Kitty has an 04 Ford Escape we bought new in December 03. ALL and I mean ALL I have done is regular maintenance and tires. If I have one complaint it would be that it's a little heavy on road noise. Been the best car we have ever owned.
Ditto my wifes 07. Been pretty much maintenance free. 88k and on its second set of tires. The AWD is totally mountain goat too, I tried to get that thing stuck in 2 feet of snow and it just wouldn't.
I would avoid anything VW or Audi and any luxury line line BMW, Mercedes, Caddy, Acura, Lexus, etc. Luxury car = $$$ for anything.
Subaru's, rattle and have tinny bodies but go forever. My WRX was fun and reliable.
Owned a 2002 Focus ZX3 and a 2003 SVT Focus, both reliable and fun.
2006 Magnum R/T was nice and I survived a 55 mph rear ending at a dead stop, it didn't.
My current 2006 Mazdaspeed6 is a fun car but OMFG it is a struggle to work on.
