Aaack, which one??

[Vcize]

I've got a bit of a dilemma here. I need to pick up a car to last me through my last year of college (my 1990 Cressida just died permanently). I've been saving up and I have a job lined up for when I graduate so hopefully I'll be able to buy a new car in a year or so. Problem is I may have to decide by tommorrow and I don't know a whole lot about this Here are my options:

1994 Honda Civic
107,000 miles
Manual Transmission
$1995.00
I've heard lots of good things about the longevity of Civics, so it should be reliable.

1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport
149,315 miles
$1896.03
This one is interesting because it's a repo. A '94 with 150k miles on it doesn't exactly sound like the most reliable thing. However under 2 grand for a '94 Cherokee seems to actually be a pretty good deal. For instance a '91 Cherokee with 232k miles on it is still going for 2 grand.

1998 Chevrolet S10 Pickup
72,000 miles
Manual Transmission
$1975
This one is definitely the newest and has the fewest miles, but Chevy's aren't known to be as reliable as the Civic and not as sporty as either the Civic or the Cherokee. It's new, but not so easy on the eyes.

1988 Mazda RX-7
120,000 miles
$1950
Body damage on left side
Probably the least reliable of the bunch, but definitely the most sporty. I probably won't get this one, but I couldn't bring myself to leave it off the list entirely.

The other 2 options that I don't have pictures of are:

1994 Chevrolet Prizm
?? miles (guy advertising it hasn't answered his phone yet)
$1200
I really like the '94 Corolla's, and this is the closest thing to it I'd be able to get. $1200 price tag is nice too.

1997 Dodge Neon
100,000 miles
$1000
This is the car of a friend of my cousin's, and he was originally gonna trade it in towards his new car purchase. My cousin knew that I was in the market so he asked his friend what the dealer was willing to pay him for the car, and then said I might be able to match that. The dealer was going to give him $1000 in trade for it, so that's how much I'd have to pay. The benefit is I know the owner and I know he's not trying to run something by me since he's not getting anything out of selling it to me anyway. The bad things are that he said it eats oil fast and he usually has to put in 3/4 of a quart every other time he fills up on gas (though he said it just burns it fast, and that it's not leaking), and it's got some pretty good rust stains on the roof. Also he uses the high octane gas, and I was hoping to get a car I could put the low-grade gas in (I spent a fortune on gas for my Cressida), could I use the low-grade in this car?

Here's the sticky part of the situation. The guy with the Neon is buying his new car tommorrow (Wed.) night, so if I want the Neon I'd have to tell him by then.

Thoughts? I'd REALLY REALLY appreciate some fast opinions if they're out there as I don't know a whole lot about this stuff. Thanks a ton in advance.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Civic

 

[Vcize]

EDIT: Added pics to some of them.

 

[Stumps]

RX-7, spend a bit of cash on it and it will repay you every time you drive it!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Stumps
RX-7, spend a bit of cash on it and it will repay you every time you drive it!

it's his only car, unless he wants to have a car to fix and work on, a reliable car is preferable for most people

 

[ski2slow]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Civic

 

[Firetower]

Civic, it will run well over 200k.

 

[myusername]

VIN: 1J4FT68S9RL146610
Year/Make/Model: 1994 JEEP CHEROKEE SPORT
Body Style: 4 Dr. Wagon/Sport Utility
Engine Type: 4.0L L6 HO MPI
Manufactured In: UNITED STATES
Search Results: 24 records found in our database

I do like jeeps, but this one is probably not for your situation. While you won't know what happened to it until you pony up for the whole report - or have a friend with an account look it up for you - or call the seller and tell them to look it up for you - 24 records isn't particularly promising.

The bumper endcap in that picture is suspicious even though the fender looks fine (and the hood is mildly dented), and there appears to be something wrong with that front wheel. If it's just a spacer (not wheel offset, as back is aligned properly), it might need nothing or it might need new bearings. If that's not a spacer, there's a lot of damage under that front end that will not be cheap to fix.

Also if you don't like paying for premium gas in your toyota, you probably won't like buying the cheap gas when it gets sucked down at <15mpg around town.

 

[Freejack2]

I don't know if they've gotten better but I had an 89 civic and what a POS that thing was. Every time I turned around that pile of crap needed something new.
I'd say try and get the 94 prism.
On the other hand if you can bring the neon up to near perfect condition for less than $1000 that's not a bad deal either. The oil burning could be really expensive to fix though.