Car for $5000?

[chrisl]

Originally Posted by Whitigir

During my college hood I had seen countless of Civic with fart can reved up loud but run slow....resulted in a cop pull over. While my Camry I could step on it, and go....and never pull attention.

Or, of course, you could not put a fart can exhaust on the civic. That would also probably help with not getting pulled over

[strat61caster]

You're going to be hard pressed to get a car with less than 110k miles on it for $5k, you're looking for the unicorn of used econo boxes basically, a car from around 2000 plus or minus 5 years that has been driven less than 10k miles per year. Someone who drives that little would have no reason to get rid of their car unless they died and weren't related to someone who wanted it.

Your best bet is a Scion Tc, all the other cars mentioned are known for being reliable econo boxes (Focus, Accord, Corolla etc.) and are treated as such, I just did a quick search and was coming up with Accords priced near $6k with 130k to 180k miles on them, the Focus's weren't listing mileage. You may have an advantage over there because snow will take a lot of value off a car compared to here where the only danger from age is not changing fluids enough.

Find a well taken care of commuter with 150k on it, should last another 50k without serious hassle, sell it the second something goes wrong two or four years down the road for $3k after it gets fixed. Repeat.

[vividracing]

If he's not a tuner it should be easy but yeah the civic, the most reliable car for anyone.

Jacky

Originally Posted by hmong337

Honda civic! Best college vehicle ever. I still miss both of my civics that I previously owned.

[Xdragonxb0i]

I think it would be very hard to find a good car with low milage. If he a gear head i would get a honda and swap an engine in it.

[Diode Dynamics]

Nissan 240SX!

You will have a tough time finding a lower mileage one, but you can find parts for them everywhere and they are easy to work on.

Plus, as an added bonus, they are a blast to drive

Nick C.

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by Diode Dynamics

Nissan 240SX!

You will have a tough time finding a lower mileage one, but you can find parts for them everywhere and they are easy to work on.

Plus, as an added bonus, they are a blast to drive

Nick C.

I'd guess it'll be impossible to find one in halfway decent condition for 5 grand. They've all been beat to shit or molested by their owners. I found an S14 that I was about to go look at. Looked pristine. Checked the Carfax and it had been in seven accidents.

I'll second a basic 4 cyl Toyota or Honda. I'll give fair warning that you may want to Google 2.4L 2AZ-FE stripped head bolts. I haven't had an issue with my Camry, but plenty of people have had it happen to them.

Oh, and the factory water pump sucks. Had to replace mine at 55k. Toyota quoted me 600 bucks to get it done. Thankfully it's not too hard of a job so I spent maybe 80 at Autozone.

[Diode Dynamics]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

I'd guess it'll be impossible to find one in halfway decent condition for 5 grand. They've all been beat to shit or molested by their owners. I found an S14 that I was about to go look at. Looked pristine. Checked the Carfax and it had been in seven accidents.

I'll second a basic 4 cyl Toyota or Honda. I'll give fair warning that you may want to Google 2.4L 2AZ-FE stripped head bolts. I haven't had an issue with my Camry, but plenty of people have had it happen to them.

Oh, and the factory water pump sucks. Had to replace mine at 55k. Toyota quoted me 600 bucks to get it done. Thankfully it's not too hard of a job so I spent maybe 80 at Autozone.

Lol 7 accidents? Does that even include the drift sessions at the local track?

Nick C.