littleb - As someone who underwrites extended warranties for every car maker you can think of, I can assure you that ALL cars break down. They get old. And each car company has some that go 300,000 miles with nothing going bad, while others have more problems.
A good friend of mine just dumped Honda because of some problems. He is now with VW.
I get to see the repair data on literally thousands of cars each year - you would be amazed at how close ALL the companies are in repair costs per vehicle. Well, leave Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, Ferrari, etc ... out of that ...
The BEST advice I can give you, look for a vehicle which is front wheel drive, rather than AWD. Get something with about 30,000 miles on it - usually you pay about 1/2 of the NET price of new, or less.
Then Buy a 100,000 mile warranty. It is the cheapest method I know for getting a good vehicle.
