Subcompact 10k Budget Battle Royal

Have thought of Prius's, but I just don't know too much about them. (I guess there isn't all that much to know about them in the first place).

Not much to know as far as care and feeding. They are quite boring in that respect! In fact, if you think of all the things on an accessory belt drive that break on normal cars (alternator, water pump, ps pump, belts, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, compressor clutch, compressor pulley bearing, water pump), well they don't break on a Prius because they don't exist on a Prius. Neither does a starter motor. And if you're driving it right (B is for Best on the shifter, FYI), your brakes last damn near forever!

Zomby woof, that Sonic article is awesome! I also think they are one of the better looking subcompacts.

I like the Honda Fit idea, I'd probably look for a second gen one.

The 3rd Gen Prius seems to be a good idea, but it's a little more expensive for a lower mileage one. Do they have any large maintenance items? A lot of them I see near 10k are 75-100k mileage.

Top ones in my head right now are current model Fiesta, 2g Fit, and 3g Prius.

I haven't heard anyone really vouch for Nissan. I see a lot of the new model Sentra's for sale. Any info on these? Don't think I would go for a Versa as I had one for a rental once and didn't really love the auto trans it had. Never drove a manual one.

PS this forum is awesome!

So the Versa is soul sucking and literally an appliance. With that being said, it's given me 20k completely trouble free miles and I paid $10K out the door brand new. It could be made more engaging by slightly wider tires that actually grip and it could stand to be lowered by about an inch. Bear in mind the manual only comes in the most basic of base models, meaning you get crank windows and no power door locks. My parents have a stick Fiesta SE, it's a fantastic car, the only reason I didn't get one was because a car seat wouldn't fit as well as it does in the Versa.

In reply to thedanimal:

I do remember the Versa having a surprising amount of interior room.

The only thing I'm really worried about if I go the subcompact route, is the highway driving. The rental Versa I drove kind of wandered all over the place. I had to consciously try to stay in my own lane. I drove that thing for 200 miles total and I never got used to how it handled on the highway.

Drive the Sonic and the Fiesta back to back. A friend did and that's what gave me the idea to look at a Sonic for my wife. He had nothing good to say about the Fiesta. He didn't buy a Sonic either, but a Cruze instead. Also supposed to be decent cars, but it wasn't a good fit for us. FWIW, if you have an interest, it's a GM, so there are easy tuning options and decent aftermarket. An RS is worth a drive.

My wife has a Accent GL. It was barely used, current model year (at the time) and we paid what amounts to around the top end of your limit when converting from arctic pesos to USD. That's a lot of car for the money. It's a pretty decent car to drive up to ~8/10ths. I haven't had to repair anything yet, but everything looks similar to typical Japanese car design (haven't owned a Korean car before) and there seems to be decent room to access everything.

The car initially had a highway wandering issue. We replaced the OEM tires with something slightly wider, 175/70/14 to 185/65/14 and better in the form of General Tire RT43s and the issue was resolved.

My '13 Fiesta hatch , powershift with 49.5k miles is running just fine. It is fun to drive and will cruise nicely at any speed you want. If you stay under 60mph it is easy to get 43+ mpg. Did that recently on a trip though the Adirondacks.

Are those the ones with clutch problems?

I will say I've and my racing friends were impressed by the handling of my stock Cruze.

Also as mentioned a tune gives the Cruze/Sonic 1.4t about 40hp/50tq.

In reply to Greg Voth:

Yeah the Sonic and Cruze both seem to have a decent amount of aftermarket. I know the fit has a decent amount of aftermarket too, relative to other subcompacts.

Zomby, which car were you referring to with the clutch problems? The Fiesta or the Accent?

In reply to dculberson:

I dunno.. say $10,500 for a GRMer?

In reply to clutchsmoke:

I wish you were local!

I'm less local, but I'd sell you my Sonic for $6500. Road trip?

In reply to EvanR:

OH yeah, well I'll sell you my Ford Focus for $2k

In reply to GeneMSP:

Google Ford Fiesta clutch problems. Customer was by on the weekend with one. I think his has been replaced twice.

In reply to John Welsh :

I'll not get in a bidding war with you! LOL

In reply to thedanimal:

I would kill more bad guys than an episode of Miami Vice for my Nissans to have crank windows.

Jere wrote: Just got a 2013 Prius 3rd gen not to long ago for $9000...

Wow. I've never seen one under $13k. Can you find another one at $9k for me??

In reply to EvanR:

I used cargurus.com to find it. There was a bunch of them in Cleveland at the same time. Going back a year or two put them around $6k for the same or less mileage.

$8400 130k miles

My votes go to....

Honda Fit, Honda CRZ, Toyota Yaris, Scion xD, Scion xA, Scion xB, Scion iQ, Mazda2.....

In reply to MugenReplica:

I can't do CRZ since its a 2 seater, but the other options are viable. I actually haven't seen very many Yaris's in my searches.

How do you like your iQ?

Also, does anyone know about non GLI Mk6 Jettas? Found this one on Craigslist, Mk6 Jetta

The 2.5 is the 5 cylinder right?

I have not had one but I seem to remember that the reputation of the VW 5 cyl is that it will give you the power of a 4 cyl and the economy of a 6cyl.
EPA rating on the 2.5 w/ manual is 23/26/33. Will that meet your expectations?

This seems like too good of a deal to be true but it's a seemingly reputable dealership offering it:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/695652474/overview/

$7k for a brand new manual transmission hatchback Fiesta S. Crank windows!

In reply to dculberson:

Yeah, psteav (on page 1) was correct on the reason why. The price would be after all of the different discounts and rebates that you can be eligible for.