My old Ford Escort was originally purchased new in 1997 by my parents, and I bought it off them in 2001. I still own it and it has generally been so incredibly reliable over the years.

Aside from a few minor things, the only real issue with this car that keeps cropping up is that the brake rotors seem to get warped easily. I am not hard on my cars and others cars I've owned are fine in this regard. The rotors don't get so bad that you need to replace them immediately, but you will get a bit of shaking at really high speeds if you don't rotate or replace them.

The car drives nice enough. It's a bit underpowered for me but gets me around. I've certainly driven worse handling vehicles. There's no electric assist on the steering so the steering feels pretty good with nice resistance.

I have no rust on it, unlike many others I've seen. People must really not take care of their vehicles. I went from the south coast of BC to northern BC in 2002 and there's no rusting.

I'd say this vehicle could still be sold to a student in 2012 and they could use it get to school or work for years to come with a little TLC (but not even that much!). I just get my regular oil and filter changes and other than that don't put much money into at all, and it's late 2012 now! Overall, good value. I plan on replacing it soon, though, and will likely go back to Ford to get a Focus or Fusion or something like that.

My wife and I bought this car new in 2009. We essentially have the base model with automatic transmission and the "convenience" package which includes A/C and heated seats.

This car won't win any races. In fact, I thought Hyundai should have put in a slightly more powerful engine in this car instead of the same one that was in the (at the time) current Elantra sedan. This car is bigger and heavier! But it gets you around and is an excellent city vehicle.

The biggest thing with this car is it's practicality. Absolutely enormous cargo space. Fold the back seats down and we fit a newly purchased dining room set (still in boxes, obviously!) in the back and got the hatch closed!! Did the same a few months later when I bought a new L-shaped desk from Costco. The boxes were huge and heavy but I fit them in!

I'm about 6'0" tall and I have plenty of space in the driver seat, or in the passenger or rear seats. Lots of legroom.
The dash is incredibly simple but well-designed and looks nice. I don't like that there is so much hard plastic, but the overall look is clean and neat, and not tacky at all.

It has been incredibly reliable as well. We've owned it for over 3 years (and it's paid off, which speaks to it's affordability), and not a single issue so far. Fuel efficiency is simply OKAY, not fantastic.

It's been on a few trips and does okay on the highway, but passing is an effort as acceleration is certainly weak, and at times the transmission doesn't want to downshift to get that power for passing.

Overall this was an excellent choice for an inexpensive and very practical/functional family vehicle. It needs more power but that is the biggest complaint. It's not the fanciest looking car around, but it has been nothing but reliable and good to us.