Car Buying: CarZen’s Recommendations

By Ed Kohler | Dec 24, 2008





CarZen helps narrow down car make and models based on a series of profile questions. According to that site, here are the top-10 cars I should consider buying:

CarZen Recommendations for Ed

This set of results came from my interest in a reliable, high mileage car with some cargo space for under $25,000. Reliability plus high mileage seems to have knocked American cars off the list and that price point is tough for German cars to hit.


8 Comments so far
  1. Brian December 24, 2008 9:24 am

    I have been considering a new impreza WRX for myself, however i don’t think it belongs on this list per your criteria. If it did, the car would be a home-run. however it only gets a listed 25 highway mpg, not a number i would classify as ‘high.’ Also, to get the hatchback version (for cargo space), the base price exceeds 25k (not to mention the fact that you’re going to want a few basic accessories to make it usable which inevitably boost the price quickly.) Perhaps the stock impreza belongs here instead.
    Just a thought.
    Cheers,
    -b

  2. Aaron December 24, 2008 10:22 am

    Crazy. I did the test and it suggested I get a Mini Cooper S.

  3. Justin December 24, 2008 11:46 am

    I like my Impreza a lot. It’s not a WRX, but the cargo room is great and in weather like the winter we’ve been having, all wheel drive is supreme. I also looked at the Fit a lot, but ended up with an Impreza instead. Fit gets better mileage, but a used Impreza was cheaper and a little more sporty.

  4. Judy Klassen December 24, 2008 2:36 pm

    So without trying to get matched to what I just bought…..it matched! It came up with 86% for a Honda Accord EX-L. I guess I bought the right car!!!

  5. kohler December 26, 2008 11:27 am

    Judy, it sounds like both you and Aaron picked your own cars. That’s a good sign for the ability of this program to help guide people to appropriate vehicles.

  6. Jason DeRusha December 27, 2008 8:52 am

    Ed, thanks for this post. I did this (as I now am in need of a car) and it suggested some cars I hadn’t considered: Saturn Outlook; Hyundai Santa Fe & Veracruz. My top selection is the crossover I like the most right now, the Mazda CX-9. I like that you can select the most important things, and then it tells you how those things scored. So we want a third-row seat, and some cars are scoring 0%, so we know that’s a no-go.

  7. kate December 28, 2008 9:17 pm

    I’m surprised they didn’t suggest a Toyota Matrix. My husband drives the Versa, and I have the matrix, and I find that you get a bit more cargo space in the matrix, though I think the basic versa is only 10,000 starting, which is pretty damn cheap. I thought about an impreza when I was looking, but for 7,000 more than my matrix i couldn’t justify it… though I didn’t opt for the 4wd, which i probably should have. But then I wouldn’t get 38 mpg like i do now

  8. kohler December 29, 2008 12:43 am

    The Matrix does sound like a good fit. Thanks for pointing that out.

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