Help me pick out a car.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I need a new car (well, new to me) and am looking for your basic 4-door sedan on the order of a Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, VW Passat, or the like. By the terms of my loan the car must be 1996 or later, and I’m looking to spend about 13K to 15K. My loan is approved up to 25K, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to spend that much. I must buy from a franchised dealer, and I could buy a new car if I prefer.

So help me out if you would. Maybe you have opinions as to
good cars, cars that should be avoided at all costs, personal horror stories, or the like.

2

My girlfriend’s mother just bought a 1999 Saturn sedan last week. It is 2 years old but only has 17,000 miles on it. It’s completely loaded out. She paid $12,500 for it.

I drive a 1997 Saturn with almost 60,000 miles on it, and can’t really say that I’ve had any problems with it. It makes for a good dependable car.

She originally began looking at used Accords, Camrys, etc. like you, but they tend to get expensive. One thing you might want to consider is that a 2 year old Accord costs almost the same as a new Civic! You may decide to buy a new smaller car.

Of course, if you’re looking for a mid-sized sedan, none of this really applies to you…

3

Like frobozz said, it really depends on what size car you are looking for.

I think that if you are looking for a mid-size, 4-door sedan, I would go with a Honda Accord. These cars are really nice, and they actually have a little punch, not much though. If you were to go for a new Civic, these are also nice, and they did extremely well on the crash tests, but they tend to be smaller. This goes for the engine as well. Also the Toyota Camry is a wonderful car.

I would, if I were you, go down and look at some Subarus. These have become really reliable over the last couple of years, and you can’t beat 'um in the versatility catagory. There are some bigger models, like the Outback Legacy, which comes in a 4-door sedan version, and it is a bit like a town-crusier.

If you want a smaller car, there are so many to choose from. Honda Civic, great car, affordable, great safety. If you are in a urban environment, you may wanna take a look at the new Honda Insight or the Toyota Prius as well. These are the gasoline-electric hybrid, and you can get anywhere from 50 to 70mpg outta these puppies. They will run ya about $20k, and I remember you said you loan goes that high, so you may wanna test drive one.

there really aren’t as many American cars in this catagory, or at least not ones I would be that interested in. Chevy Mailbu, supposedly good value, I can’t say that the styling is that great, IMO. Ford Escort, blah.

Oops, I almost forgot. there is that new company out there, Daewoo. I can’t say that I have heard a lot about these cars, but the magazines seem to be giving them pretty good ratings. A new one, their most luxurious model too, will only cost ya $15k, and you can get a smaller car too for right around $10k.

The main thing you need to do iss go find a car you are comfortable in. I would suggest going down to the 2 or 3 biggest dealers in your area, maybe a Honda, Chevy, and a Toyota or Ford dealership. there, you will be able to see a lot of cars, and a lot will be cars that aren’t made by that company, so you can get a taste of them all.

4

Actually I’ve begun considering the new midsize Saturn, not least because I work for a GM affiliate and am entitled to a substantial discount. Shoot, though, those rear-window posts look pretty lame. 4D sedans, IMHO, look a lot better with plain window openings. But the car is the size I want,
gets pretty good mileage, and seems to be excellent in most other ways. And it would be new, which is a powerful inducement.

I’ll check out a few of the options in person (as opposed to the Internet) and let you know what I decide on.

5

You’ll probably make out better if let someone else swallow the first year’s depreciation. I’d go for a late model used vehicle, probably the Accord or one of the Toyotas. VW’s repair record isn’t quite as good.

6

** javaman, ** we just spent about five months searching for a car to replace my son’s dead Taurus [I STILL haven’t forgiven Ford for that 3.8 engine!] We ended up with a 1997 Honda Accord. It’s true they are more money, and this one even had 60k miles. But, the research we did confirmed these cars really hold their value.

Here are two sites that really helped a great deal. The third site was one recommended from a guy in the BBQ pit, and it too, is a good one, though I didn’t see it till after we had already been put through the mill with the car salesman!

http://www.kbb.com/ This is the Kelly Blue Book site, it was absolutely terrific. No salesman can argue with your facts when you have the real value of the car you’re considering.

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caranddriver/home.xml
This was more of a help deciding what kind of features we wanted/or didn’t want on different cars, and how much they cost.

http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/editorial/confessions/part3.html

THIS is what we should have read, and then maybe we wouldn’t have been kept waiting for three hours.

Good luck!

7

But, why does someone give up a car they’ve only had for a year or two? It would make me wonder if there are problems with that particular vehicle. Of course, I suppose it could have been a two-year lease return or something of that sort.

8

I looked at this car last night. It does look a lot better in person.

9

Try reading Consumer Reports auto reports.

Also, try renting a car before you buy so you can see if you like it.

Rental car comps sell cars when they have 20,000 miles on them, Enterprise does. try buying from them & renting it first.

try buying from a factory, you might save some dough. e.g. we have a Toyota factory near Fremont in California.