Need some recommendations for g/f's DD

So i'm trying to help my g/f with the 'chore' of buying a newer car so she has reliable transportation for her nursing program as her 92 accord is getting very frustrating. basically anything i'm fixing on her car means i'm not working on my projects/challenge car, plus budget's rather tight until she's out of school.

she's looking for a small/med sized 4dr sedan, unfortunately automatic only(i'm workin on her...), that needs to be reliable and preferably reasonably efficient, easy to work on (no retarded inboard berkeleying brakes thank you honda) and needs to be under about $3000.

so were looking at the obvious late 90s/early 00s accord/integra/civic/sentra/prizm/saturn s-series/etc. any other suggestions for me to look into that i'm overlooking?

how are 300m's? they depreciate like crazy and drive pretty nice...
ford focus? ive no experience/what to look for or not to.
are volvo 850/s70s worth it for so cheap?
lexus es300 is merely a v6 camry with more dead cow right?
howabout a mazda millenia or buick regal gs?

apparently my tastes in challenge priced cars arent what she's looking for... thanks guys

Your best bet is probably another Accord.

If you're going to look at Focuses (Foci?) avoid the 2000 models. I wouldn't want an auto with the base engine (SPI), but it would probably be livable with a Zetec.

A Protege is probably also a decent bet.

A Crown Vic would likely be a better alternative to the 300M, but now you're starting to talk about big cars. I don't know if that's an issue or not depending on your gf's parking/depth perception situation. Still, it should be easy to find a low miles estate sale Crown Vic in your price range, and they're good for a jillion hard miles. That's why they use them for taxicabs and police cars.

What about a Subaru Impreza? Does she have anything against wagons?

Pseudosport wrote: What about a Subaru Impreza? Does she have anything against wagons?

This. They are the perfect New England daily driver. Easy to work on too, even with the horizontally opposed ridiculousness that goes on under the hood.

Yeah, you beat me to the punch.

she hates wagons.... i'm workin on her on that too. though the subaru idea makes lots of new england sense, its inefficient compared to fwd and she drives a lot, plus from what minimal subaru searching ive done in the past new englanders beleive their subarus are all worth gold.

What does her current car get for fuel economy? How much more money does she spend on the car per month keeping it going?

I also know of a supercharged buick regal for sale. Low miles but the body is rough.

Pseudosport wrote: What does her current car get for fuel economy? How much more money does she spend on the car per month keeping it going?

she doesnt spend much, but i spend a lot of time, and anything to releive her stress is worth it. unfortunatley weve been through enough of the car that i'm tempted to just keep it going except that there's area of hard metal fuel line and junction block thats up near the fuel tank on the pressure side that looks like its about to explode from rust, and the parts are hundreds of dollars and a total bitch to get at without a lift or a spare car for her.... and if it goes it totally disables the car so its a constant worry for her since i found it.

I've had bad luck with Mazda Millenias. I've been in the business of buying, fixing and selling cars since I was in my teens, and I've had, driven or fixed dozens of them. I'm sure they are good cars for someone, but the ones I've dealt with have been fairly low mileage cars that either smoked, had bad catalytic converters, slipping automatic transmissions, or some combination of the three.

FWIW, Ford Focus are generally good cars but have what I find to be the second most uncomfortable automotive seats (the worst being the Ford Expedition).

Just my .02

found this lexus es300 earlier, too good to be true?

http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/1755988257.html

Email in the ad and not through craigslist...could be a sign of a scam.

Make a new gmail account and reply - worst case scenerio it's a scam and you just drop the burned gmail account, best case you get a nice Camry cheap.

WilberM3 wrote: plus from what minimal subaru searching ive done in the past new englanders beleive their subarus are all worth gold.

What I tell everyone in NE looking for a car-BUY IN THE SOUTH!

