[CherokeeLittleBear]

There are no "good years" or "bad years" for this vehicle. Only different problems by generation as engines and drivetrains change.

With 120K miles and 13 years, the timing belt job should have been completed at some point in the past. Was it? I would not trust the salesperson at all. Their only job is to sell that car....many will tell you whatever story you want to hear to get your money.

Have it checked out by your mechanic or a body shop to make sure there is no hidden unrepaired damage from the accidents. Also, check the CarFax (sounds like you may have already with the accident history) to confirm the mileage matches. Plug in an OBDII code reader and see if it is showing green for emissions. That will show you if it has been reset recently, like people do when there is VCM trouble.

Sounds like it could be a good choice, but do your diligence.

That's the thing, I have no clue what work has been done on the car other than the body repair on the vehicle. It just shows registration renewal all the way down. And I know the salesperson is trying to make a sale. He did everything he could to get me to buy the vehicle last night when I told him repeatedly I wanted to think about it. Especially after a very long day of car shopping and it was then dark outside and I was so tired I couldn't think anymore. I almost fell asleep eating dinner when I got home.

I have not had it checked by a mechanic. I'm so broke that I don't have money to take cars down to get them checked though I would like to. I would also like to buy me a OBD reader for car maintenance and car shopping. But alas I have no money for that right now either.

I am heavily researching trying to decide which year Pilot to get, and if I should take the leap with this one. I did just find a 2013 Pilot with 114K miles on it. Two minor accidents. 3-4 owners and I've noticed at least 2 of the owners kept repeatedly replacing all of the tires. I'm trying to figure out what's going on there. Is there something wrong with the car so it eats tires, or are these people going off-roading or something? It will be a couple days before I can drive the 1+ hour over there to look at it.

 

[CherokeeLittleBear]

Treat all 2nd gen Pilots (2009-2015) as pretty much the same. There are some differences, but the biggest areas (engine, transmission, AWD system) are all the same and all very reliable (apart from VCM) if well maintained.

IMO it's worth it to spend a few extra hundred bucks up front to avoid a multi-thousand dollar problem later, even if it means you have to lower your overall budget for buying the car. Better to get an older higher mileage car with very few problems than a newer one that has been beat to hell.

A car with accident damage that was repaired badly will be impossible to properly align the wheels, which would cause excessive tire wear. Also, could be the owners just bought crap tires that wore out very quickly. Things like that are why having a mechanic look at it can save you big in the long run.

I just double checked the carfax report. Yeah, they started eating through tires after the accidents. There is a 2014 Pilot I've been eyeballing with only 66K miles on it. But they want $17K for the car and that is going to make my payments skyrocket. It has had two minor accidents. One from backing up and accidently tapping a parked vehicle behind them. Not sure what they did for the other accident. It has been taking care of. Though at 35K miles, it did have to have the sway bar link replaced. I'm wondering if they drove over something to cause it to get damaged. I'm also wondering if I should bite the bullet and look at it. I know I can get a brand new vehicle for the same monthly payments as this car. But I don't like newer vehicles. Too many bells and whistles and unnecessary stuff and they don't last as long as older models used to. And they are much more expensive to fix and maintain.

 

[CherokeeLittleBear]

If you are so broke you can't have a vehicle checked out by a mechanic, then you cannot afford the vehicle. Get your financial house in order and separate wants vs needs. Or you wont own your finances, they will own you.

My financial problems are coming from the car I own now. It's falling apart, I have already put money in it, and now I'm having major problems that I just found that the cost to fix it is well over the car's worth and I cannot afford. Since I cannot get it fixed, its set to die at any given moment. Idk when. What makes things much harder for me is that I had to grab this car two years ago because it was the only one available in my price range at the time and I needed a vehicle right then and there to get to work so I wouldn't lose my job. Someone T-boned me and totaled my car I had before that which was almost paid off and gave me no problems. So I have a crappy vehicle with $8,000 still owed on it which gives me negative equity. I was hoping to get this vehicle paid off, then save up money to buy something better in cash. But now my car is dangerous to drive but I need something so I can get to work and the store. I know my payments are going to go up no matter which vehicle I buy, so I'm looking to find something that is going to be super reliable and give me no problems until I can pay it off and enjoy it until it dies. As long as no one else runs a red light.

