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Where are you going to find one of those? Manuals are about as rare as running boards or rumble seats lately. ( except for sports cars, of course)
That's a bummer as I prefer a manual. But I noticed that when looking at used cars the other day on one dealership online. The only stick they had in my price range, under $7,000, was a Jetta, and I don't won't one of them.
That's a bummer as I prefer a manual. But I noticed that when looking at used cars the other day on one dealership online. The only stick they had in my price range, under $7,000, was a Jetta, and I don't won't one of them.
The dealerships typically get their used-car inventories from auto auctions, so they have no record of maintenance or repairs. The newer used cars on their lots may come from trade-ins or lease expirations; but for anything older than about 4 or 5 years you are better off finding a car on Craigslist where the owner has complete records. That's how I found my last car, but it took me almost a year to find the one I wanted. (Since then I've found others that would have been just as nice but for less money, but I do not regret that purchase.)
Get what you want and can afford, I’m sick and tired of this Japanese vs American cars, get what you want. Every automaker has had problems, hell they get their parts from the same suppliers.
This is pretty much true nowadays. Maybe 20-30 years ago there was a huge difference between domestic and foreign built autos because of the supply chain of parts being so different among each auto maker....but they are pretty much shared by all now.
What it boils down to is how each auto maker performs quality checks and how much are they willing to deal with any quality concerns that may come up as recalls.
The dealerships typically get their used-car inventories from auto auctions, so they have no record of maintenance or repairs. The newer used cars on their lots may come from trade-ins or lease expirations; but for anything older than about 4 or 5 years you are better off finding a car on Craigslist where the owner has complete records. That's how I found my last car, but it took me almost a year to find the one I wanted. (Since then I've found others that would have been just as nice but for less money, but I do not regret that purchase.)
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about auto auctions . In a past life I drove p/t for the Colorado auto auction, and the Denver auto auction. On auction days they were extremely busy, just crawling with dealers. 5-6 bays open with cars lined up, auctioneers doing their thing. You'd drive through, car got sold, you'd park it, then jump in another one. That went on for hours. It was kind of fun. You never knew what you were going to drive.
I agree that getting it from a private party would be better in many ways. But as an older lady I don't feel comfortable going by myself. And I don't have anybody to go with me to "hold my hand", lol. Too many weird episodes have happened on craigslist, like murders. Some things are good though.
One thing that really sucks about used car shopping in the 5-10yr range from domestic and even foreign is that many knew they had problems and dont consider them recalls and semi addressed it by putting a 10yr/100K or 120K warranty on the Engine or Transmissions and now many of the used cars you see for sale are those same models approaching 100 or 120K and makes you wonder are you getting a good deal price wise or a ticking time bomb with a $3/5/7k problem awaiting you.
I had a '99 Lumina 3.1 V6 up until 2014. It only had just over 100k on it so I didn't drive it too hard and kept it garaged and maintained. I'd still have it today if it hadn't been wrecked. The transmission on the car was perfect, the air conditioner was still going, never had engine trouble beyond the intake manifold gasket ( of course) which I had to replace when it was 10 years old and some kind of module problem where the one cylinder wouldn't fire when it was around 7 years or so, and an alternator when it was only 4 years old. I noted when it about 6 years old that it still looked and ran like it did when it was new, although I had an old beater for driving to work so it sat in the garage most of the week.
The early/ mid 2000s did take a nose dive in build and material quality for GM and I was shocked to see how cheap the Impalas had become when I looked at a 2013. Hard plastic belongs on an economy car, not on any kind of a sedan that aspires to be a near luxury car.
That Lumina had CLOTH door panels with a carpeted lower panel and soft touch dash and arm surfaces. And it was basically a plain vanilla family sedan with a bench seat like a living room couch, albeit a cheap one. Boring but not Spartan.
Maybe save a bunch of money and look for an older GM sedan like a buick or olds like a previous poster suggested.
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. In a past life I drove p/t for the Colorado auto auction, and the Denver auto auction. On auction days they were extremely busy, just crawling with dealers. 5-6 bays open with cars lined up, auctioneers doing their thing. You'd drive through, car got sold, you'd park it, then jump in another one. That went on for hours. It was kind of fun. You never knew what you were going to drive.
