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First car
Sanius
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So i'm saving up to get my first car, I plan to have it in about three months. In this time I should gather up about $2000-$2500. More if my hours stay consistent at work. I want to know what you guys recommended I do for a first car, or what kind I should look at. And what are good sites for used deals around my area and how to get reports for them so I don't get one with a wrecked transmission?
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Carmax is a good place to start to see reports of used cars. That's where i went for mine.
PS: Don't buy a FORD. Go Japanese, they are better on gas mileage (normally) and hardly break down.
When you're ready to buy a car you can get an account at Carfax for $30 to do unlimited reports for 1 month. This will let you check to see if the cars you're looking at have had any accidents/major problems reported.
Used Honda Civics are a good bet as they tend to be pretty sturdy and will go run for a lot of miles. Doing a quick check on craigslist for your price range in my area shows 10 or so used Civics in the past month. Most of these are at 150k+ miles and are early-mid 90s cars.
I personally have had decent luck with late-80s and early-90s Ford Escorts, but they're more of a crap shoot with whether or not they'll have a lot of problems.
I would go with a mid 90's civic. Before they made them heavier, they got amazing gas mileage. The '92 civic I drove still got 42 mpg 10 years later.
Also, a late 80's Ford is a Ford that is approaching 20 years old. I wouldn't trust it.
Well, admittedly that's true. I'm pretty bad with actually considering the passage of time. It was about 6-7 years ago when I was driving that late 80-s escort, so yeah I probably wouldn't try buying one now.
But for the past 6-7 years, we've been driving a 93 escort wagon with remarkably few major problems.
Sorry, that's probably not much help, but if it were friend or family I'd recommend that. And I'm assuming you are a young and rather inexperienced driver? If so, definitely try to get those safety items. I'd say wait and save up more if you have to.
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Mine is a 1990 Civic, still runs great. My roommate, who's a car guy, said that based off of when he drove it, he thinks it's good for at least another 5 years. 215k miles on it.
There ya go. Consumer Reports is fucking awesome.
They are practically indestructible.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Keep an eye on your local Craigslist and classifieds as well as those within a couple hours drive of you.
I'd go for a used Sentra or maybe a Lancer. Civics and Corollas are great cars but they've gotten such a reputation they're overpriced for the money.
As a wild ass aside, a 5.0 Mustang can typically be had in that cost range and will guarantee hours of amusement for any red-blooded American boy. That, and the 302 is cheap, plentiful, easy to fix, and bullet-proof.
I learned manual on my third car. Wasn't too hard to pick up. Plus, depending if you like driving, I find driving a manual a lot more fun. You're just a lot more engaged in the act of driving. Much harder to do other things while driving though - cell phone or eating, for example. But you shouldn't really be doing those things while driving anyways.
If you would be so kind as to tell us your location, we could possibly help point you the right direction for a first car.
That said, I'd still recommend a Honda Civic just because it seems to be the stereotypical first car because it's fairly simple, and therefore there isn't very much that can go wrong with it.
Hyundai's from the 90's are generally looked upon as crap, but my dad bought a 1990 Hyundai Sonata in 2000 and kept it until 2 or 3 years ago. He didn't put a single dollar into it and it was over 300k, and from what I understand it is still running today (he donated it to Teen Challenge.) I do have to admit though, the power windows stopped working and one of the doors was permanently jammed, but in terms of just an A-B car it still worked.
Generally, what I think it boils down to is looking at the specific car you like. If you have a friend or relative who is a mechanic, take them with you to check out the engines and stuff. Sure, pay attention to the "I had a _____ and it lasted forever" testimonials, but remember that that doesn't matter at all if the car you buy is falling apart already.
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Personal anecdotal evidence, speaking as someone who works in the auto repair industry, tells me that this just isn't true. Maybe brand new cars, but if you are talking used, Japanese is the way to go.
