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Hi everyone my 1990 Volvo 240DL is headed for the local junk yard where they are going to part it out and recycle whatever isn’t used and I’m going to get $350 for it which is $50 less than what I paid. But it is now obvious that I’m going to be needing a new car. What are your suggestions that I should look for? I want something standard, good on gas, safe and inexpensive both to buy and fix. What are your thoughts on something like a mid 90s honda or subaru? I know they get exceptionally good gas mileage and they run forever.
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I’m very happy with my 1994 Mazda 323/Familia/Protege, whatever you call it. Bought it for 1300 with 160,000 KM’s on it, gets about 450-500 KM’s a tank of city driving, cheap and easy to work on. You also can’t go wrong with a Toyota Corolla. Last forever, great mileage, and again, cheap and easy to work on.
The Volvo….. It needs a gas tank, shocks and struts all the way around, front lower ball joints, an alignment issue, a speedometer, neutral safety switch, both the mufflers and some piping, it could use some pads and rotors all the way around along with e-brake shoes, the front right caliper, and the kicker is the rear end is on its way out. It’s grinding and humming really badly. It also could use a lot of bodywork and it appears to have been in an accident.
And I like the idea of a Mazda. However I refuse to buy a Toyota I like just about every other car manufacturer besides Toyota. That is unless I were to find one for $400-500 haha
Suburu parts can be expensive and sometimes you have to go to the dealer to get the parts you need, I know this because my Dad has driven Subaru’s
for the past 20 yrs and I’m his mechanic. They are dependable but I would lean more to the Honda.Well, can’t go wrong with a Honda Civic or Accord. Gas mileage is excellent, reliability is good, and there are a ton of aftermarket and OEM parts available. I have owned two Accords and one Civic (all from the 90s) and was very happy with them. I eventually sold the Civic but the two Accords are still in the family. Both are well over 200K on the mileage.
I think the only thing that could really stop them at this point is rust. Of course, with older cars, you will still have to make repairs, doesn’t matter what model, so there is always a tradeoff between less money up front to buy vs. putting $ into it because it is older. If you like to do a little wrenching though, the Hondas are fairly easy for a DIY person to work on. Plus, ETCG has a lot of videos on fixing Hondas as well.
Quoted From rhsimmons92: And I like the idea of a Mazda.
Speaking from experience, stay away from Mazdas that were built between 2001 and 2003. They had some ECU issues where the cars would just die for no reason. We (and many others) got our 2002 Protege 5 returned under the Lemon Law because it was such a problem. Mazda never could figure out why the cars would just die the way they did.
Quoted From crandall:
Well, can’t go wrong with a Honda Civic or Accord. Gas mileage is excellent, reliability is good, and there are a ton of aftermarket and OEM parts available. I have owned two Accords and one Civic (all from the 90s) and was very happy with them. I eventually sold the Civic but the two Accords are still in the family. Both are well over 200K on the mileage.
I think the only thing that could really stop them at this point is rust. Of course, with older cars, you will still have to make repairs, doesn’t matter what model, so there is always a tradeoff between less money up front to buy vs. putting $ into it because it is older. If you like to do a little wrenching though, the Hondas are fairly easy for a DIY person to work on. Plus, ETCG has a lot of videos on fixing Hondas as well.
My dad had a 93 Honda Accord and he eventually gave it to me when I was 15. BUT when he gave it to me it had well over 300K miles on and it ran strong till he parked it. He did however, go through two transmissions on it because of the way he would drive it. That and the job he had required him to drive it up and down the east coast and he put about 50K miles on it a year. Needless to say he only had the job for two years. When he parked it it needed a battery, a front brake job, and a tune up. It sat there for about a year and when I got it, it ended up sitting in my back yard for a couple years. By the time I was ready to fix it it needed a windshield, four tires, all new bearings, new gaskets, the front brake job, probably a rear brake job, and it was held together by rust, that and my dad lost the title to it. Unfortunately I ended up selling it for about $175 to a guy for parts as I didn’t have a job or any tools or know-how. Now I’ve had some education in auto and done all the work on my car including a timing belt, thermostat, brakes etc…. But I’d love another Honda as I know they’re easy to work on. My Dad changed the transmission out on his in a day. I’d love a standard Accord or Civic as I believe they probably get better gas mileage than the autos. And I was unaware of the Mazda issue thank you for the tip!
Subarus,make sure to ask if the timing belt has changed.It gets very expensive when the timing belt breaks,$3,000.00 and Subaru engines are interferance engines bending valves.The right headgaskets have to be used too in a Subaru engine.Certain year Corolla engines are junk 1998 to 2002 and one yard in my area gets calls for them.
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