If you had $1,500 to spend on a manual commuter...

Cheap Civic? Older Accord? Are Subaru’s scary at that price point (in general and relative to the other imports)? 

You can buy the best Neon in the world for $1500.  Grandma fresh, 25,000 miles...

v8 rwd base model truck with highway gears.


 

Square body ranger/s10. 

Civic.

Subarus with the EJ22 arent scary at all.

“Commuter” would need to mean a substantial improvement in mileage over my 5.3 Sierra crew cab obviously.

edit: I’d like to have a good aftermarket and a hint of fun factor too. Kinda nervous about the Saturns and other orphans for that reason.

You can buy 2 Saturns for $1500.   Seriously.  I have seriously abused and neglected my daily Ratty Satty, and it just keeps going.  Timing chain engine means less Required maintenance than a honda or toyota.

Early 90's Civic or Corolla.

I would sort my local CL by "manual trans" and put a price cap of $2,200 and see what pops up. 

These days, manual trans cars are selling very slowly. You might be surprised by the deal you can find. 

For me, I would seek out a Saturn Ion with manual. $1,500 should get you an exceptional example which mechanically is identical to a Chevy Cobalt. 

VW? BMW? How allergic to having this car require attention are you? E21s still pop up occasionally in that ballpark, and searching and luck could still get you a Rabbit or Golf... I think. Maybe a lot of luck. And a little willingness to put a few parts and time on top of that $1500 initial...

I guess part of the question is "$1500 appliance" or "$1500 car I will drive every day and kind of enjoy"?

I’d sell you my beater ‘98 Altima for $1500.

Complete suspension refresh, newer clutch, starter, alternator, battery, AC compressor, and tires.  It’s already ugly all around and has 200,000 miles on it but it fires right up and everything works (cruise, ac, power windows and locks, even has keyless entry (so decadent)).

It even has an aftermarket stereo that links to your Bluetooth and has hands free phone stuff.

It’s ugly, starting to rust a bit but not bad even my Kentucky standards (and nowhere near Massachusetts standards).  I’ll be driving to Cape Cod in about three weeks if you want it delivered.

Don't be afraid of Saturns.  On the VERY rare occasions I needed parts for mine, I never had difficulty with the local NAPA.  SL1 will give you stellar gas mileage, SL2 is slightly more fun.  Lots of 5 speeds out there, which helps both with economy and fun.  A 5 speed SL2 Wagon in green is the "sweet spot" IMHO.  

EDIT:  Something like this:

Realistically, around here, you may need to throw in another $500 to get a really nice one.

In reply to Ransom :

The latter. Being an 11-7 nurse and a father of 3 it’s really tough to do my own work nowadays as much as I hate to pay people to do stuff I’ve done all my life.

Indy-Barely Functional-Guy said:

You can buy 2 Saturns for $1500.   Seriously.  I have seriously abused and neglected my daily Ratty Satty, and it just keeps going.  Timing chain engine means less Required maintenance than a honda or toyota.

Have done acres of Saturn timing chains.  On the other hand, I'm getting pretty good at doing Honda timing chains too...

And GM timing chains, and VWAG timing chains, and Ford timing chains... 

Let me elucidate.

If you have a belt engine, you ignore the oil changes for maybe 3-5,000 miles past its due date, maybe run it low enough that the teapot light on the dash comes on when driving.  Put oil in, maybe even after draining what's left of the old oil out, all is well again. 

Try that with a chain engine and you're on the first leg of a tow truck ride-along, if not immediately then at least soon.  Timing chain engines are NOT tolerant of maintenance neglect and especially not of being run low on oil.

My favorite was the GM 3.6 that had been "trained" to run four quarts low on oil.  The chain eventually jumped, but only after the rattling around with a slack chain actually broke one of the exhaust cam locator dowels and spun the sprocket on the cam.  Whacked all the exhaust valves on that side.

Or the Ecotec that slapped one of the guides clean off (the upper one, not the front one that usually breaks the upper bolt off in the head) and then when it jumped time it actually broke some of the rockers.  In addition to the usual collection of bent valves and stuff.  (IIRC that one had under 60k on it.)

Oh I thought this was a mental masturbation thread not an actual suggestion thread. Nevermind what I said about the truck.

BG chassis with a BP motor. 

Cleanest focus hatch

In reply to Grizz :

I’m giving my truck to my son soon and I’ll need a replacement that gets significantly better than 13mpg and can be tweaked into something I don’t hate

I wouldn't discount a Civic because it has a timing belt. 60 dollars will buy you a top of the line timing belt/water pump kit. A couple of hours labor and you can forget about it for 80k miles. 

For $1500 you can't be choosy - you buy whatever car is in the best condition at the price.

i also vote for the focus.

Saturn SL1 or SL2 and pocket at least $500. A nice wagon might take up the whole budget, maybe a bit more, unless you are willing to wait or travel. 

Best Corolla I can get. 

^ If I'm correct the red Focus would have the 2.3, which is a very good thing.

I like the twin cam Saturns too, and last I checked Tire Rack sold performance springs for them.  Seems like there's been a lot of chatter about them lately on here.