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Hello, I am a student in college, and am driving a 1997 Plymouth Neon coupe. It is THE WORST car on campus. With rust, and burning/leaking oil. Although it is easy to repair when it breaks, the oil issue is too grave for me to want to keep this car. It goes through a quart a day.
It also has no A/C.
So I have saved up $1700 and after I get up to about $3600, I want to buy a used car. Insurance is no issue, since I am already paying sports car / teenager pricing. But a 4 door is fine with me. 2 door is preferred, and 4 – 6 cyl is preferred. Also it should get more than 24 mpg average. I don’t particularly care if it is the fastest, but quick acceleration is always fun. 2 seats is fine, but trunk space is required. I love white colored cars. And no Honda’s, unless it is a Prelude. I want a simple car, with lots of ease of maintenance. It should be pretty light, i like light feeling cars.
Cars I found that look good to me:
1986 Fiero GT (I am aware of the Fiero’s rumored problems, and the car only has some rust on the body)
1986 Celica GT-S
1998 Audi A4 Quattro (super hard to maintain, but the best price for car: 3800)
1991 MR2 (non turbo 🙁 )
1993 Eagle Talon TSi (it has its problems, but not too bad)
1997 Plymouth Neon (keep the dam car, and replace some gaskets, the car’s worth is $800)I am wanting replies of either: suggestions of cars to look into, or opinions on cars I have already checked out.
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It seems that you need a car from the 80’s or early 90’s with a 4 cylinder and a manual transmission, These cars were cheap to run and fix but unfortunately a lot of perfectly good cars like that were destroyed under the cash for clunkers scam. My recent purchase of a 92′ Mercury Topaz with a 2.3L and Auto has returned an average mileage of nearly 30mpg and any parts needed were dirt cheap.
What about a focus SVT? Or a focus zx3? They are fun around the turns. Fairly easy to fix and you can find them for cheap.
Sorry If I offended you but suggesting a car that might fit your wants is different than a car that’s reliable and easy to repair, especially in your price range. Most everything In your price range is used up at this point unless you can stumble on a barn find or lucky enough to find one with low mileage that’s been cared for.
I kinda forgot that you’re young. My first car was a 1956 Chevy. 6 cylinder, 3 on the tree. It wasn’t sporty or a street rod but I drove it like it was a Ferrari. LoL
Most reliable, easy to repair cars are boring. Someone suggested a Miata, definitely a fun to drive car but where I work I don’t think they are the most reliable. We replaced the engine on 2 of them in the past year.
A later model Mazda 3 isn’t a bad car if you can find one that’s been maintained. I’ll keep thinking bout it for you. HMMmmmm …I have a hard time typing this but some Hyundai models are reliable and easy work on and cheap to buy. Again, finding one that’s been maintained is the secret.
All good dude. But I have talked to many a person, and I think that the Fiero, maybe a smaller engine (like the 6-cyl) would do me good. It is very simple, and even though the 6-cyl has very little breathing room, and some coolant problems; I have researched a ton on the car. And after talking to some mechanics that have ACTUALLY worked on some (there are very few nowadays) I think i might get one. There was a sweet deal on one:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/4101521957.html
That is a very good year, with steering assist, but sadly within 30 minutes of posting it, he had 25 buyers :/Did you guys ever work on a Fiero? And although there are tons of rumors about them, they seem like a small, yet fun car to work on.
Note: This would only be a fun car to work on for one year, then for 2 years minimum it would be a daily driver.
Funny story on a Fiero i went out to see: it was a 84′ and he had it jacked up in the middle, I asked why, he said the shocks were leaking, I checked them and they were. Further investigation found out that the car was rusted IN HALF. No surprise, I didn’t buy it.
The Fiero GT in the CL link is a nice looking car and the GTs were the most desireable and best of the Fieros made. Unfortunately, they were also the end of the line.
Unless you’re mechanically inclined you really should avoid the Fieros. You asked if anyone had actually worked on them. As a mechanic, I have not.
However, I did work for a dealership back in the 80s which carried a number of car lines including Pontiac.I was an import mechanic there so I did not do service on Fieros. What I did see was Fieros being towed in on almost a daily basis and I strongly suspect that a very long time Pontiac mechanic there threw in the towel and retired because of those things.
One day I remember well because he got saddled with 3 of them in the same day; all low miles, all with engine problems, all red in color, and all towed in.
He was a quiet low key guy but like everyone else, he has his breaking point…… 🙁Ah, I have heard about those issues. Near the beginning of the production, they had almost all 84-86’s have a defect in the crank (or cam?) shafts. There was a ton of recall work to be done. After that though: they should be alright no?
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