[VLOCT]

@chevelle,

If you can, buy the VWs made in Germany. Not the ones from Mexico. Big difference in quality. A friend of mine was so sick of the issues he had with his brand new Jetta (Mexico), he just plain soured on cars. Funny, he works for Ford, and couldn't be happier with his current Ford Fusion.

Another one ordered a Jetta wagon straight from Germany, without any electrics such as electric windows, seats etc (he was adamant about it). What a cracker of a car!! Never had a problem with it. Just simply superb. This was a few years ago, though.

Have no idea what VWs are made where nowadays..

[ToroRosso]

VLOCT,Vineet, Chevelle,TC et all.
Would need your advice,I would be moving with my wife to Louisiville KY, for a short term duration(2 years).

My requirements
- Hassle free and reliable car.
- Good resale, if i have to dispose it at the end of 2 years.
- Snob value is of least concern.
- My purpose for the vehicle would be commute to office, and weekend shopping trips etc, for all outstation trips i would rent something else.
- Budget upto $5K

I had checked autotrader.com, and i couldnt find many cars with in my budget and all the cars had a lot of miles (150000+). I had found couple of Ford Fusions,Ford Taurus and Chevy Malibu in the 5K range.

Realistically speaking, what cars should i be looking at considering my shoe string budget.

All advices would be very highly appreciated.

[infotech58]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

My requirements
- Hassle free and reliable car.
- Good resale, if i have to dispose it at the end of 2 years.
- Snob value is of least concern.
- My purpose for the vehicle would be commute to office, and weekend shopping trips etc, for all outstation trips i would rent something else.
- Budget upto $5K

you won't find any good american cars within this budget; look for japs. you should be able to find 2002/2003/2004 Accord/Civic/Camry/Altima/Maxima with around 110-120k on ODO with this budget and they meet all your requirements.

[Jomz]

Louisville?? I'm just 1 hour North. A Friend is selling a 175K mile 2000 Accord for 3k ish. I know previous 2 owners. If interested let me know.

I just sold my 1999 accord for 3K a few months back.

Originally Posted by chevelle

As for the corvettes. i am looking at 2008 or newer. Don't need a Z06 and yes i am monitoring the forums and dealerships for some good deals. I missed a couple as i was late. By the time i reached there it was already sold.

Looking For Z51 option or Grand sport??? IMO the best VFM is 2009 with Z51. The grand sports later have limited options on aftermarket tires.

Earlier Zo6's are getting really cheap now. Even if not buying , please go test drive one. 505 Hp, 7l is something which you maynot forget for a while. I'm waiting for the C7 to be revealed to snag a c6 Z51 or even a Zo6 as a replacement for s2000.

[ToroRosso]

Originally Posted by infotech58

with around 110-120k on ODO with this budget and they meet all your requirements.

Many Thanks infotech58, the high mileage shouldnt be a turn off right? i did see some Civics but they had 180K+

Originally Posted by Jomz

If interested let me know..

Many Thanks Jomz, i would contact you once I land. Thanks again

[infotech58]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

Many Thanks infotech58, the high mileage shouldnt be a turn off right? i did see some Civics but they had 180K+

buying a japanese car at 120-125k is okay. any higher than 150k and it takes some time to sell.
following are the jap cars i bought/sold in US:
in 2007, bought a '99 Accord with 118k on ODO for 5100 bucks, added around 12k miles on it and sold it for 4900.
in 2009, bought a '02 Nissan Xterra with 51k on ODO for 7250 and sold it in 2011 for 7400 when it had 73k on ODO.
in 2009, bought a '07 Accord V6 with 23k on ODO for 17000 bucks, and sold in 2011 when it had done 49k on ODO for 16500 bucks.
in 2008, bought a '98 Acura Integra with 133k on ODO for 3300 bucks and sold it six months later for 2900.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Jomz

Looking For Z51 option or Grand sport??? IMO the best VFM is 2009 with Z51. The grand sports later have limited options on aftermarket tires.

