I have started searching for my next car.

[trickedaccord92]

After getting rid of my wagon last August me and my wife have been sharing her 2011 Toyota Yaris but being a one car family is finally getting old. After filing our taxes this week and figuring out what money is going where it appears I will have $4000 tops to spend on a new car. I have started scouring craigslist for ideas and this is what I have found so far that I am interested in in my price range in no particular order ...

-Honda EK Hatch (96+)
-Honda Odyssey (01+)
-Honda Prelude (97+)
-Acura RSX type S (02+)
-Chevy C10 (60s-80s mechanically sound and straight body)
-VW Bug (70s no floor rust, straight body and mechanically sound)


Any other ideas on vehicles to look into?

[Fleetw00d]

Kind of a mixed bag. What type of vehicle do you need? Have kids? Haul stuff? Just transportation for you and your wife?

[trickedaccord92]

Kind of a mixed bag. What type of vehicle do you need? Have kids? Haul stuff? Just transportation for you and your wife?

I have 2 kids and both are big enough to get in and out of back seat on their own. If it is a car it just needs a back seat and if it is a truck it needs to be auto so my wife can drive it if I need her car. It will mostly be used for driving around town since we use my wife's Yaris for long trips.

The classic bugs are in there because I always wanted one after seeing a nice one down in Florida as a teen. Don't really need a lot of room for transporting stuff but I wanted a nice c10 for a while too since my dad used to have a 75 c10 when I was a kid.

[deevergote]

If $4000 is your absolute limit, I'd look to spend about $2500 tops on the car itself. Anything in that price range is likely going to need some work, and you'll want some spare cash to dump into it.

Preludes seem to selling for surprisingly high prices these days. Odysseys are never very cheap, and an 01+ model is probably going to have very high miles to meet your target price (they also have the V6 Accord's transmission issues, I believe.)
It might be tough finding a Civic that hasn't been beaten on by a kid. The RSX-S probably won't be found for $4000 or less yet, and if it is... expect it to be clapped out. Most people I know that have test driven an RSX have ruled it out quite quickly. Apparently it's not very comfortable, and visibility is awful. Personally, I think they look like chick cars... Acura did to the Integra what Toyota did to the Celica!

The C10 and the bug are going to be restoration projects. At that price, you'll be lucky to find one that isn't falling apart. Either one in daily-driver condition will probably be WAY more. Both are awesome cars, but if you're looking for DD and not a project, they might not be ideal. (plus, the C10 would suck on gas! )

Of all the cars listed, the Prelude or the Civic would probably be your best options... if you can find good ones in your price range that haven't been abused.


Other options to consider:
Integra GSR
Impreza RS (these also tend to fetch a high price.)
MR2 (maybe not good for a family...)
E36 (you could probably find a lower-end E46 for $4000... but you'd probably get a higher trim level E36 in better condition for that money.)
Volvo S60 (there are a few on cars.com for under $4000... I seriously love these cars!)

[trickedaccord92]

If $4000 is your absolute limit, I'd look to spend about $2500 tops on the car itself. Anything in that price range is likely going to need some work, and you'll want some spare cash to dump into it.

Preludes seem to selling for surprisingly high prices these days. Odysseys are never very cheap, and an 01+ model is probably going to have very high miles to meet your target price (they also have the V6 Accord's transmission issues, I believe.)
It might be tough finding a Civic that hasn't been beaten on by a kid. The RSX-S probably won't be found for $4000 or less yet, and if it is... expect it to be clapped out. Most people I know that have test driven an RSX have ruled it out quite quickly. Apparently it's not very comfortable, and visibility is awful. Personally, I think they look like chick cars... Acura did to the Integra what Toyota did to the Celica!

The C10 and the bug are going to be restoration projects. At that price, you'll be lucky to find one that isn't falling apart. Either one in daily-driver condition will probably be WAY more. Both are awesome cars, but if you're looking for DD and not a project, they might not be ideal. (plus, the C10 would suck on gas! )

Of all the cars listed, the Prelude or the Civic would probably be your best options... if you can find good ones in your price range that haven't been abused.


