Oddly enough, our experience was exactly the opposite...

The Chevrolet Vega--What Went Wrong?:

The first car we ever bought as a married couple was a 1973 Vega - leather, stick shift, nice wheels, etc. - all for three grand flat. It lasted 4 solid years with never a burp, parked it on the street in Queens, and we sold it for $1000 with about 30k miles. EVERYONE told us not to buy it in the first place, even my father's genius friends in the car business.

My next car was a '77 BMW 320i. Lots of issues (for almost $10k) and it was broken into within 6 months even though I caved and paid to park in my apartment's garage! Life is cruel.....