Cheap cars that are worth the cash.... A pipe dream?

Dr_Pentium · Rated R Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 58 Location: Toronto

So here's the deal, i'm pretty much broke from school payments, and i need a car.. Something under say 5 grand.. I'm in Canada but lets say under 5000usd...

What kind of cars are actually in my range.. Something that also looks decent.. I've seen some Sunfires on auto sites, like a 97 GT going for about 2700 in private deals with 124 thousand km (not miles), are they worth it? or am i looking at tons of nagging issues?

Civics would be nice but they still seem to be on the higher end of that price range

any ideas?

computers electronics, and human resources sure lol but cars? i know jack all

what do you guys suggest?

Spire · Posted: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:07:04 Post Subject:

In your price range and just for the purpose of having reliable transportation, look at getting a Toyota anything or a Honda anything.

You may end up with more miles on one to keep them in your price range, but I would rather have a Honda/Toyota with 140,000 miles on it than a Sunfire (or almost any american car) with 100,000 miles.

A small two wheel drive truck can often be one of the best buys out there.

You are going to get so many opinions asking a question like this. I know for a fact that Cheeze will argue with my recommendations!!! Hehehe

BeerCheeze · Posted: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:06:20 Post Subject:

Personally I've had HORRIBLE luck with Toyota's (had both a car and a truck that I could barely keep on the road). The Toyota truck my Dad had when I was in H.S. is, as last I knew, still running though... so who knows?

Yes, I know a lot about cars as I was a licensed auto mechanic. So I can say... it can be just a matter of luck on a used car. Be they Domestic or Foreign they both can be lemons or golden.

Best thing you can do is:

1) Look at the person selling (if you are buying from a person and not a dealer) the car - If they aren't well maintained, what are the odds they kept their car maintained.

2) If buying from the dealer, look at a lot of cars not just the one you want to buy. Look to see what the dealer has done to them. If the engine compartment has been steam cleaned you just lost your best visual for seeing if there are leaks. So ask what their warranty is, if none keep looking.

3) Check the inside and outside and best you can, ask for maintenance, records if they have them (If they do, you're likely in good shape). If they don't have them then you're going to have to take the car into a mechanic and have them evaluate the car for you. I would suggest this anyways. There is no question, or visual inspection that can find the things that a mechanic can.

4) TAKE THE CAR TO A MECHANIC!! Only they can tell you what could be wrong. Things like being able to hook up to the car's computer system can give them a lot of information that is not attainable any other way. As well as they can do compression test, check the oil, and other fluids (brake, tranny, etc) check the life left on the breaks, and hopefully find any possible tranny problems.

Because of the finical position you are in getting a good reliable car is even more important, and they are out there.

Here's another idea... if you for example have that $5k in cash, and you have a job (or other sources of income... hooking, drug dealing, stealing from drunks, etc...) and you have someone that is willing to co-sign for you... Consider a new car. Nothing fancy, but something like a Kia, Hyundai, Saturn, and Ford all have cars under $15K. So if you put $5k down, you'd be looking at around $250 a month in payments at most (depending on the deal you can get, and the financing you could get 4 yrs of payments for under $200).

You're monthly cost will of course be more for the new car, but you won't have to worry about any problems as you will have it all under warranty. You also start establishing your credit, which when you are out of school can be a real help to have some good established credit.

mrweasel · Posted: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:34:33 Post Subject:

I've had good luck with CarMax, but not sure if they're north of the border

Spire · Posted: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:20:21 Post Subject:

I agree with Cheeze, there are good options for incredibly low priced NEW cars.

Sometimes with careful shopping you can order a stripped down Ford Ranger pickup with rubber floor mats, FM radio, and maybe even delete the bumpers and end up right over 10 grand, put 5 down and your looking at NOTHING for a monthly payment.

Sometimes you can work a deal with no or maybe under 2% interest, even cheaper monthly payments.

Trade that bad boy off after 5 years and buy something nicer.

FOX · Posted: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:35:12 Post Subject:

im looking at a secondary car around the same price... ive found a lot of vehicles but i think im going to go with a bmw 325i for about 4400... its an 03 with like 110ish which is fine to me since at that point all of the maintenance issues should be over with for now (hopefully)