These are the CHEAPEST reliable used cars in 2026

[00:00] If you're watching this, more than

[00:02] likely you cannot afford a new car.

[00:04] Check this out. Only 22% Americans can

[00:08] comfortably afford a new car. Average

[00:10] prices per month to afford your new car

[00:13] is over $1,000.

[00:15] Income requirements is at least

[00:18] $100,000.

[00:20] So, most of us have the privilege of

[00:22] buying a gently used car, maybe 5 to 10

[00:25] years old. And IC cars just came out

[00:27] with a new study. What are the most

[00:30] reliable cars you can buy for the money

[00:33] this year? So, we're going to look at

[00:35] cars that are 5 years old. What are the

[00:37] best cars or how much longevity they

[00:40] have left for the money as well as

[00:43] 10year-old cars as well. Guys, if you

[00:46] are excited, hit the like button. If

[00:48] you're new to the channel, my name is

[00:49] Kirk. I cover car news just about every

[00:51] single day. I also do car reviews. I got

[00:53] Toyota's EV driving impressions from the

[00:55] Bezy Woodland and the CHR coming very

[00:57] soon. But also outside my garage here, I

[01:01] have the LC500 I need to review today.

[01:04] And that review will be up in the coming

[01:06] days. So stay tuned for that. It's one

[01:08] of my favorite vehicles ever made. All

[01:11] right, so if you want to see me get a

[01:12] little emotional, a little fired up,

[01:14] stay tuned for the Lexus LC500. Last

[01:16] time I'll get a chance to review that

[01:18] car. Here's some fun facts. The average

[01:20] 5-year-old used car cost about $25,000.

[01:24] That's a lot of money. still has an

[01:26] average remaining lifespan of just 7

[01:28] years, right? Well, you got to think

[01:30] about it. The average lifespan of a car

[01:32] right now is about 12 years and it keeps

[01:36] growing because people are like, "Okay,

[01:38] well, I'll just I'll just fix my car

[01:40] because I can afford to do that compared

[01:42] to buying a new car." All right. And

[01:44] when you buy a new car, insurance rates

[01:46] go way up. The average 10-year-old used

[01:49] car costs about $14,000

[01:52] and has an average remaining lifespan of

[01:54] six years. Well, that sounds better to

[01:57] me. 10 grand less and has about a year

[02:01] and a half less of of lifespan. So,

[02:05] that's interesting. IC cars analyzes the

[02:08] prices over of about a million vehicles

[02:10] just short of for 5 to 10 year old used

[02:12] cars in July through December of 2025

[02:15] and the odometer readings of almost 400

[02:17] million used cars from its last or from

[02:20] from its previous study the longest

[02:22] lasting cars. Man, this is a gut punch.

[02:24] The average one to fiveyear-old used

[02:28] cars still cost more than $30,000 or

[02:31] more than 50% than they did 5 years ago.

[02:34] Gosh, the car market's grim. So, we're

[02:37] going to start with the most affordable

[02:40] and longest lasting cars uh for for 5

[02:44] years old or so. Okay, there are

[02:47] exceptions here and I'll explain that in

[02:48] a little bit, but Honda CRV, what we're

[02:51] looking at here is the average cost per

[02:54] year that's expected to cost you for the

[02:57] remaining lifespan. Okay? and you have

[03:00] about 10 years left on a 5-year-old CRV.

