So lost. Used car shopping sucks

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Stregone

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So I need a new car. I was hoping to put it off a few more years when my financial situation improved but my hand was forced. I want to make as informed of a decision as possible, with you guy's help. My budget is $6-7k, maybe more if it will give more bang for the buck.

I am looking for a wagon or decent sized hatchback that will fit a medium/large dog crate in the back. There's lots of choices in that price range, the one that seems to stand out is the toyota matrix, and maybe the yaris hatchback. Others include focus wagons, various subarus, chevy HHR, and etc. I plan on keeping this car long term, 50-75k miles at least. I only see 120k+ mile cars in this range (with some curious outliers that make me wonder), which makes me apprehensive.

I wouldn't mind a minivan but they seem to come with a pretty heft mileage penalty.

Reading these and other car forums over the past few months has kind of made me paranoid. I've read so many posts with people saying things about a certain model year range of a car is super reliable, and others about how this one has a really flaky transmission, or that year has some engine issue or something. With the way my luck has been so far this year I know I would pick the car that looked great to my untrained eyes but is a known 'problem' car to you guys.


Bonus pic of dog that will be in the crate:
bH85ctC.jpg
 
HHRs are a love hate thing but, great news, the fad has passed and they're cheap.

Bear in mind they sold for $15800 new so they are basically a cavalier/cobalt/cruze wagon and should be priced as such.

Wife has one. It has several layers of floor in the luggage compartment, and, long story short, not that much space. My saturn SW1 has a few more inches in some critical dimensions. Also the liftgate offers all the convenience of loading a dryer through its porthole door.

Might want to consider volvos in the mix, too. If you're the least bit handy you can save $$$ on maintenance. Lots of suburban types get the first 120k out of a volvo then dump them for something else. I had a cavernous 940 before the HHR but even the newer-ish FWD ones have good room.

My dad had a matrix AWD and it blew a transmission. Apparently a known thing that people don't talk about. I also have an inkling that the first of the crop (2003) are about to start rusting through rocker panels en masse.
 
That's a great looking dog.

Have you considered something like Saturn Vue or Pontiac Vibe? May be out of your price range though...
 
This one is $9000 but they are great vehicles. I would look for something in this category. Much better use of the chassis than a car based wagon.

http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?id=10519299&AVi=0&No=0&Rp=R&D=50&zip=77074&N=4294963136+4294962964&sP=0-10000&Q=f328ab4c-5759-4658-b07a-ae8e33db0b27&Ep=search:results:results%20page
 
If you don't live in a rusty area, a 99 and older Jeep Cherokee. Unless you find one with 300000 miles, it will easily have another 50K left in it.
 
Find a Pontiac Vibe... same as Toyota Matrix. Or a Ford Escape should be had in your pricerange that's pretty decent. Most small imports will be pretty beat down by the time they hit your price range. I'm not sure a CRV with 125,000 miles is a better buy than an escape with 75,000. You might swing a Mazda 3 hatch.
 
Originally Posted By: Stregone
My budget is $6-7k, maybe more if it will give more bang for the buck.

I am looking for a wagon or decent sized hatchback that will fit a medium/large dog crate in the back. There's lots of choices in that price range, the one that seems to stand out is the toyota matrix, and maybe the yaris hatchback.[/img]


Recently I bought an used yaris hatchback ($6500, 2007, 66,000 miles) for my kid. It's a very basic transportation but surprisingly spacy inside, especially if you fold rear seats. Very reliable, too.
 
Mazda3 Hatch

What oil is the dog carrying? I can tell he is a, "Good Boy!"...or girl.
 
I'd recommend the Mazda 3 hatch but the problem with them is, the older ones get terrible fuel mileage for a 4 banger.

Toyota Matrix would be ideal and the Pontiac Vibe is the same car.

I'd recommend looking on Craigslist daily for 1 or 2 owner private party sales with maintenance records.
 
I don't know the used car market in Virginia, I bought 2006 Volvo V70 2.4l non-turbo with 136k miles for my second daughter last summer for $6k. It took me 3-4 months to find the car I like at a fair price. The car was/is in very decent shape.

My younger daughter likes wagon so she can take the dog to dog park and to carry things.

So far the Volvo is doing good, the only problem with most Volvo engines is the oil trap is needed to be replaced every 80-100k miles. The parts can be bought online and are not expensive but it involves a lot of labor, I will have my mechanic replaces it this summer.

Gas mileage is reasonable at around 28-32 MPG on highway at speed around 70 MPH, city MPG is around 21-23.
 
A used Honda Element or CR-V might be somewhat close to that price range. The K24s are pretty reliable machines from what I can tell.

Either should offer a bit more interior space, but at the cost of gas mileage (more so with the Element than the CR-V).

Disclaimer: I have an Element and I love it.
 
You might be able to fit a crate without putting down the back seats in a Focus. Most of the others you surely won't, even the Escape.
I don't think there's too much to scare you off the Focus? 05-07's atleast? The rockers are atleast average for rust resistance then. You probably won't get EPA highway mileage out of it, atleast I don't, even with some hypermiling tricks.

Matrix should be solid though, its a corolla. The Yaris will get better mileage though and are pretty solid too. IMO the Yaris probably will have the lowest running costs of all of them.
Manual Fit's are good too. The autos seem to abuse their fluid and the factory service interval may not be short enough.

If you want to try going way under your budget, a 4cyl 2wd Tracker has got to be the simplest "wagon" out there. It's rwd if that's OK and you don't get much snow. A base model has nothing extra to break.

I would go drive a few of your options and then research the ones you like on a dedicated forum for any common problems.
 
I'm shopping for a mattress right now.

I'm not sure which is the worse of the two. I think that I'd rather shop for a used car.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
I'm shopping for a mattress right now.

I'm not sure which is the worse of the two. I think that I'd rather shop for a used car.


Used mattress?
 
Eww, I know someone who bought a used mattress once. Of course, she picked up her couch at the side of the road too, so that wasn't much of a stretch.

I will clarify that by saying she got it from someone she sort of knew, and got it by trading a microwave for it. But still.

The guy who got the microwave subsequently traded it for a car, a 5-cylinder Nova.

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
I'm shopping for a mattress right now.

I'm not sure which is the worse of the two. I think that I'd rather shop for a used car.


Used mattress?
 
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek


Used mattress?


You sleep on a used mattress every time you stay at a hotel.
 
Oh don't I know it.

Originally Posted By: pottymouth
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Used mattress?

You sleep on a used mattress every time you stay at a hotel.
 
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