Hola. Please help me buy a car.

[synergy]

Originally Posted by brett701

HERE IS THE SUMMARY.
I Tried to clean it up for you.

I've contacted everyone.

CAR A
Honda Insight Hybrid EX Civic 2010
I'd like to get the price down on this to $7500
6365798240
https://plus.google.com/u/0/10240334...45103451714828
https://plus.google.com/u/0/10240334...45103451714828

CAR B $4995 from Breckenridge Motors
2004 Pontiac Vibe GT 4dr Wagon
Top choice at the moment. Hopefully can get for $4,200.
The main concerns:
What is the tire condition, newer breaks on the car?, when was the cat converter changed? Will I need a timing belt change & has it been changed?
(314) 690-2962

CAR C $3199
2004 Pontiac Vibe
Has new tires & new cat converter.
618-650-9040 must call her.

CAR D $3350
2005 Pontiac Vibe
Tires look warn.
660-827-4339 or 660-826-1434

CAR E $4000
2007 Pontiac vibe
This is a curious price. She took this car in on a trade and did repairs to it. She is looking to trade again.
She put new tires, new front brakes,new cat converter, new wipers.
It needs windshield.(That's reason it is $4000)

CAR F $4500
REDUCED ! 2009 Pontiac Vibes
2009. Seems like too good of a price.

The car has been regularly serviced, oil changes,air filter,tires rotated, rear brakes new rotors 7000 miles ago, new battery 3 months ago, alternator last year, transmission flushed 4000 miles ago. I have taken good care of the car. The only thing that doesn't work is the horn ( it started sounding funny then quit, so I'm sure it just needs a new horn) but There are no other issues or pending problems with the car. It is tight and drives down the road very good. It has the same motor and body as the Toyota Matrix so parts are readily available for the entire car. If you have any other question give me a call (217) 821-7308 (Effingham,IL)

CAR G $3400
2005 Pontiac Vibe aka Toyota Matrix - Sunroof - Automatic
some hail damage & paint fade
Brand new brakes
Don't know about the cat
Tires are only 5 months old
Don't know about timing belt
5 minutes from my house.

Its the same engine as the corolla.... You think toyota would shove a belt in that thing!

Its chain driven meant to last the life of the motor. Doesnt need servicing.

[brett701]

Originally Posted by synergy

Its the same engine as the corolla.... You think toyota would shove a belt in that thing!

Its chain driven meant to last the life of the motor. Doesnt need servicing.

What do you think of the alternate automatic vibe options?

[synergy]

How we lookin?

And I only like the vibe for 2 reasons. Its a toyota at heart. But has the resale of a car brand that went bankrupt.

[darcane]

Did you buy one?

Originally Posted by brett701

HERE IS THE SUMMARY.
I Tried to clean it up for you.

CAR A
Honda Insight Hybrid EX Civic 2010
I'd like to get the price down on this to $7500

CAR B $4995 from Breckenridge Motors
2004 Pontiac Vibe GT 4dr Wagon

CAR C $3199
2004 Pontiac Vibe

CAR D $3350
2005 Pontiac Vibe

CAR E $4000
2007 Pontiac vibe

CAR F $4500
REDUCED ! 2009 Pontiac Vibes

CAR G $3400
2005 Pontiac Vibe aka Toyota Matrix - Sunroof - Automatic

Your needs seem to be all over the map. If color is critical, what colors are not OK?

For someone with little mechanical aptitude, high mileage cars have got to be off the table. You'll kill your finances in repair bills taking it to a mechanic, especially as you rack up the miles.

CAR A $8500 - Above budget and miles are still kinda high.
CAR B $4995 - A little high on miles.
CAR C $3199 - 215k miles? No...
CAR D $3350 - How many miles? Blurry pics, but looks OK.
CAR E $4000 - How many miles? Off-color fender indicates an accident.
CAR F $4500 - It's new enough that these are likely lots of long trips which are easier... but I'd still have a hard time recommending this one.
CAR G $3400 - High on miles.

Better options?
2004 Toyota Corolla
2007 Toyota Corolla LE 95k silver
08 yaris
I'm not a big fan of Ford, but this Focus seems to be priced well:
05 Ford Focus

The Civics I looked at are either high miles or high price until you get back to '01-'05 which I can't recommend (too many problems with mine...) Avoid VW and older Hyundai/Kia.

[brett701]

Originally Posted by synergy

How we lookin?

And I only like the vibe for 2 reasons. Its a toyota at heart. But has the resale of a car brand that went bankrupt.

I checked out the insight. It was a very shoddy fix. the lights were not flush with the bumper on one side. I could see a screw inbwetween a light and the bumper(the wrong type of screw).

The car seemed to have excess wear on one of the tires which makes me think it's misaligned. So i am done with the insight unless I can get it for like 5500.

I have contacted the owners and have new information that you may be able to deduce better than I what is really going on.


CAR D
A bus driver woman had a mechanic put a ne motor in the car because she didn't change her oil. The new motor put in the car has 100,000 miles on it and the car has 190,000 miles on it. The car was repossessed and he bought it from a bus driver lady in town.

