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My brother who is very frugal (necessity) recently spent a few month finding a replacement for his worn out Subaru (over 200K miles) and told me a usable reliable car will cost $2K to $3K. He managed to sell the old barely running car for $400 and found a replacement for $2200.
I am sure it varies a little depending the part of the country but I trust he knows the market well.
I think that is pretty accurate, but if your budget is $700, you do not buy a $2000 car. You sacrifice the "reliable" a bit ad get what you can. Hopefully yo will not miss work so much that you get fired before you can save up $2000 plus. Or you hope it only breaks down during nice weather so you can ride a bicycle until you get it fixed.
Our older son bought a Saturn ION for $500 (it had around 250,000 miles on it). He got over a year out of it and drove it a lot. He put over 30K miles on it It did not require much work. Sometimes you get lucky.
Most of what we looked at for $700 was complete junk. Not running, not safe or even no engine at all.
I did see a Taurus SHO for $2000 on Facebook. It looked like it is in good shape physically, but $700 will not turn into $2000 no matter how hard you wave your wand at it.
One had the drivers door bolted shut. We live on a major river. Notwithstanding the odds are probably astronomical, I am very uncomfortable with any of our family driving along and across the river in a car they cannot open the door. Yes, I know you sometimes have to break the window because pressure keeps the door from opening, but the concept is scary enough I do not want a bolted shut door. Three old people put their cars in the river this winter. All of them got out - through the door. Two of the cars were completely submerged (not sure whether they sank before or after the person got out). Some things you have to risk due to budget limitations. That is one I will not accept. Being trapped in a car underwater is so terrifying to me it makes me queasy just to think about it.
Of course the Sebring is not an issue, you could pop the top and swim out that way. Not a bad idea to keep a knife handy to slice through just in case.
I think things like those window breaker hammers are more make you feel good things than things that would actually work in an emergency. I have not ever heard of anyone using them, and the cheap one do not work, they break. A lot is just about making you feel better though.
With a one year warranty the battery may outlast the car anyway.
On the good news front, I discovered it has a Mitsubishi engine. At least I think that is good news. 1996 is right in beginning of the darkest years for Chrysler products, so a non-Chrysler engine may have better odds of holding up.
We replaced the battery with a reconditioned one ($39 - I think they forgot to include the core fee). While putting it in we discovered the ground side attachment bolt was stripped out (side mount). Replaced the bolt ($1.99) and Viola- it starts fine. Because it was so much trouble getting it in, we decided to keep the battery anyway and use the old one (which was fine despite the battery place telling us it was bad). It never hurts to have a spare battery around.
Changed the oil and the light has not been coming on, however he has not driven it all that much, before it came on only after a longish drive.
The squealing is definitely a pulley of some kind but it may be the alternator. At least it is not the transmission. That was my big concern.
He replaced the battery and found the negative connecting bolt stripped out. Still started sporadically. Further investigation revealed the connector for the wire on the starter between the solenoid and the starter motor had corroded away. The starter was not working well and smelled like burned electrical so he replaced the starter.
A lot of investigation and research led him to determine the squealing was the serpentine belt. He replaced that today. Now it just has a misfire in cylinder 1 (runs rough at low RPM code says misfire in 1), and an assortment of very minor oil leaks. As long as that misfire is plugs or wires and not a valve, he may be in good shape soon. Plugs and wires requires you remove the intake manifold and a handful of other components. Gotta love that Chrysler engineering.
Oh and the oil light still comes on from time to time. Several sites indicate Chrysler was known for bad oil pressure sensors, hopefully it is that and not an oil pump. The oil leaks are really slow. He has not needed to add any since changing the oil three weeks ago.
He is on spring break and is learning a lot by working on this thing (he has not worked on a car before). He wants me to help him replace the plugs and wires. I called to see how much a shop will charge. Looking at the videos online, it looks like a major PIA. It was 18 degrees this morning. I am getting too old for this stuff.
I am just hoping it will last long enough he gets to drive it top down for a while. If it lasts through the summer - Awesome. He is learning a lot from it. It is funny, he was never mechanically inclined (unlike his brother). He gets so excited when he successfully completes something he calls everyone he knows and tells them about it. Then he cannot wait to get on to the next thing.
Keep in mind what you bought isn’t really a Chrysler. This model is a Mitsubishi Eclipse in Chrysler clothing.
My mistake. You said you had a convertible. The coupe was based upon a Mitsubishi Eclipse. It still used Mitsubishi engines. Do you have the 4 or 6 cylinder?
My neighbor and some coworkers still drive the same generation Mitsubishi Galant which has the same engine as this car. It is possible to get some miles off it.
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