Best used Car $5,000......Go!
 

My Camry is going to hit 200,000 soon so I'm starting to look around the market for a new car, and by new I mean used.

Lets say I have $5,000

I've been checking out the following, 2005 Civic, 2005 Camry, I don't care about how fancy a car is, I just love reliability and decent milage. I love how the Camry has a huge gas tank and how it seats 4 super comfortably.

My bro has a 09 Honda Fit and loves it, looking at those as well.

4 Door Sedan or Hatchback would be great.

Thanks for any help!

Any civic......

I also like the older Jettas

Corolla

I picked up a 02 Jetta 1.8t 5SPD for $4500 with Hypermiling I get 36 Combined. But if I were going to do it again I would go with the Jetta TDI.

To me a $5,000 budget would allow me to buy almost any car on my wish list outside of something that is brand new, that list includes first generation Honda Insight, Civic HX, Honda VX, a handful of older electric cars.
But for you I'd look at the Toyota Yaris Hatchback with a 5 speed, the sedans suck and the automatics suck in them but the 5 speed hatch back is solid.

A Fit, a Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe, or a Suzuki SX4 if you want something with AWD capability would be my suggestions. The SX4 is selectable AWD, so you aren't constantly in AWD mode. Civics are always good too, but small wagons always seem to hold their value well, plus they are really handy to have.

Since you mention reliability as a criteria, I would think that eliminates most anything VW.

What else is important to you, and what does your typical drive entail? It's very difficult to recommend the right vehicle without knowing every little detail. That said, buying something based on how well it holds value isn't important, since it will cost more up front due the held value.

My recommendation based entirely on education and not on experience would be a Corolla or Camry. There is a reason Camry is so popular and receives awards, and it is because it strikes such a great balance of economy, handling, safety, price, performance, and utility. Well you already know this.

The Corolla will be even more fuel efficient and agile, at the expense of a little comfort and utility.

If you have a problem settling on just 1 model, narrow it down to 3 or 4 and just buy the first one that can be had at an amazing deal.

Since you mention that you don't care how fancy your car is, I'll tell you how to increase your buying power. When I shop for a car for myself, I look for cars that have a blue book suggested price a couple thousand $$ above my budget that have cosmetic damage. I bought the car that I'm driving now @ $2200 under book because it has a couple of small dents and scratches. Just keep an eye on the ads for the right one to show up and negotiate it hard. Don't be afraid to walk away from a car but always leave your contact information with the seller so when they decide to move down on the price, they have an interested buyer to call.

HX/VX/HF

You're in California so you don't really have to worry about rust. Lucky.

'59 Impala FTW!

1999 Camry, bank the 5k for repairs and take it to 400,000 miles

This is why I got my '01 Civic HX for about half of what every other 7th gen HX was listed for...

Civics are a solid choice, although I have to admit that the trannies in the 7th gen have some flaws.

High mileage Prius with a bad pack for $4000 and a good used pack for $1000.

Blue Book value on a 12 year old Prius is down to about $3,000 for one that doesn't have issues.

Maybe an 05-06 Sonata could be had for that kinda change. Toyotas and hondas in that price range will be a little long in the tooth.

Also consider domestics such as a 5 speed fusion or focus. These are pretty decent cars which have the advantage (from a used car buyer's perspective) of having a domestic badge which causes their resale value to drop like a rock.

I'd shy away from a Gen-I because of know issues with the battery packs/CVTs, but I've seen Gen-IIs with ~230k miles and a bad pack for ~$4500.

Worst Vehicles | CarComplaints.com

This is a solid list here if you do nothing else correct in this operation but delete these from it you are 1/2 better off than most brainwashed consumers.

I found it after I bought the 02 civic and it went straight to h-ll.

I like how in the "worst complaints" section you get transmission failure, engine failure, cracked block, and... cracked dashboard. Really?

They made a 5 speed Fusion? I thought even the Nascar versions were 4 speeds. :D

If I had a $5k budget, and a vehicle that I could use for now, I'd be shopping for some things I can assemble into an "ideal" vehicle. In my mind, that's finding a 4th-generation Camaro with a six-speed manual, and swapping in a 2.2L and 2.73s (or 3.23s) from an S10. But I tend to think based on pure highway mileage, unrealistic usage otherwise, as if an ecomodded vehicle is a sports car aimed specifically for one purpose.

I recently purchased a 2004 Accord Ex, fully loaded leather, heated seats, sunroof. For around $5,600, and it manages to get around 32mpg in summer easily. Stick with the I4 the V6 have tranny issues.

