A New Car

In My Humble Opinion
1

if anyone is knowledable in the world of automobiles I could use some advice. here’s my situation
[begin situation]
I went home for the weekend to see my family and friends/claim birthday money. So I’m heading out and I climb into my favorite 4-wheel machine, a mint green 1991 chevy blazer, the green-machine, if you will. Hmm, won’t turn over. Wonder whats wrong with it. Oh well, I’ll just take the tracker(peice of sh1t freakin go-kart of a car). Get into the tracker drive down the road about 30 feet…what the…? flat tire!!!

Talk to my mom. “Hey mom, you know both of the old cars are dead?” Yes, of course she knows. And then she informs me that they are getting rid of them, and buying me a new(used) car(for work and school) and she wants to know what kind to get or more importantly, what kind I want.
[/end situation]

That is the question. What kind of car should I get? I need something reliable and cheap. My budget is about 5 grand, give or take. I travel pretty often. Next year I might be looking at an hour or more drive to work(right now I’m lucky enough to have gotten a job in center city, but ALOT of stuff is well outside the city).

Some things to consider:
my girlfriend’s family owns a few car dealerships. namely:
-honda, cadillac, oldsmobile, pontiac
so there is a very probable discount on any of these makes

My brother tells me to go german though. German cars are the best is his advice. bmw, volvo, volkswagen?

And then we have my friend who highly recommends a b16 in a honda crx. I know a bit about custom cars, enough to tell a mechanic what to do and how to fix minor problems myself at least(just from hanging out with my car buff friends), but I don’t know if something like that is right for me? Do these people who make custom cars make them to last? or just to be fast? I know old honda engines to be total crap and getting an old honda would require a new engine anyways. (can prolly get a jdm for $900?) My friend always has to make minor repairs to his car- a slight upkeep wouldn’t bother me but is that kind of car reliable?

whaddya say whaddya say? What’s the best, most efficient, most affordable, and most sweetest car for a 20yr old college student/corporate slave who travels quite a bit.

thanks in advance!

2

Volvo’s aren’t german. I believe the are swedish.

3

I vouch for gm products. Pontiacs are great.

4

Buy a used GM product if you want it to last about 6 months. If you want a used car in the vicinity of $5K that will last you the duration, look at a Honda Accord (I disagree with your engine assessment) or a Toyota Corolla. Hard to kill, good mileage, stylish.

First, though, look at Consumer Reports and see which used cars NOT to buy, ever.

5

Swedish eh?

Many people have suggested the honda accord… and I can probably afford a “not so old one”. I say that about old(pre-91’) honda engines because they all seem to be on their last limb. I’ve seen tons of hondas still kickin from the 80s but I don’t like the sound coming from em. I could say the same about my 91 chevy though.

Also suggested often were Toyota Camrys…they sound like the workhorse of the Toyota manufacturer.

6

I agree with Chefguy.

Here’s a link to Consumer Reports latest auto reliability ratings-

http://autos.yahoo.com/consumerreports/vehicle_holds_up.html?refsrc=autos/eyak

If you compare these ratings to those of J.D. Power & Associates, you’ll see that they have good agreement with one another, with the Japanese brands way out in front of their American competitors.

7

I don’t trust consumer reports though. They are very biased towards imports and are snobby.

8

Why would they be biased toward imports, kputt?

9

thank you for the link!

10

Undead, kputt seems to shill for GM in every thread about cars. Maybe he works for them, I dunno.

You want a sweet, yet reliable car? Hmm. Not sure you can do both of those. You could go buy yourself a cheap early-90s Civic and drop a B16 or a B18C1 (or even a B18C5 if you can go over you 5G price limit) in it. That would be pretty quick. Might not be overly reliable though. Also, some people are biased against the whole “Hon-duh” phenomenon, so I dunno if you’d want to do that.

If I had five grand in my hand right now, and wanted a cool car, I’d go take a look at a 1990 Mazda RX-7 Turbo. Very old school, very cool. Not too reliable, though.

