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

[Fat Charlie]

2002 Honda Civic Ex - $1200 (New London)



2002 Honda Civic Ex, original owner. It has been oil change every 5000 miles, it does burn a little oil and exhaust need some works. It was in a little accident last week, it cracks the left front bumper, starts and runs nice. I'm pricing it well under the Kelly Blue book for $1200 obo.

[Fat Charlie]

The 01 Civic is rated 35 or 33 highway, depending.
The 99 Toyota is rated 34.
The 99 Civic is rated 34 or 32, depending. It also gets a thumbs up from its current owner.
The 02 Civic is rated 36 or 33, depending.

You're going to have to ban me if you want me to stop including rigs that don't quite make 35!

[War_Wagon]

I like that '02. 1 owner, older cars are where it's at. They have a nice house in the pics, which tells me that ya he probably did do the oil changes when he said he did. A "one owner" car with a primer fender and parked in front of a random industrial building would not get me interested, but I'd at least go take the time to look at this one.

As a side note, I have found that some of the best scores I have found have been from cars on Craigslist with no pictures. My parents would have no idea how to post a picture of anything online. Or even send me a picture via email. And yes I have explained it to them many times haha. But would I want to buy one of their cars? Heck ya. Most people under the age of say 50 or so have a smart phone with a camera or some interenet savvy at least these days. So when you see an ad for an older car with no pics, it's either going to be real good or real bad. I bought an '89 Civic DX hatch years ago from a terrible add with no pictures, and it took them a week to get back to me. Ya, turns out that it was a 1 owner, 120k mile, always maintained at Honda (new Honda exhaust with the sticker still on it, new Honda master cylinder, new Honda ball joints, even a fresh Honda oil change) that the nice lady had tried to trade in and they only offered her $150 for the car. So dangit she wanted $500! To me the more pics of the car, the more the person knows what they have, and the more they are trying to get for it. Just my 2 cents.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

To me the more pics of the car, the more the person knows what they have, and the more they are trying to get for it.

HA! That would be me. I posted my '07 Civic this weekend with 10 photos (the max. on Kijiji) ... but only a moderately ambitious price.

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

The 99 Civic ... also gets a thumbs up from its current owner.

I love that ... "hey, this is easier than opening Paint or Photoshop!" I'm seeing it more and more.

You're going to have to ban me if you want me to stop including rigs that don't quite make 35!

Flirting with disaster, you are.

[Fat Charlie]

My spidey sense points the other way. The 01's last pic shows a tractor in the background and a sand pile with Tonkas and whatnot. OTOH, New London is halfway between Concord (central NH) and Lebanon (NE from Concord, on the VT border). With Mass plates. Now it could be a Masshole's summer home, but it smells wrong to me.

If I'm putting a pic on CL, it's not showing my house in any really identifiable way.

[MetroMPG]

Fat Charlie, I have to ask: with your nice new Honda Fit, how come you're haunting CL for eco-beaters anyway? Thrill of the hunt?

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Flirting with disaster, you are.

Judge me by my posts, do you?

I was hunting for them last fall and winter before I bought the Fit. I still like seeing them. Besides, sharing them is a kind of a public service.

[MetroMPG]

I'm the same: I kept browsing even after I found the winter Civic.

[user removed]

I check CL constantly so my heap will not fall apart, knowing that it's replacement is a mouse click away .

regards
mech

[War_Wagon]

I agree, the last thing I need is another car, but it's still fun to see what's out there. And I never have my place in the background, it's not that nice! When I sell something worth some money, I take the pictures in my friend's driveway, or go down the street and park on the street in front of the new condos around my place and take the pictures there. Curb appeal is always important, even when you are selling cheap stuff, maybe especially when you are selling cheap stuff.