Coleroad

The floor boards in the Nissan Altima from those years rust through, even in states like Texas. I would choose the Subaru. Here is one of many news stories on the Altima floors. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rust-n333291

SW17LS

Given those options I would choose the Subaru.

jer

We had an 02 Maxima for 10 yrs in the family, never any issues. Good vehicle if you don't need AWD- and if something does go wrong, enough of them out there should something go wrong and you're mechanically inclined.And I do agree with the others, Nissan seemed to 'go downhill' in the mid 2000's, but the earlier Maxima's were tanks.

JDR76

My sister had an Altima, around a 2000 or so. Great car. Survived over 240k miles in Minnesota.

Subaru is a great car as well.

nathantse

I would say Mazda just because that was my old car lol. But subbies are good too.

Reliability wise Mazda outranks all.

MattyG

I like and have considered all of those cars you mentioned at one time or another. Also briefly worked at a Subie dealer for a stint.

Those early model Maximas aren't too bad. Quite quick for their time, but I would not consider them the best winter vehicle with that much power going up front only. Altimas, same thing. The V6 Mazda 6 had its issues and at this point you're facing some repair bills. With a $5K budget you're in the "buying some other guy's problem car" zone.

The Subarus have some issues you might inherit because of the head gasket issue, even on the NA, or non-turbo cars from the early years (late 90's into the early 2000's). The basic design of a boxer engine just begs for oil/coolant leaks and gaskets getting corroded. The turbo cars didn't necessarily cook their gaskets, they chewed up their turbos because of a faulty oil feed line.

The Legacy/Outback is a heck of a nice wagon. Practical and nice handling too boot, even sporty. But I would be really, really careful on history/maintenance etc on one of those. They can ramp up your repair budget to German car levels pretty quickly if you buy some other guy's money pit. Personally I would just go and get an AWD Toyota Matrix and be done with it.

But if you go the Subie route, allwheeldriveauto.com has some interesting reading on the 2.5i engines and the history on how Subaru had to redesign that engine over the years to deal with the head gasket issue.

Aron9000

I was going to say something similar about Nissan, avoid anything post 2003ish, anything with a CVT transmission. Those older Maximas from the 90's up to 2003 were tanks. Hop in the "then new" 2004 Maxima and its full of flimsy, cheap feeling parts on the inside compared to the old models, and it has that pos CVT transmission. I just wouldn't fool with a Nissan unless you find a 2003 or older Maxima that's really nice with low miles.

Also I'd highly recommend you look at Toyotas. Avalons, Camrys(or even a Lexus ES300), Corollas, Yaris, Matrix, find which one you like for your budget, if you change the oil every 5000 miles these cars tend to run forever without much trouble. Just make sure the oil was changed regularly. Maybe open the oil cap, look in there with a flashlight for any signs of oil sludge.

I'd also look at any Buick with the 3.8 V6, this includes late 90's to early 2000's LeSabre, Regal and Park Avenue. These vehicles, while boring, are extremely reliable(and very comfy as well) Look for a senior owned vehicle that is low miles and maintained to a T. Old people tend to take good care of their stuff, hold onto it forever, and don't rack up a ton of miles. Same sort of logic applies to Camrys, Lexus ES300, and Avalons, senior citizens love those models as well. Now that these cars are at least 10, 15, approaching 20 years old in some cases, the old codger might have died or can't drive anymore, great time for you to scoop up grandma's last set of wheels that's in great shape with less than 100k miles on it.

mmarshall

Not only that, but ride comfort is generally much better on the older models of that vintage than the new ones. That was back before the industry became obsessed with oversize wheels, low-profile rubber, race-car steering response, and bone-jarring suspensions.

tex2670

This is probably what I'd go with among those choices.

mmarshall

Probably the best choice as a year-around daily driver in his location and climate. But, on non-turbo 4-cylinder models, one must be ready for the possibility of head-gasket and/or rear wheel bearing repairs....in general, older ones more so than newer ones.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

subie it is then.

SW17LS

I'm glad we've come to a conclusion lol

mmarshall

Had to leave something as our legacy.

Aron9000

Just hope the headgaskets don't fail on your Subie. Its a several thousand dollar repair with all the labor involved just to change the gaskets.

SW17LS

Stop rocking the boat!