What reliable car for less than $4000 ?

Hi everyone,
Looking to buy a daily driver for less than $4000.
I'm looking for something reliable first of all, cheap to maintain etc
Was thinking about an american car or a japanese car.

What would you suggest everyone ?

thanks for all your help ;)

If you're looking for a car for less than $4000 steer clear of anything domestic unless it's a pickup truck. You mentioned an interest in something Japanese, that is a good start. Honda and Toyota are the best two in terms of reliability (except the prius, those things are a boring headache on wheels) Subaru is another brand to look into. Nissan makes some decent cars too, but they are a bit hit-and-miss in terms of which model, so be careful. Mitsubishi... I can't think of any that aren't late models outside of your budget that are worth considering.

If you could be more specific in what you're looking for in a car, automotive preferences, likes or dislikes, I'd be able to give you a much less vague answer. Maybe post a link to some pics of cars you're looking at.

If you're looking for a car for less than $4000 steer clear of anything domestic unless it's a pickup truck. You mentioned an interest in something Japanese, that is a good start. Honda and Toyota are the best two in terms of reliability (except the prius, those things are a boring headache on wheels) Subaru is another brand to look into. Nissan makes some decent cars too, but they are a bit hit-and-miss in terms of which model, so be careful. Mitsubishi... I can't think of any that aren't late models outside of your budget that are worth considering.

If you could be more specific in what you're looking for in a car, automotive preferences, likes or dislikes, I'd be able to give you a much less vague answer. Maybe post a link to some pics of cars you're looking at.

Thanks for the reply, let me be more specific on what I'm looking for :
basically, right now, I own and use everyday a very nice toy (made from pontiac) that I want to keep as a week end car. It has very low miles on it and want to keep it that way.
In that matter, I am looking for a new daily driver that is kind of comfy, good on gas, RELIABLE, cheap and easy to maintain (I like to work on my cars) automatic transmission and a decent trunk etc the good looking part of it, I really don't mind if it's a ugly car lol
I was looking for buicks with the v6 3800 engines, I heard they're very strong but still have a lot of issues specially with windows.
Now, for Hondas, I owned a lot in the past (like 8) and still have one in my garage (s2000). I always been amazed by their reliability specially with my first civic Sir that I used on racetracks back in the days. I put like 60000 miles on it, never been a very tender foot with it and never had any issue ! Nowadays, I'd like to avoid civics because they are not cheap for insurance (in this country at least) because they get stolen quite a bit and usually younger people owned them and they do bad things to them. Accords look like a good alternative but the 2000 era seems to have huge issues with the automatic transmissions and as you can guess, I don't wanna spend a couple of thousand dollars changing the transmission. Crv's look nice but high priced ...
Toyota, I can see a corolla, why not, but once again, high priced.
What about the lexus is300 ?

Thanks for your help and hoping to find a good car.

Well, I did some homework and I think I found something that would suit me just perfect : the toyota matrix/pontiac vibe.

What do you think everyone about this car ? looks like it's pretty reliable, huge cargo space, really good on gas, etc

thanks for any comments or advices

The Toyota matrix is a decent pick. The Pontiac is not as closely related as you may think. It was made from Toyota parts, but assembled and finished by Pontiac, one of GM's 3 problem children that had to be killed off in 2010 to save GM from going bust... need I say more? They are mechanically similar, but in the end the Toyota has a better build quality.
If you do decide on the matrix try to find an XR or XRS model. The base model is pretty poorly equipped; no power windows, locks, or mirrors, alloy wheels, and im not sure if it even has air conditioning, and its kind of dull too. The XR has those features as standard, and may be lucky enough to find one with a sunroof. If you're really lucky and find an XRS you get all the bells and whistles, plus an upgraded 180 horsepower engine. That's 50 more than the base model and 20 more than the XR, so it will be pretty zippy too.