[yetibone]

Corolla, Civic, or Focus. Three of the most popular small cars these days, so parts will be available, or obtainable most anywhere. They all are as about as reliable as sunrise, and very durable. They're not hard to work on, and very easy to find any kind of repair info for

Old Beetles are highly reputable for ease of use and repair in such conditions as the OP described, but I've personally found that the quality of a lot of new parts is absolutely terrible on ACVW stuff. NOS parts are getting hogged up by collectors, and restorers so they're price for purchase is astronomical, if even obtainable at all. Also, a majority of them are well over 40 years old now and would have trouble delivering expected returns in reliability, no matter what the mechanical condition of the car is.