy a new one you will have a good warranty. Bumper to bumper for 3-4 years and the engine and drivetrain is usually from 50 to 100 thousand miles. Most likely 100 miles on a car like you are looking for but on something like a Corvette, it will be more like 50,000 miles. I don't think you want anything like that.

 

Good to hear from you. Come by anytime and say hi to us we oldtimers miss you. How is your son doing?

Larry and Liren (Lee) is doing well and says hi.

[Catherineli]

Hi Larry,

 

Good to hear from you again!

Thank you for your advice. I also give thanks to other friends here. You all let me know Honda and Toyota are more welcome to people. Subaru is not known. I'll take time for different brands of Honda and Toyota. Thanks.

My son and I are doing well. He is lately promoted to be an advanced engineer. He also bought a nice house. We are living in one city. I'm still teaching ESL.

By the end of February, I'm going to grow some blue berries in my back yard. But I don't know anything about gardening. Too bad. Last year I bought garden soil, top soil and cow pies : ). I mixed them up without caring the percentage of the dirt as I can't find more information from Youtube about how to mix the different dirt. Last summer, I planted some tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, two watermellons. But the plants grew tall, without producing any fruits. I didn't get any tomatoes, eggplants or green peppers from my two garden beds. I got nothing from my diligent job. Too bad : ) This year I'm going to grew berries.

 

Happy weekend to everyone!!

 

Catherine

[amberjack1234]

Congratulations to your son on his promotion. You must be very proud of him as you should be. It may have been the cow pies that made everything grow so fast that everything went to the plant and not to the production of any fruit. I use to make compost from horse dung for my mother and my wife to put on flowers. Good stuff but it can't be to fresh or it will burn them.

 

Blueberries grow very well here. My neighbor has had some bushes for about 20 years and they produce prolifically and with only being planted straight in the ground and no supplements. But it does depend on what kind of soil you have. The best thing about them is that they keep giving you fruit year after year.

 

So glad to hear from you and your son. Please come by more often. There are not many of us old-timers left now and the new guys don't carry on a conversation much. I think that most just want information.

 

Best of luck Larry

[Catherineli]

I'm glad that I have the chance to stir up the atmosphere here!!

 

Larry, do you mean the blueberries are perennial? That is so wonderful! I don't understand "planted straight in the ground and no supplements"? Should I buy some blueberry plants or seed to grow into the dirt?

 

You used to tell me never to buy a house with a swimming pool. I forgot why. Does it mean too many responsibilities?

 

Good night everyone!

[Randy W]

It also means you will only be able to sell it to someone who WANTS a pool - and is willing to pay the higher and needed maintenance.

[Greg.D.]

If your tomatoes were healthy and tall but gave you no tomatoes, you gave them too much nitrogen.

 

There are lots of ways for vegetable plants to fail, though.

 

Re: cars

 

When my wife came here, she left her Hyuandi in China, of course. Soon, my Toyota was totaled by hail, and we chose a Subaru for best safety in snow. We still have it, though she added a Toyota Prius for herself

 

When it snows, I take her 2WD Prius since I grew up driving in snow and she drives the Subaru. Subarus' aren't as reliable as Toyota's. Going to pick up Junior at preschool yesterday would not have been possible in the Prius.

 

If we could only have one car, it would be a Toyota. If we were buying the forever car, it would be Toyota. If we won the lottery, we would buy Toyota.

 

Good luck!

[Randy W]

I don't think that at this point in my life I would ever again buy anything BUT a Toyota.

 

They are reliable , easily maintained, and very long lasting.

 

 

[Martin B]

It also means you will only be able to sell it to someone who WANTS a pool - and is willing to pay the higher and needed maintenance.

 

Not to mention an in ground pool is a huge liability if someone has small kids that want to run around in the yard. And removing an in ground pool can easily cost upwards of $10k.

 

If we were retired living in Florida or Arizona w/o kids I'd be happy with a pool, but not living in the midwest with kids where we can realistically use it 4-5 months a year, if that.

[eseum]

I currently drive a toyota prius. It's a nice car and gets great gas mileage, with low maintenance cost. Will probably end up being the next car I get as well.

[amberjack1234]

I think that the guys covered the pool and car issues very well. The insurance on your house will be much higher with a pool. Having a high fence around it may help some if you can lock it but that doesn't look very well. The problem is small children fall in them and drown and local teenagers and even pre-teens will pay it a visit when you are not at home and sometimes they drown. I think you get the idea.

 

Blueberries are perennial. Look on the internet and find these companies. https://www.eburgess.com/ https://www.burpee.com/

https://www.gurneys.com/. They will send you a catalog and they are free. You make your purchase and they will hold the order until it is time to plant them in your area to give them the best chance for survival then they will send them to you. On the blueberries, I would dig a hole for the roots, as they will send you a plant already 3-4 feet tall, then spread out the roots and stick them in the hole cover them up and leave kind of a small bank of dirt around them and water every day for the first year. Not to much though. About 2 quarts of water. Some times they will send the plants with dirt on the roots in a burlap bag in that case just remove the bag and bury the rest put them deep enough to cover about 1-2 inches above the rootball so as not to smother the plant. The roots have to breathe. When it rains a lot don't water. You may drown them. I would try my garden again and not put much cow pies in there say something like a small handfull mixed with the dirt. Like GregD said to much nitrogen especially if it is fresh. Once you get your catalogs you can decide what you want and they will send them to you at the appropriate time. I like the last company the best. Some companies will replace the plants, like blueberries, even after a year for free if they die. It is about planting time now where I live but not where you live I don't believe. They will give you a planting table of when to plant.

 

I think GregD is very close to you if my old memory serves me right.

Edited February 9, 2020 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)