[03:04] All right, so they cost about 24K

[03:08] and this is what's going to cost you per

[03:09] year. Crazy enough, the Lexus IS- 350,

[03:12] if you were to keep it for the next 13

[03:14] years, the IS is expected to live 18

[03:17] years total. That's one of the longest

[03:20] lasting cars in America, the Lexus IS-

[03:23] 350, and it is still being sold. You can

[03:27] buy the new refreshed one, which is

[03:29] pretty much the same car as the

[03:31] 5-year-old one, just looks a little bit

[03:32] different. So, the the Lexus is ancient,

[03:37] but it lasts forever. It's not a bad

[03:40] investment, even if you buy one new. All

[03:42] right? Cuz they last 20 years if you

[03:44] want to keep it that long. Most people

[03:45] don't keep their cars that long,

[03:46] especially if they're buying new. Most

[03:48] people buy new cars, get rid of them

[03:49] quickly because, well, they have the

[03:50] money to do so. Honda Civic Coupe, it's

[03:53] got about almost 9 years left. That's on

[03:56] number two. Jeep Compass, Ford Fusion

[03:59] Hybrid. Okay, it's our first hybrid on

[04:01] the list. Mini hardtop four-door. That's

[04:04] a surprise. Let's keep moving. Nissan

[04:06] Rogue and Nissan Versa as well. Now,

[04:09] look, this these are actually somewhat

[04:11] affordable cars. The Versa here, 12

[04:12] grand, 5 years old. That's hasn't

[04:15] depreciated as much as you would like it

[04:17] to. Um, you know, these things new 5

[04:21] years ago were probably 1617,000.

[04:24] So, they haven't appreciated that much.

[04:26] It's only got five years left. Mini.

[04:28] Another Mini here. Chevy Sonic. My gosh,

[04:31] I never see that car. Good luck even

[04:32] finding one of those. Um, I'd rather

[04:35] have a Versa than a Sonic. Camry, our

[04:37] second hybrid on the list, Camry Hybrid.

[04:40] Now, keep in mind the the new Camry has

[04:42] a new hybrid system altogether. Now, so,

[04:46] uh, it's still going to be super

[04:47] reliable, I would imagine. So, even to

[04:50] buying a new Cam, Here's a crazy thing.

[04:51] Here's a crazy thing, guys. This is not

[04:53] a good buy. And the reason is is I can

[04:55] go buy a new Camry in my area, new

[04:58] Camryle,

[04:59] uh for like 26K. Uh not a good buy for

[05:03] the Camry. Okay. So, I would just buy a

[05:05] new one personally. Toyota Prius. Toyota

[05:09] Prius. I wonder what uh current car

[05:11] prices on our Prius are. There the the

[05:14] new Prius sales have fallen off of a

[05:16] cliff. Okay. And they're not as

[05:19] desirable as they used to be because

[05:20] Toyota has so many other hybrids in

[05:22] their lineup. Let's look at the lowest

[05:23] price on the LE models. Yeah, here's the

[05:26] thing. For the same price, you can get a

[05:28] Camry. And the Camry isn't as sexy

[05:31] looking. Obviously, the new Prius, and

[05:34] and this is subjective. Some people hate

[05:35] the looks of the new Prius. I think it

[05:37] looks awesome. But the Camry is just

[05:40] bigger. It's more car. It's It's more

[05:42] power. All right. And it's just as

[05:45] efficient as the Prius when you're

[05:47] looking at base trim to base trim. But

[05:49] look, this is a 4 grand price drop. That

[05:51] is awesome to see that happening on the

[05:53] Prius. Oh, get it in the blue here. Uh,

[05:55] awesome, awesome, awesome. Anyways,

[05:57] let's get back to the list. Okay, Prius

[05:59] is is a good buy. I have a 2012 Prius.

[06:03] Doesn't have that many miles on it. I

[06:04] want to say it's got maybe 70,000 miles

[06:08] on it now, something like that. And

[06:10] yeah, it's not going to like I could

[06:12] keep that for another 10 years until my

[06:14] kids start driving. Um, Mitsubishi

[06:17] Outlander. These things are dirt cheap

[06:20] on the market. About six, well, not dirt

[06:22] cheap. We like it to be cheaper, but 16

[06:24] grand. Kia Soul. Okay. Very fuel effic

[06:27] Well, not as fuel efficient as I like it

[06:28] to be, I remember. But it is still fun

[06:30] to drive. It's cute. It's practical.

[06:32] Toyota Corolla. All right. On the list,

[06:35] breaking the top 10, the Jetta. Again,

[06:38] the is why is the IS back? Well, this is

[06:40] the 300 model, but it doesn't

[06:42] differentiate here between the 350 or

[06:44] sorry, the 300 turbo rear wheel drive

[06:46] and the 300 V6 all-wheel drive models.

