My mom is in a bad way, financially. Currently, she has a Kia Sportage, but the payments are $370/month, and she feels that the car is about to have some serious engine trouble. She also just can’t afford the payments. She is way behind, and upside down in the car. She is considering trying to buy an old(er) vehicle, with a cost of around $2000-3000. This car needs to be reliable for getting to and from work (which is about a 20 minute drive) and misc. errands. What would you all recommend?
I have a 1994 Escort Wagon. It gets 28mpg in the city. It seems to be indestructible. I DID have to replace the radiator, but, at the time, the car had 120,000 miles on it. It’s extremely reliable, albeit underpowered. My wife had a 1993 Escort Wagon and, despite letting it go repairwise, still has plenty of life left in it.
You should be able to get a 6-7 year-old Escort for around the price you’re looking to spend.
Honda or a Toyota. Either one is well-nigh invulnerable. The only caveat with getting a Honda is that she needs to have the timing chain replaced (unless they can provide proof it was changed in the past 10,000 miles) as once a Honda timing chain hits 60,000 miles they’re at risk for breaking and when they do, they’ll trash the engine. (Unless it’s an Accord.) I’ve got over 230,000 on my Honda and she’s still running. Not in the best of shape, but she gets me where I need to go.
Any particular years and/or models she should avoid when looking at older Toyotas and Hondas?
None that I’m aware of. My mom works for a Honda dealership and I don’t recall her ever saying that any particular model was horrible, and certainly none of the ones she’s owned over the years have given her any trouble. (Of course, she works for the dealership, so…) The only Honda that I’d probably not consider is the older model Passport’s since they’re really Isuzu’s with Honda stickers on them. Car Talk’s site has a page where you can look up comments by folks who’ve owned various models of cars and see what their opinion of them is. Wish I’d have done that before I bought that Lincoln I owned.
My particular Honda is an 84 Acccord and the trunk leaks sometimes due to a design flaw, and for some reason the only way you can remove the alternator is by pulling the CV joints (why they chose to put the alternator there, I have no idea), so your mom might want to avoid one of those. On the other hand, I did only pay $500 for the car…
There may not be many of these in your area to choose from, but I just picked up a 94 Subaru Legacy Wagon for $1500. (needed a little TLC, should have been about 3K)
Absolutely wonderful little car. Very comfortable and quiet. Engine and transmission are bulletproof. Tons of room, of course.
If you can find a front wheel drive with the L trim package (better mileage, fewer things to break and no air suspension) you should have a car that will go way past 250k with minimal problems.
I’ll have to second Honda. I had a 93 Civic as my first car. I never had any problems with it. Gas mileage was awesome. It still had a few more years left in it when I traded it in last year.
The only Toyota I would not recommend is a Tercel. A few of my friends had them. They were still decent cars but they weren’t as reliable on longer trips.
If she’s looking for a small car, I’d recommend the Toyota Tercel. I have a 96, at about 160 000km, and its running well. I’ve had no major problems with it other than a brake job, that was most likely the result of a bad installation before I bought the car. My father also drives a Tercel, over 200K now, and my brother recently sold his since he didn’t really drive it much. They are good-sized cars, reliable, and fairly comfortable to drive. The gas-use is reasonable, and although it isn’t the quietest ride (there is a lot of wind noise), I’ve been in many worse cars. There are many MANY Tercels out there - you should be able to find one in good shape in your price range.
I don’t know what ShadiRoxan meant by longer trips, but my dad’s Tercel drives nearly 200km trips regularly, without problems, and i’ve driven my car over 800km at a time many times, without any problems either. I guess it depends on the individual car, as well as the drivers. (I love my Tercel, and feel I have to defend it! hehe)
Some older cars that seem to run forever, based mostly on anecdotal evidence:
1986-89 Honda Accord
1987-91 Toyota Camry
Jeep Cherokee (all with 4.0L I6 engine)
1988-92 Toyota Corolla
1977-90 Chevrolet Caprice
1989-96 Buick Century
1990-94 Mazda Protege
The Escort is not a bad choice either, as long as it’s a 1991 or newer model – they are based on the Mazda Protege. The 1981-90 Escort was a Ford design and reliability is not so hot. Good luck.
-Andrew L
Buy the April car issue of Consumers Reports (or get it from your library). At the back they have a section on good used cars to buy (divided by price you want to spend) and also a listing of cars to avoid.
It’s based on the reports of thousands of car owners, way more than any of the other auto magazines. I’ve used it several times over the years, and always been happy following it’s guidelines. And a couple friends who ignored it, and bought used cars from the list of “cars to avoid” ended up regretting that.
Buy the April car issue of Consumers Reports (or get it from your library). At the back they have a section on good used cars to buy (divided by price you want to spend) and also a listing of cars to avoid.
It’s based on the reports of thousands of car owners, way more than any of the other auto magazines. I’ve used it several times over the years, and always been happy following it’s guidelines. And a couple friends who ignored it, and bought used cars from the list of “cars to avoid” ended up regretting that.
I will conditionally second the Consumer Reports recomendation. I have some problems with their statistical process (they do have thousands of responses, but the send out almost half a million requests. Plus no information on standard deviation or specefic sample size), but I do tend to agree with their recomendations.
Aside from drivetrain reliability, a very important factor for me has been how well the car ages. That is, if you drive a ten year old Camry/Accord/Legacy back to back with a ten year old Taurus/Escort/Cavalier which one feels closer to a new car.
No offense to Mr. Sky, but even if you can get an Escort to go 200k, is it worth the pain and suffering of having to drive it?
Were it not for death-inviting lack of protection and lack of air conditioning, I’d rather have an old Beetle (and I’ve had three in my driving life).
Except for the alarming lack of torque, I’ve actually enjoyed the Escort. So, unless something major falls off of it, I’ll keep driving it. I don’t know if I’ll make 200K, though. I only drive about 3-5K miles per year. The car currently has 125K. At that rate, I’ll be 70 when it hits that milestone.
By then, I’ll have added the hover-conversion. 
I had to choose a car for my Mom and ended up with a Saturn SL1. I was more impressed with the Escort but it was the last year for the car.
The 1.9L Escort was a good little car but you had to change the water pump along with the timing belt. If that engine loses fluid you will warp the head.
Thank you all for your replies! I wish I could just go buy her a car, but unfortunately my finances won’t allow me to do that. She is going to start looking at those lots that will carry the note on an “old” car like the ones mentioned above, but have lower payments and be able to pay it off quicker. Then she’d just let the bank take the Kia back, and file for bankruptcy (which she has been planning on for several years anyway).
Thanks again!