HA! I bought a used 01 Civic and it was the worst car I ever owned! It's 5th on the list... That's hilarious.
At that time I expected the very best from Honda so I did little research. Boy was that a mistake!

Perhaps the cracked dashboard is common from beating your own head against it after one of the other major issues listed just happened? Just a guess lol :snail:

:D:DTHe 04 Accord is a pretty nice car and roomy for a car that gets 30+ :D

No the manufacturer of the dash didnt add uv blockers to thier resin and color during extrusion and the dash literally falls to pieces starting at molded speaker portion. Dodge fullsize.
Ive noticed a trend on thier lists, these are all things that should have been recalled that cost the owners so very much to fix they hate the car and also brand name after. read the write ups.

This is why I never buy the first year of a redesigned model; always go for the last year or two when the issues have been worked out. You'll notice the 2001 Civic and 2006 Civic were each on that list--and each was the first year of a major redesign. My last three cars have all been the last year of their respective models and I've had no problems with any of them, including an 05 Civic.

Funny... 80% of the complaints for the '01 Civic are the tranny. No significant improvements were made to the tranny for the 7th gen (upgraded clutches in '03 for the auto, but I believe the failures were mostly the torque converter for auto or input shaft bearing for manuals), and yet the '04 Civic is given a "Seal of Awesome" rather than "Avoid like the Plague"

I'm happy with my '01 Civic. Other than the known problem with the tranny, it's been a good car.

And it looks like I may get my first tank over 50mpg if this warm, dry weather sticks around for another week.

Yup. I should have known. I was naive in thinking ALL Hondas are amazing.

My 01 Honda @ 80K miles:
-Front struts shot, upper strut bearings squeaky - Honda TSBs for this
-Cracked exhaust manifold/cat (same piece, big bucks) - common failure
-Horrible horrible bouncy crappy ride compared to previous generation
-Warped front rotors every 10 seconds or so (only slight exaggeration)
-Drivers seat shot (rocked back and forth) - Honda TSBs for this
-Gas gauge extremely erratic below 1/4 tank - Honda TSBs for this

I ended up trading it for a Matrix. 1000X the car, if not more. Ride quality, looks, handling, reliability - all better. The only issues I have had with both my Matrixes is the belt tensioner looses spring tension at about 50K miles and starts making a funny noise at idle. That's a $40 and 10 bloody knuckles fix.

I recommend the Matrix. Decently sporty...ish...and reliable as rain on the west coast.

The best car will be the one with the fewest issues and the most life left in it. All very previous owner dependent. Things to avoid would be huge stereos and wings.

I wouldn't think that your camry would be that worn with 200,000. It might be the most cost efficient part of it's life. Particularly when you replace it at a cost of 5,000. You can do a few repairs if you need to and be miles ahead.

The last car (Benzilla) that I bought had 200,000 on it. The previous car (Joetta) had 240,000 miles. Both run like tops.

Yup. There's a lot to be said for keeping what you have, well beyond 200,00 miles. I don't remember seeing anything that the owner isn't satisfied with it. If it needs $500-1500 work one day consider that cost only a small part of the $5000 you would spend now on a replacement.

We used to buy rear drive Volvos between $250-$3000 with 180-200 thousand miles on them and got 100-200 thousand more out of each.

Now we have Hondas (1 each Civic and Accord), bought with about 150k on their clocks, priced between $2000-$3000 each. I've put 130K on the Civic, bought it at 150K. I got my money's worth, even with the valve job I had done about half way through that span.

Since consumer demand has REQUIRED motor cars to be more reliable, ALL vehicles should go no less than 200K before anything major goes KAPUT.

Many persons still truly believe that 100K is all the car is good for, take notice of this and "jump" to the chance of buying a good car for a good price then.
Those are the ones that are good buys, still MANY miles and smiles left in them...

I disagree with the negative light shed onto VW's, possibly the reason for questionable quality could be the igh number of Jettas and Golfs produced in Mexico causing this. 1996 & 1997 Passat TDI's have the price point you're looking for as well as a nice increase in interior space. The TDI when properly maintained should last well over 300, 000 miles. The fuel efficiency of such a large car is also amazing with 45mpg on either normal diesel or even bio diesel or WVO (waste oil of many different types, too). That figure is not even trying to get the most out of every drop, either, with many drivers reporting 50-60mpg. This is out of a car that is larger and arguably a better car the Toyota. Handling will be predictably European, which in my opinion is better than both Asian and American choices (stock suspension, not modified or excessively worn).