 

[CherokeeLittleBear]

This has me a bit concerned on the purchase. If finances are this tight, stretching to buy a 10+ year old used car may not be a great choice. Inevitably, there will be <something> it needs and you'll need to be ready and able to address those needs. It sounds like you need cheap transportation to cover your basic needs until things improve. Essentially it seems like you're in a spot where you could potentially make what seems like a good choice but really exposing yourself to a lot of risk. A timing belt job costs $800 - $1500 and if you don't do it and it needs it, could cost you $5000 assuming you can't DIY. For this to work out well, you can't really screw up and buy the wrong car, but you're not able to afford an inspection to ensure you buy a good car. To me, this is well above my risk tolerance but if you're comfortable the 2nd Gen Pilots are one of the better choices, but having some extra $$$ on hand for ANY car is always good idea if it doesn't have a warranty.

A few approaches that make sense to me:

1) Buy something cheap in cash and keep it full of oil until it stops running. A buddy of mine did this with a Geo Metro years ago. Paid like $500 for it and drove it until it wouldn't drive anymore. It wasn't nice, it wasn't special, and when it broke it went straight to the scrap yard - heck he probably paid near scrap prices for it to begin with. It got him through a rough patch though without digging a big financial hole.

2) If you don't drive a ton of miles and you can get away with something smaller, go get the cheapest zero down lease on a new car that you can find. Doesn't matter what it is, what color it is, or whatever - just something that's been on the lot and someone is motivated to move with a killer deal. This isn't the smartest thing financially because you'll never own it, but it would give you ~ 3 years of zero worries about a car. The tires, brakes, etc shouldn't wear out out and it should basically just need oil changes during that time frame. Used along with a good financial strategy this could be beneficial overall.

Yes the lease thing sounds crazy, but let's say you're looking at a Honda Pilot that costs $10,000 and you're going to finance it for 60 months at 7% - that's a $240 a month payment. You still have to worry about timing belt (~$1200), valve adjustment ($1000), tires ($800), brakes ($600) and anything and everything that could break or go wrong that entire time that you own it. Meanwhile if you go visit our friends at VW, they'll hook you up with a 24 month lease on a brand new ID.4 SUV for $189 and $1000 down. You'll never change the oil, the tires, the brakes, or lose sleep wondering if it's going to break down. The only thing you do is pay $189 a month and don't go over 20,000 miles.

Anyway - please don't take my suggestions the wrong way, just trying to help. If you want to buy a 2009 - 2015 Pilot they're good cars with no major issues outside of the VCM stuff... but that can be a real problem and one you won't know you have until after you own it.

That is something I have been considering. Since I'm in desperate need of a new vehicle, I may have to grab something really small and cheap, and hopefully reliable and don't give me any problems, until I'm able to get money together to get a bigger and better vehicle that I need. I travel a lot, especially for work. I really need a big vehicle because I lug around a lot of equipment and huge tools. But if push comes to shove and I have to get a smaller vehicle, I will figure out how to carry my equipment and tools. Though the biggest problem I have is that I still owe $8,000 on my car. But it's falling apart and having major problems. My money has gone into trying to keep it running until it became too expensive. So I don't have cash on hand to buy a vehicle outright like I was planning to in the future when I got this car paid off. I will have to trade it in and up my payments. I'm between a rock and a hard place right now.

 

[CherokeeLittleBear]

Almost always - the most affordable car you can drive, is the one you own right now. What kind of car is it, what repairs does it need? Perhaps we can help advise on this. Repairs going over the value of the vehicle should not be the decision-making factor. It should be based on how much will a replacement vehicle cost, and what guarantee will you get that your replacement vehicle will not need thousands of dollars in repairs? I feel like you are just going to climb deeper into this hole.

You are looking at 14-year old vehicles with over 100k miles. ANY of those are likely to need expensive maintenance.

If you want a very reliable low maintenance vehicle similar to the Pilot, I'd be looking at Toyota Highlanders, with a timing chain. You have $8000 in negative equity.... you should be 100% focused on the absolutely minimum that you need with the least possible chance of maintenance costs, not what you want.

I have a 2017 Ford Escape. Right now I'm looking at between $5,000 and $7,000 to replace/rebuild the entire transmission. Then my ac is gone. It only blows super hot air, and it doesn't blow as hard as it used to. Then I'm having a bunch of electrical problems. Things just start spazzing out and the screen goes crazy and starts clicking on everything. Several times now it has tried to call 911. My car is literally calling for help.

