I want a fuel efficient, reliable car that can with stand a lot of shit and is cheap. I really don't care if it looks like shit...at the same time I don't want a guaranteed death if I ever get hit. Any suggestions.
mid 90's honda civic? Thats what I srive right now and Im getting around 30-40 miles per gallon on it. Its not too powerful, but it gets the job done. What sucks though is on my daily commute, I have to drive through some mountains and it sucks going uphill. Only thing is they may be a bit pricey since they are so gas efficient and Hondas are known to be reliable.
My wife and I are test driving a Honda Fit today, it will possibly be the replacement for her '95 Nissan Maxima. $16,705 fully loaded and about 37 mpg on the highway. Hell, If I could talk her into it, I would trade my '03 Suzuki Aerio in and get one as well. That might be out of your price range though.
Yeah I heard that too when I first got mine, but seeing as how Toyota and Honda have their own plants here building their cars, its not really true, I mean, maybe if you live in a small rural city I could see that being the case, but imo I find that becoming less and less true.
A Honda? I found out the other day at work, they're easy as hell to park... You should've seen the old bag that got out of that thing... NO business behind any wheel.
...as an interesting side note, a patron of the restaurant that this happened in front of, not only observed the whole incident, but decided to stay and finish his meal, while knowing that his *stolen* car was parked outside (close to the parked cop car in the picture,) - WITH an ounce of coke in the center console. One of the cops that showed up at the scene was a K9 unit.
The mazda 3 is an excellent car, not too pricey, very dependable and you have a plethora of options. This would be my choice new (Im actually thinking of getting rid of my Integra to get one). If you are going used, a Honda/Acura is your best bet. I sold my 93 Civic Ex 2-door pwr wdo/locks/sunroof 5-sp for 2700.00. It had the single overhead cam V-tec D16, probably the worst mileage Civic you can get, but it got 30mpg easy, decent power (the v-tec helps). If you are looking at mileage alone you'd want to get a DX or LX model in the 92-95 body style, they have the 1.5 liter 4cyl and will get you closer to 40mpg. No matter how many miles are on it. Honday parts arent that bad. If you go through Honda yes, they will be pricey, but you dont have to worry about changing the same part every 18months.
Mitsubishi's in general are getting a much better name and resell value over here with their new 10 year warranty. My Beetle cost me approx. AUD $30K with 12 months rego in 2005 and she hasn't missed a beat. I've kept her fully serviced and only feed her premium.
Mitsubishi doesnt hold it's value here. They drop pretty quick. So do the Hyundai and Kia brands. They are all offering the 100k warranties now. I think that is too just bolster sales, it's non-transferable and they are betting on people not keeping their cars that long, If 1 in 100 does it pays off for them. If 90 out of 100 does they are going to get screwed. I am sure they have some kind of 'must bring vehicle to dealer for all service and what not' stipulations attached.
Camrys are excellent cars but to get decent mpg you're going to have to get the four cylinder version and not drive it like a race car. I'd go with a volkswagen rabbit s, you can get them new for well under 20 grand, and they (VWs) have the best resale value on the market.
If you want a brand new car, I think a Nissan Sentra is the best deal going. The Versa is the cheapest, but if you start to add shit to it to make it nicer, the Sentra ends up cheaper and it looks way better. I have to disagree about the Mazda3. The interior looks cheap and outdated and you have to pay an extra 1k for air conditioning... you don't have to do that with GMs, Suzukis or Nissans. Dodge will charge you 1k for air conditioning too, as will Kia. If you want a good used car, I'd look into a Nissan... maybe a used Sentra, but I personally like the 240SX. They are good on gas and they look nice (first generation 1989-1994 looks the best), but they don't fair too well in the snow. I learned to drive a stick in one. I loved that car. Or you could get a 300ZX. Those cars will always look good. But since you don't care about looks, I'd look into a Sentra or an older Maxima.
Oh, and the 240SX and 300ZX might be deathboxes. I don't know. Maybe you shouldn't listen to me. I am drawn to the deathbox cars.
The altima is a good car as well, I actually like the way the new 2-door version looks like a shrunken 350z. The 240 is a nice car, the 300z would probably get you out of the affordable used car range.
I found a '96 ZX for around 6k last summer. It was tempting. It was black and gorgeous but it had leather seats and I can't do leather. They might all have leather, so I may never buy one. Go to autotrader.com and look. It's the best tool to see what kind of cars are in your price range and you can get really picky with it to narrow the results. I love that website. Anyone like the new Jeep Compasses? I was curious about their gas mileage.
I havent seen the compass (or driven it) I was interested in the calibre (or whatever) for a downsize SUV, but I think the Escape or CRV would be a better deal. I like autotrader.com as well, but I think they dont post all the vehicles on it. I have picked up a paper copy and found more vehicles than the ones posted on the site, of course they may have been sold by print time as well. I have had no luck on ebay with vehicles, they dont really go for a deal, unless they are complete turds. I have found some interesting stuff on www.govdeals.com as far as old government vehicles and police impounds are concerned. How come drug dealers cant have cool cars like in the movies.
I'd like a Honda Pilot but I don't think anyone is clamoring to buy my gas-guzzling Yukon from me right now.
I am utterly confused as to why American, and asian, automakers havent caught on to the half ton diesel SUV or truck. It doesnt have to be heavy duty, just reasonable. If they can get them in Iraq they can get them here, how many diesel vehicles did you see while there? They are everywhere. If we can make bio-diesel out of corn, well sugar is more efficient, but hell start making some domestic diesel vehicles and give us an option.
