Helping out a friend...Car suggestions

[Atty]

Co-Worker/Friend of mine needs a new car. He's being given a loan through our companies credit union but it has some restrictions.

Car needs to be less than 10 years old, Year 2000+. Has to have under 100,000 miles on it. Decent gas mileage (his own request, he drives out of town a lot.)

He doesn't care what it is, he just needs something with four wheels that goes from point A to point B.

Price max: $5,000
Capable of going to $5,500
Prefer less than 5k tho.

Thanks in advance guys!

Area: Central Florida (Lakeland, 33813). Already going through online sites but I wanted suggestions of whatever is quality in this price range and restrictions.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Just a peek

 

[Atty]

Yeah, I mentioned to him to stay away from domestic in that price range. Was hoping to find a decent Corolla or something, haven't seen anything.

I'm really just looking for more of what to look for and stay away from. Whats going to be reliable or fall apart, he doesn't know how to do much maintenance (afaik) and I'm sure he'd prefer to do none.

 

[Bignate603]

Personally I think the sub $5k range has some pretty good domestics. It's because they depreciate so much faster. In many parts of the country a $5k honda or Toyota has a ridiculous amount of miles on it and has been neglected while $5k can get you a pretty nice domestic.

Once you're in this price range the reliability of a car is based on how the previous owner treated it more than it's based on what exact make and model it is. In general, a domestic that had all its maintenance done on time, has low mileage, and wasn't driven that hard will be significantly more reliable than anything that was abused, no matter who made it. That being said, there are some models to stay away from but you'll probably want to go look at some cars and then research that specific model and year that you looked at.

 

[desy]

yeah focus
His sub 5000 import is going to be more than 10 yrs old and over 100k

 

[Pulsar]

I'll second the idea that knocking the domestics off the list is a bad idea. In 2000 frankly the quality difference was pretty small between the domestics and foreign.

For that range, I see:

Focuses (around 70k miles)
Cavaliers (around 80k miles)
Tauruses (around 80k miles)
Malibus (around 90k miles)
Neons (around 80k miles)
Sunfires (around 90k miles)
Ions (around 90k miles)
Sebrings (around 85k miles)

Just remember, at that mileage you start worrying about shocks, struts, ball joints, springs, and they'll likely need a break job and possibly tires.

So I'd warn him off about blowing his full 5K - expect to possibly have to make some basic maintenance repairs soon after buying the car unless he's very careful in shopping.

 

[Bignate603]

I'll second the idea that knocking the domestics off the list is a bad idea. In 2000 frankly the quality difference was pretty small between the domestics and foreign.

For that range, I see:

Focuses (around 70k miles)
Cavaliers (around 80k miles)
Tauruses (around 80k miles)
Malibus (around 90k miles)
Neons (around 80k miles)
Sunfires (around 90k miles)
Ions (around 90k miles)
Sebrings (around 85k miles)

Just remember, at that mileage you start worrying about shocks, struts, ball joints, springs, and they'll likely need a break job and possibly tires.

So I'd warn him off about blowing his full 5K - expect to possibly have to make some basic maintenance repairs soon after buying the car unless he's very careful in shopping.

Did they ever fix the head gasket issue on the neon? My brother had a neon that blew its gasket, among other things. Maybe they fixed it on later ones but his car had some serious issues.

Out of that list I'd probably say my favorites would be the Focus, Malibu and Ion.

 

[Vette73]

Look for a good Saturn, Buick, Hyundia, etc... Those have some good cars but a bad image or in Saturns case will not use the name anymore.
Ford Focus is another as well.

Knocking out domestic's in that range is dumb. You will get a much nicer car in better shape for the dollar.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Anything with a 3800Series II

Buick Regal
Pontiac Grand Prix
Chevrolet Impalla

Ford Focus - especially if he can find one with the Duratec 2.3L and not the Zetec

Pontiac Grand Am 3.4l V6

 

[Arkaign]

The Focus is a great car when you get the '05+ with the MZR Duratec motor. That price range is just on that bubble. The earlier Zetec and SPI models are okay, but have lower power/fuel economy, and are a bit more maintenance intensive.

The 3800s are very solid as well, but the fuel economy is pretty bad in-town. I had a LeSabre with it, great highway cruising fuel economy, but very thirsty around stop and go traffic. Reliable as can be though.