Make a nice vacation out of it. Fly to Atlanta (or any fairly large rust-free city) and spend the weekend cruising lots and craigslist. If you have to fly home you had a nice vacation (especially in the winter). 9 times out of 10 you can grab a rust free car for less than the cost of its rusty northern counterpart and get a "free" trip to boot. Of course it helps to have friends-or GRMers-locally and the know how to fix anything that might go wrong on the ride home

Recently I bought a Ford Escort from a GRMer locally (Louisville KY) and drove it to Boston for a friend of a friend and they ended up with a car worth more than the car, my time, and travel in the local market just because it isn't rusted to E36 M3.

Millenia = FAIL. It's one of those cars that's cheap to buy and horrendously expensive to maintain. You may as well buy an old Mercedes, or worse, a Saab.

Your original choices are all over the place. Totally different sized cars and types of vehicles. You need to put down on paper wants and needs and see which cars fit and THEN ask us which are the best.

ddavidv wrote: Millenia = FAIL. It's one of those cars that's cheap to buy and horrendously expensive to maintain. You may as well buy an old Mercedes, or worse, a Saab. Your original choices are all over the place. Totally different sized cars and types of vehicles. You need to put down on paper wants and needs and see which cars fit and THEN ask us which are the best.

thats two against the millenia so i'll ditch that one for sure...

yea i'll admit its a pretty broad group, but simply put needs to be:

dependable
reasonably efficient
4 door sedan
automatic
not a nightmare to work on
under/around $3000

which is definitely a hugely diverse umbrella, so i brought the question to you guys to see if there are worthy low flying models that i'm missing or awful examples to avoid, not really a question of which is the 'best'.

WilberM3 wrote: yea i'll admit its a pretty broad group, but simply put needs to be: dependable reasonably efficient 4 door sedan automatic not a nightmare to work on under/around $3000 which is definitely a hugely diverse umbrella, so i brought the question to you guys to see if there are worthy low flying models that i'm missing or awful examples to avoid, not really a question of which is the 'best'.

90s Escort/Tracer. $3000 gets you the best one on the planet, or a decent $1500 one and cheap Miata

I would second the Protege. They're not as popular as the Honda's and you can find nice ones pretty cheap. Toyota would be a sound choice also if you can overlook the fact that it's a rolling deathtrap.

1997-2001 Mitsubishi Mirage Sedan gives you everything you're looking for. BORINGLY reliable, not horrible to drive.

$2K will buy you a good one the additional $1000 will do the deferred maintenance.

(the thousand bucks includes brakes,tires,timing belt, water pump and 60K if you do it yourself)

The perfect appliance car.

Nissan Altima or Maxima

1999-2005 Ford Taurus 3.0L OHV.

You'll get no end of opinions, as there is more than one answer. But I think you've got a pretty good list there. Civic, Sentra, Mirage are good starts. The 2000+ Taurus isn't a bad car, but not overly fuel efficient.

Personally, I'd have to give another vote to the Protege. I just sold my '99 a few months ago. I had it for 3 years, and it never left me stranded...ever. It needed routine maintenance items when I sold it, but it had 142,000 miles at the time and the engine ran like a top. Mine was a 5 speed, but the auto is readily available. Plus, they're a blast to drive.

ive known multiple people with tauri that needed sometimes more than one replacement transmission, granted they were mostly mid/late 90s models, is that as common as i seem to have seen or mostly flukes?

dudes, this is a girl car. obvious choice is either a jetta, or a white, convertible, automatic, 3.8 mustang

grimmelshanks wrote: dudes, this is a girl car. obvious choice is either a jetta, or a white, convertible, automatic, 3.8 mustang

I dare you to say that when my wife is around.

Klayfish wrote: Personally, I'd have to give another vote to the Protege. I just sold my '99 a few months ago. I had it for 3 years, and it never left me stranded...ever. It needed routine maintenance items when I sold it, but it had 142,000 miles at the time and the engine ran like a top. Mine was a 5 speed, but the auto is readily available. Plus, they're a blast to drive.

another vote for the Protege. super fun to drive, cheap to buy and maintain, impossible to kill. wish i still had my '02. or my '90 for that matter.

also a late 90's Prizm would be a good choice...same car as the Corolla but cheaper to buy and insure.