CAR E
She took this car in on a trade. He sold his $14,000 truck and got the pontiac vibe and some cash. He apparently has cancer & needs to pay for his treatments. Now he is selling this car to pay for his cancer treatments. The nice part about this car is the newer parts already on it. It seem around 170,000 this vibe is needing a cat converter.
new cat converter, has newer tires, new battery, new wipers.
It needs a windshield.

CAR F
The car has been regularly serviced, oil changes,air filter,tires rotated, rear brakes new rotors 7000 miles ago, new battery 3 months ago, alternator last year, transmission flushed 4000 miles ago. I have taken good care of the car. The only thing that doesn't work is the horn ( it started sounding funny then quit, so I'm sure it just needs a new horn) but There are no other issues or pending problems with the car. It is tight and drives down the road very good. It has the same motor and body as the Toyota Matrix so parts are readily available for the entire car. If you have any other question give me a call (217) 821-7308 (Effingham,IL)

CAR G
Local car. I bet it will need cat converter soon since he knew nothing about it really. It has brand new brakes.


Those 2 reasons are the reasons I like it as well. Very Very Economical move.



-

[synergy]

Originally Posted by darcane

Did you buy one?



Your needs seem to be all over the map. If color is critical, what colors are not OK?

For someone with little mechanical aptitude, high mileage cars have got to be off the table. You'll kill your finances in repair bills taking it to a mechanic, especially as you rack up the miles.

CAR A $8500 - Above budget and miles are still kinda high.
CAR B $4995 - A little high on miles.
CAR C $3199 - 215k miles? No...
CAR D $3350 - How many miles? Blurry pics, but looks OK.
CAR E $4000 - How many miles? Off-color fender indicates an accident.
CAR F $4500 - It's new enough that these are likely lots of long trips which are easier... but I'd still have a hard time recommending this one.
CAR G $3400 - High on miles.

Better options?
2004 Toyota Corolla
2007 Toyota Corolla LE 95k silver
08 yaris
I'm not a big fan of Ford, but this Focus seems to be priced well:
05 Ford Focus

The Civics I looked at are either high miles or high price until you get back to '01-'05 which I can't recommend (too many problems with mine...) Avoid VW and older Hyundai/Kia.

Those are pretty decent recommendations. I like that corolla.

And his needs arn't all over the map... Hes looking for a car that needs to last 18 months that's good on gas and can spend anywhere from 0-7k to make it happen. He mentioned earlier 3k as a figure.

[synergy]

How about a mazda 3?

2006 MAZDA 3- Manual

That sounds pretty promising. Slight exterior imperfections but the Mazda 3s are pretty solid.

heres another not bad.

2005 MAZDA 3 SEDAN......

2010 Mazda 3 2.0
2010 51k miles for 8500 obo ^^

the 2.0L would be perfect. "some" of the older ones have the 2.0 or the 2.3 or even the 2.5l obviously smaller is better in your case.

[brett701]

Originally Posted by synergy

How about a mazda 3?

2006 MAZDA 3- Manual

That sounds pretty promising. Slight exterior imperfections but the Mazda 3s are pretty solid.

heres another not bad.

2005 MAZDA 3 SEDAN......

2010 Mazda 3 2.0
2010 51k miles for 8500 obo ^^

the 2.0L would be perfect. "some" of the older ones have the 2.0 or the 2.3 or even the 2.5l obviously smaller is better in your case.

Not in love with the Mazda. I rented one in California and swore I would never buy one. I just didn't trust them. If I were in that price range Id rather have a corolla used even though they aren't that exciting.

I am really liking the vibe GT if it's trustworthy. You sold me on that engine. I think it's awesome to go up to 8200 rpm and also drive at 2200.

I am going to make offers on some of these vibes even if they are exceptionally aggressive offers I'm still going to make them. I hope that the dealer will drop that GT price down to 4k.

It's just a matter of finding the right one and I don't know if that's possible.

I want high Gas mileage, minimal depreciation left, & reliability. I also think it would be cool to drive a stick for once in my life.

[dirtydave]

Why don't you take a step back and come up with a top 5 of what cars you do want.

[user removed]

My 92 Sentra is a great car with 175k miles when I bought it.

For $300.

7k miles later it's still a great car, but if the transmission blows up tomorrow, I won't spend $1500+ getting it rebuilt.

Your last post did not even mention the odometer readings on those cars you are considering or the potential for them to hit you with a huge repair bill and what you are paying for them will make that repair bill much more agonizing than me tossing a $300 car in the scrap heap.

Comapred to a Yaris with just about the identical mileage as your leased Altima for $6-7k.

Now add two years or another 45k miles to the Yaris. It STILL has barely passed 100k miles and it is still worth probably over $4k.

Do you think pushing one those Vibes over 200k miles is going to mean no repair cost whatsoever?

Good luck with that thinking and I really hope you avoid another upside down ownership experience.

regards
mech