Looking for a $1000-$2000 commuter car

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Originally Posted By: AntiMatic
I would only recommend the Civic if you want a car to last to half a million miles and do it cheaply.


A Town Car,Crown Victoria and a Grand Marquis will go a half a million miles...I have been in 400K service cars [all panthers] and they are running just fine and everything in them worked..I have put on over 250K miles on my panthers then sold them [cheap] and the next owner kept them for a few more years...As long as you keep them serviced they will go forever...Plus on the highway I have gotten up to 25-30 MPG doing a steady 70mph...Its overall good on gas in stop and go driving as well.

Your back and legs will thank for not getting a Civic on those longer trips plus you and your family will be a lot safer...The last really bad crash I saw [Corolla] the firemen had to take the car back to the firehouse on a flatbed to take out the 4 bodies that were trapped in there after a Navigator ran a light.
 
Guys, I would love to get a 2.73 axle CV/GM/TC but the fact remains my wife would NOT drive the car if it were one of those. She also has no interest in anything VERY small like an Aspire or a Metro or such things.

The reason I haven't had much luck finding sub-$2000 Hondas and Toyotas is because the ones advertised around here come with some sort of problem to be fixed, have rebuilt or salvage titles (again, *I* am ok with that, the wife will not drive anything recon), have sunroofs, or are manual transmission. The few automatic Corollas, Civics, Prizms, Accords, and Camrys I have found, the ads get deleted within a day or two due to sale. Which also means that cheap Hondas and Toyotas get snatched up fast when they are priced low, probably to be resold at higher prices soon after.

An example of this would be a 1996 Corolla I saw for $1195. I added it to my spreadsheet that morning, and when I called that afternoon it was gone. I didn't take it off the spreadsheet for a few days thinking it might come back at a higher or lower price. Six days later I saw an identical car with 300 more miles on it, the same JVC CD deck, same cheap Walmart hubcaps, priced at $2250. I guarantee it is the same car, someone's trying to make a cheap buck. I can't blame them. If the car was solid and good to go, I'd want to make money on it, too. Cars like this are applicances, throwaway cars, and if they happen to have intrinsic value as so-called ultra-reliable Corollas do, why not flip it?

As of now, the $875 Escort is back up for $750. A $1100 Saturn has re-appeared at $950. And the 2004 Elantra is gone but I'm looking for it to return as the guy mentioned I was one of three to call, and the other two sounded like they wanted to make payments. That or he may have sold it to Carmax.

Go time is coming soon, when that check hits we're calling a plumber to fix our supply line to the washer, a tree trimming service to take care of the eyesore in our front yard left by the electric/powerline crew, and I'll go over my list and make calls. Wife has also expressed interest in some of the oddballs I came up with:

1981 Datsun 210, 1.5/5-speed, orange cream color (she said for a 210, she'd be willing to learn stick because of my love for the 210/B310/Sunny range)

1983 Toyota Corolla wagon, 1.8/auto, royal blue on blue (she said even though it's old, she'd trust it more than a newer one)

1983 Nissan-Datsun Maxima wagon, turbodiesel/auto, silver on gray (I'm not sure why she didn't flag this off)

1978 Mercury Cougar, 302/auto, navy blue on tan (it's the color I tell ya, but this one's on eBay, close to home, and cheap)

1968 Plymouth Fury II, 318/auto, blue on blue (again with the color but if she'd drive this, why not a 95-97 Grand Marquis or Crown Vic in the right shade of blue?)
 
That Corolla wagon would be a good catch. Rust is the only thing that stops them - in Texas, they should go forever!
 
Originally Posted By: ZGRider
Originally Posted By: AntiMatic
I would only recommend the Civic if you want a car to last to half a million miles and do it cheaply.


Go to this site and see if they last 1/2 million miles:

http://www.hondaproblems.com/

Very few go anywhere near that mileage


Well to be honest, on a site labelled "honda problems" I wouldn't expect most of them to be in perfect running condition.
 
Wow, those 70s/80s beaters make me cry from the rust up here. They all sound interesting!

I thought used small diesel cars all got exported to South America long ago.
 
