Efficient, cheap beaters! Used car ads: 35 mpg highway or more for $1500 or less

[Fat Charlie]

What's really wrong with it is that it's a cheap car with a manual transmission that's pushing 200k. The dealership probably never ran it through the shop to find out what's wrong with it because they aren't going to turn a profit on it even if all it needs is a little Seafoam.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

What's really wrong with it is that it's a cheap car with a manual transmission that's pushing 200k. The dealership probably never ran it through the shop to find out what's wrong with it because they aren't going to turn a profit on it even if all it needs is a little Seafoam.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but at my dad's dealership someone tried trading in a silver, manual Insight with over 300K miles with newer hybrid battery for no less than $3000 trade in. It had a cracked windshield and quite a few other cosmetic issues. They offered him $300 trade in.

Us Insight owners do have a tendency to over-value our cars; I probably wouldn't sell mine for less than $6000 right now, which is absurd for an older, manual Honda with 200K+ miles. But that's what sentiment does to ya.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

... What's wrong with it?? ... Hm.

Dunno. But I'm thinking the $895 price reflects the "know-how" discount. Buy it, diagnose it, buy a few dollars in parts (or a few hundred, lol), fix it, and you get a clean-looking car with a TALL six speed manual. The rarity is worth the risk, possibly.

[Xist]

One of my friends indicated she didn't believe that you could find an Accord the same generation as mine worth $2,000, but I think that is at least partially due to knowing that I like Accords of that generation and enjoying insulting things that I like.

You can easily find people asking $4,000 for Accords. Are they worth that much? One had 91,000 original miles.

If everything is in perfect shape then I would argue that it could be worth that much, while I am sure a Dodge fan would criticize a car that spends so little time in the shop.

[Fat Charlie]

You can get a used engine for less than the price of the car...

[Xist]

Someone posted an Accord with 268,000 miles, both a bad engine and transmission, but tires with 200 miles for $550.

That seems like someone planned poorly.

I found 200,000-mile engines in Phoenix for $250 and the cheapest transmission has 156,000 miles for $300. I have read about people transporting engines in Honda sedans, but I would rather get a Harbor Freight trailer or something.

I do not think that a non-running Accord is worth that much, but not counting the trailer, hitch, and a great deal of time and gas, I could build an Accord for $1,100.

You should be able to find a running one for that much.

[freebeard]

But then you wouldn't have greasy dirt under your fingernails.

[Xist]

It just says "Cranks but won’t start."

I feel like I should know the troubleshooting for that. I will look into it in the morning.

Should I pursue the Accord with the bad engine and transmission or the Corolla that doesn't run, either?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...40228303766729

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Someone in a facebook group I'm in bought a car with over 400,000 miles.

You'd think it'd fall into the $1500 or less category, right?

Actually, no.

It was a Tesla Model S.

And he paid $15,000.

Probably the most expensive 400k+ mile car to date. Battery was replaced "150k miles ago" so around the 300k mark. Car is still under the 8 year, unlimited mileage warranty.

[MetroMPG]

I think if we took a poll, the results would tend towards "crazy person".