Earlier Zo6's are getting really cheap now. Even if not buying , please go test drive one. 505 Hp, 7l is something which you maynot forget for a while. I'm waiting for the C7 to be revealed to snag a c6 Z51 or even a Zo6 as a replacement for s2000.

No Z06s since it comes in manual. Auto is required. Everything else is optional. I don't mind if it has a Z51 option or not.

2008-2009 Corvettes are hard to come by. The ones that come are in higher price range than my budget permits. I am trying to get a low mile corvette. Otherwise 2008 with 50k-60k are easy to find but that would mean a commuter/daily driver which i am not too keen on.

[VLOCT]

@Torro,

You can find a lot of reliable american vehicles for $5000 and with miles well below 100k. There is absolutely no need to go for vehicles with $150K plus miles, I don't care what make they are. There are plenty of them on autotrader and I'm sure will be available at you GM dealer too. But they are not very exciting.

Example;

Buick models - very reliable - most models always had very good JD Powers initial quality ratings
Mercury Grand Marquis - Extremely reliable, solid build, comfortable.

If you're interested, do a search for them on autotrader. But these are not hip cars for youngsters. I'm assuming you're looking for a family car. They are very reliable, very comfortable, solid build, has long road life and the kicker, cheap to fix. The insurance rates are very low too since, these cars are not typically used by youngsters and generally tend to be well looked after. I would any day prefer these to Civics, Corollas etc. While on the road, try to notice how many of these you find on the roadside broken. I guarantee you, you won't find many. There is a reason, why older americans drive these vehicles. It's not just patriotism. Again, these are not for you if, you want something sporty.

At your budget, don't worry about the model year too much. Just look for a well maintained vehicle.

Hell, I just found a mint '86 Corvette (automatic) for $5000 with 73000 miles. Not a single blemish on the car from what I can see. My hands are now seriously itching to trade in my '97 Mustang for that vehicle. Damn!! Come on guys, someone pick it up and save me from this temptation.

[raneeshvijayan]

ToroRosso,

Look for Chevy Malibu. Its a nice car can you can get a 2004-2006 Malibu under 5k. ( Paid 3500 for a 2003 model V6 Malibu with 104k on odo 3 years ago).

Also consider Nissan Sentra - its a nice car.

If you consider Honda or Toyota you will get very old cars with lot of miles on Odo.

If you need more suggestions/ideas add me to the Gmail chat.

raneesh.vijayan@gmail.com


Raneesh

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by ToroRosso

My requirements
- Hassle free and reliable car.
- Good resale, if i have to dispose it at the end of 2 years.
- Snob value is of least concern.
- My purpose for the vehicle would be commute to office, and weekend shopping trips etc, for all outstation trips i would rent something else.
- Budget upto $5K

I had checked autotrader.com, and i couldnt find many cars with in my budget and all the cars had a lot of miles (150000+). I had found couple of Ford Fusions,Ford Taurus and Chevy Malibu in the 5K range.

Realistically speaking, what cars should i be looking at considering my shoe string budget.

All advices would be very highly appreciated.

Local Craigslist is your friend for the budget you have. Don't go to dealers for this price. They will rob you off your valuable money. You will hardly find any private sale on autotrader, yahoo autos and aol autos. Pick a private party sale from CL. Look for the condition of car, get it checked by a auto shop, see if it appeals to your pocket and brain and have fun.

As for which car, any, be it japanese, american, european will do. Plenty of the models are listed in this thread, you can find anyone that is in good condition. Try to get ones driven by older people. They tend to take care of the care more than young adults. Also shoot for lower miles car. My preference is, if you can find a Japanese with lower miles, nothing better than that since you want a cheap, reliable workhorse.

Remember, a high miles Japanese car will give more problems than an American car with less miles. Eg 1: If you can get a camry with 150k miles on odo and a malibu with 120k miles, pick the malibu**. Eg 2 If you get an accord and malibu with 120k miles, pick the accord**.

** Provided it is well taken care of and is in good condition from the start with clean history and doesn't need immediate repairs.

