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

[MetroMPG]

Copied the above NEV posts to a new thread!


Thread: Jalopnik buys & tests "world's cheapest new car" (Changlii NEV)

[Xist]

For some reason the owner did not specify the year, but it is a sixth-generation (1996 - 2000) Civic coupe. It only shows the front and side from these angles, but I think she looks marvelous!

Still marvelous!

Nando, don't be a schnook! It's not how you feel! It's how you look!

However, did you notice the red spray paint in the engine bay? This is from my heart, which is deep inside my body--not marvelous!

The previous teenage owner also attacked the instrument cluster!


The front corners do not show damage, which is nice, but who knows what damage the hood, grill, and middle of the front bumper have, or the back bumper, taillights, and trunk. It is a manual, but I have never been fond of the EX, although my sister had one. Sure, they are great cars, but why trade fuel economy for horsepower?!

The EPA rated my HX at 30/39 and the EX at 22/29. OfferUp says 28/35, but that is for the DX/LX. Now for the fun:

Doesn’t run. Needs a tow. Needs either starter or starter switch.
Clutch is good but won’t shift into gears.
Just had an oil change. Brand new oil/ fuel and air filters. Brand new spark plugs and all new belts. New front breaks. Brand new distributor and cap. Bluetooth radio. New floor mats, steering cover and locking club. I bought it for 12, put allot of work into it. Shifter and starter went out so I’m looking to sell it for $800

https://offerup.com/item/detail/895141429/

Haynes has repair videos?! Since when?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgoqd9myj38

That claims that there are a couple of things in the way and then two bolts holding in the starter. O'Reilly has a remanufactured one for $182. The starter switch looks pretty easy, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK9fTJCD3_k

O'Reilly has the starter switch for $30.

The shifter went out? Shouty says the clutch master cylinder must be bad, but one of many problems with his videos is he doesn't show how he diagnosed that, what else could cause the same problem, and how to solve those, but if it is the clutch master cylinder, it looks pretty easy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyIa8J8OZyk

.

O'Reilly has a master cylinder for $33. Why do I keep mentioning O'Reilly? Am I some huge WatchJRGo fan?!

AutoZone didn't have the first one or two!

However, RockAuto has a new starter for $110, starter motor for $21, and clutch master cylinder for $11, with $5 - 10 shipping for each.

I offered the owner $500, Hopefully I would have her running again quickly for a total of $630, but I have zero confidence that would happen, and why would I trust a used car salesman?

The better question is why would I make an offer on someone else's nonrunning Civic when I need to fix up my own?!

All that I wanted to do is find a good picture of the heater sub-assembly depicting where the cable attaches, but I ran across this.

I don't want to remove my dash and heater core again! I wouldn't mind parting out another car, though.

[MetroMPG]

5-speed, 142k km = 88k miles.

Description

1992 GEO new soft top, runs and good condition as is $1,200.00. Obo (Needs brakes and two small holes underneath front can be repaired)

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1507790617

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Xist

I offered the owner $500

Didn't accept your generous offer?


That Civic presents very well.


But the last friend of mine who bought a car that "needed a starter" ended up buying a car that had a seized engine!


You could test drive that Civic by getting someone to push start it. Then shift gears without the clutch. I'm sure the owner wouldn't object.

[Fat Charlie]

I don't trust a Civic that has anything painted red. I have no idea if the fuel filter is serviced separately or how many belts it has, but those lines generally send me running.

[Xist]

"$505 if you paint the red parts green."

Green means go!

I have not heard back. You can only offer the asking price, so I messaged him "$500."

I figure that I can part out a nonrunning car that looks reasonable and at least break even on $500, but maybe not on $800.

Even if it only needs $200 in parts, how much is a 20+ year-old Civic worth, even if in good shape, without stupid spray paint?

Well, KBB says $1,998, but what do they know?!

Hey, does anyone remember a time that things went awesomely for me? My memory isn't great!

Undoubtedly people who spray-paint random parts of their car [poorly] take perfect care of their car!

[Until it breaks down]

[Xist]

Apparently someone posted a 2001 Corolla with an autotragic, quarter million miles, bad paint, and ugly hubcaps a couple of weeks ago. "Has a ton of new parts since we’ve owned it. I do have to top it off between oil changes."

More like "Has needed frequent repairs" and "Expensive oil leak."

Not having cruise control is lame. Who drives a car without cruise control?!

They are asking $1,600, but I feel confident that I can talk them down to $1,599.99.

That is close enough, right?

Curiously, when I looked up the MPG Google said 32/41 and I figured that must be the old EPA rating. Well, I honestly do not know, because on the side it says that is the rating for the manual transmission, while the developmentally-delayed butler gets 29/33.

