Top 5 cheap cars to start with?

[War_Wagon]

+1 for reliability. A newer Focus may give me slightly better FE than my '90 CX, but I know that unless the CX is currently on fire it will always start ha ha. In an under $3000 car you want as simple as possible while still being fuel injected IMO.

As for hybrids, it depends on what you are looking for. A 2000-2006 Insight will function without a working battery pack. A similar Prius will not. I don't know about early Civic hybrids etc, but I am sure someone else here will.

And as for the Escorts, I think they all had the head gasket issue. The early Focuses shared the same engine for the first few years until they went to the Z-Tec. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

I did rent a Kia Shuma to tour the Azores island of Flores. The car was mediocre, to put it nicely. Nearly left me stranded because it could not climb a hill in reverse. Had to roll it down an ever steeper grading road to a rocky beach to find a turning point; finally turned it around in a ditchlike alley, covering the inside with mud in the process by a spinning wheel (we had the windows open... bad mistake!)

It sounds quite odd to me that you've experienced problems with a Kia. At least the ones I've seen in Brazil and Uruguay were not so bad altough often the owners abused them a little. Well, maybe the ones I've seen didn't have that problem with hills due to a lower differential ratio which is usual back here...

[RedDevil]

Nowadays Kia shares their platforms with Hyundai and score well in customer reviews.
Older Kias that's another story. I was interested in the Shuma and delighted I could rent one (in 2004). There was al lot more wrong with it than just the reverse gear of course.
As a rental it might have fallen short on TLC, but I can see through that.
I drove a 60 hp '86 VW Golf Diesel at the time, my standards were not that high.

We do have a Hyundai I10 (AKA Kia Picanto) that has had 2 power steering failures under warranty, but the dealer (who sold hundreds of them) claims ours is the only one with that problem. All replaced under warranty, with free courtesy car. No cost whatsoever (save regular service and gas) on the I10 so far; quite happy with it esp. since we won it in a lottery!

[radioranger]

That was a problem with all the early 80's 1.6 models,till around 84 or so , the 1.9 was pretty good if you changed the anti freeze every 3 yrs or so , the 2.0's have no big problems , except I've heard the ZX2 had some issues, but the plain jane sedans are pretty good and cheap to boot. 1000 for a really nice looking one . mine was a find as it was a west coast car with fresh paint and zero body rust, for 1100, have 194 k now and running fine, all the accessorys eventually give trouble, except the AC so far, but fun to drive and averaging over 40 mpg on 75% highway running,

[Frank Lee]

Festivas were Kias and they were nice, simple, sturdy units.

[RedDevil]

That particular Kia (Pride) was a Mazda 121 in its earlier life.
I'd rather compare the Festiva to the Mazda than that Kia, not that the Prides were bad or such - only when Kia started designing their own cars did it go bad. For a while.

[justme1969]

A late 90s tercel with stick. would be my answer. Bullet proof!
Then a mid 90s 4cyl 5 spd maxima. Bomb proof.
then early 90s models honda 5 spd.
Then metros / swifts
Then I will say lastly probes and other fords /mazdas with 4 cyl. 5 spd.
early - mid 90s escorts /323 etc were power houses but with oversized tires can pull down fair mpg.
I wouldnt recomend KIAs except for people versed in complex auto electric and valvetrain repairs. My sephia always has something wrong but parts are dirt cheap and the darn thing still never completely left me stranded.
I also beat the snot out of it... did I mention parts are cheap?? theres ya sign.

[Xist]

I had a friend with a 1997 Kia Sportage whose dad constantly said that Kia was supposed to make them for Ford, who backed out, so Kia sold them under their own label, and when those were successful, Mazda made the Tribute and then Ford had the Escápe.

You speak human?

According to the dad, Kia made the Sportage better because it was supposed to be a Ford, so the same might apply to the Aspire.

[elhigh]

There's a '98 Civic for sale in Allentown, asking price $1550. Needs brake line for front wheels, it says. But it also specifies 30mpg combined, I know you could beat that.

[Superfuelgero]

When I was looking earlier this year, I was surprised to find Toyota Echos in that price range (around 2k). Seems they were forgotten due to the name change (tercel-echo-yaris). Then I found my vx for 1300, no contest. Whatever you get, if you want a deal, have cash in hand, and be ready to drive at a moments notice.