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Hello, I can’t make my mind of four cars that i would get whats better ?
banana:
1- 2001-Honda Civic or Coupe with 150k Miles around $3k to $4k
2-2002 Dodge Stratus or Dodge Neon with 120k miles but its cheap around $2k to $3k
3– 2003 Hyundai with 80k to 90k around $3k to $4k
4– Ford Focus with 120k miles but cheap around $2k to $3k
They are all 4 cly cars since i need good MPG. And I can only spend around $4,100 max just need a cheap strong car thats not ugly or unknown.thank u
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For reliability I would choose the Honda…But would check on the transmission..
I wouldn’t even touch the Dodges with a 10 foot pole…
JMHO
-Karl
lol. only one of the 4 mentioned vehicles should even be a consideration. Dodge stratus and neons are probably 2 of the most unreliable POS’s on the road. Never ever buy one please, unless you love dumping money in to fix the problems. Ford focus is right up there with them, might even top them. I have seen days at work where we literally have 4 focuses in for various problems, on the same day.
Hyundai is only ok to buy if you a buy it new and keep it until the warranty runs out.
The civic is the way to go. At 150k miles you might expect to see leaking rack and pinion, various oil leaks, and stuff, but still reliable. And if the leaks have already been addressed by previous owner, even better.
Hondas and Toyotas are the way to go for reliability and gas mileage
I recently purchased a vehicle for my 18 year old daughter to drive back and forth to college and work. These were the things I did and would suggest:
-Read as many consumer reviews as you can before deciding on a make and model (I considered a Neon but after reading the consumer reviews, decided against it. Like Toyota Karl said, watch the Honda trans).
-Check on the insurance premiums of each, like nplsdvr suggested.
-Have a pre-purchase inspection done by a trusted mechanic so you know what issues the car has or will most likely have. You can use this information as a negotiating tool for getting the car at the best possible price.
-Before you make an offer, check the blue book value so you don’t pay too much.I bought my first Honda back in February 2014 and have been very happy with it. I had the pre-purchase inspection done (by my local independant shop owner who, like Eric, was a Honda Tech) which found an oil leak from the oil pan gasket. I was also informed that the timing belt service would be due at 180,000 mi, at which time the water pump would also be replaced. It also had some minor rust but the interior was clean and the Owners Manual was in the glove box. So I was able to find out ahead of time, what I would be dealing with and approximately how much it would cost for those services. The pre-purchase inspection gave me peace of mind that I was making a good purchase and served as a bargaining tool in conjunction with knowing the blue book value. The dealership had advertised the Honda at $4,000. Blue book range was $2800 to $3600 based on vehicle condition. I stuck to the price I thought was fair and got my Honda Civic for $3200.00
90 to 93 Honda Accord.
Safe, strong, fast, looks clasic cool.
Not very hard to work on.
$1,500 for car, and about another $1,000 to have it in top running condition.
Can have over 200,000 miles on it, if the oil has been kept up.The kid across the street, when he got his driver’s license, drug in an old rusty Chevy pickup. He must have lived at the salvage yard because within a few weeks the vehicle had new old doors, fenders, and maybe a new box. Anyway, lots of colors.
He has a job and I hear it fire up early every morning.
Young drivers have auto accidents. In our newspaper I tire of seeing the pictures of young people on the obituary page. So, I’m suggesting driving something big and heavy. An old pickup is easy to work on, rebuilt engines are cheap and if you hit something you are less likely to make the paper.
Thats funny about the young drivers. In our town it is the old drivers you have to watch for. They keep hitting parked cars (with you sitting in the car), drive into buildings, and running over people on the side walk. Sadly the last big one was running a stop light in front of the high school. Flipped two cars, and spun a third one. Some people did not make it out of that one. Luckly school was already out. It was just the vehicles involved.
^^^What you say is true, it happens at both ends of the spectrum. But most old people have it figured out and drive barges.
RE: Dodges being unreliable
I’ve been driving my 04 stratus for almost 3 years, I haven’t had any MAJOR issues “knock on wood”…
I have one with a 2.4L 4 cyl (though I wouldn’t touch the v6 models with a 10 ft. pole). As with any car scheduled maintenance is important (but especially with these cars). My stratus has had some problems I needed to address (the original alternator went at 67k, new upper control arms at 74k, AIR pump went at 78k, original rad went at 80k, etc). To be fair it was a little rough when I bought it, but I bought it dirt cheap (1900 with 63k in 2012) and it’s now a 10 year old vehicle (and old parts are bound to fail sometime).
Soon I’m going to be doing the timing belt/components and replacing nearly all the major components of my front suspension (I want to upgrade to raybestos greasable balljoints/tierods/swaybar links so that I can just re-grease at oil changes and not worry as much about it all falling apart).
I’ll say it again, this car has never left me stranded..unless we’re counting the unexpected college parking lot radiator swap in the dark (but I already had the parts and tools in my back seat so I wasn’t “stranded” per say). Some of the car’s issues MIGHT have left me stranded if I hadn’t kept up with maintenance/inspected things from time to time.
Bottom line, the stratus is ok if you stay away from any v6 model made between the early 90s and 2006.
I tell this to all my friends whose kids are going into high school: Civic or Corolla.
Both are bang on reliable, cheap to fix, cheap to insure, and not fast.
Get yourself a car from a nice little old lady that doesn’t have left over fart can exhaust and mods. Those cars will definitely last them through high school and probably the first 2 years of college.
Forget the Focus. I keep mine around as a runabout because I dont have far to go for work, and i’m seriously getting tired of fixing it. If i didn’t get it for free, i’d have sold it a LONG time ago…
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