I have been looking at Toyotas such as siennas, highlanders, sequioas, 4runners, Rav4s, etc. Honda Pilots, CRVs, accords, civics, then Lexus, other Fords, Acuras, and Nissans. I have a list of cars big and small that are deemed reliable through all the research I have been doing. But trying to find one that is affordable, not too high mileage, and low maintenance is a struggle with where I live. I can find some more than 3 hours away, but I don't think my car can make it that far and I don't have time for a super long road trip right now.

 

[CherokeeLittleBear]

As others have stated I truly feel for you. It's quite a mess and the last thing I'd want for you is for it to get worse rather than better. Unfortunately I do see risk of that with financing any used car without a warranty especially when you start trying to roll in $8k of negative equity. Like viper, I like Dave Ramsey a good bit, though I feel some of his views are a bit "extreme" unless you really struggle with finances... in which case he's a good one to listen to. For example I understand why he says no credit cards, but for me I put EVERYTHING on credit cards and get cash back. I also pay them off every month, frequently multiple times a month even. Dave's advice would probably be to buy a cheap car - and that's likely the best thing for you. Only other thought is to roll the negative equity into something new like a base model CRV and take advantage of a promotional APR - Honda has one at 2.9 for the CRV... but even with that you're still north of $700 a month. Even on the "cheap lease" choice you're looking at adding $250 - $350 a month towards your negative equity putting you $500 a month. The problem on the used car front is they'll probably want a lot more on interest too when they bring in the negative equity. Assuming you can still get 7% at 60 months a $10,000 car + $8,000 puts you at about $360 a month + whatever costs come up. If you go that route build up your emergency fund and then pay down that loan ASAP. Car loans are why you aren't more flexible right now so try to get out of it as quickly as you can.

If you can make an ID.4 work for range, space, lease miles (or just put money aside to pay for the overage), and they'll roll in the negative equity I'd still be mighty tempted by that deal considering you wouldn't have to buy gas either. With the $7500 credit there are a lot of good deals on EVs if you can make it work.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing. It's a really tough spot and I don't have great answers, but I'd be really cautious about what you do to make sure you don't make things worse. Happy to help however I can.

I have an update! I didn't get a Honda Pilot like I wanted, but I ended up with a 2013 Toyota Sienna. I am very happy with it! The dealership was more than willing to work with me, so I got the car for a really good deal. I have money rolling in again with work, so I'm getting back on my feet financially. Especially now that I'm not throwing money at my old car to keep it running. For the past few weeks I've been looking over the car. I had a list: brake pedal, headlights/brights, steering, Bluetooth connectivity, tires, and DVD player.

The braking on the car is different from other cars I have driven. I have to push harder and it kind of sticks for a second before the pedal pops up with a clunk. Then the steering is super sensitive. My wrist hurts trying to hold on to the wheel on the interstate, most especially when it's windy. I have to have one hand towards the top, and one towards the bottom to try and somewhat keep straight and in my lane. Both of these I have been told I have to just get used to and there's nothing wrong with them.

Headlights/brights are not a priority right now. Headlights just need brighter lights, and the left bright needs to be adjusted, and matched with the right since it's a different color.

DVD player was a fun one. I could turn it on and play movies. But there was no sound. I spent hours for days scouring manuals, forums, videos, etc. Trying to figure out how to get sound. Everything said to use the DVD/Mode button up front. If that doesn't work, check the fuses, wires, DVD player, etc. I was troubleshooting that thing like crazy. Then one day I had to turn the player off and back on again. For a couple seconds, some green words popped up on my screen. One of them was for a radio station. I hopped up front, found the station, and boom! There's sound!

Bluetooth connectivity. I'm still troubleshooting this one. I play music, but the sound just skips. There was no antenna when I bought the car. After getting one, the skipping is less, but it's still there. I'm debating getting a longer antenna since the one I have is short.

Overall, I just got an inspection finally done on the car yesterday. I was told I had the best car they had ever seen and that they normally give the customer a long list of things that need to be fixed. The only things I need to get fixed is the driver AC fan and struts. I just replaced the battery today. I'm now looking to see who can fix these two things for me on top of replacing all of the fluids, rotating and balancing my tires, and checking my alignment.

I did join the forum Sienna Chat to discuss everything about my car, but it seems to be dead over there. I'm about to move on and see if I can find another forum. I have never been part of a car forum before I joined Piloteers, so I think it would be nice to be part of a community where we can discuss our cars and get helped as needed.

If you want any more updates, I'll be sure to try and come back and post again. I thank all of you over here for the help. I wish nothing but the best for you guys. Thank you!