P.S: Use KBB, Edmunds TMV and Black Book to get realistic price of the car you are looking for. And finally the price will depend on the condition of the car which you only will be able to tell looking at it, driving it and doing inspection.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by chevelle

No Z06s since it comes in manual. .

There is a 427 'vert model. Which has the Zo6 engine and maybe an Auto. (I'm not sure on the auto part)
But it is only for 2013.

***** just checked, It is the ZO6 convertible. Means comes only in 6 speed.


ZR1 'vette is the killer. But I can afford to only dream.
There is one which I see at work though. Have to find out who has it.

Originally Posted by VLOCT

Hell, I just found a mint '86 Corvette (automatic) for $5000 with 73000 miles. Not a single blemish on the car from what I can see. My hands are now seriously itching to trade in my '97 Mustang for that vehicle. Damn!! Come on guys, someone pick it up and save me from this temptation.

Go for It... THe 86 'vette would be better than that '97 Mustang.

Here is one one which is even Cheaper.

AutoTrader Classics - 1985 Chevrolet Corvette | American Classics | Fairmount, IN

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Jomz

There is a 427 'vert model. Which has the Zo6 engine and maybe an Auto. (I'm not sure on the auto part)
But it is only for 2013.

***** just checked, It is the ZO6 convertible. Means comes only in 6 speed.


ZR1 'vette is the killer. But I can afford to only dream.
There is one which I see at work though. Have to find out who has it.

427 Verts are new for 2013. My hunt would be 2008-2009. Nothing above, nothing below. Those are the only ones that fit my budget. Everything else is a dream including the ZR1.

[Gandhi]

I went to Capitol Expressway Auto Mall yesterday to test drive Mazda3 and Elantra. Test drove both and liked elantra a lot because of the space inside, refined engine, interiors and features.

Couldn't stop myself from buying it, so took the plunge and bought it . I got the 2013 Elantra GLS with preferred package + auto-dimming mirror with home-link for 17700 + Taxes. Total out the door price is 19200 USD.

Now I have one question about one of the maintenance plan Hyundai is offering. They have a plan called Maintenance Plus for 1395/- which takes care of all the maintenance (including tune-ups, parts, consumables) till 7 years/105,000 miles. All I have to spend on is gas.

Is this plan worth taking? I have to inform them on Monday if I'm taking this plan or not.

[anekho]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

Now I have one question about one of the maintenance plan Hyundai is offering. They have a plan called Maintenance Plus for 1395/- which takes care of all the maintenance (including tune-ups, parts, consumables) till 7 years/105,000 miles. All I have to spend on is gas.

Is this plan worth taking? I have to inform them on Monday if I'm taking this plan or not.

Congrats on the Elantra!

Here's one way to look at it: Hyundai, like any other company strive to make profits. They've designed and engineered this car to last long - they're only offering you this maintenance option because they're confident that their car won't need fixing. They wouldn't offer a package like this unless they were sure they'd spend less over the stipulated warranty time.

This was our line of reasoning when we declined a similar maintenance package when purchasing our Prius.

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by anekho

Congrats on the Elantra!

Here's one way to look at it: Hyundai, like any other company strive to make profits. They've designed and engineered this car to last long - they're only offering you this maintenance option because they're confident that their car won't need fixing. They wouldn't offer a package like this unless they were sure they'd spend less over the stipulated warranty time.

This was our line of reasoning when we declined a similar maintenance package when purchasing our Prius.

The way I'm trying to look at this is - how much will I spend on regular maintenance of the car (like service labor, oil changes, tune-ups, etc) during next 7 years or 100k miles. If I save about 40% or more by paying upfront, I won't mind it. If the savings are any less, it's not worth paying this upfront.

Is there a website where they can give a rough estimate of maintenance costs for a car?

EDIT: Forgot to mention in the earlier post that I bought a black elantra. Somehow I just can't bear any other color for a car. Also, the car I got had just 12 miles on it, so I'm happy .