Looking for a good car for school

[drpootums]

I know there are a lot of threads like this on here, but maybe you guys can still help me out. I'm going to be a senior next year, and my parents have talked about helping me buy a different car for college. Now they are saying that if I find a good deal on one before graduation I could get my graduation present early. I'm not in a hurry to buy, because I don't need a different car for another year or so.

I'm looking for something (not necessarily in this order):

-Reliable
-Fairly cheap
-Fun to drive
-Fuel efficient
-Low insurance rate (I'm 17, so no racers)
-Cheap enough to fix if something goes wrong

I've been considering:
-Pontiac Grand Prix (fun, efficient, reliable, but kind of expensive for a good one)
-Ford Taurus (efficient, cheap, and reliable, but EXTREMELY boring)
-Honda Civic (efficient, reliable, fun, but expensive and not cheap to fix)

My parents would help me pay for about 1/2 of it for graduation (and probably loan me the rest so i could make payments to them). I guess my budget is somewhere around $7000-9000, but lower=better.

I just wanted to hear what you guys (and girls) think so I could start looking a bit more. Thanks!

 

[jaedaliu]

it's interesting that you're looking at a taurus and civic at the same time. they're quite differently sized.

I'd look into a small hyundai. the ones with the 100k warranties, or maybe a focus.

 

[Sqube]

Since when is a Civic expensive to fix? What year were you talking about?

 

[drpootums]

i'm just saying that import cars are usually more expensive to fix because the parts are harder to find. I'm not saying a Civic is expensive to fix, just more expensive to fix than other options (like most Ford/GM cars)

 

[ognabor]

do yourself a favor and avoid the taurus. what a miserable car.

and civic parts arent even remotely hard to find

 

[thedarkwolf]

Miata duh
Just call the insurance company up and see what it will cost for a 17 year old first. Its cheap for me but I'm well past the age of insane insurance costs. Just watch out for the surprise buttsechs

 

[drpootums]

Originally posted by: ognabor
do yourself a favor and avoid the taurus. what a miserable car.

and civic parts arent even remotely hard to find

Ugh, alright, i said that wrong. Honda parts are not as plentiful and cheap as parts from American car companies like GM and Ford (Dodge is a totally different story). A part (lets say a water pump) for a Impala is going to cost less than one for an Accord or Camry because there is not as great of a supply of import parts.

Example: My cousin owns a BMW 750i. He paid $1700 for a replacement gas tank. The same thing on a Chevy would cost about $350 because GM parts are more plentiful than parts from BMW in Germany.

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
Miata duh
Just call the insurance company up and see what it will cost for a 17 year old first. Its cheap for me but I'm well past the age of insane insurance costs. Just watch out for the surprise buttsechs

I would love a Miata, but I don't think my parents would go for that much.... My dad is under the "Small cars are not safe" mentality, so that would be pretty hard to convince him into that.

 

[Bucks]

Definitely a civic

 

[desy]

A taurus 2000 and later is a good car I drove one just yesterday 100K miles NOTHING done to it yet not even a tune up or tranny flush. I'm gonna bring that up with our H&S committee. What they are not is very good on gas, but very cheap with depreciation since the Fusion came out.
With 7-8G punch it into Autotrader and filter for miles and years etc and see what pops up for your area, lot of nice vehicles show up that maybe you wouldn't originally considered.
Chev's with 3800 engines are excellent.
Buying a Civic or Rolla is a no brainer, finding one at a good deal is a lot harder.

Small cars with air bags are very safe

 

[drpootums]

I test drove a 2003 Grand Prix GT with 65,000 miles for $8900 and a 2005 Taurus with 70,000 miles for $7500 today.

I liked the Grand Prix a lot more. It was more comfortable, had better steering/brakes/suspension, had a nicer engine, had less road noise, and looked better. However, it was $1500 more than the Taurus, which wasn't a bad car either. The Taurus was very vanilla but nice but the Grand Prix was actually kind of fun to drive and was optioned out more.

I know the Taurus would be alright, but I don't want to buy something and a year later wish I had got something nicer or more fun.

 

[drpootums]

Looking at cars.com, i found a 2000 Civic EX with 60,000 miles for $7000. I don't know if this is a good deal or not. It's pretty low on options, but it does have a 5 speed manual, so that would be kind of fun.

I'm not a big Honda fan, but if i could find a good deal on a Civic I wouldn't mind driving one (I know they're good cars)

 

[cr2250]

I dont agree with the honda parts being more expensive, hondas are built in the us now and aren't really considered imports any more. The thing is, bmw parts are always expensive, dad has an m5 and the parts are out the window....I would say since so many people have civics, the parts are in demand thus being more are available since people buy them

 

[A5]

Try to talk the Grand Prix down to ~$8000 - if you really like it, that's not much to pay for happiness.

 

[j00fek]

Originally posted by: drpootums

-Honda Civic (efficient, reliable, fun, but expensive and not cheap to fix)

have you ever bought parts for a civic? they are one of the most common cars out today and the parts are far from expensive and 99% of the parts stores keep everything in stock. i have never had any trouble finding parts or finding good prices for parts on my civic...

 

[MetalMat]

Get an old 90-93 accord. I still use one for work purposes and it is still running great with 166k miles on it. Bought it 2 years ago for 1k.

 

[j00fek]

Originally posted by: MetalMat
Get an old 90-93 accord. I still use one for work purposes and it is still running great with 166k miles on it. Bought it 2 years ago for 1k.

had a 92 when i was in school. only thing i did to it was a new muffler and timing belt @220K mi, bought it with 179K and that car got me from RI to ME every weekend most of the time. got rid of it with 268K