[06:49] So, anyways, it looks like uh I I

[06:52] personally would just get the V6. I

[06:53] wouldn't get the turbo models if I

[06:55] wanted to buy it used, but the turbo

[06:58] models are going to be much cheaper, I

[07:00] would say. And obviously here, 28K

[07:02] versus 32K. Ah, I would spend extra

[07:05] money and get the V6. That's just me.

[07:07] Hyundai Elantre, number seven on the

[07:10] list of used cars. Um, five-year-old

[07:13] used cars. Outlander Sport, another

[07:15] Mitsubishi here with seven years left on

[07:18] the lifespan. Mazda 3 hatchback has

[07:21] another 10 years left on the clock here.

[07:23] Mazda 3, uh, super reliable. Buick

[07:26] Encore, about seven to eight years left.

[07:29] These things are cheap on the market,

[07:31] though. Honda Civic, isn't that

[07:33] interesting? Honda Civic cost a hair

[07:35] less than a Mazda 3 hatchback. They both

[07:37] have the same amount of reliability in

[07:40] them with the about the same amount of

[07:42] years left. Okay. Kia Rio. No one

[07:44] expected Kia Rio to be on this list.

[07:46] Now, it's got one of the lowest

[07:48] remaining lifespans, but it also doesn't

[07:50] have that high of a sticker price. Okay.

[07:53] But love the hatchback here. And Honda

[07:55] Fit. Honda Fit 18 grand. That's still a

[07:58] lot of money for a really small car.

[08:00] Think the Honda Fit isn't that much

[08:02] different from a Versa, okay? But the

[08:05] Honda Fit has 11 years left of expected

[08:08] reliability. Now, personally, I would

[08:10] not buy the automatic transmission Honda

[08:12] Fit. I've heard that there can be issues

[08:15] with that auto. I'd be getting a

[08:17] six-speed manual Honda Fit. Now, I'm

[08:20] curious what, you know, if Now, also,

[08:23] here's an asterisk. Honda Fit stopped in

[08:25] 2020. All right, so we're about six

[08:28] years away. Keep that in mind. We're six

[08:31] years away from the Honda Fit being

[08:32] available. And it sucks because well,

[08:35] Honda's cars are very expensive right

[08:37] now. They're new ones. Um there's only

[08:40] 150 in my area. How many of those are

[08:43] manual? It's probably Oh man, they're

[08:46] all automatic. Son of a gun. They're all

[08:49] automatic. I wouldn't buy any of them.

[08:52] Okay, that's just me. All right.

[08:55] Unfortunately, they for well,

[08:57] unfortunately for us, but fortunately

[08:58] for other people in the world, they get

[09:00] the new Honda Fit. All right, so all

[09:03] right, let's get into the 10-year-old

[09:05] car list because this is pretty

[09:08] exciting. 10-year-old cars, how much

[09:10] life do they have? Well, the Prius has a

[09:11] lot of life left. I also owned an Avalon

[09:14] at one point in time. Super reliable.

[09:16] Most of them have the V6 in there. Some

[09:18] of them are the hybrid. Hybrid's also

[09:19] reliable for Toyota. Buick Encore on the

[09:22] list again. Big Ultima Energy. A mini

[09:25] mini hardtop Fiat 500L. I do not buy

[09:29] this car. Do not. It's one of the worst

[09:31] cars ever made. Okay. MercedesBenz CLA.

[09:35] Gosh, no. Like, I can't imagine the

[09:39] maintenance cost on these cars, guys,

[09:40] though. Just because like you can you

[09:42] can keep this going on a Mini or

[09:45] Mercedes. Oil changes are going to be

[09:47] expensive. Everything to maintain that

[09:50] car is going to be more expensive

[09:51] compared to like a Prius, for example.

[09:54] All right, Volvo XC60. That car is going

[09:56] to be probably fairly expensive to

[09:58] maintain. All right, Chevy Sonic again,

[10:00] Kia Soul again on the 10-year list.

[10:02] Outlander Sport again, Kia Rio again,

[10:06] Mini Hardtop again for 10 year. Ford

[10:09] Fusion Hybrid. Ford Fusion Hybrid is

[10:12] aging like a fine wine. Remember, it was

[10:13] much lower on the 5-year list. It was

[10:16] number 20 on the 5-year list, but now

[10:18] it's almost top 10 on the 10-year list.

