Car Advice

I've decided my 1997 Mazda 626 w/ 170k miles has seen enough days with me, and have decided to to make an upgrade. I'm looking to spend about $10k, and I would like to find something with around 50k miles, although would be willing to take a few more miles. Looking for something that will be a fun car, as well as reliable.

I really am not that much of a car guy, so I would love to hear people's suggestions for vehicles I should look for!

Well you certainly can't go wrong with any Honda Civic/Accord or Toyota Camry provided the car is still stock and not abused. Maybe a used Acura Legend/Integra? Those are kind of the obvious choices but you can always go for possibly a used Volvo or Subaru. Not sure on the reliablity of those two but I'd always have the the car pre-purchase inspected if possible.
Are you looking only at cars or are you looking at trucks to?
A guy at work had an Infiniti G20 he bought used and was really happy with it. I'd maybe look into one of those.
Doing a search on autotrader, I was able to find a nice cars.

honda is the way to go

I would save up for a little longer and buy a used 2001 audi a4 for $14,000 with about 50,000 miles on it.. i just looked it up, but you can not send a link to that site, it just brings you back to the first page. but it is at audiusa.com

edit: and because its certified pre-owned and not used, it comes with a warranty and road side assistance, everything you get with a new audi.

Mazda Protege5 hatchbacks are awesome cars for the money! You could probably find one for $9-11k and they're a blast to drive, not to mention practical and easy/inexpensive to maintain.

Toyota Tacoma

BigBear said:

Well you certainly can't go wrong with any Honda Civic/Accord or Toyota Camry provided the car is still stock and not abused. Maybe a used Acura Legend/Integra? Those are kind of the obvious choices but you can always go for possibly a used Volvo or Subaru. Not sure on the reliablity of those two but I'd always have the the car pre-purchase inspected if possible.
Are you looking only at cars or are you looking at trucks to?
A guy at work had an Infiniti G20 he bought used and was really happy with it. I'd maybe look into one of those.
Doing a search on autotrader, I was able to find a nice cars.

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I agree. I've had only hondas since i started driving, 82(my first car when I was 17 in the late 90's), 98, 04 and now and 06 Accord. I love them and my 98 had 160,000 miles on it before i sold it to a guy at work. now it has somewhere in the range of 213,000 miles on it and it still runs perfectly. As long as you do the regular maintenance on it (change oil, fluids, talk to it nicely, LOL) any car should be fine. But I do favor Hondas.

PowerBookG4 said:

I would save up for a little longer and buy a used 2001 audi a4 for $14,000 with about 50,000 miles on it.. i just looked it up, but you can not send a link to that site, it just brings you back to the first page. but it is at audiusa.com

edit: and because its certified pre-owned and not used, it comes with a warranty and road side assistance, everything you get with a new audi.

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Unfortunately, waiting isn't much of an option. The Mazda is near death...the engine will keep running, but I'm having to replace major things every few months. Exhaust system, radiator, etc. If I keep this car, I won't be able to "save" any money, which is my main concern in general! lol

As far as road side assistance, I'm a AAA member, so that is sort of built into my insurance. The warranty would be nice though...

Thanks for the advice guys! Keep it coming!

Don't buy the Honda Accord 2006 i have heard from a lot of people that it causes problems. i myself have a honda accord 2002 and it is awesome. i am going to wait and buy the 2007 honda accord. Or you can go for Toyota Camry and its ok my friend has it, he says its ok but honda has way better performance than toyota camry.

coltssaturday said:

Don't buy the Honda Accord 2006 i have heard from a lot of people that it causes problems. i myself have a honda accord 2002 and it is awesome. i am going to wait and buy the 2007 honda accord. Or you can go for Toyota Camry and its ok my friend has it, he says its ok but honda has way better performance than toyota camry.

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What problems? I have an 06 and i havent had any issues with it.

another vote here for Hondas. My wife drives a toyota and its OK too, but my honda has been a little more reliable.

