Used Car rx330 vs outback.
Greetings. I'm looking for input on a decision between 2 cars. I need a general daily driver with one 700 mile trip a year (each way) with 2 young kids and their stuff. Safety of both cars is high, decision points are longevity, long term repair cost over long term ownership. We care nothing for the looks or feel of the drive or any amenities. Advice i'm getting is not just to consider the price in for a vehicle , but the cost to replace with the current market
I know the previous owners of both cars and both received regular maintenance schedules at dealerships and no accidents.
Car A I have owned for 4 years and is a 2005 lexus rx330 275Kish miles. Excellent exterior with dash cracks on the interior. Recently I took it to a transmission shop to have it checked and they said no problems there, but identified the rear cat for the acceleration issues as well as rear sway bearing links mainly, valve cover gasket and front crank seal to cost ~$2250. Also they noted the power steering leaking (it does) needs a new pump and line for another 1400 raising the total to about $3750 if done as well. I have managed fine so far with topping off fluid every so often. Looking around Autotrader for comparable cars, seems the value would be in the 3000-4750 range, which puts the repairs estimate at a significant percentage of the value.
Car B is a 2014 3.6 Subaru outback with 121K miles on it. I know there was ~5k in work done at a dealership about 2 years ago but waiting on the specifics. Otherwise low wear daily driving and no transmission problems. Working on cost but lets assume 9K
I have heard the ’14 3.6 is a solid built to about 200K, but also that subaru’s are awesome early on, but have a much higher repair cost and frequency of repair as they age. That said the 05 rx330 has much higher mileage, but heard that that Toyota are the real distance winners with driving long term.
Does anyone have a strong case one way or the other if the decision is based on longevity and repair costs over time?
Thank you for anyone's time and input on this.