Listed in the dictionary as the definition for "reliable."

I bought my 1979 Toyota Corolla Deluxe station wagon in 1985. The local businessman who sold me the car apparently knew nothing about what he had.
The purchase price for the car was an incredible $650! I bought my Corolla because I needed a replacement car quick when my Oldsmobile broke down and would have required more than the entire car was worth to fix it! Since that time, "Bess," as my daughter and I call our Corolla, has paid for herself several times over. She has outlasted five newer cars, including two Oldsmobiles, a Chevrolet and a Nissan.

Older Corollas are not the most comfortable cars in the world. The ride is bumpy and the car's handling (no power steering) is stiff. However, there is no more reliable car anywhere in the world. "Bess" now has 185,000 miles, which is not really a lot for a car of her advanced age. They have been the most reliable 185,000 miles that I have ever gotten from a car. I have now been driving this car for 16 years and have done only routine maintenance. There have been no major problems! For this kind of reliability, what are a few bumps and stiff steering?!

As a single parent who went through four years of college and two years of graduate school while raising a daughter, I can honestly say that reliability is the most important quality in a car for me. Those six years were years of living on a shoestring budget, and squeezing every penny until it whimpered. The cost of a major car repair would have been the equivalent of a stock market crash in my household. "Bess" never let me down. I made sure she had regular tune-ups and oil changes and she did the rest.

I have now finished graduate school, am working and money is not so tight. However, I have such a strong attachment to this car that I cannot ever see myself getting rid of it. For sixteen years, it has been there when newer cars broke down. I trust this car to get me where I am going. This year, I will be buying an antique tag for "Bess" for the first time, and am also planning to have her painted, and a few minor repairs done on the interior. Additionally, I am now in a position to buy a new car, and will not need to go anywhere but to my Toyota dealership for a new Corolla.

People buy cars for many reasons, but if reliability is your number one priority, get a Corolla!