If Taurus's were junk, why were they the #1 seller for 10 years? We had like 4 or 5 of them, and never had a problem with any of them. All company cars that saw ALOT of miles too..

I'd say a Taurus or a Honda. Both will last forever. My g/f's got an 87 Civic with 175K and it will probably go for another 100K.

Or, use that $4500 for a cheap lease (think Focus, Neon, Hyundai, Kia, etc). $4500 is $125/mo for 36 months.