Originally Posted By: occupant

1968 Plymouth Fury II, 318/auto, blue on blue (again with the color but if she'd drive this, why not a 95-97 Grand Marquis or Crown Vic in the right shade of blue?)


Your wife would really consider the '68 Fury over a Panther? If you could get her behind the wheel of a Town Car for 10 minutes she'd probably want one. Find one for sale and take her to test drive it. Here's mine:
LincolnG.jpg


LincolnI.jpg

LincolnC.jpg
 
Yes

A 1000$ rice boy car up here is a death trap lol

You wouldnt find a running Civic or Corrolla for 2000$, most in that price range are rotted out beat junk.


Originally Posted By: eljefino
Wow, those 70s/80s beaters make me cry from the rust up here. They all sound interesting!

I thought used small diesel cars all got exported to South America long ago.
 
ZGRider, thanks for the link. My 93 Civic is next to the bottom of the Civic list.(maybe not that many still out there). Sure hope my 09 Accord does better than the 08s listed there.
 
Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Originally Posted By: occupant

1968 Plymouth Fury II, 318/auto, blue on blue (again with the color but if she'd drive this, why not a 95-97 Grand Marquis or Crown Vic in the right shade of blue?)


Your wife would really consider the '68 Fury over a Panther? If you could get her behind the wheel of a Town Car for 10 minutes she'd probably want one. Find one for sale and take her to test drive it. Here's mine:
LincolnG.jpg


LincolnI.jpg

LincolnC.jpg



I always liked the looks of the 90-97 Town Cars the best.
 
For several years Consumers Reports listed Escorts as one of the best cars for low frequency of repairs. (You may not agree, but their statistics come from thousands of cars)

Since they also depreciate a lot, that makes them a good deal I think. We have run 3 in recent years:
86 Escort Son's commuter car, sold to another commuter at 216K miles
87 Escort wagon Sold to another commuter at 240k miles, now past 300K, still commuting.
94 Escort Wagon, commuter car. Still in use, now at around 300K miles.

Good points: Engines, transmissions, clutches have never been replaced or worked on. None burn any oil. Brakes, shocks seem to last forever, maybe a starter every 200 k miles, one heater fan.... and of course flipping in a new cam belt every 100K miles. I have changed a couple of tie rod ends, but surprisingly, no ball joints. The rear coil springs developed cracks on the 94, that added about 60 bucks to the shock absorber replacement cost.

I see no reason why these are not easy 500K mile cars.... if the rust would not show up.

None are automatics.
 
One nice thing about escorts and proteges is it looks like the lower ball joints are seperate parts that bolt right in. No rivets to drill out, no entire control arms to replace. Prizms and corollas are also like this IIRC.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
One nice thing about escorts and proteges is it looks like the lower ball joints are seperate parts that bolt right in. No rivets to drill out, no entire control arms to replace. Prizms and corollas are also like this IIRC.

95-99 Neons are the same and probably the second gen too.
If you can find a clean 1st gen SOHC manual transmission Neon give it a try. You might like it, they get good mileage and have a surprising amount of zip compared to other economy cars and the handling is a notch above as well.
 
X2 on the ole neons, we've had good luck with them here.

I like the early 90's Cavalier and Sunbirds. One of my best used car buys ever was a Sunbird, my middle daughter is still driving it.

Not the most sophisticated driving experience but peppy and great gas mileage with almost no repairs.
 
Originally Posted By: rszappa1
Not me some good reading on the Ford site like engines that spit out spark plugs...


Stop.

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I think the next great used car will be the Fusion, it already proved itself as very solid car as far as warranty claims, and will be much cheaper than Accords and Camrys.


I agree with this, the fusion has a very solid drivetrain, especially with the I-4.
 
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I think the next great used car will be the Fusion, it already proved itself as very solid car as far as warranty claims, and will be much cheaper than Accords and Camrys.


I agree with this, the fusion has a very solid drivetrain, especially with the I-4.


As usual, do you ever driven any of the cars that you praise (or bash)?

I have no idea if the Fusion will be less expensive to operate in the long-run, but the design does not appear to be anything special compared to the competition so I have no reason to believe that it'll be anything better (or worse) than the competition.
 
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