I personally dig the 1989 Honda Accord, 2-door, 5-speed. Fuel injected is easier to maintain and gets marginally better gas mileage. They can be had for under $2000, and mine went 140,000 miles without even an oil change. (Meaning, if you behave in a manner contrary to the idiotic ways I did, it'll go a long fucking time)
The reliability faults of American cars have largely been corrected over the last 15 years.
My first car was an 88 Chevy Corsica. Held up very well. Had one problem with an engine chip that kept going out causing the car to stall frequently at stoplights. Sold it.
My second car was a 2000 Toyota Camry. Good car, but very boring. Strangely, had a very similar problem with stalls. Toyota service department was top-notch - friendly, very willing to go the extra mile with service - but they never could isolate the problem. Sold it.
My current car - 2007 Mustang. Love this car. No service problems yet. Ford service has been good so far but I would still say not quite as professional as Toyota's. No problem, I love the car and it's been great to me.
I agree that the majority of American car's reliability problems have been fixed more recently, and that some of the older models are less reliable, but it also annoys the living hell out of me when someone thinks that because they buy a Honda or insert any Asian car manufacturer here its going to last forever and never have anything wrong with it.
Example: My uncle bought a new Honda Civic (2006 I think) and put Diesel in it instead of regular gas like he should have. He was outraged that it wasn't working, his reasoning was "ITS A HONDA THEY NEVER BREAK." And I realise that is an over the top case and largely an exception, but there are alot of people who fall just short of this belief in the reliability of Hondas.
First car: Mazda Protoge (1991ish) -> Never once had to replace anything on the car in the two years I had it. But it was old, and showing its age.
Second car: Dodge Neon (1996) -> Faster and had more horsepower. Awesome? No. Had to repair every few months, and then eventually it wouldn't start (on the day after Thanksgiving, no less (worked retail)). I pushed it to the Dodge dealer and they said the engine died, and to replace it would cost thousands. Awesome. I took my shit out of my car and left it there.
Third car: (current) Ford Contour (1996) -> Got a great deal for this car. Bought it from my fiance's brother. Within a month I had to replace the window motor on the passenger side window. $400. Few months later battery died. $cheap. Then my struts broke. ~$500. Then my brake lines were busted (car wouldn't get to a complete stop, that was scary) and they had to rerun all the wires. $500. Then the timing belt busted... That was another $300. Just recently brought in my car to get the alignment checked... Apparently the inside of the tires were torn to hell, and some other things. $800. They told me to keep an eye on the transmission. Oh and I haven't had AC for months, and the car is overheating every two weeks (coolant on the car is bone dry after a week and a half).
So I would like to reiterate: Fuck. American. Cars.
No no no no no no no. No J-Bodies. No. J-Bodies are never the right answer.
More to the point of the OP, just look around and see what you like in that price range. As has been said, consider the conditions you'll be driving in. If you're in a snowy area, you may not want a powerful rwd car as your only car, if you're in the mountains or some such you may even want an awd something or other such as a subarau. Most cars these days will last forever as long as you do the proper regular maintenance. I personally recommend getting a little fwd 4cyl - a focus, a civic, whatever, for your first car. While getting something fast is what we all want, I and everyone I know did a lot of dumb shit with our first cars, and I'm glad we all did them in slower cars and cars we weren't terribly upset about fucking up.
J-Bodies are what people in my area buy when they want a Civici but want to buy a 100% made in American Apple Pie Cheesburger Stars and Stripes Car. There are so many ratty Cavaliers in my area it's not even funny.
Yeah, your Uncle is just incredibly bad with cars. That would happen with any vehicle of any make or model. I've never heard of someone expecting their gasoline powered car to run on diesel.
The 98 Pontiac Sunfire here looks like a pretty nice deal, but I can't really get anything like that or a bit, but for $2000, it looks like what I would want for that price.
I'm really stupid when it comes to cars though, can I get some basic car terminology, so I know what to look for?
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