3k or under suggestion

[zhillz]

Originally Posted by cfg83

I found this, but it has 133K miles,

Hopefully the sad face is only for the Saturn. I have never owned one but i have personally owned 4 Honda's with over 225k miles (253k was the highest) that only had the regular maintenance done and ran great! If the seller can prove or you trust them in the matter of regular maintenance most modern cars can easily surpass 250k miles. Regular maintenance is not an oil change every 3k miles and occasional air filter/spark plugs.

A warning: 75% of the cars on craigslist have "rebuilt motors"
99% of them dont have paper work or can even tell you what it consisted of!

[busypaws]

I'll throw my two cents in on Hyundia and Kia. I think the South Korean cars are just as good quality as the Toyota/Honda but they don't command the top dollar on the used market. I'm looking at taking a job that would require a 90 mile (oneway) commute once a week. I'm checking internet for 4-5 year old Hyundia Accent/Elantra or Kia Rio.
A thousand difference between the same year/mileage in an Elantra and a Civic. I'd buy the Elantra for 1000 less because I think I'll get a car that will last me as long as the Civic.

[comptiger5000]

Exactly. People around here thought I was nuts for buying a Jeep with 100k miles on it. Of course, they only perceive them as crappy because they don't maintain them, stuff starts breaking, and then the blame the vehicle, when they should be blaming themselves. I bought it with 99,800 miles on it, and have a bit over 103k on it now. I fully expect it to hit 200k miles.

[bestclimb]

sw1 Saturn. skip the sw2 as the gearing is a bit short.

unmolested civic, mine is at 250000+ miles right now and getting better than 50mpg. I have $1045 into it total 500 for the car 525 for the a arms and some 20 bucks for the kill switch and hand throttle. Had a crx with over 300000 miles that I drove like an idiot for many years before I sold it still running well.

ford escort. Sold one at 180000 miles because we did not want to fly it back out of the bush and we could get a better price out in the boonies. we bought another one and wife drives it and gets 30mpg without trying.

mazda 626. My sister used and abused an older one for many years and it happily kept coming back for more till the radiator gave up and she kept driving it.

are all good options