In your circumstances, particularly if you’re able to drive a manual transmission, I’d be looking at the following makes/models in the 1992-1995 range, roughly in this order of preference:[ul]
[li]Honda Civic[/li][li]Toyota Corolla/Geo Prizm[/li][li]Mazda Protege[/li][li]Nissan Sentra[/li][/ul]
If, by some miracle, you found a 1995 Chevy Cavalier with reasonably low mileage priced within your range, you could add it to the list if you’d prefer an American mark, but that would unlikely, and you don’t want a pre-95 Cavalier. Otherwise, I can’t think of any American-branded vehicles in your price range I’d take a chance on.
All of the vehicles in this list have generally been extremely reliable (an important consideration looking at cars more than five years old), provide good basic transportation, and with the possible exception of the Sentra aren’t ugly. Most (except the Corolla/Prizm) are available in 2- or 4-door versions, as your preference lies, none are so small as to be useless (as is the Geo Metro), and you should be able to find them in your price range (as long as you’re willing to take base models with no bells/whistles). Granted that book value on the 1995s and some of the 1994s are at or above your stated price range, you might still find a 1995 with higher mileage that you could afford. Go back as far as 1992 and all of them should be readily affordable (but then you’ll almost certainly be dealing with a vehicle with 100K+ miles on it). Fuel economy, cost of tires and other regular maintenance, etc. should be an advantage with any of them. The reason I say that you should be able to drive a manual transmission is that any of these vehicles will be woefully underpowered with an automatic. You’d certainly have no trouble finding them with automatics, but be prepared to wait a day or so between the time you step on the gas and the time the car actually starts to move.
I drive a 1995 Honda Civic DX 4-dr. sedan myself, and have never spent a cent on unscheduled repair or maintenance (except for body work when someone hit it in a parking lot). I expect to get another several years of use out of it. I’ve driven a rental Corolla with an automatic for over a month when my Civic was in the body shop, and while it felt more cramped to me than the Civic, your opinion may of course be different; in general, it was quite an acceptable vehicle for commuting. My only reason for rating the Corolla slightly lower than the Civic is the same reason that I bought the Civic instead of the Corolla: nearly every Toyota is very, very good, but when they’re bad, they’re horrid (the Geo Prizm is mechanically the same vehicle with slightly different body styling, trim, and interior details). Any fundamental problems would have shown up well before now, however, so if you come across one that doesn’t have any red flags associated with it, it’ll probably be fine. My family and I have also had very good experiences with Mazda and Nissan products.
All in all, for maximum availability, affordability, and reliability, I’d say you could do worse than to go looking for a 1993 Geo Prizm LSi with low mileage. It should come in well within your budget (unless the mileage is extremely low). A 1993 Honda Civic CX Hatchback would also fit the bill nicely, if that suits your needs better than a four-door. If you can only drive an automatic, definitely go with the Prizm LSi with the optional 1.8 liter engine – you should still be able to afford it (with the 1.8, automatic, air, power steering, etc., and average mileage, you’re probably looking at $4200-$4500). The Corolla DX is nearly identical (except for having a few more features standard that were options on the Prizm) and has the 1.8, but typically the Toyota name means a slightly higher price.
To compare equipment, prices, etc., on used car models, check out http://www.edmunds.com.