Other options to consider:
Integra GSR
Impreza RS (these also tend to fetch a high price.)
MR2 (maybe not good for a family...)
E36 (you could probably find a lower-end E46 for $4000... but you'd probably get a higher trim level E36 in better condition for that money.)
Volvo S60 (there are a few on cars.com for under $4000... I seriously love these cars!)

Thanks for all of the good suggestions Deev. I know what you mean on most of the points you raised. I did look into Impreza, GSR, and volvos in my search but most were a bit out of my price range.

I am definitely in no hurry and will take my time finding the vehicle that is right for me. If I have to I will keep the $4000 and add to it until I can get into the $6000 range. I do have a few I plan to go look at next week ....

03 Ody
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4272128595.html

EK hatch (little higher than my price limit but I might be able to scrap an extra $900 from a small bank loan)
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4313614704.html

05 Civic Si (rebuilt title worries me a little but I have known good cars to be scrapped if fixing is worth more than value)
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4290317357.html

74 Beetle (only $2800 leaves money for minor repairs)
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4311789468.html

83 C10 (a lot of work done to it already so could be a driven project)
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4309722487.html

87 c10 (a lot of work done on this one too)
http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/4280000794.html


And those are all the ones I have marked to check on as soon as our tax money hits the bank ...

[foamypirate]

That 87' looks nice. Being an 87', it should be fuel injected (he mentions 350TBI in the ad, so looks like it still has it installed...lot of people replace with a carb for some reason because they don't "understand" fuel injection). Anyway, being fuel injected, it should be a bit better on fuel, and a lot more reliable. Parts are also dirt cheap for them, and easy to find.

[h22sparkle]

Put another 2k and get an so 2008 Honda civic si and you should be straight.

[FuriousJDMLBM]

Put another 2k and get an so 2008 Honda civic si and you should be straight.

Let's completely disregard his budget because hey, what's money, right?

There is currently (1) 2008 Civic on Cars.com in the US for under $6,000 and it's a LX with nearly 170K on the clock.

Fantastic advice.

[TheFunk]

My vote is in for the EK hatch.
Look for a late 90's model and you will surely spend much less than your budget and still get a good car, especially if you're looking for an automatic.

[ThatOneAccord]

The bug...you can actually find a decent one with minimal rust for $4k and if it's a super bug (yuck) that's even better. Personally I would recommend 52-67 and 67 being the best year. 68-70 was okay 71+ the bug just got crappier and crappier.

[Sordz]

97-01 honda CR-V? I've had a couple of these as daily drivers, last one I sold 6 months ago was a 99 fwd auto with 89k miles for $4600(Florida car) so you could find a decent one around your budget.

[h22sparkle]

Let's completely disregard his budget because hey, what's money, right?

There is currently (1) 2008 Civic on Cars.com in the US for under $6,000 and it's a LX with nearly 170K on the clock.

Fantastic advice.

Yes indeed I don't know about 170k on the clock but a sport sedan is obtainable for that price. Just gotta know where to look.

[Accrdwgnguy]

My advice when buying a 20+ year old vehicle, look for one that is all original, not modified. Buying someone else's project can be a heartache at times, you don't know what they did even if you get a stack of receipts and documents.

I paid $2k for my 92 Oldsmobile, and it's been great. All original one owner car with 94k miles, I've put on 700 miles so far in the 2 weeks I've had it and it's damn reliable.

[toycar]

Why not just buy an accord. CB7 or Cd5. Buy one for $2,000 tops, drop $1,000 in parts right away to get it running right and feeling good, and then spend the rest on a vacation for the wife and kids?


My thoughts.


$4,000 is a bad number for me with buying used cars. That is either an expensive POS car, or, a cheap ass run down car that seems like a good deal. 4K is just a weird dollar amount for a used car, and everytime I have bought something for that kind of money it was either a nice car for the money-with problems lurking around the corner-or a POS that was "fixed up" and eventually I regretted that as well.

So, now, I spend $2500 tops for used cars unless I am going to spend atleast 10 grand. Anything in between just seems to = headaches for me throughout my life. Granted, theres always exceptions but I'd rather spend a couple thousand on a decent car and have a grand or so to get it right and be happy with that. Nothing worse than spending all your money on a "decent" car and then having something like the tranny go out on it.

[Jarrett]

There is so much truth in that statement.