[aditya.86]

Hey guys,

I found a 02 model Honda Accord Lx which has done 95k miles. I went n saw the car. The title is clean and its a single owner. The color is navy blue and there is a small dent on the trunk which does not make much difference.

Drove the car and i must say it is super smooth and well maintained. The Ac is a chiller and there is not even a noise from the front suspension. The car is manual transmission. Also the vehicle has aftermarket 15' alloys and the tires are just 3 months old with almost 90% tread left in them. The seller was asking for 4200$ and after a lot of negotiation he has agreed for 3700$. Personally i feel its a good deal. Also i ran the carfax for the car and it shows that the car is clean and has no history of accidents or other problems. Planning to buy it tomorrow.

Need your suggestions.

Adi

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by aditya.86

Hey guys,

I found a 02 model Honda Accord Lx which has done 95k miles. I went n saw the car. The title is clean and its a single owner. The color is navy blue and there is a small dent on the trunk which does not make much difference.

Drove the car and i must say it is super smooth and well maintained. The Ac is a chiller and there is not even a noise from the front suspension. The car is manual transmission. Also the vehicle has aftermarket 15' alloys and the tires are just 3 months old with almost 90% tread left in them. The seller was asking for 4200$ and after a lot of negotiation he has agreed for 3700$. Personally i feel its a good deal. Also i ran the carfax for the car and it shows that the car is clean and has no history of accidents or other problems. Planning to buy it tomorrow.

Need your suggestions.

Adi

Looks like a good deal. Only be aware of the fact that you have to go for a 100k mile service which you have spend a little bit of money. Also - being a stick shift, you have to search a little longer when you plan to resell this car.

[lamborghini]

@aditya: Do look for a Hyundai Sonata as well. Not the version that looked like the Jag/merc mix, but the version sold as the Embera in India. You should get a 2005-ish model in your budget, or for slightly more.
If not, look at the Ford Fusion as well. I was very impressed when i TD the car, and the V6 is quite nice. It would have better dynamics than the Accord, and should be even better VFM.
Also, in addition to checking carfax, get their guarantee. This would help you out if the car you buy is a lemon. I made a mistake of not getting it for my Galant, and a year later I realized the earlier owner had met with an accident and the paint was peeling off the body (I got a quote for $1,200 to paint half my car, and given that its worth $4-4.5K, I still haven't gotten it done).

In addition, do get the car checked by a dealer like TirePros/Firestone. They would give the mechanicals a look, and would tell you if anything needed to be replaced.

P.S: Car prices are so much lower in TX. Have a great stay there.

[aditya.86]

Guys the deal is sealed. Picked up the car on thursday. It is a clean car and is just awesome to drive. Smooth and refined. Have completed 1000 miles already and just enjoyin it.

Here are a few pics.

[meghan]

I too am in the market for a used car and am having a look at a 2004 Corolla today. I just checked the carfax and that lists 2 owners, first one being a commercial one.
Do any of you have experience in buying such cars, are they always rentals before?
I'm getting the car at the kbb good value since the owner claims to have all service records.

[maddy42]

@meghan: Get a reputed reliable mechanic check out the car for you. That would give an idea. And always try to bargain how much you could.

[infotech58]

@meghan:

not sure if it may hold true in all the cases but here's one experience i've to share.
a colleague of mine bought a 2005 Nissan Sentra through a used car lot and this car was previously owned by a rental company. he did not care about this aspect as the car was in good condition but had difficult time selling it to the informed buyers who ran a carfax report. normally hondas/toyotas/nissan could be sold at KBB Excellent, he had to let it go at little more than KBB fair.

[meghan]

Originally Posted by maddy42

@meghan: Get a reputed reliable mechanic check out the car for you. That would give an idea. And always try to bargain how much you could.

Originally Posted by infotech58

@meghan:

not sure if it may hold true in all the cases but here's one experience i've to share.
a colleague of mine bought a 2005 Nissan Sentra through a used car lot and this car was previously owned by a rental company. he did not care about this aspect as the car was in good condition but had difficult time selling it to the informed buyers who ran a carfax report. normally hondas/toyotas/nissan could be sold at KBB Excellent, he had to let it go at little more than KBB fair.

Thanks for the replies. I ended up finding another pre-worshipped single owner 2004 corolla with only 35k miles and bought that
Pics in my garage

[aditya.86]

Good buy. The car looks brand new. How much did u pay for it. 35k miles in the US is as good as brand new.

Wish u many happy miles on it.

Adi

[maranellored]

I'm looking to get a car here in Seattle, for about 25-30k$.
My main preference is that I want a manual transmission and a 4wd. I've driven a lot of automatics and am not really interested in owning an automatic car.(Do let me know if you think otherwise). I would like to keep the car for atleast 2-3 years and be able to get a good resale value.

I've been looking at a bunch of both used and new cars. I see a couple of 2007-2008 BMW 3 series for about 25-28k$. But I'm not really sure if I should be getting a used car, when I could get a brand new one for the same price.
I've seen the Subaru Impreza WRX and it looks pretty good. It seems to be my choice at the moment.
But then again, the fact that I could get a brand new audi/bmw for about 35k is lurking at the back of my head and enticing me.

