>>11905 We have a sticky for this kind of thing… That aside. Both of those cars will be shit and/or cost quite a bit to repair/maintain. If it's only going for 1000 [whatever monetary unit you use] then the Cabrio likely has problems. That's a girl's car, anyway. If all you want is a car that works and is cheap to maintain, I'll tell you what I and everyone else always says: get a 90s/early 00s Japanese or Korean econobox. US options in this category include Kia Spectra, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Accent, Mazda Protege, and Nissan Sentra. Usable instances of all of these vehicles shouldn't be hard to find for $5k or less. More money obviously gets you better condition. It really depends on what you need.

Like >>11906 said, neither of those are good options. Most euro cars are gonna cost a lot to repair/maintain. Sell the Kompressor and put it towards a 2000's or late 90's Jap car. My Recommendations; >NA Mazda Miata Impractical, but you can get one cheap that'll run well >Early 2000's Honda Accord These things are near indestructible. Expensive if something does break though >2000-2003 Protege (or Protege5) Not as durable as a Honda, but if you maintain it & do scheduled service it'll serve you well. Very fun. >Decomissioned Police Crown Victoria I have no experience with this, but people say it's a good option for a cheap, reliable car. Best do your research.

From a yuro point of view, Mercs are known for living decades without dying. The only backlash is the price of the spare parts if something goes wrong. Wolksvagen are less reliable but parts are somewhat cheaper. It won't live as long as the Merc though. Best to know how heavy the problems are on the Merc before choosing, because that can cost you a lot in repairs.

>>11912 You're thinking mild European climate, hardly any dust. Cars have it harder in the states, it's either a dustbowl or -20°C in winter.

>>11912 >Mercs are known for living decades without dying they turned to shit in the 90s

>>11913 Well very cold winters aren't very bad per se, it´s more the salt on the streets that rust the body. >>11916 They are still worth 2 to 300k miles easily mate

>>11911 >Accord Just get a Civic… >>11912 >Mercs are known for living decades without dying As far as I know that only goes for 80s and earlier. I know that V12's in particular are totally unreliable, and I assume that some of that carries over to other cars of the same era (think mid-90s when they all got ugly). I don't know that much though. >>11913 >Cars have it harder in the states, it's either a dustbowl or -20°C in winter. You don't sound like you've ever been to the US. >>11911 >>11913 >>11917 You are assuming that OP is US when he hasn't said anything yet… Bottom line is, there are many cheaper, more reliable things to have than a VW Cabrio or a Merc.

>>11923 >drive across state borders This is likely to be USA. You won't travel across countries anywhere else as a daily basis, even with Schengen. There are a lot of Mercs 300 and C-classes that goes over 300k miles. I already saw some with more than 700k miles on it. I assume OP's car with a Kompressor isn't a V12 neither, so he's ok.

>>11926 >drive across state borders Oops, didn't notice that. Not sure why that would affect what car he got though, smog tests and such don't apply for out-of-state vehicles… >There are a lot of Mercs 300 and C-classes that goes over 300k miles. 300 series ended in the 80s/early 90s. Those were the last decent ones in terms of reliability. C-klasse went to shit with the rest of the new or redesigned models in the mid-90s afaik. >I assume OP's car with a Kompressor isn't a V12 neither Obviously, but if a few of their cars are horribly unreliable and insanely expensive to maintain, and they don't outsource production a lot like some conglomerates do, then there is a pretty good chance that their other models are prone to the same unreliability, to a degree. This is all circumstantial of course, should look up reliability tests if one is actually considering that car.

CHECK THIS POST OP THIS IS THE CONCLUSION >>11932 I agree with all you said (and OP died). We can conclude that the merc is the best of the two, but he should check out the asian rides.

Get a Civic, no question about it. I purchased my second car after owning a Civic for 2 years, it was alright on gas I figure something was wrong with it, but it drove pretty good and was an overall good car. Opted out of getting a second Civic because literally the whole world owns drives them and I wanted something different.

>>11958 Seconding this. I think the sixth generation was a great time for these vehicles. It isn't terribly fast but they're extremely reliable as long as you aren't a complete asswipe. Just remember to change fluids according to the manual.