Best car for college?

I had my Crown Vic in college. you would be surprised at the amount of crap you can fit in that thing. Three dudes and a weeks worth of supplies road tripped to Daytona (and subsequently ended up in GRM because of it) in that thing! It was awesome!

Didn't read the rest of the thread, bus based on the title.

Something cheap to maintain, insure and reliable.

Ahem, Civic, ahem.

Escort wagon with a 5 speed.

Im in college and driving my milano works out fine (although not if i didnt have a place to work on it).

I had an 89 9C1 in college. carried 9 people to and from places with ease....no lie.

Why are there no actual pickups on there? college kids can make a ton of money with one.

Something big and slow. I like the Crown Vic idea, maybe with a 4-cylinder swap?

crown vics are slow enough as it is. 180ish HP out of 4.6 liters made my 92 slow...but it got about 28 on the highway on the way back from Road America one weekend.

(I do have a hankering to turn a 1987 LTD Country Squire into a mad drift machine with a 1JZ swap!)

As a formerly broke-ass college student, the answer is "Anything that runs."

I had a few cars while I was in school. 1988 VW GTI (Great for school. Roomy, good on gas, easy to park) 1992 Plymouth Laser RS-T AWD. (Fast, roomy for a sports car) 1989 RX-7 (Can fit 3 half barrels in the hatch) 1993 Eclipse GSX (Same as the Laser) 1988 Lincoln Mark VII LSC (Pimptastic) 1996 Ford F-150 4x4 (SUPER useful) 1990 Eagle Talon TSi AWD (Same as the Eclipse) 1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 1995 Eagle Talon TSi AWD

All the Mitsubishis and Eagles were sold for a healthy profit, the F150 was my Daily for the last 3 years of school.

I had my Jeep in college. It worked great. Then I got sick of people asking for rides all the time, because I was one of the few with something to drive, and I took the back seat out. No longer a taxi driver and I could fit everything I needed into the back. Think hard if carrying a lot of people is a plus or minus for a college car. College is the ultimate refuge of the moocher.

Perfect college car? Anything with a bench seat and enough room to move everything you own quickly.

Best one I had was an Astro: hauled everything to and from at the end of the year, invisible both while driving and in the lot, and dependable as a rock.

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I went to college in the late 60s and early 70s.

I had one of these. Amazingly, I graduated in 4 years, despite the distractions. I'm hope they can invent a time machine so I can go back and do it all over again.

I'll second the Astro, I have yet to try to move something that didn't fit in it.

astro's, pickups, suv's and minivans are horrible vehicles in college. Everyone asks you to help them move. Trust me, I owned trucks through college.

good point on the afro van... and they get reasonable MPG considering the size... going to miss mine :(

ignorant wrote: astro's, pickups, suv's and minivans are horrible vehicles in college. Everyone asks you to help them move. Trust me, I owned trucks through college.

Isn't that what beer and pizza is for? To bribe the guys with the truck to help you move?

I disagree with the choice of the Wrangler and the Taurus...and to some extent the Cavalier/Sunbird. Wrangler's aren''t all that economical as a student commuter car (they are the least fuel efficient vehicle on that list), the Taurus, at least the newer ones, have transmission issues anywhere from 60K to 120K miles. Buying one would require the parent or the student to also start a transmission fund the same day the car is purchased. While I almost bought a low mileage Sunbird a year ago, for less money I got an older Civic with more miles that has been more reliable. Mustang? My sister got a nearly new one, with her own money, after she was within a few months of graduating. Until that time, she made do with a "beater" Plymouth. I think the Mustang should be the students car to aspire to/work towards....not their first car.

as others have said, "where are the Nissans?" For example, a Sentra from 1990 to 2000. And wouldn't a Corolla be a better choice, reliability-wise, that the Jetta?

When I was in "college" (university) I had in order: Civic Wagon, 2xMitsubishi Mirages, 2xAE86 Corollas, an ST184 Celica, an RA42 Celica, and I think I had the 944 concurrently with me still doing some sort of schooling, but I don't think I ever drove it to school. According to that list I kind of did it wrong.

The best car in general (for being seen in by girls, etc.) was the ST184 Celica. The AE86 (the one that worked) was the best car for receiving random notes and crazy cash offers in the parking lot from Initial-D fanboys. Eventually sold that one for eight times what I paid for it.

I never did load up the car with a gazillion stoned "not-really-friends" and their beer bongs. That wasn't really my scene. I'm pretty picky about who gets to ride in my car, if I suspect you're going to vomit on it, you're out. At the time I did wish I had a 4x4 SUV to take on field expeditions.

aeronca65t wrote: I went to college in the late 60s and early 70s. I had one of these. Amazingly, I graduated in 4 years, despite the distractions. I'm hope they can invent a time machine so I can go back and do it all over again.

Awesome! I had the same one. Bought it for $25.

Well, not the SAME one. Mine had a lot of rust, no rear seats, and holes in the floorboards big enough that my friends could FALL THROUGH as they rolled around back there. Mine also had no starter. In those days, I couldn't even afford that. I always parked on a hill, no matter how long the walk!

When the clutch died, I lived in that thing in the parking lot of my school for 3 months.

I would take that time machine ride back in a heartbeat!

Am I the only one who bought the cheapest possible car and then sold it when too many parking tickets piled up?

My list: 1. 98 Escort zx2, my sister killed it. 2. Pre-wrecked 94 F-150 4.9. It was awesome having no front bumper and an 18 inch indentation stretching from the front to back wheel. Got a lot of fix it tickets. 3. International Truck. 74 with the 258 I6. Horrible, nasty, evil machine that could barely do 60mph and got 13 mpg. 4. Toyota Supra MKIII turbo. Good car I got for 1300 bucks. Popped the engine, fixed it, popped the second engine, sold it. 5. Eagle Talon 1990 TSI AWD. Miss this one. Had a really nice suspension setup from the previous owner. 6. 1988 Honda Civic. Burnt nearly as much oil as gasoline. Tended to throw water through rust holes in the floor. Kind of a date killer though, since the interior parts often fell off.

Best car for college? The one that you don't care if it gets kicked, dinged, or elswise takes minor body damage; that you can repair yourself when it acts up; that has some wonky behaviors that make it so only you can drive it; and has enough room for your stuff, but not so much {obvious} room that your friends ask you to help them move.

In reply to WilberM3:

Good to see your active on here

Anything with a manual transmission, that way you wont have "friends" trying to barrow it all the time.