The point is, I'm very confused.
Any pointers that'd help me decide would be great

Thanks in advance!

[Raghu Srinivasa]

Maranello,
Being an ardent M/T fan, in the US, I would still go for an A/T. The country's setup is weird that way.
The gearboxes these days, especially in the class that you are looking for, are fantastic.

4WD is something you can do though, would advice you to scour craigslist and such to get a really good deal.
Typically less than 25k miles is as good as new in the US, coupled with heavy depreciation in the first couple of years..make buying a used car almost a default choice.

Evo's and Impreza's will hurt when the time comes to move on. It seems like Beemers and Audi's are your main options given your requirements

Raghu

[alam86]

Originally Posted by maranellored

I'm looking to get a car here in Seattle, for about 25-30k$.
My main preference is that I want a manual transmission and a 4wd. I've driven a lot of automatics and am not really interested in owning an automatic car.(Do let me know if you think otherwise). I would like to keep the car for atleast 2-3 years and be able to get a good resale value.

I've been looking at a bunch of both used and new cars. I see a couple of 2007-2008 BMW 3 series for about 25-28k$. But I'm not really sure if I should be getting a used car, when I could get a brand new one for the same price.
I've seen the Subaru Impreza WRX and it looks pretty good. It seems to be my choice at the moment.
But then again, the fact that I could get a brand new audi/bmw for about 35k is lurking at the back of my head and enticing me.

The point is, I'm very confused.
Any pointers that'd help me decide would be great

Thanks in advance!

Are you thinking of buying a sedan or does that not rally matter? For your budget, you could get a great used SUV [Acura MDX or BMW X3] with about 30K miles on it. I know MDX comes in automatic. Not sure about if the X3 has a manual version.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by maranellored

I'm looking to get a car here in Seattle, for about 25-30k$.
My main preference is that I want a manual transmission and a 4wd. I've driven a lot of automatics and am not really interested in owning an automatic car.(Do let me know if you think otherwise). I would like to keep the car for atleast 2-3 years and be able to get a good resale value.

I've been looking at a bunch of both used and new cars. I see a couple of 2007-2008 BMW 3 series for about 25-28k$. But I'm not really sure if I should be getting a used car, when I could get a brand new one for the same price.
I've seen the Subaru Impreza WRX and it looks pretty good. It seems to be my choice at the moment.
But then again, the fact that I could get a brand new audi/bmw for about 35k is lurking at the back of my head and enticing me.

The point is, I'm very confused.
Any pointers that'd help me decide would be great

Thanks in advance!

I think it make sense to go for automatic with paddle shifters if available. Or else stick to automatic if you plan on doing lots of running. Manuals are great, but after sometime it gets boring and tiresome especially in bumper to bumper traffic. I used to have a mitsubishi eclipse manual and got bored of it along with high clutch repair cost, so i switched to autos. Its good when one has to commute 2 hours a day and do long trips once in a while.

For your requirement, there are many options but you didn't mention if fuel economy is a priority or not. With gas touching $4, if it is going to play on back of your mind stay away from wrx or evo. They are very notorious for bad efficiency.

4wd is a good requirement and you have many options like CR-V, RAV4, MDX, RDX, TL, RL from Honda and Acura stable. You can get a brand new CR-V 4wd for your price range or a pre-owned TL, TSX, RL MDX. You can also look at Infiniti EX35 or FX35 pre owned which comes with 4wd. When considering BMW, do keep in mind humongous maintenance cost with 4-5 year old bmws and mercs. You can also consider Toyota FJ Cruiser, RAV4 and IS series if you like Toyota and Lexus. Most of the above are available with automatics.

If you are determined to get manual and 4wd or awd, you have limited options like Acura TL, RL, Infiniti G35/G37 Sedan/Coupe, VW CC and BMW 3-Series.

For new and used debate, i prefer pre-owned since we can get a class higher than what we spend, say like for your budget, we can get less driven, almost new e-class or 5 series or a SUV. Also the depreciation of these cars is huge in USA after 3 years. I have seen very good AWD samples of G35/G37 going for as low as $20-25k for 2006-2008 models.

P.S: I haven't considered American brands. If you are open to them, you get plethora of options right from Taurus AWD to Tahoe 4WD.

Hope this helps. you can pm me if you have any questions or want some help.

[Ford_madhan]

^^ You can also consider mazda cx-9 in the list.. very peppy to drive..

[maranellored]

@chevelle and ford_madhan
Thanks for the suggestions.

I dont plan to drive the car daily. I only plan to drive it on weekends and yes, I plan on going on long drives. I'm not very finicky about the fuel economy. Anything around 25 mpg on the highway is great.
The primary requirement is that the car has to be peppy and a pleasure to drive.
I've been looking at the Camaro and it looks to be a good car. I would go around and test drive one this weekend or maybe the next.
I'm open to American cars too. Any suggestions on that front?