Best $2k vehicle

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Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
you never see those old tauruses on the road because of those transmissions.


23wu1oi.jpg


my daily ride, the ever popular, ever faithful "Bluesmobile" - 1993 Ford Taurus with 160,000 miles on the clock - AND - on the original transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
If the engine is good, and no rust, why not replace the transmission? Might cost more to replace the car, and then you have a new vehicle with unknown problems.


+1
 
Just drove a 2001 Taurus this week because my Integra is having problem.

We got it in Dec 2001 from Hertz for a good price. It held up ok but I wouldn't call it a high quality car. You have to be very observant about everything on the car or problems can start and get worse.

During the first year of infant mortality, we had the following problems:

The roof was leaking, many interior plastic split (including the head light switch), the plastic sway bar end link split, the brake rotor came with the car had a bad cast that would keep warping until we finally replace it with new Chinese rotors, random fuse blown out due to fuse box water condensation (we manually caulked it up with a redneck mold to seal it), the pressurized coolant tank cracked.

After that it drove many years and tens of thousands of miles problem free except the following inconvenience:

Windshield washer fluid hose cracking, transmission vent clogged and burping lots of ATF out (there's a TSB fix for that), 1 OEM platinum plug has a hairline crack on the porcelain, another plug loosen itself out of the head, valve cover gasket leak, water pump and the timing cover on top of it leaking coolant out.



Other than the above, it is relatively reliable and the transmission is going strong at 96k miles. I remember in 2000 or so they put in steel piston instead of the original aluminum piston to make them more reliable, and changing the ATF on a regular basis sure helps. There's also the Vulcan camshaft position sensor / synchronizer that you need to watch out for and replace when you hear whine.

IMO it is worth the price if you know about how to fix cars and couldn't afford a more predictable car in reliability. It is a good deal if you know what you are doing, but I wouldn't just ask someone's mom or grandma to buy one and forget about it. My dad is mechanically very incline (he was a non automotive machinist when he was young), and he would still prefer a more maintenance free car if he had to choose again.

And no, a vintage Ford Escort is not a good replacement unless you buy one that has a rebuild head with a strengthened valve seat design.
 
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Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Buick Park Avenue or LeSabre, 1997-2005 time frame? For that matter the Regal or Century from the same period might be good choices too.


Yep.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I would look for and older v-6 olds ciera with the 3 speed transmission. The 4 speed was not good.


What is suppose to be wrong with the 4 speed in the Ciera's? A family member has one and it seems to be a good transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
you never see those old tauruses on the road because of those transmissions.


23wu1oi.jpg


my daily ride, the ever popular, ever faithful "Bluesmobile" - 1993 Ford Taurus with 160,000 miles on the clock - AND - on the original transmission.


Looks a little too mad max for my taste. What happened to the bumper? Is the car painted flat black? Is that a household central air vent on the fender? Nice neighborhood too.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
you never see those old tauruses on the road because of those transmissions.


23wu1oi.jpg


my daily ride, the ever popular, ever faithful "Bluesmobile" - 1993 Ford Taurus with 160,000 miles on the clock - AND - on the original transmission.


Looks a little too mad max for my taste. What happened to the bumper? Is the car painted flat black? Is that a household central air vent on the fender? Nice neighborhood too.


Yes, not only a Mad Max exterior, but interior as well, (Road Warrior version).

Yes, the front bumper broke, (I leaned on it to look under the car). A ten foot piece of PVC pipe cut in half and painted flat black and "viola" - new bumper.

Yes, it is painted flat black and had a white roof till two days ago. I was repainting the parking stripes in our Churches parking lot and had some leftover paint - now it has a yellow roof.

Yes, those are household air vents - I installed them for "forced air ventilation."

Yes, it was a nice neighborhood - then I moved here.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
you never see those old tauruses on the road because of those transmissions.


23wu1oi.jpg


my daily ride, the ever popular, ever faithful "Bluesmobile" - 1993 Ford Taurus with 160,000 miles on the clock - AND - on the original transmission.


Looks a little too mad max for my taste. What happened to the bumper? Is the car painted flat black? Is that a household central air vent on the fender? Nice neighborhood too.


We used to joke about the line in your signature on the Taurus site when referring to the Vulcan V6. Power of a 4, economy of an 8
 
Late 90's Buick Lesabre..... 2,000.00 well spent dollars.

Originally Posted By: mikefxu
My mom has a 97 Ford Taurus with 60k that she bought for $950, worked well for over 2 years. The car is worth about $2k. The transmission is shot and think it will be about $1.5k to replace with re-manufactured unit.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Taurus/1997/transmission/

I told her it probably doesn't make sense to spend near the cars value on repairs.

I am thinking a 2000+ Crown Vic with 100k-ish miles on it for the $2k price range. She doesn't drive a lot, 10 miles each way to work.

Anything else I should consider that will be reliable?
 
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
The best $2000 car is the one that runs and drives good and can pass inspection.

For cheap cars in that price range, it's more about condition than what kind of car it is.

Florida, so no inspection. You can put anything on the road here. Would rather buy something the is generally reliable. I know the Crown Vics are.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I'd look at a 2004 taurus, they beefed up the trans and set the engine to lose power mid-shift. But 20 years of bad reputation for their transmissions have them in the resale dumpster.

Looks like those are worth about $3k according to KBB. I'll check craigslist for 2004+. Edit: Never mind, looks like they have bad transmissions too: http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Taurus/2004/

Originally Posted By: eljefino
If she doesn't mind going down-size, a post 04 ecotec cavalier, malibu (classic), cobalt, ion. Or a dodge neon-- I just got an 05 for $1000.

Are these generally considered reliable?
 
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Originally Posted By: Vikas
Is there a typo here? If you can buy a $950 car and use it for 2 years and then think it will sell for $2K, why not buy a $5K car for $2K now?

The car is worth about $2k in fully operational condition. Right now its worth about what ever scrap metal is worth. She got a deal on the car and the mechanic friend that help her find it originally said that you already had a deal just spend the money. I can't say I would do the same if I were in her shoes or if I could recommend that.

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Any car with a manual transmission instead.Just try to find an old Taurus MT5 model...lol

She ain't going to go for that.

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
I always find it strange for people to say their car is worth $X and it needs $X amount of work. Isn't it worth scrap value unless someone is willing to put the $$ in to fix it? It's hard to image a car with a bad transmission to be worth $2k but need $1.5k of work.

Correct, with mileage and its condition with no transmission problems it KBBs for $2k. So I would say it is worth about $300-500 with the bad transmission.

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
23wu1oi.jpg


my daily ride, the ever popular, ever faithful "Bluesmobile" - 1993 Ford Taurus with 160,000 miles on the clock - AND - on the original transmission.

What is the air vent on the fender? rice?
 
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