Going to look at a 99 blazer for my son

[GoodRevrnd]

I had two Jimmys and they are not very good cars. I flipped the first one and put it in a ditch. In my defense, it was a blowout on a gravel road. That said, if he's already nearly rolling a Tundra then this thing is probably a coffin on wheels.

 

[slag]

I had two Jimmys and they are not very good cars. I flipped the first one and put it in a ditch. In my defense, it was a blowout on a gravel road. That said, if he's already nearly rolling a Tundra then this thing is probably a coffin on wheels.

No one said he is nearly rolling a Tundra. Where did you get that? There is a very gradual sloping ditch at the church where they have boy scout meetings. On Monday night, he took the turn a bit too fast, the right wheel went off the road, down in the depression, and back up--all of about 3 seconds I'm told. There was no chance of rolling a vehicle.

 

[slag]

$4K once you pay for insurance. Wand WTF? He is 14?

It's going to be my vehicle.. He's going to learn to drive on it. It will be insured in my name. He's 14. In Kansas you can get your learners permit and learn to drive. I'll drive it every now and again so I want it to be a car I want to drive also. That kind of rules out older buicks, Tauruses, granny vehicles, etc.

You must be at least 14 years old to apply for a learner's permit in Kansas. To apply, you’ll need to visit your local Kansas DOR office and:
14 and 15 year olds must have approval from your parent or guardian..
Show proof of your identity.
Show proof of your KS residency.
Pass a vision test.
Pass the written permit test.
Pay the required fees: $20 permit fee.
$8 photo fee.
$3 testing fee.

Your Kansas learner’s permit must be held for 1 year.

He's done all of the above.

Once you have your KS learner’s permit, you’re ready for supervised behind-the-wheel training.
If you’re 15 years old,
Once you fulfill the behind-the-wheel requirement and have held your learner’s permit for 1 year, you’re eligible to apply for your intermediate restricted driver’s license.

His birthday was in January. It's April now. He has to get 25 hours of behind the wheel driving in a year. I have cancer and don't know how much I'll be able to sit with him and my wife is going to be swamped with the other boys as well, so we are trying to get in as much driving as possible now.

 

[nerp]

Buick!
Lots of low profile metal around him
Seniors care and driving habits = low stressed platform, 3800 reliable good on gas engine

This or crown vic. Done. Parts are cheap.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Buick with the 3.8L is your best bet. Any Toyota / Honda with an 4 cyl should be good, but the prices are probably going to be ridiculous for the age / mileage. A Ford Focus should be a dependable car, but make sure you find one that someone didn't try to turn into their go-fast-stickers project. IIRC, you want to avoid the SPI engine. The Zetec is alright (and probably what you're looking at for that price), and the Duratec is the best. See this guide: http://www.focushacks.com/mod/Identifying_your_engine

 

[Occ]

Well, if you're looking at late 90s SUVs, why not consider the most infamous? That's right, the exploder. There's a lot of them, so I imagine that increases your odds of finding a decent one around $1k. The 5.0 v8 is considered the most reliable, but gets pretty awful gas mileage, if that's a concern.

I would definitely take an explorer over a blazer, but I'm biased: I learned to drive with an explorer (anecdotal evidence: never flipped it despite whipping it through mountain passes, and it never exploded).

 

[slag]

I've owned several explorers from the 91-94 vintage, a 2006, and we now have a 2013. Just wanted to try something else.

 

[slag]

Buick with the 3.8L is your best bet. Any Toyota / Honda with an 4 cyl should be good, but the prices are probably going to be ridiculous for the age / mileage. A Ford Focus should be a dependable car, but make sure you find one that someone didn't try to turn into their go-fast-stickers project. IIRC, you want to avoid the SPI engine. The Zetec is alright (and probably what you're looking at for that price), and the Duratec is the best. See this guide: http://www.focushacks.com/mod/Identifying_your_engine

The 3.8 is a workhorse, I agree!

 

[SearchMaster]

Going to go look at a 1999 accord later tonight.

I have a 1998 Accord (same gen, 4 cyl, automatic). I picked it up with 185K miles and daily drove it until 2 years ago. It now has 260K miles.

In the 75K miles I've driven it, it has been a great car. I had to replace an O2 sensor (~$50 IIRC) and the ignition switch (super common problem, there was a recall for it, causes car to randomly die :O). I don't remember the cost of the ignition switch but I believe it was ~$75 but may have been double that. I also put brake pads on all four corners with cheapo pads, it's a pretty easy operation. It also takes a double DIN stereo so replacing the pitiful stock unit is cheap and easy. It's due for a timing belt replacement which will run ~$600 I think.

I really love(d) this car...it does nothing great but everything well. It's pretty slow and doesn't handle that great. But it gets pretty good gas mileage (I don't think I ever saw below 26MPG for a tank), is comfortable, and well made. You'd be surprised how many of them you still see on the road if you look for them...once I was randomly driving behind two other white 6G Accords in my smallish town. I will say that the previous owner took meticulous care of it...he bought it new and provided great documentation.

 

[Homer Simpson]

ill agree with some of the above buick/3.8 comments. pretty much any w-body from 97-03 would be a good option with the 3800 motor. that includes the buick regal, pontiac grand prix, chevy impala and if you want a 2dr, the chevy monte carlo. tons of those w-bodies were built so most parts are cheap. car is easy to work on. the 3.8 has good power and good mileage. car is mid size so its not a tiny sardine can death trap. ive had 2 grand prixs from that era and my dad still has a 98 with over 200k. all were great cars (and all were/are GTPs with the supercharged 3.8 ) if you're looking for a truck, the s10 from that same era isnt bad. i had an 01 xtreme for a number of years.

 

[slag]

Ended up getting a 2000 maxima SE for $1400. Needs struts and probably tires as well as a thorough cleaning. 206k miles but doesn't use oil the seller said. Drove it 20 miles home and it felt like an old caddy. Going to put KYB struts on it probably. It's white, sunroof, with a little rust over the passenger rear wheel well. It will make a great starter car for my son and something I can drive also. Air blows ICE cold.

 

[sontakke]

I hope you checked with your insurance company first! I have feeling that additional insurance once your kid gets licence will make this $1400 look cheap!

 

[slag]

Its my car, he only gets to drive it until he turns 15 and then can buy it if he wants. He's a straight A student and we have multi car discount. Insurance on this car is $40.00 a month but we get the multi car discount so its not so bad.

 

[slag]

oh, btw, we met up at a mcdonalds halfway between where both of us live. I test drove it and found several flaws that were not discussed in text or email. A few of them were simple fixes, a couple others not so much.

He was asking $1600.00. After discussing the flaws and costs, he said he could go lower, like $100.00 off. I then asked him what his absolute bottom dollar was and he said he needed $1400 to get his transmission fixed on his truck and that's what he would take for it. He signed over the title, I received a makeshift bill of sale, I gave him the cash, and we parted ways.

 

[sontakke]

wait until your kid gets the actual driving licence. the way it works is that insurance company assigns the "worst" vehicle to him. The Maxima has always been in "worse" insurance category being 6-cyl and a "youth-oriented" vehicle. I have 2K Maxima and teenage son; so we are going through this.

 

[SearchMaster]

I had an '00 Maxima as well. It was totaled at 220K miles but still ran perfectly.

I'm surprised it's an insurance issue...it wasn't a particularly sporty car though mine was a GLE and not an SE. You might go through some O2 sensors but they're cheap and easy.