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Brands, models, years? I am lost. I do have a mechanic brother who will be at my side and can spot visible flaws. Basically I want a reliable car with as few miles a possible which will last me a long time. I don't even drive much, maybe 500-1000mi/mo maximum. I will bend on the 5k limit if need be but prefer not to
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Originally Posted by sturmgeist
Brands, models, years? I am lost. I do have a mechanic brother who will be at my side and can spot visible flaws. Basically I want a reliable car with as few miles a possible which will last me a long time. I don't even drive much, maybe 500-1000mi/mo maximum. I will bend on the 5k limit if need be but prefer not to
I'd look at a 98-02 Honda Accord. I have an 01 which I'm trading in this weekend but she has served me very well and has been reliable as expected of Hondas.
Well, it's possible and I have 3 cars in my "fleet" that I bought for less than $5K, an 82 Scirocco, 87 Camry, and 92 Subaru Legacy. They were bought for $1K, $3K, and $1.5K respectively. Out here in non-rusting country, it's not that hard to find an older car that is essentially rust free. In MA you will be looking at mostly rusty cars if you go old, and undesirable cars for some other reason, if you keep the price low.
I get the impression you don't have a lot of mechanical skill, so an older car that will take some work will be harder to pull off, assuming I have guessed right.
Given that you don't drive a lot of miles, you *might* get a better deal on something that's servicable but unfashionable, say a 10 to 15 year old "Grampa-mobile" - old Buick, Caddy, Lincoln, etc.
I would say that brands do matter, no one brand is always good in my mind, but Chrysler since about 2006 has not had very good build quality, maybe they are getting better but most of the ones you would be looking at I wouldn't go there. Most of the Japanese manufacturers are good. You being in MA, AWD Subies are probably a good bet.
I like 80's cars, in general they have fuel injection but are a good bit simpler than newer cars
If you live in an urban area, maybe something like ZipCar would work for you?
You can look around and find a '02'-'06 Subaru Forester with high mileage, but mileage doesn't bother those Subarus much and they'll practically run forever.
Brands, models, years? I am lost. I do have a mechanic brother who will be at my side and can spot visible flaws. Basically I want a reliable car with as few miles a possible which will last me a long time. I don't even drive much, maybe 500-1000mi/mo maximum. I will bend on the 5k limit if need be but prefer not to
Brands, models, years? Nope. Doesn't really matter.
I will bend on the 5k limit if need be but prefer not to
Bend the OTHER way... spend even less.
Buy something worth about $3000...
then spend about a grand for the things it needs to make it safe.
And keep the last $1000 in reserve for the things you missed.
I'm pretty sure you can find some reliable cars under $5,000. When I did my search on Cars.com within a 100 mile radius I found a lot of reliable cars with decent miles like 2000 Accord and a 1999 TL you can expect decent reliability from those cars. The newest car I found 2005 Mazda6 with 144,210 miles for $4,999.
Buy something worth about $3000...
then spend about a grand for the things it needs to make it safe.
And keep the last $1000 in reserve for the things you missed.
This is great advice. I too have been considering getting something newer for 5k or less.
Brands, models, years? I am lost. I do have a mechanic brother who will be at my side and can spot visible flaws. Basically I want a reliable car with as few miles a possible which will last me a long time. I don't even drive much, maybe 500-1000mi/mo maximum. I will bend on the 5k limit if need be but prefer not to
We are in the exact same usage pattern as you claim you need. Our solution is to keep our bought new 1993 Suburban in good shape. We average less that 5,000 a year now that I'm retired.
I've done a study on ebay to get a feel for the values for suburban's from 1993 to 2004 where all the listings are $10,000 or less for a really nice low mile (100,000 mi on a suburban IS low miles) The cost of gas doesn't enter into the picture since the vehicle is driven so little.
If you don't mind big, I would recommend buying a Buick Park Avenue from a private owner. They have GM's legendary 3.8 V6 engines, which are renowned for their reliability, and are usually not pushed or beaten on by the former owners, who tend to be old. You should be able to find one for under $5,000, maybe a 2001 or 2000 model, at the earliest.
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