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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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Hi partyboye1. It's always exciting to purchase one's first vehicle. I remember when I bought my first ride many moons ago. In your post you mentioned that you are in the market for a used vehicle with a price tag of less than $8,000. Here is a small list of vehicles that I would personally consider if I was in the market for a a used car below $8K: a Chevrolet Prizm, a late-90's Honda Civic, a late-90's Acura Integra, a late-90's Nissan Altima, and a late-90's Nissan Sentra to name a few. These all should be less than $8,000 and prove to be very reliable. I personally would rather buy a vehicle that was originally less expensive and has lower mileage than an older more expensive vehicle with high mileage. Edmunds.com has a couple of articles that I believe you will find very helpful in your search for a new vehicle. Definitely make sure to check out these: 10 Steps to Buying a Used Car and How to Get a Used Car Bargain - Part One: Identifying Your Target Cars & Arranging Financing, How to Get a Used Car Bargain Part Two - Part Two: Locating and Test-Driving Your Target Cars, and How to Get a Used Car Bargain - Part Three: Negotiating and Closing the Deal. Car_man Host Smart Shoppers / FWI Message Boards |
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| Hmmm...I'd go with a mid 90's acura Vigor. Legend to, but you should find some bargains on the Vigor. | |
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As a replacement for my recently crashed Legacy, I'm looking at the Chevy Prizm. The Prizm is a rebadged Toyota Corolla. Is cheap buy, cheap to run, cheap maintain. I've see several examples for with 35-45k priced from $6k to $7K |
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I think a Corolla / Prizm as well as a Civic or Impreza would be good suggestions for a first, used car except they certainly don't satify the OP's cars that look good, that are spacious, have excellent interiors by a long shot. I wouldn't count an Altima in there either. Perhaps a 626. - D. |
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Yes, the ubiqitous Prizm is probably still the best used-car bargain (had a 96, now drive a 02 manual). Mathias mentions it in his excellent car buying guide - I'll let him repost the URL if he wishes. But make sure you like it before you buy since you may be stuck with it for a long time. My 02, while bought inexpensively, reasonably peppy, ok on wet roads, and very economical fuelwise, has very cheap looking and feeling interior with annoying squeaks, and a substandard stereo (the latter can be replaced, of course). Its that interior of the 98-02 generation that's bugging me more than I expected it would. To be fair, the Corollas of that vintage are no better. Also, the insurance on the Prizm turned out to be unexpectedly high - more than on a 03 Accord! In retrospect, after driving in friends' cars, I realized I should have shelled an extra X thousand and bought a new or almost-new Protege . Also high insurance, parts and repair costs are greater than on a Prizm/Corolla, lower fuel economy, but a nicer car to drive, and hopefully (almost) as reliable as the Primrolla. Watched a private seller eBay auction recently for a 02 Pro5 with 25k that sold for 8.5k; I was very tempted to bid on it and try to sell the Prizm, but was able to restrain myself, as car trading is usually a very expensive hobby for an individual. |
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A lot of compacts are being mentioned, but you did ask for spacious so I'd stay with mid-sizers. Altima, Maxima, Accord, Camry, Legacy/Outback, and 626. Half of those even came as wagons, if you want more space and a roof rack. Caveat on that last one, avoid 4 cylinder automatics, that CD4E tranny is awful. You could look at Acura and Lexus, but to be honest they'd have to be older and/or higher miles. -juice |
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| Late 90's seem to be better made than the more recent ones, 4 cyl in 140 and 160 hp available. Can be had (much) cheaper than all of the midsizes on the list with a possible exception of a 626. | |
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One things I hated about cars from the early 90s was the motorized mice seat belts that came on some cars with no air bags. They were so incredibly annoying, you could not give me a car with those (if I had to drive it). I think the 626 got air bags in 1993. Not sure about the rest, but for $8k you should be able to find a newer model that isn't burdened with those silly belts. I passed on a Galant VR-4 for that reason. -juice |
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| Daewoo Leganza | |
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They were giving those away, used. I was worried about parts, but they were so cheap you could basically buy a spare car and scavenge the parts! LOL They've updated it and renamed it a Suzuki, BTW. -juice |
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