"Camry" and "fun" don't belong in the same thread together...

For $10k, you could pick up a nice '97-'01 Honda Prelude.

-Good gas mileage (27-30mpg)
-Relatively fast. (0-60 in 6.8 seconds)
-Room for 4, albeit uncomfortably.
-Honda's reliability.
-Insanely good resale value.
-Out-friggin'-standing handling if you get an SH model (torque splitting LSD).

Pretty much anything by Honda is going to be awesome for reliability and economy, the Prelude is the only car I would deem "fun", however. (Other than the CRX, but I'm sure you're wanting something newer.)

I recently picked up a '99 Mazda Miata with 50,000 miles on it for $6,000 and I can't begin to tell you how awesome this car is. Sure, some people consider it a "girl's car", but I'm perfectly comfortable in my manhood and it just makes it all the more satisfying when you smoke a Mustang in AutoX. The reliability of them is superb and the mileage is respectable (25-30 depending on your driving habits).

More options:

'97-'98 Nissan 240sx (owned one for about a year, insanely fun car)
Mid '90s Subaru Impreza (AWD goodness)
Late '90s Acura Integra GsR (8,000 rpm is an amazing thing to experience)

I'm sure our driving styles differ, but all of the afore-mentioned cars are "fun" and reliable. Good luck. :mac:

Get a Jetta

early to mid nineties audi S4. It can be 10 years old and still run like a top. My dad found a '93 for 10 grand. 150,000 on it. Can still get probably 250,000 more. Any audi really tho. Insane cars

My friend just got a VW Passat 1.8t for $10500. It's a 2001 with only 50k miles. It's actually a pretty nice car, leather, sunroof, and a great sound system.

Although, if you truly want to be a happy driver, I would recomend a BMW ! They too are great cars if cared for!

in these days, with gas costing as much as tutiton, id go with the above and say honda. i recently traded in my bmw 330ci that had 150,000 miles for a nissan xterra (05) i love my xterra, its awesome having a sport utility, but it costs me 65 to fill up, and i do so atleast 2x a week. My fiance, on the other hand, has a honda civic. although it might not be the fastest car, it only costs like 23.00 to fill up, and goes 300 miles to the tank.

and plus, you can get some pretty dang fast civics, especially if you invest a teeny bit into it.

jhelm007 said:

another vote here for Hondas. My wife drives a toyota and its OK too, but my honda has been a little more reliable.

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toyota and honda's are both reliable. Nissan used to be more reliable back in the early 90's, but not so much lately. Not to say they are bad, just not as great as they once were.

This is quite an old post to be bringing back from the dead.

I may be new to the MF scene, but I know my fair share about autos.
As I know that you will be flooded with "Get a [insert import name here]" messages, there are very good domestic cars available from your home town of Detroit. The Chevrolet Cobalt and Ford Focus would be EXCELLENT choices and any year, model, or mileage will serve you well. What I like about these cars is that they fare relatively well in the crash protection department too. A Hyundai Elantra is a very good and reliable car, but you are grossly unprotected in a collision. The Chevrolet Cobalt and Toyota Corolla are actually the ONLY compacts that earned an "Acceptable" rating for frontal, side, and rear inpact from the coveted IIHS. If you're not looking for a smaller car, a Hyundai Sonata is an excellent choice in your price range, as is a Chevrolet Malibu, which gets about 26 mpg even with the peppy 3.5L V6. These cars are among my favorites because they can be ran and ran and ran with marginal maintenance and STILL deliver. European makes are excellent if cared for, but if you let your maintenance schedule down you're going to have a junker. Japanese cars run FOREVER, but unless made after 2001 or so, don't offer that great of crash protection or driver amenities. Personally, I have a Chevrolet Colorado pickup, with a 3.7L I5 engine. I plan on putting well over 400k miles on it, and I have a lot of faith in GM vehicles.