Buy a new car and you’ve likely pulled reviews and insights from a variety of automotive journalists, as well as research from PSCars.com and other sites. While I write about cars, I don’t drive a high-end sports car. Most auto journalists don’t.

It’s economics to be honest. None of us (BBC Top Gear presenters excluded) are struggling to make ends meet on a six or seven-figure income. In fact, most of the reviews you see are written by journalists who spend 2-4 days with a $150,000 Aston Martin but come home to a late model Volvo.

They’re not lying to you. After all, do you really get excited about long-term road tests of 2006 Mitsubishi Galants with milkshake stains on the back seat? Maybe not.

Consider this one auto writer’s mea culpa. I’ve owned three cars and have managed some feats in them that outstrip anything a writer ever noted or a manufacturer recommended.

1996 Pontiac Grand Am GT coupe:

A Grand Am is a type of race. One this poor car was ill-equipped to handle.

This was a family hand-me-down that had more than 190,000 miles on the clock when I got behind the wheel. A standard transmission matched engine to wheels, and it was still on the original clutch.

That old clutch taught me to master the gas and third pedals on hill starts. The Grand Am was a bad car, and ugly. To make it go anywhere was akin to coaxing a mule in a Western movie. Prior to totaling it, the Grand Am showed me the bottom end of cars, but also how to maintain near beaters.

2003 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport coupe:

The 2003 Cavalier.

My first new car, the Cavalier was optioned out, but as most writers will tell you, that’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

On the other hand, I can safely say that a two-door Chevrolet Cavalier will carry an entire dorm room of gear from New Jersey to Florida. In fact, while it received poor marks for capacity, I fit a desktop, peripherals, weeks of clothing and even some furniture all through extreme weather on a 1,000+ mile stretch. It proved not all expectations were correct.

Repair jobs were also easy. A minor fender bender left my front bumper gaping and scraping the pavement, a problem solved with $3 in nuts and bolts from a home improvement store. Maintenance costs weren’t very high outside of that during its 90,000 mile lifespan either.

2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5i sedan:

My Subaru, nicknamed "Scoobie"

The only option on this are deep floor mats to capture mud. But this car can carry a disassembled futon, full size bed and mattress on top with the confidence you need on snowy roads. My proof came on a country byway where I was going 35 miles per hour comfortably as a Hyundai Accent skidded sideways at half the speed.

This is my current daily driver. It’s docile in bad weather, and the weight and all-wheel drive aren’t power robbers when you keep the engine in its sweet spot. It can also carry more than you think, especially if you take off the spare wheel cover in the trunk and use the space in front of the rear seats.

So What?

Auto journalists have the same economic restrictions and family needs that their readers face. But our reviews are often of sterilized or idealized situations. I hope that these quick, real-world explanations show that cars don’t always match the two or three days we can spend learning about cars. Like the problems we found with initial quality reviews, at the end of the day you make your car your own.

Expect to see that mentality later this year when we compare new cars off the lot to the testers other sites used for their reviews. You can sign up for our newsletter here to be notified of our real world tests.

It’s a down market, your credit isn’t perfect, and the thought of paying $25,000, $30,000 or even more on a new truck or SUV just doesn’t match what your check book can shell out. That doesn’t mean that used trucks and SUVs for sale are much of a bargain these days, either. Here are three reasons why:

Prices Are Up Across the Board

The industry average for used cars is for prices to increase about 3.5 percent per year, or about the rate of inflation. While the industry as a whole has seen increases of 5.5 percent (that’s a difference of $600 for a $30,000 vehicle, for comparison), General Motors trucks and SUVs have seen even greater price hikes.

And by hike, we mean a quarter to nearly one-third of their previous year value. On a truck valued at $20,000 in 2009, it’s now being priced at $25,000 or more. Yikes.

The Sellers

We don’t mean the dealerships either. Pre-owned autos haven’t drastically changed since the financial downturn, nor have the dealers that sell them. But the people who have been trying to get out of them has.

Let’s take a look at two likely demographics who would put up a truck or an SUV for sale: families who couldn’t afford payments on an SUV, and construction or landscaping firms that couldn’t hold onto a pickup truck.

