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Smart Shopper Selecting and Buying My First Car
764 messages, Last post on Aug 17, 2009 at 12:29 PM
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Replying to: suydam (Jul 30, 2007 6:55 am) One other question. How is the Chevy/(Geo?) Prizm? Is this the same car as the toyota corolla? They seem to sell for WAY cheaper then the corolla's.
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Replying to: gtpoompt (Jul 30, 2007 6:45 am) You may be able to find a car for $4k that will last you 3-4 years without a lot of problems. Ten years is very doubtful. Components fail as much due to age as mileage. A $4k car will be about 7-8 years old. You have to decide what is really important - gas mileage, reliability, longevity and focus on that. The Crown Vic will last a long time but the mileage is not great but they are cheap to fix. Smaller cars will probably not last as long but will get better mileage. As for learning auto mechanics, my brother was a mechanic 15 years ago and has all the tools. He takes his cars into shops as he lacks all of the diagnosis equipment. Modern cars require a lot more than the beasts of the past. |
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>You may be able to find a car for $4k that will last you 3-4 years without a lot of problems. Ten years is very doubtful. < Not necessarily, especially if you drive less than 7000 miles per year. If you get a used car in pretty good shape it could indeed last, maybe not 10 years, but surely 7 or 8. My son drove the wheels off a '90 Mazda -- like over 15,000 miles a year as a full time college student--for 5 years and it was still running when we sold it. My other son has a '98 Le Sabre with only 68,000 miles (bought used in 2001 with only 30,000 miles on it!) that should last him several more years. Like the above poster, he doesn't take as many long road trips. Yes, Chevy Prism is a good choice, as is also the Mazda Protege.
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Replying to: suydam (Jul 30, 2007 9:38 am) |
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Replying to: gtpoompt (Jul 30, 2007 8:19 am) They have different body panels, and perhaps batteries and stereos, but are identical otherwise. Bulletproof cars, mostly, and extremely economical gas-wise. Stay away from the 3-speed automatic if at all possible, unless you never go over 60 mph. |
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| I should've mentioned this in my earlier post. I am currently trying to decide between a 2002 Infiniti G20 with approx 67k miles on it or a 2001 Honda Civic with approx 86k miles on it. I will need to drive about 30 miles each day, round trip, so fuel economy means a lot to me, but so does reliability. I'm a bit reluctant on the Infiniti because I heard its auto trans is a bit weak, but I thought I'd ask for your input first. Both are around the same cost. Which would car do you think would be better for me? | |
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Replying to: newb1 (Jul 30, 2007 7:10 pm) |
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Replying to: newb1 (Jul 30, 2007 7:10 pm) call your insurance company. which would be the cheaper to insure? have you seen, driven both vehicles? what is their relative condition based on visual inspection? any idea of the state of the brakes / tires? was regular maintenance performed? are all the civic's VIN stickers on all the doors, trunk, hood, front and rear-end present and match? question to consider, what is the recommended maint on the timing belt for the civic? is it 90K or 100K? has it been done? that's a good chunk of change. if buying something used private party, or from a dealer, no matter the vehicle, i'd personally demand you have the ability to bring it to an independant shop to have it looked over as a pre-condition of the sale. and i'd pay the $50, $75, $100 (not sure) it might cost to have it checked out. i'd also pay the $25 to run a carfax on each. it's not foolproof, but you don't need to purchase a vehicle that has been reported to be in an accident or been flood damaged. |
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Replying to: newb1 (Jul 30, 2007 7:10 pm) think of it this way, at 30 miles per day, you'll get over 2 years of driving out of the Infiniti before it even reaches the starting miles on that Civic.
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Replying to: qbrozen (Jul 31, 2007 5:20 am) |
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