First car out of college

[roguerower]

I just found out that I'll be moving out to San Antonio about three weeks after I graduate. My parents are letting me have their 2001 Honda Civic SE with about 150k miles on it. I can either drive it or trade it in. My job is in the construction management field and I will be out in the field. I will be living maybe 15-20 minutes away from my jobsite with no serious mileage or highway driving in between.

I am interested in possibly trading the civic in and getting a used car...the question is what. I have always wanted to get a wrangler since the time when my parents had to trade ours in to buy the civic (commuter driving in DC). I also would like a cherokee but they're starting to get a little long in the tooth. My other thought is a Ford Ranger/light pickup. I'd looking to do some light hauling/towing as well as transporting kayak/bicycle.

I'd like to buy Ford if I buy american since family has always bought ford and I would rather support a company that can stand on its own two feet than one that needs help because of substandard products/planning. I"m not too opposed to buying foreign so long as the product is FAR superior.

Please help me out!

 

[yh125d]

I'd just stick with the civic and drive it into the ground. Unless the civic significantly hinders your ability to get on-site you should be fine.


You could probably take it more places than you might think. I used to take a volvo S60 R into the field, working at remote, remote, remote natural gas compressor stations and it got around fine. I even drove it through a working rock quarry

 

[Arkaign]

I'm going to take the other route and say that getting rid of that Civic now might be a wise plan. For some reason the '01 Civic has a much higher-than-normal reputation for failures, particularly automatic tranny failures, than other years of the Civic.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Civic/2001/transmission/transmission_failure.shtml

Given that it's currently in running condition and still has a moderately high amount of resale value, I'd say dump it and go ahead with something with lower miles, even if it means taking a small loan out.

As for the Ranger, no. Too small and terrible safety ratings. If you're going to do a truck, go ahead with the F150 2004+ model, it's much much safer, and isn't bad on gas if you don't have a lead foot.

 

[roguerower]

It's a manual civic and while it's a great car I'm looking for something a bit beefier with less seating, more seating, and a higher "fun" rating.

I know that earlier 2000 ranger's were pretty bad but what about the newer ones? Any other light trucks out there that I should look at (frontier, tacoma, etc)?

I'll look out for an F-150.

 

[Tristicus]

Run the civic into the ground IMO...I mean it's a car. You're getting it, and not having to make payments on it (if I understand). It's a manual, so that's a little bit of a fun factor...and you won't be commuting that far as you said.

 

[Arkaign]

It's a manual civic and while it's a great car I'm looking for something a bit beefier with less seating, more seating, and a higher "fun" rating.

I know that earlier 2000 ranger's were pretty bad but what about the newer ones? Any other light trucks out there that I should look at (frontier, tacoma, etc)?

I'll look out for an F-150.

The Ranger has improved somewhat in minor ways, but it hasn't received a substantial generational update in many many many years. The current 'gen' launched in 1998, and it was only an incremental change from the previous '93-'97 gen, which really had almost everything in common from the '83+ models

The Frontier is definitely worth a look. The Tacomas can be nice, but suffer from the Toyota 'tax' due to their historic consumer reputation for quality.

 

[Arkaign]

Run the civic into the ground IMO...I mean it's a car. You're getting it, and not having to make payments on it (if I understand). It's a manual, so that's a little bit of a fun factor...and you won't be commuting that far as you said.

This is actually a decent option now that I know it's not the dreaded auto that fails so often (probably explains why it's still going at 150k miles).

 

[cheesehead]

The Civic is a vastly overvalued car - around here, a '01 with 150k is easily worth $4500 if it's in good shape. I suppose it's a question of the condition of the car - if your parents were fastidious about maintenance and took good care of the car it could easily run another 100k, wheras a mistreated Civic might be on the verge of disintegrating.

If you're looking at pickup trucks, I'd probably say "Toyota Tacoma", though admittedly I know nothing whatsoever about pickup trucks. They do seem to hold up pretty well, though. Alternately, if you can get a good price, go buy a Subaru - the wagons are a lot better offroad than you might expect, and I've seen them carry a whole lot of stuff.

 

[desy]

A Ranger is fine since you have a preference for Ford, its the smallest of the midsize trucks, keeping the Civic and wringing many more miles out of it is also a good plan.

 

[BurnItDwn]

In your shoes, I'd keep the civic as long as there's not too much wrong with it, and if it's comfortable enough (in my reality, It may not have enough headroom for me to be comfortable)

If you are serious about transporting things or what not, then a ranger would surely work, or if you won't need to tow more than a ton or so ... then most cars would be suitable for that ....

 

[cheesehead]

One rather weird option is the AWD Chevy Astro van. They're not terribly nice cars, but they make up for it by being SPECTACULARLY cheap - you can pick up a decent example for $2500 around here.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I dunno. If I were you, I'd keep the Civic and drive it for a while and see how things go. Save up $2 or 3k and you'll find plenty of 90's Rangers, S-10's, etc. for sale to haul your kayak.

It's not like the Civic is going to plummet in value after 2 or 3 months of driving. "Wait and see" is a perfectly valid choice. San Antonio is a big city; lots of freeways and traffic. It always gets a bit neglected next to Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, but it's the 7th largest city in the country. You might find you that you like the Civic a little better than you're thinking you will.

 

[kornphlake]

I bought a used and abused Saturn 4 door my senior year of college, I've had it for 7 years now and it's just slightly more used and abused. I put a roof rack on it and it carries my mountain bike or kayak just fine, it's also hauled lumber, pipe and other odd size cargo. I have driven it down plenty of fire roads, including some covered in snow (not recommended) with surprising success. At one point buying another car was an option but I choose not to and instead used the money for a down payment on a house, still I commute in my 4 door saturn with almost 180K miles and expect to keep on driving it for a few more years until it dies. It's become a part of who I am, even though I don't feel like that car represents my personality at all.

Graduating college opens a new world, you'll have more money than you've ever had before and you'll likely have more bills than you've ever had and you'll have less free time than you ever imagined. There's no reason to trade in a reliable car right away, get on your feet and get established somewhere you plan on staying a while before making a decision.

 

[Bignate603]

Personally, I'd keep the civic until you've been working for a few months. You'll be a in a better position to know what you can afford after you've started working and know all of your monthly expenses.

 

[roguerower]

Thanks for the advice. I plan on keeping it for a couple of months so I can save money and start building a safety net, but was just throwing a "what if" out there.

The car is in great shape. I just had the brake pads replaced, the transmission is still the original and going strong, headroom isn't an issue, and I have a yakima roof rack from hauling my kayak around this past summer.

I was just looking for other thoughts on the matter.