You hear a lot about manufacturer warranty when buying a new car, but here is a little known fact: Most car warranties are basically quite similar to each other. They may sound amazing, such as Chrysler's "lifetime" warranty, but once you break through all the mumbo-jumbo, you're basically looking at only a couple years of worry-free service. Especially if you consider that most warranties do not transfer to new buyers of used vehicles. So unless you are planning on keeping the vehicle for a very long time, the warranty may not be as important as you thought. With that said, the two most impressive economy/compact manufacturer warranties to date come from Hyundai and Kia with a 5-year/60,000 bumper-to-bumper and 10-year/100,000 powertrain. So while it is true that warranties matter, don't let them sell you on a particular car without making sure all the other above necessities you require in a vehicle are also accounted for.
