Potential IMHO, but not sure… If the mod wants to move it, feel free.
Here’s my situation. My transmission just broke on my old POS. It costs $600 to fix it. I’ve decided to just get a new car. But I have limited funds, and I can’t really pay more then $200/month, but there are certain things I would like to have in it.
Automatic transmission
Air Conditioning
Cruise Control
ABS
Power steering
A Radio isn’t really necesary because I’ll be taking the CD player out of my current car and putting it in the new one anyway.
So dopers. What’s you opinions on this? what kinda car should I get?
Hey Chekmate, you should think about a certified used car. Think about what kind of car you want and check out the dealers for that make in your area. Most of them have a large stock of certified used cars that are 1 or 2 years old and have been turned back in off of leases.
Most of them have about 10-20,000 miles or so on them so they’re just broken in. Since they were leased, the previous users have taken decent care of them to avoid getting zinged for damage penalties. They’re inspected, warranteed (usually the balance of the manufacturer’s warranty) and they are a hell of a lot cheaper than the equivalent new car because the lessor took the depreciation hit for you.
The downside: most of these cars are stuff like Tauruses, Impalas, Cirruses and so forth. They’re perfectly fine cars but not the sexiest conveyences around. That being said, they’re very good cars.
If you simply must get reamed to have that new car smell, for $200 per month you’re probably looking at a little Korean puddlejumper like a Hyundai Accent or Daewoo whatever-they-call-it. Good luck getting one with the stuff you want for $200 a month, though.
A few years ago, I retired from running an auto repair shop. Well, actually, I changed careers, because the public treated me like doody. That’s a terrible business.
Anyway, here’s how I rated the manufacturers for reliability:
1 Honda
2 Saturn
3 Toyota
Those are the only three I recommend. Hyundai, Kia, etc. are junk.
For $200.00 a month, though, you’ll have trouble coming up with a good car of any vaariety. You’d better do more homework.
I think you should go to a bank, see how they’ll loan ya then get back to us with a total $$$$ figure you can spend. Might be a bit easier to give advice.
What Zappo said is good advice. You’re not going to get much of a new car for $200 a month.
Also credit unions sometimes have “fixed price” sales on cars that were once rentals and such. Same drawbacks as mentioned by Zappo, though. I got my Windstar (less than 10k miles) from one. It cost me about 15% less than the best price I could find elsewhere.
Check Kelly Blue Book and that other one (Edmund’s ?) first, though. dunne u.'s ratings seem pretty close.
BTW; I’ll never buy another american label car.
Have fun.
Peace,
mangeorge
For what it’s worth, Ford has an ad about 0% financing & no payments for, I think a year. But I don’t know what you could get. Maybe you could ask one of their reps over the phone. Good luck!
Another possibility are those lots that sell the ‘old’ rental cars that are being rotated out: they’re a lot like the leased cars that are being sold after being returned, but the shape they’re in isn’t usually as good. (Rental cars aren’t exactly treated well by the customers… but the maintance usually is done well.) Also, they’re normally not more than the bare-bones model. Good thing is, there’s a high rate of turnover (or at least at the ones I’ve been to), so if you find a car that you just love, but just not the color… wait until the next shipment comes in, and you may be lucky.
The one nice thing about going to the rental-car sales lots is that there is normally a variety of models to test drive (if not manufactuors).
You may want to see how long you can put off buying the new car, and placing that $200 you can afford as a payment aside, so you can use it as a down payment. Heck, if you manage to gather up $4000 bucks or so in cash (well, available for use as cash), walk up to your local used-car lot (that has a good reputation!), and see what’s there. Some dealers will be more than willing to take a hit on the price of a car, if you pay enough of it up front in one lump-sum.
OK. Since it doesn’t seem that I’ll be able to get any kind of car for $200 a month, lets raise that to $300 (I can afford it, but I’m frugle), and I can make about a $3000 down payment as well. Does that change things?
Chekmate, you’re not going to get a new car with the features you want for that kind of dough. At least not one you’d want to drive. I reiterate my original suggestion. Go for a certified 1 or 2 year old used car from a dealer for that particular make and maybe throw in for the extended warranty if it’ll make you feel better.
In the long run, it’s cheaper than buying new and you get a lot more car for the money.
save $4000.00. go to your loca nissan dealer. find a 93-95 model Hardbody truck (with 4cyl and 5speed) Go race 80s models firbirds and cameros at $50.00 per race…you will be able to afford a new car in no time!
Of course, the new car has to be a nissan 200sx, or a supercharged frontier.