That is close enough, right?

Except FuelEconomy.gov says 26/36.

What do they know?!

Check out this beauty!



Wouldn't that look great on cinder blocks on Mom's lawn?!

https://showlow.craigslist.org/cto/d...137247566.html

[the trunk looks clean, but it doesn't show the cabin!]

[freebeard]

Hey, does anyone remember a time that things went awesomely for me? My memory isn't great!

Any such memory is certainly suspect.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Xist

Apparently someone posted a 2001 Corolla with an autotragic, quarter million miles, bad paint

You see bad paint, I see trendy & therefore value-increasing patina!


(I wonder if this is the first time in the history of the internet where the words patina and Corolla appear together.)

[Xist]

This is the best-looking car for sale in my area since one of the $500 Accords sold. There was another $500 Accord and both were the same generation as mine. I believe that one had the rims that I have long coveted, but I keep saying that I need to fix the beam in my Civic before I buy another car to repair its mote, but let's face it, there is a high probability that any fixer-upper that I buy will probably need too much work, which will take me too long, and be too expensive.

The curious thing was, not only did one car have the rims that I have long wanted, but one had a bad engine, while the other had a bad transmission. In theory I could have put together one running Accord and one parts car, but we will never know.

Now for the econocar in question. There seems to be a grammatical error, so I fixed it the best that I could:

98 Chevy Metro for sale. Ha! The engine is just 1.0L and 3 cylinders! Manual 5 speed transmission. Will turn over and start on starting fluid but one little pin for a connector for the fuel pump (just put a brand new pump in) broke so will need to be fixed. It has a brand new battery as well. It would be a good first car with just a little work. This model has the somewhat hard to find Factory A/C option as well. The Interior could use a cleaning but I've done most of the harder cleaning. These are known for getting 50+ MPG Open to 2A related trades.

[Grammarly also insisted that I unnecessarily completed some sentences.

So, the brand-new fuel pump needs to be replaced? YourMechanic says one of their mobile mechanics would replace it for the low low price of $520.76. Curses! They don't have anyone in my area! We do not have a Pep Boys either! Repair Pal says $1,000 ± $500. That is a pretty useless range, but they also do not have any shops in the area. I wasn't trying to find estimates, but while we are at it, Napa says $488 to $1,588, and they do have shops in my area!

One video shows that to replace the pump you drain and drop the tank, remove six screws, yadda yadda yadda, and that's it!

It does not really show how to actually do any of that.

Another video by some weirdo named Benjamin Nelson, shows dropping the fuel tank, except he does not show how. Come on, people!

This looks like it is straight from the factory service manual, but it is for the wrong year! https://www.justanswer.com/chevy/25i...r-replace.html

I found one write-up, but this one is better. Manny wrote that it took two hours, but he also took care of some other things: https://geometroforum.com/how-to-cha...tro-t1209.html

The people seem nice, but I suspect the forums are run by weirdos, but are they as weird as the SysOps of https://www.suzuki-forums.com/forums...tro-forum.192/, https://www.suzukiswiftrepository.com, and https://metrompg.com?

Points to the shortest URL!

CARid has a fancy pump for $18.41 and a basic one for $13.59, although the cheaper one requires a part (not included) to validate the warranty.

CARid's warranty is exactly why I am looking elsewhere. AutoZone has an PDS for $46 and Delphi for $130 in-stock. O'Reilly has a MasterPro for $46 and an Import Direct for $80. Strainers are $9 and $11. I think the only one that Napa has in-stock is a Delphi for $139.

RockAuto shows the Delphi for $94 and other brands for as cheap as $15 plus tax +$8 shipping.

I can only really compare the Delphi FE0150: $102 from RockAuto, $103 from CARid, $113 with AutohausAZ, $119 on eBay, $130 at AutoZone, and $139 at Napa.

Strangely, some sites say that isn't the right part, like CARid, which redirects me to the same part. An eBay seller says that is for a 1995 - 1997 Metro. The part that some sites show for a 1998 is the 0415, which is $73 at BottomDollar, the same price on eBay (no returns), $90 on Amazon, $95 on RockAuto (plus shipping), $110 at AutoZone

Now for the beauty shots!




https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...4985333915263/

Check out that trendy & therefore value-increasing patina!

I found the following in my hours of research for a car that I may never buy. However, I only found references to Metro's checklist:

Geo Metro owners are a proud lot. Like the Dwarves in Tolkein’s Hobbit, they are a close tribe fiercely protective of their cars and three-cylinder artisanship. They are dismissive of pretenders — ahem, like the Mirage and Smart — that fail to live up to the three’s fuel efficiency potential. The 1.0-liter Smart gets only 36 mpg? Amateur.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...etro/14719791/