I also agree with others saying that perhaps the best option is to keep on keeping on with the Toyota as there has to be many more miles left in her.

^^ this may apply, but only if it's a manual transmission in the VW. A TDI with an automatic is probably one of the most feared combos in the car industry, almost as bad as a Cadillac with a Northstar engine (headgaskets), or a Chrysler minivan (transmission). It may not need a transmission - today. But it will. And if it's a car you plan to keep for a while, then start saving for a trans rebuild, because you will end up having to do it. A TDI with a 5 speed though is a stout combo.

Or it could be from the best reliability data that consumers are able to get their hands on. For instance, Consumer Reports consistently rate VW as among the worst brands for reliability.

Then there is the nearly worthless anecdotal evidience, that, while still worthless, is nonetheless influential. Stories such as my friend getting an old VW only to have it die a few months later. Then he buys a decent running NA diesel VW only to have the engine overheat and die. He then buys a rebuilt engine and it too overheats and dies a short time later. Or there is my other friend that had a new TDI needing $4,000 in repairs shortly out of warranty.

I drove a '69 Beetle, and it constantly needed adjustment and work. It was easy to work on, which was probably the engineers solution to a vehicle that sucks. The good fuel economy and handling characteristics you mention are the very reason the company hasn't gone out of business yet.

I should add that that particular year range of the Passat is only available (North America at least) in a manual car.

I'm sure we could sit and argue many different "reliable" marques vs many different "unreliable" marques and be able to pull up numerous examples proving both ideas to be sound. If I mention Alfa Romeo and how many people consider that marque to be so unreliable, but myself have witnessed one particular car running and driving very nicely until it was deemed just a bit dated and put on the back burner. I bough the car with 200,000 miles and put another HARD 100,000+ on the clock before moving to my A4 for daily duty. The only major work done during my ownership was a transmission rebuild but not because it needed it but instead to modify the internals for better shifting (lightened the gears to prevent the usual Alfa grunch when shifting into second).

I'm currently working on a '82 VW truck conversion with a TDI engine installed, working out the minor details the shop couldn't. Also have a couple Jettas both are Mk2's that are racking up some miles. The '85 was picked up without an engine and we opted for a AAZ 1.9 from Europe to give it a slight performance increase. The '91 we picked up not running with a head gasket failure and with nothing more than installing a new head gasket we're able to drive that around as well. Oh yea, odometer on that was 750,000 if at all accurate. The early VW Mk2's and I would venture to guess Mk3's had spotty odometers. Not a huge deal in my eyes.

It wouldn't surprise me any that a small car from 1969 would require a bit more care than anything even just a decade newer. The Bug was designed before or possibly during WWII, after all. I've known people who needed to rebuild their engines after only 20-30,000 miles with other similar vintage cars (namely British).

Another vote for the Civic. Get any civic, HX/VX would get you the best mpg, DX/LX is the in between and EX/Si are the worst on gas but will still get you 30+ mpg. Toyota Camry is a decent car but I would still go for a Civic any day of the week.

I don't think you can start with a toyota and spend your way to economy.

My vw has over 250,000 miles. still gets over 50 mpg. I plan on keeping it for years more.

Get a Sol, man. Get a Sol. Lol, well unless you need back seats :D

"Drive home, 66F, Dry, 8 mph headwind, 65.84 MPG, top on."
That is from... You guessed it, krousdb.

It may only be anecdotal, but of all the people I know, only two have had to make claims using Lemon Laws, both had VWs. One Passat ('08? '09?) with a series of electrical failures that prevented it from starting (much of the electrical system was replaced, sensors, control modules, and even wiring harnesses, never did fix it) and a Jetta ('05 IIRC) that lost it's fuel pump, coil pack,and finally transmission. Both of these were new vehicles that had less than about 20,000 miles.

In my opinion, the poor reliability ratings from Consumer Reports and JD Power are well deserved. I won't buy a VW for myself, and as you can see from my earlier posts on my Civic, I am probably less concerned about reliability issues than most.

As you are looking for a used car, so I will suggest you to look in to various online sources where you can find a wide range of options to choose from. 4 Door Sedan is an ultimate choice, I also own one and I am highly satisfied by its comfort and performance. Last year, I bought this car and you will be amaze to know that until now, I dint faced any problem with my Sedan.