Picking out a used car to buy

[The Atomic Ass]

I posted previously that I was looking at a Subaru, well, the deal on that fell through, so now I'm up in the air about what to look for.

My criteria is as follows:

• Should have a backseat. I usually need to haul either guitar equipment or people.
• MUST have a manual transmission.
• Must have a tunable computer.
• I'd really like to get something '96 or later, to use an SG, as I don't think I'd be able to work an MPGuino.
• I'd like to get something that will have good aeros to start off with.

So I figure a 10yo Camry, or perhaps an Accord? Any other other models to look at? (And as nice as it would be to find a 1.0L Metro, sadly, they are entirely unavailable in my area).

[taco]

what price range.

[Tygen1]

Domesticlly, the Ford Escort ZX2 is a solid car with good aero and mpg numbers. Being a Ford means they are cheaper than the Honda's or Toyota's. Parts are cheap and plentifull, especially if you don't mind shopping at the u-pull it's. My ATX got 34mpg on the highway when new, much much better than that now , the MTX's can do a little better. They can be tuned by the many Ford tunners who do Mustangs or Focus's. Anywhere from 1998 to 2003 is the same power train and they are cheap to get. I've got over 238,000 miles on mine and it is still a solid car. A fella on this site, got one with 100,000 miles for under $1600. Easy car to work on also. I changed my motor and trans, by myself, on my patio, in 12 hr's.
Hope this helps.

[ALS]

How about a 2000-2002 Ford Focus wagon or Saturn. Both can be had under $5K with low mileage.

[i_am_socket]

Skip the 2000 Focii. I had some serious "first model year blues". Can't go too wrong with a Honda or Toyota. A Pontiac Sunfire could likely be had pretty cheap as well.

[1337]

When I was in your position, originally wanted an Escort or ZX2, but I couldn't find a decent one in my area with a manual transmission. I eventually snapped up a Protege when I one showed up for sale in my area.

Corolla: Great MPG, but a bit pricey. Safe and reliable.

Civic: ditto Corolla. More mods available than Corolla. Beware, even beaten-to-hell Civics with lots of owners still command $2-3k, so you can't really get them as dirt cheap as Escorts.

Escort/ZX2: Buy it! Buy two! Very reliable. Play with kbb.com and you'll find that an '01ish Escort or ZX2 is less than half the price of a comparable Civic or Corolla. Even its platform-mate the Protege is significantly more expensive. Similar gearing to Protege. Don't look at Escorts before 1997; they're an older generation of somewhat lower quality and reliability.

Protege: Great car, probably the best handling of any of these. I own one myself, and based on my experience feels more solid than a Civic, Saturn, Sunfire, or Metro. My only gripe is that its geared rather low, so the engine spins a bit fast at highway speed. As a result of the gearing, a couple MPG less than some of the others.

Metro: I know a lot of ecomodders like them, but I test drove one, and I felt less safe than I do on my motorcycle. They're notoriously unsafe in terms of crash tests, so my fears seem to be justified. I thought I wanted a Metro until I tried driving one.

Sunfire, NO. Rotten car: awful reliability, poor durability, very uncomfortable.

Saturn: it'll start every time, but there are better deals for the money.

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by taco

what price range.

As cheap as possible. Since financing is non-existent for anyone without perfect credit right now, I have, lesse...


$0.37 and some pocket lint. I expect to have more as I save money, though.

[taco]

haha lint any buttons?

my sis has a 2002 protege 5 atx, nice car gets 29-30 with out trying, does rev high oin the highway 70mph is over 3k on the tach. it would gear out about the time the speedo stops (140mph)

i had a 97 lexus es300 v6 auto,(97+ was only auto and pushed 3k at 80mph) got over 30 several times with out trying. if u pull out easy it is in 4th by 20 mph and can push it self around all day.

zx2 only seen a few, saw my neighbor get pulled home today in his and it pecks like crazy.

cobalt/cavy, can be found cheap and for a reason wife had one when we met, it would toss its vent out on small bumps. car only had about 40k on it at the time she got rid of it for a used

00 cougar v6 auto, worst car ever made almost. sold it at 40k, car would cut out at high rpm very small got decent milage.

h0ow about mid 90 geo prism/ corrola can be found cheap good realiabily

neons can be had cheap also.



my grandfather has a matrix atx and get 36-37 mpg all the time.


go check out auto trader.

[whokilledthejams]

Avoid Foci entirely. They're garbage cars. The later Escorts, on the other hand, are pretty solid (not a surprise, being Mazda-based).

Old, non-basket-case Subarus that don't cost a fortune are hard to find, but are basically worth their weight in gold (and cheap to keep running, due to the interchangeability of Subaru parts-- all Legacies and Imprezas use the same drivetrain design, so you can swap a lot of parts around without a second thought, barring axle and driveshaft lengths). If you run into one again, jump on it. A few years ago, I was annoyed that my girlfriend missed out on a $300 first-gen Legacy that had a service history and only needed brake lines. She'd still be driving that if she got the cash together fast enough. They aren't the most efficient cars, but they're reliable, and easy and cheap to work on, as Japanese cars go.

[NachtRitter]

I'm also looking, so would be interested in further responses. I would agree with 1337's response regarding the Honda Civics... I've been finding a lot of beater Civics that have what seem to be unreasonably high prices...! If I do find a reasonable price, they are so beat that they aren't worth looking at...