Here’s your chance to weigh in on cars you have owned! My S needs to get a beater car for work in the upper NE this summer. Driving on dirt roads part of the time but not rough, just dirt. I am discouraging a truck since the trucks I’ve owned were all gas-guzzlers, tended to give me trouble, and were bad to drive on slick roads. These are some options in S’s budget ($2500 or under).
Have you owned one of these? What you think. All look good, say they run good, have passed inspection recently, and clean title.
2006 Kia rio-5 SX hatch manual – Doesn’t really look like it would do well on dirt roads. But my 1990 Honda Civic hatchback looked the same and I drove that everywhere in college. I’ve never had a Kia however.
2002 Toyota Tundra 272k miles – A truck with high miles. Hmm.
1995 Buick LeSabre 107k miles — This looks like a solid car. Older but I’ve read these Buick’s hold up. I don’t see any rust in the pics. Passed inspection a few months ago.
2004 Acura TSX 253k miles – Was in the south so no rust. one owner. Great shape. This is one of my favorites.
2009 Dodge Avenger 153k miles
2001 Volvo S60 139k miles – I also like this one. I’ve heard that old Volvo hold up and handle well, but I’ve never owned a Volvo. It’s under $2k so one of the cheaper options.
2002 VW Golf GTI 5 Speed Manual – My 1990 Honda Civic hatchback was similar and a great car, but I’ve never had a VW so don’t know their reputation.
I’m definitely a Volvo fan and long time Volvo owner. We currently own 3 in the family. One our recent purchases last year replaced a 2004 that had over 250K miles on it and was still running fine until some dumbass screwed up an oil change resulting in a blown engine. You can definitely get a lot more miles on that car if the car has been maintained properly.
Toyotas certainly have a track record for reliability but that one and a few others already have many miles on them.
My daughter and SIL have a Volvo, but the old ones are super expensive to maintain. They are among the safest cars, though, which is why they have one.
These are all at the age where actual condition and maintenance history matter the most in terms of future potential reliability.
EPA fuel economy numbers back to 1984 can be found at https://www.fueleconomy.gov . However, many older cars get worse fuel economy than when new, because of poor maintenance or the choice of replacement tires that have higher rolling resistance than the ones installed at the factory (typically low rolling resistance models that give better fuel economy ratings).
Yeah, definitely looking for those with 1-2 owners but he’s not going to be able be too picky as he’s in a rush (and is a poor student). The Buick could be a real gas guzzler, so I’m learning (for S) towards the other cars. Also old cars like that can drive like a boat.
Re the Volvo’s and comment that they can be expensive to maintain. That’s what I’m worried about. And I have no idea how easy these are to work on (basic maintenance). I’ve always done basic things on our cars, but some cars are hard to do any on or are known for constantly breaking down. My first car was an old Fiat X19, which I managed to drive cross-country. That was not a good car.
The 272K miles on the Toyota doesn’t scare me, if the previous owner(s) took care of it, which in my world would be a book of receipts. I’ve seen many of them with 500,000-1,000,000 trouble-free miles on them.
I sold my 1998 Toyota with about the same mileage and the owner still drives and loves it. We currently have 3 Toyota’s and they’re all over 100,000 miles without any issues, but with regular maintenance. I can’t recommend them enough.
The VW GTI’s are very cool cars. I’ve not owned one, but I’ve “jonesed” for an 2004 R32, which are much sought after. Big buck used cars. However, from experience, they’re German and German cars can be expensive to maintain. And MT (manual trans) GTI’s do take their fair share of abuse, because they appeal strongly to young male drivers.
I would NOT buy a Dodge, Kia or GM product. No disrespect to anyone here who own one. These are notoriously bad products.
BTW, I consider myself a “car guy.” Since the crib.
2000 Tundra here. Not as high mileage, but it still seriously hauls! Those were solidly built Toyotas because Toyota really wanted to break into the full size pickup market, and it succeeded. That said, a tank full of gas sets you back A LOT of change!
The upside of the kid owning a truck… runs to the dump and garden center made easy.
What do you mean by dirt roads? I worked in rural areas for many years and every true dirt road that I drove on could potentially be very rough, muddy, or slick depending on weather and frequency of road maintenance.
Some of those cars would not do well at all in those situations.
If you are talking about well maintained non paved roads surfaced with gravel or other materials then they might be suitable.
I’d clarify with him exactly what types of surfaces he’d be driving on before buying.
H has a 2006 Acura. In 2012, he started saying “once it starts costing me $$$ for repairs, I’m getting rid of it.” And here we are in 2020. Still running like a champ. Granted, H is anal about car maintenance/reads owner manual cover to cover, etc.
FWIW…
When in my residency years ago had a Toyota corolla Manuel shift. I got rid of it at 275 miles because the floor board was like a Flintstone car with my foot going through it. The engine was great. I swear besides replacing the clutch I put oil and gas in that car with a few tune ups here and there. Change the oil every 3,000 and your golden. But… With any of these cars have someone check it out first. Replacing oil gaskets etc can get expensive wtc5. Agree with above comments
Thanks! That’s the sort of info I needed. I have not owned any of those before.