If you wanted pimp city, and can afford a few repairs, an early 1990s Cadillac Deville can be had for around that much money, now. Maybe an older Saturn? Not sure how much those cost.

The problem you are going to find is that the cars that are reliable and efficiant look boring and perform poorly. If you want a cool car, you have to sacrifice some on those.

For example, a cherry 1988-1989 Toyota Celica AllTrac can be found for $5000. Very rare, super cool. VERY expensive to fix.

I would not buy an older German car, because you won’t be able to afford to fix that, either. So, you may have to go for a boring old Honda Accord, and give up your aspirations for a cool car until the next time around.

11

The earlier Hondas and Toyotas were aspirated engines (carburetor). The 90s versions are fuel injected. HUGE improvement. You might also look at a Subaru WRX, if you can find one in your price range. Good looks, high performance, AND 4-wheel drive for the occasional snowstorm.

Some consumer services may be biased, but I’m sure that all of them are not engaged in some vast conspiracy to “get” Detroit. And I can probably safely say that they all rate the cars in question very highly, as do consumers (see the Edmunds site).

12

Buy a car for about $3000 and save the other $2000 for the inevitable nickel and dime repairs that all used cars require as well as starting a larger fund to buy a better car or (the fun option IMHO) build the $3k car into something worth more than you could buy for $5000 outright.

13

Cite? :dubious:

Another vote for Consumer Reports’ used car info.

14

Just read the crap they put in their reports and you will see what I mean. They make Hondas out to be perfect cars. Hondas are not perfect cars and they have their problems. It’s just that people are brainwashed by them and think their car is perfect, when in fact, they’re not.

15

Huh?! Are you reading the same magazine I am? I just bought a new car, and I did it after reading Consumer Reports (which, by the way, rated the Ford car in my “class” quite highly indeed in all categories except reliability – biased towards imports??).

Since you won’t provide cites, I will:

July 2003, Sports Sedans. Headline: The Cadillac CTS and Lincoln LS outperformed the new Infiniti G35 and the redesigned Nissan Maxina and Saab 9-3.

June 2003, Small SUVs. The Ford Escape is ranked above the Honda Element.

May 2003, Small Sedans. Top two ranked cars: #2 - Honda Civic. #1 - Ford Focus.

Oh, but don’t listen to me. I read Consumer Reports. I must be brainwashed. :rolleyes:

16

Undead, that last post was a bit of a hijack. I apologize greatly. Say! Want to buy a 1990 Toyota Celica that runs great? :smiley:

17

Consumer Reports - The Toaster Testers

Yes they do have a bias. I remember reading the report for my Explorer. They rated the Masda Navjo as a more reliable vehicle - it is the same truck from the same plant with the same parts!!!

Get the GM. You will get more car for the $$$

18

haha no problem Lily. In fact, the integrity of consumer reports is a concern of mine, so I appreciate your critique(sp?).

I’ll give you 50 bucks for it. insert snotty look
j/k

That is outrageous. They only offered 50 bucks?!?! Even I can do better than that!

One of my friends hates his mazda rx, the other one loves it… ?_?

So far honda sounds like the best choice. My SO can give me a good deal and I can save some cash one a standard good condition car with the possibility of fixing it up pretty like in the future. The “hon-duh” phenomenon so affectionately referred to doesn’t bother me at all. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone dissatisfied with their honda…

Can anyone give a bad review of their honda?

also, 4-wheel drive would be nice. I don’t think I’ve ever had a car that wasnt 4wd…

19

Blown & Injected, I remember that rating, and how it was determined. The Mazda was not called more reliable, it was called the better choice of the two because of a higher rating for service visits to Mazda dealers as compared to Ford dealers.

20

Believe it or not, they actually made a 4WD Honda Wagon, I think in either the late 80s or early 90s. It was a front-biased AWD system. One of the guys who runs rallycross with me has one, onto which he bolted a Jackson Racing supercharger. That thing is the ultimate sleeper.