Either way, you’re looking at a lot of wear and tear. If you have a family of your own, you probably wince at the number of old candy wrappers under the seats and the amount of vacation luggage you’ve tried to stow in the back. Add the fact that maintenance might not have been studiously followed by moms and dads more worried about work and Junior’s extracurriculars and you could face a big problem.

Construction companies and landscaping firms are no more gentle with their trucks. The service life of a truck used by this sector is measured in a couple of years, with the wear and tear of days that look like every Ford, GMC or Chevy commercial you see on TV.

Credit Is Still A Pipe Dream For Many

Dealership copy aside, credit and loan numbers are still pretty depressing if you’ve made a few mistakes in your financial past. If you can get past finding the money in your monthly budget for the vehicle and its maintenance costs, that still might not be enough.

Industry surveys are finding that only the best qualified buyers are seeing an uptick in the number of loans issued. Worse, used car loans are increasingly difficult to find, and generally require a stronger credit history to gain a similar rate as new car financing.

Still Interested?

We hate to say it, but even if you’re a Chevrolet or GMC fan, you’d do best to stay away from those makes if you’re looking for a deal. As we noted above, the rise in used vehicle prices from General Motors is leaps and bounds above what they were just a year or two ago. Other manufacturers’ trucks and SUVs have also grown in value, but won’t hurt one’s wallet or purse quite as badly.

To avoid the sellers issue, look for less family-friendly vehicles if you’re in the market for an SUV. This could mean looking for an up-optioned mainstream sports utility vehicle, like a used Mercury Mariner with leather everything or a compact SUV that can’t fit enough kids to affect the interior. One trick for pick-up trucks: try to find a truck with enough options that it was used by a foreman or other supervisor. These vehicles will generally have been babied more than their workhorse counterparts over their life.

Finally, there aren’t a lot of easy ways to get around the financing question, but one is to use your local bank and credit union. If you’ve developed a long-term relationship and have proved your financial stability, you could get a loan you might not be able to obtain through a dealership.

If you read other automotive blogs, they will all trumpet the fact that J.D. Power and Associates have noticed that domestic automakers are making big strides and new Ford models especially have seen a jump in quality.

But what does that mean for you, the shopper who wants a reliable car in the driveway or on the street?

90-Day Guarantee

Part of the reason that the awards can come so quickly from J.D. Power is that their analysis only comes from the first 90 days of new car ownership across various makes and models. They then compile the reports of equipment malfunctions, non-required dealer servicing and other issues, and create a metric called problems per 100 vehicles.

Combine that with surveys about how buyers viewed their car as a whole and of their sales experience, and J.D. Power issues its sought-after rankings using an equation they don’t usually publicize.

What’s Missing?

Well, unless you’re renting a car, 90 days is not a long time to judge a car. Very poorly built cars will stand out in J.D. Powers surveys, as well as those where assembly lines took their time in producing vehicles.

The average length of ownership in the United States is roughly seven years. Unfortunately, 90 days is about five percent of that. Your better bet is looking at recent models in the line for recall and safety information, and incorporating any research you’ve done here at Pscars.com about manufacturing updates.

As a counterpoint to J.D. Power and Associates’ claim that their system predicts long-term reliability, one need only look at the recent spate of recalls of hybrids from Ford, Toyota and Mercury. None of these factors were picked up by the surveys, even on models several years old.

Does It Matter?

In a word, yes. For example, Ford has developed a standard of reliability that is more than just the fact that it’s the leading domestic automaker on the list. What should catch new car buyers’ eyes is the fact that new Ford Taurus models, Focuses and Fusions all are in first or second place in their class.

Keep in mind that each of these are produced in different facilities, two in the United States and one in Mexico. That points to a system of production that leads to happy customers no matter where the cars are produced. On the other hand, another manufacturer with only one or two cars on the list could be building them at the same facility, and potential problems could exist at others.

How Do I Use It?

The same way you would if you were hiring a new employee and saw they had made the honor roll in high school or the Dean’s list in college: with cautious optimism.

You get the advantage of knowing that initial impressions with your car are good, which can be helpful who buy several months after initial release. But it’s not the all-encompassing mark of quality; really it’s just a reference point that can help you in your buying decision.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.