That’s what I’m thinking, but I need to check. I’m not positive that he knows for sure.
Well that’d be ideal but might not be practical in this situation. I’m on the other side of the country and all I can give is some advice.
Thanks re the comments on the Toyota Tundra. I’d ruled that out, but I guess I had heard people rave about how long Toyota truck last. How do they handle in snow? He won’t be driving much in snow (not commuting during winter) but might drive some. This one says original owner (that’s good) and “New frame a while back”. Not sure what that means. Says, 4wd? Surely that eats gas like no tomorrow, no? Automatic transmission. Is that common for Toyota trucks? All the old Toyota trucks that I’ve driven were manual (I think). Automatic is good though. S is not that experienced driving a manual transmission, which I am ashamed of since my car is a manual but I didn’t want him to trash my clutch so he used H’s automatic.
At some point we were also facing getting used cars for our daughters. In both cases it was when they needed a car to get to an internship or coop or major-related part time job while in university. We were torn between “teach them the value of money and make them pay for it” versus “education is a valuable and expensive opportunity, and we do not want them to be having to miss their internship because their car died”. In the end we helped them get something new enough that it was very unlikely to fall apart for the duration of their internship. That meant augmenting their budget a bit.
Our truck is automatic; it is pretty common for Tundras. 4wd will definitely eat more gas than our rear wheel drive, but gas is cheap nowadays. It is a good thing that the truck he is looking at is a 4wd. A rear wheel drive truck is worse than a cow on ice if the roads are covered with ice. One owner is good. Why are they selling? How much? IMO, it is $1,500 and the truck is off their property.
What about insurance rates? Check those, too.
Which of these will be easiest to unload when he no longer needs it?
What does you son plan to do with the car after the summer? I am in the camp of getting a safe car for my kid. Do to Covid car rental has gone way down. Around NYC area D1 is able to rent a car for a month for $1000 - maintenance, roadside assistance, tire replacement, insurance included. D1 said she could have picked any car she wanted.
Oops…
275,000 miles sorry
Funny story my Co resident’s car a Honda had 200,000 miles and he left the lights on and I had to jump it one day to start it. Just don’t make cars like they used to.
Anyway, rule of thumb… Honda, Acura, Lexus , Toyota will just last
Also any car you decide on, look up that year and model to see what issues that certain make /model might of had and get that checked out. Also look up recalls to make sure they were handled. Any older car I am worried about the transmission and things like gasket leakage and why to have a mechanic give it the once over. If their are service records that is even better and I would take to the place or mechanic if you can.
I and my friends lived on a long dirt road in Vermont for years, and drove VW bugs. We did fine. I think it would work out to have a compact car with less gas expenses.
My Toyota Yaris was still going strong but in the NE, had rusted out at 250k.
I would go for a smaller car with less mileage and potential for maintenance.
Is this only a temporary car? Leasing might be a good way to go.
This is a son. For daughters, I think breakdowns are dangerous because they expose them to possible trouble. I know I had some dicey experiences in my 20’s when my car broke down. I would never get a very used car for my D’s!
Thanks for all the comments! This has been very helpful. I’ve got all the logistics figured out I think and now it’s just a question of getting an old car with the best ‘reputation’ for ‘running and running’–among the selection available. All the ones I listed, sounded good. I ruled out all the ones where there was no repair record, seemed to be someone who bought, fixed and turned over cars, lots of owners, hadn’t passed inspection recently, or had an issue that would prevent passing inspection, etc. Though 19, S is a handy and resourceful guy. But I want to point him towards the types of old cars that last a long time. Half the old beaters I owned (my “trail cars”) were a pain to own and I’d steer someone clear of those.
@oldfort He’s not near a city (small town). He’s 19 so I figured rental or leasing was out of the question. Otherwise, yes I’d would have suggested long-term rental. ZipCar is an option but that’d be $90 a day (with the under 20 surcharge) and not good for the roads.
@BunsenBurner I’ve got the insurance figured with an agent from our company but in the state he’ll be in. It’s actually quite cheap for liability in his state. Car insurance is an arm and a leg in our city, so this was a nice surprise.
@compmom Yeah, I’m leaning back towards the smaller car. If S can get by with a smaller car, it’ll be much easier to sell and cheaper.
@ubcalumnus@Knowsstuff Thanks for the recall reminder. That I hadn’t thought of. Re the Toyota frame replacement. I have never lived in a place where cars rust out. I live in snow country in the west where we don’t salt. Westerner: Rust on a car? Why on earth would that happen? lol! But I did know to ask about it and that it’ll be checked on inspection.
Of course, the used car may have come from a different area.
Also, be aware of the Takata airbag recalls. Due to difficulties getting replacement airbags, or because the owners could not be contacted, some cars under recall have not had the affected airbags replaced.
D1 said she could have picked any car she wanted.