New "Used" Vehicle for 18 Year Old?

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Went to look at this 1998 Honda Civic today:

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/cto/1789081405.html

Drives straight, shifts awesome, no noise at all from anything.
I offered him $3K for it, he was firm on the listed price since he had someone (teenage girl) willing to give him the $3800 for it pending on her parent's permission.
Should I stick with my price?
 
I'm prejudiced against Honda I'll admit right off. With their complexity they usually are expensive to service and repair. Just my 2 cents.

I'd stick to U.S. mfg. and 4 cylinder, prefferibly stick shift, that'll cancell out auto transmission problems and being as its a young person no problem shinting and using the clutch.

I'd check out that Scort in Kazoo.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
plus there's always that annoying 4 cylinder exhaust note compared to that sweet V-8 burble!

And 440, if you love the LH you'd die over the LX. Super simple to fix and dirt cheap parts have made it a 'keep it forever'.


Maybe not "die over" but I certainly salivate over them. There wll be a Challenger in my garage here in a few years- after I get the young 'un through college. I'm a member of a vintage Mopar club that also "plays" a lot with the local modern Mopar club, so I've spent a fair amount of time around LXes and guys who really understand them. They're very impressive machines.
 
Originally Posted By: GHW
Went to look at this 1998 Honda Civic today:

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/cto/1789081405.html

Drives straight, shifts awesome, no noise at all from anything.
I offered him $3K for it, he was firm on the listed price since he had someone (teenage girl) willing to give him the $3800 for it pending on her parent's permission.
Should I stick with my price?

Looks good, does he have service records for all the work done? I'd go up a couple hundred to see if that gets him to sell to you now, instead of maybe getting more later. Or wait to see if the girl doesn't come through.
 
I'm also a little partial against Honda because they are so dang expensive to maintain and fix. But they are generally reliable cars.

If you like the car, make sure there are service records for everything done. Not just recently, but see if you can find out how the car was maintained prior to 2008 (it looks like that is when all the recent service started).

If you feel good about it maybe offer $3400, split the difference between your original offer and his asking price. He might bite to sell you the car now. There is also the possibility this "teenage girls who needs her parents permission" doesn't exist and he was just trying to get you to up your offer.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Originally Posted By: jcwit
With the 4 cylinder there's always that sweet cha-ching sound from gas saved at the pump. And Insurance rates!


I agree on the gas mileage, but insurance rates aren't necessarily cheaper due to having a 4 cylinder.

Having a car with 4 doors is much cheaper than a 2 door. Also having a car with a lot of claims is going to be more expensive. My girlfriend drives a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire, and it is much more to insure over her 4 door Neon.

My 4 door Saturn Ion is very cheap to insure, and my v8 1996 ford thunderbird lx sport was even cheaper to insure than the saturn. It is classified as a family car.

The crown victorias, grand marquis, and buicks are some of the cheapest cars on the road to insure because they have low claim rates, and they are so large that they are safe vehicles.

True enough. My insurance on the 4-door 4-cylinder Mercedes was a couple of dollars more a month than the rate for the V-6 powered 4-door Buick Park Avenue. This despite the fact that the MB was a 1997 and the PA a 2003.
 
Most people that found Honda to be more expensive to fix usually uses OEM parts price rather than after market parts price. If you are comparing domestic brand parts (i.e. AC Delco, Gates, Fel-Pro, etc, all makes parts for Honda and Toyota as well) they are very similar to the domestics cars in price.

My last 3 timing belt job each only cost $200-$240 labor, $100 parts (belts, water pump, tensioner, seals, gaskets, plugs, etc, regardless of condition). If I uses OEM parts and dealership for labor it will easily double or triple the price or more.

One thing I noticed between the domestic of the old days (90s to early 2000s) is that the fasteners like bolts and nuts, plastics brackets, rubbers, etc are lower quality than the equivalent Honda/Toyota. Not that they are bad enough not to do the jobs, but they seems to be made with lower quality material, doesn't fit as well, and snap easier than the Honda/Toyota equivalent.

This is regardless of brand, after market parts from the domestic parts vendor I mentioned seems to be just as good as the OEM parts, and the import parts vendor (like Denso) have just as lower quality parts for domestic (i.e. plug wires for Taurus) as the one came with the car.
 
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Were I in Michigan looking at cars and found those to be my only choices, I would hop down to Dallas on Southwest Airlines, take my pick of good $1500 cars, drive home, and enjoy $2000 savings after flight/fuel/food/lodging.