[10:20] Hyundai Accent, rest in peace. The small

[10:23] like Nissan Versa fighter. Jeep Compass

[10:26] I think again is one Tesla Model S. It's

[10:30] still got 10 years left of expected

[10:32] reliability. How can you say that?

[10:34] Because the Model S has not been around

[10:36] that long. Ah, that one's a tough one

[10:38] for me to get my head around. It's

[10:40] possible because but here's the thing.

[10:42] If the battery goes out on a Model S,

[10:45] you are toast. Okay, but you know, I

[10:49] don't know. I don't know. No, Model S is

[10:50] that much. 16 grand is a lot on a

[10:53] 10-year-old electric car. I don't know.

[10:56] That's that's that's definitely a

[10:58] gamble. You do you, though. Honda Civic.

[11:01] Okay. Getting some to some more

[11:02] mainstream models. Hyundai Elantre,

[11:04] Nissan Versa. We're in the top 10.

[11:06] Volkswagen Jetta. Honda Fit again.

[11:09] Lincoln MKZ. You got to remember. Gosh,

[11:11] what does MKZ even look like? I think

[11:13] it's like the Ford uh Yeah, it's like

[11:15] the Ford Fusion. Okay, so that makes

[11:17] sense. Uh, Honda Fit number two. And can

[11:20] we get a drum roll? What's going to be

[11:22] number one? Is it going to be a Japanese

[11:24] car? It's going to be my guess. Oh, it's

[11:27] a Nissan Leaf. It is a Japanese car. Oh,

[11:29] you guys can't see it on the screen. I

[11:30] apologize. Whoops. It is the Nissan

[11:33] Leaf. You can You can get these for only

[11:36] $5,000. They have five years left. It

[11:38] only cost about a,000 year or $1,000 per

[11:41] year. But But Oh, you're leaving. Okay.

[11:44] Okay. We need to wrap this up. Abee's

[11:46] hanging out with us here, bud. Oh,

[11:48] Nissan Leaf is the champ for 10-year-old

[11:51] used cars. And what do we say, Abe?

[11:53] Honda Fit is the five-year used car, but

[11:57] again, I wouldn't touch it. Honestly, it

[11:58] would be like a Civic uh or a Mazda 3.

[12:02] Those would be my recommendations. Um

[12:04] Lexus is would be in there. Toyota

[12:07] Corolla, Kia Soul, I would recommend.

[12:09] Prius, Camry, and the 5-year. Okay. Uh I

[12:13] don't know. I versus not not for me.

[12:16] Rogue's not for me. Mini is definitely

[12:17] not for me. Ford Fusion hybrid. I see

[12:20] more of these than than it always

[12:22] surprised me how many of those I see. Uh

[12:24] Civic again and CRV. Okay. No RAV 4 in

[12:27] there. Think about that. No RAV 4. And

[12:30] then the 10ear list. What would be my

[12:32] recommendations?

[12:33] Prius. Avalon. Avalon. My gosh. Avalon.

[12:36] This is like asleep. Like no one

[12:39] everyone forgets about the Avalon. I

[12:41] don't know. Maybe Kia Soul. Uh man,

[12:44] there's a lot of cars that I wouldn't

[12:45] buy here. Even 10 years old. Even

[12:47] regardless of how much miles and how

[12:48] cheap they are, I still wouldn't buy

[12:50] them.

[12:52] Uh let's see here.

[12:54] Civic again. Elantre probably. Are you

[12:58] okay Abe?

[12:59] >> Yeah.

[12:59] >> Okay. Honda Fit again. Manual only.

[13:02] Definitely. I would not buy a Nissan

[13:04] Leaf. Would not buy it if the battery

[13:06] goes. I mean, it's dirt cheap, though,

[13:08] so you're not risking that much, but

[13:10] it's still like it's 10 years old, man.

[13:14] How much battery life does that thing

[13:15] have left? Okay. Does it have like 50

[13:18] miles of range left on the battery? I

[13:21] would not spend any money on that. I

[13:24] take one for like a couple grand, but

[13:26] not five grand. Okay. If you want

[13:27] trucks, here's a list of trucks.

