My First What Car Thread.| Grassroots Motorsports forum |

Cole_Trickle HalfDork
8/19/12 1:33 p.m.

...and its not even for me...

I am friends with a couple who moved up here from Colombia South America. They dont know much about cars, but they bought a 06ish Lancer a couple years ago. The wife is now comfortable with driving in America and is getting a car.

The car needs to be safe, good mpg, low miles, automatic, and under 8k. My gut says Camry or Corolla. What do you guys say?

JohnRW1621 PowerDork
8/19/12 1:46 p.m.

Camry and Corolla are good choices but will require the typical upcharge for the nameplate. Personally, I am the type to "play the fringe" and go after cars that have similar reliability records but not the giant reputation. My guess is that the Lancer was this type of purchase.

Are they financing? If yes, this may dictate how old of a car they can buy. I would try to pay cash by buying something older but with low miles. A typical example would be a grandpa owned Buick Lesabre with less than 75k miles for $4k.
I wrote the sentences above first and then found this in a nano-second.
'98 Buick w/64k for $3,800 http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3202849867.html
Even if you put another $2k into it it would be near perfect and way under budget.

The stout and reliable GM 3800 gets pretty good mpg but lets be honest here, how much driving does a first year driver really drive? Their annual saving in a fuel from a high mpg car to a low mpg car will likely be less than $500 per year.

Cole_Trickle HalfDork
8/19/12 1:50 p.m.

John, She will be doing about 50 miles a day and the car will be financed. I thought about the the series II 3800, but everything that I heard about them from past owners is that they are bad on headgaskets. However, my mom did have a mid-90s Regal that was solid. I'll suggest it.

Woody MegaDork
8/19/12 1:52 p.m.

Accord

JohnRW1621 PowerDork
8/19/12 1:54 p.m.

Not headgasket but rather intake manifold gasket which though not as bad is still a big deal.
Okay, the 50 miles and financing changes the story a little but a GM3800 still will get 28mpg on hyw (if real hyw driving.)
Favorable financing can often require a vehicle that is less than 10 years old (and sometimes less than 100k miles at the time of purchase.)

JohnRW1621 PowerDork
8/19/12 2:13 p.m.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3163829918.html
Low mile Sentra
'04 w/ 35k for $7,900 asking price.

Sentra mpg: 24/27/31
Buick mpg: 17/21/27

ww.fueleconomy.gov says that for the average drive of 15k miles per year and 55% city driving, the savings is $600 per year.
Purchase price difference of $4,100 would take nearly 7 years to realize the savings if all things are equal.

Cute little commuter:
'04 w/ 91k asking $4k
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3200347158.html