What's your personal choice/recommendation for a starting vechicle?

[kkt]

Toyota econoboxes deserve their reputation for lasting a long time.  They'd be a good budget choice, with as few options as possible.  If it doesn't have electric this and that, it's fewer things to go wrong.  Manual transmissions last longer than automatics or CVTs.

[jakeroot]

After about an hour of sitting in stop and go traffic, I do start to get a little bit tired of driving with two feet. But that scenario is pretty unusual, so I would never consider an automatic for that reason alone. Just driving around the city, in normal, slow-but-moving traffic, driving a manual doesn't bother me at all. If anything, I actually prefer it, because it allows me to both slow down and creep without using the brake; if there's one thing I really hate, it's people who ride their brakes. This is especially true when following close to someone. In an auto, you have to ride the brakes to keep from hitting the car in front, whereas in a manual, you can ride in a lower gear, such that letting off the throttle automatically slows you down (without brake lights). You can do this an auto with a manual mode, but I've always found those to be painfully slow to react (making it useless most of the time, except for when going down hills).

There's three primary reasons that I prefer manual transmissions:

1) they're somewhat unusual now (cool factor)
2) I don't drive in a lot of heavy traffic, so they're more enjoyable
3) compared to dual clutch transmissions, they are cheaper to service (often remarkably so, in the case of VW's DSG gearbox)

[J N Winkler]

Just driving around the city, in normal, slow-but-moving traffic, driving a manual doesn't bother me at all. If anything, I actually prefer it, because it allows me to both slow down and creep without using the brake; if there's one thing I really hate, it's people who ride their brakes. This is especially true when following close to someone. In an auto, you have to ride the brakes to keep from hitting the car in front, whereas in a manual, you can ride in a lower gear, such that letting off the throttle automatically slows you down (without brake lights). You can do this an auto with a manual mode, but I've always found those to be painfully slow to react (making it useless most of the time, except for when going down hills).

Automatics vary widely in slowdown behavior.  In the family fleet, the 1994 Saturn SL2 and 2009 Honda Fit (both of which have lockup in 2nd and above) slow down very quickly if you take your foot off the throttle.  The 2005 Toyota Camry, on the other hand, barely slows down, partly because of Toyota's corporate decision (applying to pretty much all of their hydraulically actuated automatic transmissions) to engage one-way overrun clutches in the gears that do not lock up except when the driver purposely selects a lower gear range (for example, there is engine braking in 3rd for 3 range, but not for D).  (The one-way clutches allow the engine to push on the driveshaft when the car is accelerating, but do not allow the driveshaft to push on the engine when the car is coasting.)

My general rule of thumb in moderately congested city traffic (assuming mostly level roads) is that riding the brakes is a symptom of following too closely.  I generally aim to follow at such a distance that if the car ahead of me slows down and turns right into a driveway or side street, I don't have to tap my brakes to disengage cruise control (and yes, I use cruise control even when going from stoplight to stoplight).

Another rule of thumb about automatics and longevity is that, absent special design weaknesses, an automatic will last if it is maintained, though the maintenance may involve fluid changes that the manufacturer does not call for.  Automatics do vary widely in how tolerant they are of neglect, so it is especially important to avoid being saddled with someone else's abused automatic.

My preferred approach is a fluid change (drain and fill, no flush) once every 30,000 miles, using a good-quality synthetic ATF that not only matches the manufacturer's specifications but also matches the out-of-bottle kinematic viscosity of the OEM fluid at 100° C.

[jakeroot]

My general rule of thumb in moderately congested city traffic (assuming mostly level roads) is that riding the brakes is a symptom of following too closely.  I generally aim to follow at such a distance that if the car ahead of me slows down and turns right into a driveway or side street, I don't have to tap my brakes to disengage cruise control (and yes, I use cruise control even when going from stoplight to stoplight).

I hope I'm not implying that I follow half a foot from the car in front of me. At lower speeds, I usually leave a car length or two. At higher speeds, usually three to four car lengths (often twice that if traffic levels are low). That must sound like a very short amount compared to what you usually practice, but it's a pretty standard amount around here. If I leave any bigger of a gap, everyone is going to exploit it, and I will be the target of quite a lot of road rage.

[epzik8]

Get a Honda Civic hatchback from the 90s!

[Rothman]

My first car was a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback.

[cjk374]

My first car was a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback.

Did it only have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears?

[Rothman]

No.