[13:30] Surprisingly, Ford Ranger in Colorado

[13:33] beat out the Frontier and Tacoma. I

[13:35] don't know. I mean, obviously the Tacoma

[13:37] has the most life left, but it's it's so

[13:39] much more expensive than the than the

[13:41] competition. Okay, Honda Ridgeline in

[13:44] there. Titan. Isn't this funny? Nissan

[13:46] Titan, rest in peace. But if you can get

[13:48] a used Nissan Titan, if you want a fulls

[13:50] size truck, it is so affordable. Okay,

[13:54] so affordable. It is a It's less than a

[13:57] Tacoma and it's a full-size truck and it

[14:00] still has great reliability. All right,

[14:02] so Nissan Titan, that's pretty promising

[14:06] there. That's kind of a surprise for me.

[14:08] Uh 10-year-old used trucks. Frontier

[14:11] rises to the list, which is my favorite

[14:13] truck actually in general. Midsize truck

[14:15] especially. Um and then, you know, look

[14:18] at look how much it depreciates and it

[14:20] still has a decent amount of life left.

[14:23] Okay. Um let's see here. Most reliable

[14:25] 5-year-old SUVs. Uh man, RAV 4 sneaks

[14:29] into the top 10 here. I would not. Isn't

[14:32] this crazy? We like to bash on QX60 or

[14:35] at least older ones.

[14:37] >> Yeah.

[14:38] >> I don't know where sissies are. They're

[14:40] inside the house. If you're wondering if

[14:41] a Abe has dangerous pills, it's

[14:44] probiotics. Okay. It says probiotics.

[14:46] It's fine. It's safe. There's nothing

[14:48] there. He can't open it. Surprisingly,

[14:49] he can open too many things for his age.

[14:52] Hybrids are pretty common on the new

[14:54] market because natural demand is high

[14:56] for them and they keep expanding. and

[14:58] they keep getting better and more more

[15:00] manufacturers keep offering hybrids. But

[15:02] if you want to buy a used hybrid uh for

[15:05] the 5-year, what are the best used

[15:06] hybrids to buy? Well, and this hasn't

[15:08] included EVs. Okay, I'm not going to

[15:10] talk Ford Fusion hybrid. Again, Ford I

[15:13] don't mind their hybrids whatsoever. I

[15:15] like their hybrids. It's pretty much the

[15:16] same thing as Toyota's hybrids. In fact,

[15:18] I think they still use they use the same

[15:21] supplier uh which is Ace for their two

[15:24] motor hybrid. I could be wrong on that,

[15:26] but Toyota uses Aishan for their two

[15:28] motor hybrid 2. The only difference is

[15:29] Ford uses their engines and their own

[15:32] battery and then Toyota uses their own

[15:35] engines and their own battery, but is

[15:37] they're very much the same sort of

[15:38] hybrid. Ford Fusion hybrid, Camry

[15:40] hybrid, and Prius hybrid. All fantastic

[15:43] buys on the 5-year used market. What

[15:46] about 10-year-old hybrids? Are there any

[15:48] out there? Well, really, yeah, the the

[15:50] Fusion and the Prius. Okay, Fusion and

[15:53] the Prius are the best ones to buy

[15:55] there. Now, again, this is playing this

[15:58] is playing this is gam playing with fire

[16:01] gambling. Buying a used electric

[16:03] vehicle, you don't always know how much

[16:05] range is left on the battery. You don't

[16:07] know how fast the battery will degrade.

[16:09] Model S seems to be like

[16:12] expected crazy reliability. Supposed to

[16:15] last 20 plus years on the market. Um,

[16:19] we'll see. So, I'll see you guys in the

[16:21] comments. Do you own any of these

[16:22] vehicles that we talked about today?

