What car should I buy if my budget is $15,000 and reliability is all I want?

I'd prefer a new car. I was looking at the Nissan Versa. Easy to maintain, not many repairs, cheap, good on gas etc. Are there any better alternatives to it? Reliability is my main focus, nothing else

You should also look at the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Mazda 2 or 3, which are all similar to the Nissan Versa.

Don't buy new, instead look at 2013-2010 vehicles. They've already lost value so it's cheaper to buy and at the same time there's still some factory warranty left on it and additional warranty if it's a certified pre-owned.
Look at the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, or Mazda 3. Japanese imports are known to have lower frequency of repairs than a comparable American or European model based on my experience and they enjoy one of the highest resale values. They're cheap to maintain as well. I rely on my Civic to make my annual 30,000 mile commute to work and it hasn't let me down.

I would go with the Corolla, they have been basically the same for years and are very reliable and cost effective (price/maintenance/mpg). The Civic has had some various issues the past few years and tend to cost a little more than the Corolla. Plus if your budget is is 15k try something like cars.com. I just purchased a VW Bug for 16k but I had to fly a 1000 miles and drive it back. I saved around 2k less the one way ticket and gas and one night motel stay. Shop around.

Kia and Hyundai probably have the longest warranties among mainstream manufacturers. You could get a Rio or an Accent. They are about as exciting as a dishwasher, but if that's really all you care about that's the way I would go.

But really, you probably can't go wrong with any mainstream manufacturer if all you care about is reliability. A modern automobile is an incredibly reliable machine if you just do the occasional service.

A used car would be a far better value.

Lots of used cars still under factory warranty for under $15k.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/05/20-best-used-car-deals-for-teens/index.htm

I'd avoid the Versa, as the other cars in its class put it to shame. I think the Mazda 3, Mazda 2, Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris would all be better choices. And all would be fuel efficient, reliable, good everyday commuter cars.

I say this because I've spent time in low-end Nissans and found them to be awful. Alternatively a couple years ago I needed a new daily commuter and test drove a lot of cars, mostly in the $30K+ range (kind of expected at my stage), but I checked out anything fairly practical with a manual transmission. As much as I liked driving the higher price sports sedans, I wound up buying a new Mazda 3 for about $18K with all taxes and fees. I'm impressed with it and have put 40K miles on it now.

Get a crown vic. Biggest sedan produced in the united states. You can find a 2011 for a low price. These cars can last as long and are reliable as a toyota. If you want luxury, could get a 2008 town car with like 50k miles and still reliable.

You should almost never buy a new car. Buy a car that's a few years old that's in great shape. Cars like the Ford Focus and Mazda 3 are always great.