What's up everyone, I'm back.......

Hi all,

Jumping back in to the forum after a 2 year hiatus. While I was gone I did a couple of seasons of racing (taking a break from that this year, though plotting a vintage purchase, again) and also jumped big time into my music and song writing (I know there's a number of folks into that here). Looking forward to getting involved in those conversations.

I do have a car related ask/question. I'm still up in Canada (Hamilton ON), but both my kids are at UA in Tuscaloosa. We are looking to buy them (20 and 18) an inexpensive reliable car that they can use to drive themselves to the airport to come up and visit my wife and I. Also to give them a bit more mobility/freedom to expand their horizons a bit. I know we have a strong southern US contingent here and was hoping a member had a car or knew of a good car available in the Tuscaloosa (let's say within a couple of hours) area. I like buying stuff from forum members (most of my guitars and amps come from The Canadian Guitarist Website).

The only car requirements are auto-tragic as I have not had the chance to teach my kids the magic of heel toe. Also, it would be great to do this for about $3000 USD (a billion dollars Canadian). Other than that, reliable and easy/cheap for a local mechanic to work on is all else that's needed. I don't car if it's beige; in fact I may prefer it. Happy to move this to another forum if I've committed a faux pas on my first post in two years.

Thanks,

Jeff

For $3k, I think I'd go with the most well maintained car you can find.  I'd be less concerned about the brand, unless it was something truly awful.  They're hard to find, but every once in a while a nice, well maintained car pops up on CL.  You have to weed through all the flippers and junk cars to find it, and act fast because the truly "good" cars that are cheap sell fast.  I'm kicking tires in that market myself, looking for an inexpensive stick shift car for my son.  I saw a nice '05 Mazda3 come up.  It was clearly a well maintained car by one owner for many years.  The car sold in a matter of hours, I never even got to go see it.  So you've got to be quick.  I'd be looking at cars like the Mazda3, Civic, Corolla, Sentra (pre-CVT), Elantra, Accent, Rio, etc....

Best Camry/Corolla/Civic/Accord you can find for the money would be my suggestion.

Because it was only out for a couple of years it gets overlooked, and therefore are hard to sell but being a Taurus the Ford Five Hundred sedan is an awesome kid car.  Not sporty, reliable and safe.  The one I bought last year for that years' teenager was a 2007 grandma fresh machine in beige (gold) with 70,000 miles on it for exactly $3,000 USD.

It should last her for forever.

I forgot about the Ford 500; good suggestion.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

For $3k, I think I'd go with the most well maintained car you can find.

I agree.  In that price range, don't worry about brand or model - simply go for the car in the best condition you can find.

In reply to Jeff :

Roll Tide!

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

Because it was only out for a couple of years it gets overlooked, and therefore are hard to sell but being a Taurus the Ford Five Hundred sedan is an awesome kid car.  Not sporty, reliable and safe.  The one I bought last year for that years' teenager was a 2007 grandma fresh machine in beige (gold) with 70,000 miles on it for exactly $3,000 USD.

It should last her for forever.

Caution on the Ford Five Hundred.  All the awd and '05 & '06 fwd had a cvt trans. A fwd 2007 is the year to have when they went to a traditional 6 speed auto which solved all the cvt trans issues

Camaro...cause Bama

Jeff's back!  Sorry about that stuff I said about you.