Those prices are sickening.

Makes me want to buy up a bunch of rust-free Texas rides and run them up to the UP. I could make a killing.

Keep looking for a 3.3L Intrepid, 96-97 model. Try Craiglook.com and search 250 miles from your zip code for "Intrepid" in "Cars and Trucks". I just used a generic Grand Rapids zip code for a search and found several decent 96-97 Intrepid sedans starting at $1095. The nicest ones seemed to be in the $1800 to $2500 range. Most of them seemed to be in Ohio, too, if that makes any sense. One of them is purple, in Lewis Center (my parents live there) and except for being a 3.5L model, appeared to be ideal for a new driver!
 
When my three teenage kids got to driving age, I bought each one a Cavalier in the 1996-2002 range. Found them to be the cheapest and easiest to maintain. While not the coolest thing for a teenager to be caught in, they served the purpose for wheels and transportation. The GM 2.2L OHV pushrod engine is about the easiest to work on and takes a good beating.
 
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
When my three teenage kids got to driving age, I bought each one a Cavalier in the 1996-2002 range. Found them to be the cheapest and easiest to maintain. While not the coolest thing for a teenager to be caught in, they served the purpose for wheels and transportation. The GM 2.2L OHV pushrod engine is about the easiest to work on and takes a good beating.



+1


I've owned a few cavaliers, and never had many issues with any of them...


I've put only a fuel pump on the wife's 03, and I'm doing the rear struts soon...
 
A deal breaker for me is if the car does NOT have ABS brakes. I have used mine a few times in bad weather and glad I had them. For a teenager minimum for me would be a 4 door mid-size car with ABS.
Just in case.
 
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
When my three teenage kids got to driving age, I bought each one a Cavalier in the 1996-2002 range. Found them to be the cheapest and easiest to maintain. While not the coolest thing for a teenager to be caught in, they served the purpose for wheels and transportation. The GM 2.2L OHV pushrod engine is about the easiest to work on and takes a good beating.


Agree 100% - Cavalier/Sunfires are like a modern day Ford Maverick - unstylish, basic, plentiful on the streets, cheap, and durable.

I know I should say they are like the Nova, but Nova's were bigger and more 'stylish' in the day. Yeah, you could get a basic one, but most came with V-8's, vinyl roof, chrome trim....etc...
 
GHW: did you buy anything yet?

I'm not in Cincinnati , but just fo the heck of it did a quick search on Chevy Impalas there because it is the closest big city (500k people plus). If you can get a 3.8 they are nice cars. If you are willing to drive a couple hundred miles to Cincinnati (not sure where in MI you are) check out this listing:

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/1805390575.html

Seems like a nice car and good value (on paper) IMO. Worth calling on it.
 
Originally Posted By: GHW
Just got a call back from the seller. He won't go any lower than $3500. Good deal?


That car is not worth that much. I love them though :)
 
The cavalier/sunfire is pretty expensive to insure for a cheap car. The demographics must point that teens are buying them, and wrecking them at an alarming rate.

We learned this when I got a 03 sunfire coupe for my girlfriend, her rates went up quite a bit over a neon.

Go for a 4 door also over 2 door...
 
I echo the comments on the Cavalier, I had 2 and they were great cars. Also had a couple 2.2L S-10's for work that were excellent also. Reliable, cheap and easy to do maintenance on!
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs



+1


I've owned a few cavaliers, and never had many issues with any of them...


I've put only a fuel pump on the wife's 03, and I'm doing the rear struts soon...


I love em.

Interiors do not hold up well and every one had the crack dash on the trim piece that butted against the windshield.

Mechanical wise they were great and if you did have to work on them, everything was easy to work on IMHO. I stayed away from the 2.4's and always bought the 2.2L OHV ones.

To this day, I always have my eye open for a good used one.
 
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: daves87rs



+1


I've owned a few cavaliers, and never had many issues with any of them...


I've put only a fuel pump on the wife's 03, and I'm doing the rear struts soon...


I love em.

Interiors do not hold up well and every one had the crack dash on the trim piece that butted against the windshield.

Mechanical wise they were great and if you did have to work on them, everything was easy to work on IMHO. I stayed away from the 2.4's and always bought the 2.2L OHV ones.

To this day, I always have my eye open for a good used one.


2.4's seem to be hit or miss. They do make a lot more power that is for sure. The 2.2 has a better track record for sure though.
 
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