Suggestion for 2 door coupe from the last 10-12 years for ~$4-7k?

[Miramonti]

I'm going to be helping a step daughter purchase her first car. She wants a coupe that's cute (*sigh*) but of course I want her to get something that is reliable and practical (ie mileage and maintenance ease/costs) and perhaps on the safe side (if there were such a thing for small cars, lol.)

Any suggestions that might appease both of us?


/edit: feel free to respectfully critique/affirm others' suggestions, as well as mention any you'd avoid and why.

 

[ND40oz]

RSX or Civic coupe are nice reliable options, if you want an unreliable option, the MKIV Jetta and GTI/Golf should do the trick although they aren't coupes.

 

[Throckmorton]

A Volvo C70 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_C70

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Mustang
Scion Tc
Focus

 

[Ferzerp]

and perhaps on the safe side (if there were such a thing for small cars, lol.)

Where is small in the prerequisites? Coupe by no means means small.

This is a coupe...

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Saturn Ion
Pontiac G5
Chevy Cobalt

More premium than a late 90's Civic and cheap to fix if they do break.

Pontiac Grand Prix or Chevy Monte Carlo
The 3800 V6 & 4spd Auto is rock solid, mid 20's mpg. The 3400 V6 aint a bad choice either.

 

[Throckmorton]

Make sure it has side airbags. Nothing else can make a car safe in a side impact

 

[fstime]

First girl couple I thought of (although you see a lot of guys driving them thinking they are sporty) is the Scion TC.

 

[Miramonti]

Mustang
Scion Tc
Focus

Where is small in the prerequisites? Coupe by no means means small.

This is a coupe...

Cars that she's test drove and enjoyed are the Scion tc ('05) and Mitsubishi eclipse ('04). I think they wanted 9k for the Scion, which is too high.

 

[hans007]

my dad just sold my brothers old scion tc. 2005 model. he got like $8000 even though a couple of minor things were broken on it. that said it only had 27k miles on it.

i'd probably look at the miata with say 75k miles on them. its not that hard to find since for a lot of people they are 2nd cars, and i think a 2002-2003 NB body would be in the 5000 range. MR2 also though most MR2s are manual so that might not work if your daughter can't drive stick

 

[manimal]

auto miatas are usualy cheap and unmolested.

hell i heard a girl say the bug was cute....

 

[dawp]

how about a toyota solara or celica?

1999 solara
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/ctd/3606780886.html

2001 celica
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/ctd/3603664866.html

 

[Murloc]

japanese cars generally have that "cute" look I hate with all of my cells. The small ones I mean, not the boats on wheels aimed to the north american, arab and other big-size markets.
Real small cars are not safe and not stable enough though and it's useless to have very low fuel consumption and size since you're in USA, so I wouldn't get anything smaller than a Golf (which is rated as a very safe car).
Apparently repairs for european cars are pricey in USA/there is not enough know-how, so I'd just go with something reliable and japanese.
Toyotas are apparently the cars with the lowest maintenance costs.

In my experience you end up spending less money on the long term (and when you buy the car) if you drive stick but if you have long daily commutes in the traffic an auto is just unbeatable in comfort.

 

[nerp]

2-door Yaris.

 

[BeauCharles]

Just not a lot to choose from in a coupe anymore. Hasn't been in 15-20 years. Scion TC, Civic, Celica or Eclipes are about it.

 

[_Rick_]

Alfa Romeo... GT or Brera?

Or, the girliest of all: GTV

 

[ballmode]

RSX

 

[halik]

Alfa Romeo... GT or Brera?

Or, the girliest of all: GTV

You're really just doing this to make us jealous...

 

[Throckmorton]

M3

 

[Arkaign]

$4k-$7k? '05 or newer Focus Hatch with the manual is a dead reliable car with good power (relatively speaking in the segment), great fuel economy, basically free insurance, and very practical. Civics, RSX, TC, Celica, etc are also very decent choices, but in my experience usually priced up a bit due to badges. IOW, a 2005 Civic with 100k miles vs. a 2005 Focus with 100k miles, the Focus is generally at least 20% less expensive, despite being just as reliable and with more power (Si aside, which is impossible to find for $7k in anything less than ancient or destroyed condition).

 

[Throckmorton]

Being from the generation that dates back to 1998 I don't think the Focus is as safe as the other options

 

[evident]

Accord coupe. Better than most of the suggestions mentioned here in my opinion

 

[Miramonti]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far.

Accord coupe. Better than most of the suggestions mentioned here in my opinion

Yeah, everyone feel free to respectfully critique or affirm previous suggestions.

I'm really starting from the ground up on this, since I haven't tracked cars over the last decade other than the ones I own (camry/accord coupe.)

 

[evident]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far.



Yeah, everyone feel free to respectfully critique or affirm previous suggestions.

I'm really starting from the ground up on this, since I haven't tracked cars over the last decade other than the ones I own (camry/accord coupe.)

you can probably get a 7th gen (03-7) accord coupe for around 5-7k. looks pretty slick, gets good mpg, nice interior and pretty reliable. pretty fast if you get a v6. definitely beats any tc, civic, celica, solara, eclipse, altima etc. i just took mine up to 100k without any major repairs. can throw a ton of shit in the car too with the folding rear seats and big trunk opening.

 

[Miramonti]

you can probably get a 7th gen (03-7) accord coupe for around 5-7k. looks pretty slick, gets good mpg, nice interior and pretty reliable. pretty fast if you get a v6. definitely beats any tc, civic, celica, solara, eclipse, altima etc. i just took mine up to 100k without any major repairs. can throw a ton of shit in the car too with the folding rear seats and big trunk opening.

I know where she can get a 6th gen v6 coupe but I'll wait to sell that to someone less informed on the potential ills of the tranny. So far so good tho...*knock knock*

Btw, wanna trade?