Top 5 cheap cars to start with?

[gone.2]

early 80s VW Rabbit?

[demidestructo]

Please I beg of you don't get a geo metro ,unless you like the snickers.My friend used to have 3 of those things ,the reason he got to three was .Something would go wrong it was cheaper to buy another car with a good part then it was to buy the part or close to it. Those things are junk the doors are tin can thin. I watched my friend get stuck in a snodrift going down the road,pathetic... His horn cover was a different color and we said it was the tear collector because of the shame in driving said geo. If you really hate life and want everyone to laugh at you,buy a geo aka sham-o,

[mechman600]

1. Toyota Echo. They are ugly as sin so nobody wants them. And dead reliable IF service records are available. I have heard of a few 1NZ-FE motors packing it in early when oil change intervals have been abused even slightly. Canada got the Echo Hatchback starting in 2004 (if I remember correctly). I bought one in 2004 brand new and it was a fun car and less ugly.

2. Toyota Corolla (2003-2008). Simple cars that ride and feel 100X better than same year Civics. Excellent highway mileage with a 5-speed.

[CFECO]

Pontiac Fiero. I had a first year 2m4, 4 speed and got 30mpg easily. Now days they ARE cheap, fairly easy to work on, many parts available including Aero kits.

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by 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,

i agree with accesorys giving trouble, but my zx2 was manual everything except locks and the alarm no longer works nor does the A/C. one thing to add about escorts is even though the sedan and zx2 both had 2.0l motors they were different motors, meaning motor issues wouldnt be directly related

[EchoBallin]

Toyota Echo manual trans. Very ugly, usually very cheap, and Im getting sub 50 mpg with mods. (my instrumentation is currently off) You can get 40's all day if you even make an attempt at driving economically. They're oddly fun to drive and have a lot of interior space too.

[mechman600]

^^^^Best user name yet.

[Allch Chcar]

First Gen Focus. The SOHC get the best MPG but they tend to drop valves. It's a domestic so you can find the 2000-2004 models fairly cheap. I've seen upper trim ZX3s going for $2-$3k.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by demidestructo

Please I beg of you don't get a geo metro ,unless you like the snickers.My friend used to have 3 of those things ,the reason he got to three was .Something would go wrong it was cheaper to buy another car with a good part then it was to buy the part or close to it. Those things are junk the doors are tin can thin. I watched my friend get stuck in a snodrift going down the road,pathetic... His horn cover was a different color and we said it was the tear collector because of the shame in driving said geo. If you really hate life and want everyone to laugh at you,buy a geo aka sham-o,

Them's fightin' words!

Also some of them words are demonstrably untrue.

Also! I suspect most people around here don't give a rat's behind what other people think of their cars.

When I bought this car, I wanted to dive into the fuel economy champion pool (non-hybrid end). It was Metro-clone or VX for me. (VX's had mostly rusted away; none to be found.)

I've only ever bought used cars, and of the 20+ I've owned, my two Fireflies (Metros) -- first '97, current '98 -- have been the most reliable cars of the herd. And yes, I was just as surprised as you no doubt are. Because, yes, they are lightly built and feel flimsy. But they're well engineered and will last beyond 300k kms with proper care. Rust will get 'em before mechanical gremlins.

Like any old, cheap car, it's only as good as the care it received up until it came into your life!

[bhazard]

Anyone who claims that the 2.0 SPI SOHC Ford engine has no problems clearly has no idea what they are talking about. Those things dropped valve seats like crazy.