AOL's 10 Smart Cars to Buy Now and Drive for a Decade

Washington DC June 22, 2010; The AIADA newsletter asked if you remember when automakers offered customers all kinds of incentives to flip their cars and trucks every three years? Incessant car flipping was so pervasive that soon consumers were financing 120 percent and more of a new car’s value at closing. Not anymore.

Consumer research and trend analysts are telling carmakers that the current economy is going to keep people in their vehicles for a good seven or eight years and maybe more.

The good news, even for people who aren’t wild about the prospect of holding on to the same wheels for a decade, is that automakers are making longer term ownership more possible through better engineering and overall quality.

To come up with its list of the 10 best cars to drive for a decade, AOL Autos looked at three years of J.D. Power’s VDS Studies to see which vehicles showed up in the top three positions in their segments over 2008, 2009, and 2010, which would reflect vehicles sold in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Those were the LaCrosse, Toyota Prius, Honda Ridgeline and CR-V, and BMW Z4. AOL also added to its list – for reasons of its own scrutiny of the products, their history and various rankings – the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Hyundai Elantra Touring, and BMW 3 Series.

Click Here to see AOL's complete list of the best vehicles to own for a decade.