[16:24] Obviously, I've talked about how I own

[16:25] the Avalon at one point in time. Swear

[16:27] by that vehicle. I see when I was just

[16:29] in California, I saw a ton of Avalons. I

[16:32] still see Avalons here a lot. Uh lots of

[16:34] used Priuses uh or old Priuses on the

[16:38] market, too. Um that are still running

[16:40] in good condition. In fact, so this this

[16:43] place is just up the road from me a

[16:44] couple hours in Tampa, and this is kind

[16:47] of like a a hybrid mecca. Um, the Prius

[16:52] pre-owned headquarters is what they call

[16:54] it. And this guy specializes in used,

[16:57] affordable, clean, reliable pre-owned

[16:59] Prius hybrids. And EVs currently stock

[17:01] second generation and third generation

[17:04] and fourth generation Prius hybrids. So,

[17:08] pretty cool. I think they've had really

[17:10] good Let's look at the inventory. I'm

[17:12] just curious. Okay, you can get pretty

[17:14] good deals here. They refurbished them.

[17:17] They address all the potential failure

[17:19] points on a used Prius. Once you do

[17:22] that, they will run for a very, very,

[17:24] very long time. So, you can see Prius

[17:26] here for uh 100K. This one's actually

[17:29] priced really low. So, I wonder if there

[17:30] was like an accident on it, but $6,000.

[17:34] Okay. Honda Fit. We just talked about a

[17:35] Honda Fit. Does it have a manual? I

[17:37] don't know. Okay. I know. We know that

[17:40] it's not a hybrid, but in other markets,

[17:42] the Fit is has a hybrid option.

[17:44] Unfortunately for us, which is just it's

[17:46] it's frustrating because we all most of

[17:48] us really enjoyed the Honda Fit when it

[17:50] did exist here. 252,000 miles. It's

[17:53] priced at 7K. You know, they also

[17:55] refurbished the batteries on these

[17:57] things. Uh make sure that you they

[18:00] replace they replace like the weak cells

[18:02] in them, which I think is pretty cool.

[18:04] Oh my gosh, this is this is speaking to

[18:06] me here. I know it's high mileage, but

[18:08] like I love the Prius V. And this is the

[18:11] five, which might have like the pano

[18:13] roof on it. Oh, it doesn't. It does not

[18:15] have the pano roof. That is unfortunate.

[18:17] I love that that option. And the the

[18:19] PriusV has such a like cult following to

[18:23] it. So, I'm not paid by them obviously.

[18:26] Like, they're just a small mom and pop

[18:27] shop essentially, but I just think it's

[18:30] cool. I think it's really cool. I I

[18:32] admire their niche that they are

[18:34] operating in and providing affordable,

[18:36] fuel efficient, reliable Prius out

[18:39] there. Look at this thing. Look at this

[18:41] thing. Prius V. Like it's it's got like

[18:43] the lift on it because people like

[18:45] lifting these um and putting all-terrain

[18:48] tires on them. It's so ridiculous. This

[18:50] has got a lot of miles on it. It's but

[18:52] it's a 2020 RAV 4 hybrid XSSE

[18:56] and I think this is a fair price for it.

[18:58] 19 grand. Prius Prime. We got a Prius

[19:01] Prime in here representing less than

[19:04] 100K. I'll I'll put the the the link in

[19:06] here, but you guys just Google Tampa

[19:08] Hybrids if you live in this area. They

[19:10] even have some EVs like the EV6, for

[19:12] example. They have a new Prius. Wow.

[19:16] 25K. How many? Oh, it's got a lot of

[19:18] miles. That's a ton of miles. I wouldn't

[19:20] I wouldn't buy it. I would not buy it.

[19:22] Anyways, thank you guys for watching.

[19:25] Uh, I'll see you in the comments with

[19:26] how or or what vehicles you would trust

[19:29] that are five to 10 years old. I mean,

[19:31] like a 4Runner should be in there, too,

[19:33] for example. But you got to keep in mind

[19:35] 4Runners hold their value really well.

[19:37] That's why they didn't make the list.

[19:39] And you could say a bunch also other

[19:41] large body onframe SUVs like a Tahoe or

[19:44] something like that, they last a long

[19:46] time. But again, um, they they just cost

[19:50] a lot more than what we s saw on the

[19:52] list today. So anyways, I'll see you

[19:54] guys in the next one. If you enjoyed

[19:55] this content, make sure to subscribe,

[19:57] hit the like button, and I'll catch you

[19:59] in the next one. Have a great day.