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David writes: Hi Steve and Sajeev, I'm in high school and I need a car. Before anyone makes assumptions, I actually have a need for owning a vehicle. There is no public transportation where I live, my school doesn't have buses, and it'd be a long walk especially during the lengthy winter (which sort of rules out riding a bike too). My budget is about $1000 to 2000. I have been searching craigslist, eBay, and other car listings for a few months and now I'm pretty confused. Most of the cars I've found either have high mileage, over 150,000, seemingly major problems or are ridiculously overpriced. So far the SN95 Mustang V6, MKIII Jetta/GTi VR6 or I4, SAAB 900 non-turbo 2.3L, and other older Audi and Volvo products seem attractive to me. It has to have a manual transmission, achieve decent fuel economy and be at least relatively fun to drive. Fairly easy maintenance would be nice since I'm able to do some of the maintenance myself. This brings me to another question, how many miles are acceptable and if the AC doesn't work, which I'm fine with, how would that effect the value? I know people who have and have had very reliable Swedish, VW, Chrysler, and Ford manufactured products. Many of them took the cars well over 200,000 miles with very few problems. Though wiring and computer problems seem to be a downside of many European cars. I'm still worried about buying a used high mileage vehicle though. At this point I don't care too much about appearance since I like classics much better than anything made relatively recently. Are there any other cars I've overlooked? I'm not sure I'd buy a Honda since we've had several bad experiences with Civics and the local dealership. Toyotas are so irritatingly sedate and uncomfortable. I'm kind of suspicious of 90′s GM products, they seem to be hits or misses, the same with Nissans. I'm open to other makes like Chrysler (manual transmissions appear to be rare), Subaru and Mitsubishi although I can't say I know too much about the last too.
Steve Answers: Believe it or not, your criteria does open a lot more doors for you than the average car buyer. Most folks looking for a cheap car can't… 1) Perform basic maintenance
2) Operate a stick shift
3) Live without A/C. So where should you start? The owner. The prior owner(s) have a far greater impact on the quality and longevity of a vehicle than the brand. Find what interests you and then follow the used car buying guide we publish here 1 2 3 4. I will spare you the pointless lectures of "You don't need a car because…:". At this point in life you're old enough to be smart, and young enough to be stupid. Just like the rest of us. Good luck! Sajeev Answers: Thanks for writing, and for stopping the "you don't need a car" haters in their tracks. Here are two comments: 1) You are way too picky for what type of vehicle fits a $1000-2000 budget. It's nice to want things, but the reality is you can have a better car later. The concern of owning a money vacuum needs to be your top priority.
2) Every car at this price point is a needy machine. It doesn't matter if it's a transmission-eating Chrysler or a cherry Camry. That said, all of the vehicles you chose are particularly terrible when you consider the total cost of ownership. The European cars can easily need double or triple their purchase in repairs, especially if you can't fix the problem yourself. The Mustang, while I love anything remotely Fox-y, is gonna eat you alive in insurance costs. Stop looking for a home run, look for a double. I was lucky, as I had a cool old car when I turned 16 (a 1965 Ford Galaxie LTD hartop, black on black) as a family inheritance…but if I didn't, I'd looking for the cleanest, easiest to insure vehicle on the market with as much service history as you can find. At this age, condition is King. One more time: Condition is King!
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com |
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