theholycow's considering looking for a car/truck to buy thread
 

I'm considering replacing my Rabbit with something cheaper. When I chose it, I needed a new car, I was new in my job and afraid to be late or miss days due to a broken car; that concern is significantly reduced now, I'm comfortable here and they're very tolerant. Looking at the costs to get out of the car and its value, now may be a good time for me to get a different car.

So, I'm looking for a manual transmission car with cheaper insurance, cheaper purchase price, and not terrible reliability. Insurance is a big worthless cost for me (I never have to make a claim and it's very expensive due to my homeowner's insurance requirement that I carry high liability coverage) so it especially needs to be cheap to insure.

...well, after a bunch of quotes, it doesn't look like I'll reduce my insurance cost, but at least I need to avoid increasing it and get a car that's cheaper.

It doesn't need to be as dependable as a brand new car, but it does need to be newer than a VX (and I want OBDII anyway).

Any suggestions for what's a good deal? Besides the insurance being higher, Hondas and Toyotas tend to have higher resale value -- in other words, inflated price to try to buy used.

Got a specific price range in mind?

THC,

My 1998 Honda Civic HX is still for sale. See more info in these posts:

https://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=9950
https://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=10268

Nothing has changed since those original posts. I only drive it once every week or two for 20 - 50 miles (b/c my '95 Civic DX h/b is my regular driver), so I've only put a couple of hundred miles on it since last December. Lifetime fuel economy is almost 45 mpg.

I'm asking $4,500, and as you know, I'm right here in RI.

cems70, your craigslist post is expired. Can you repost it or post more info? I'm not really interested in a Honda or Toyota, because of their great resale value (which means high price for me) and high insurance costs, but after running some quotes, the 1998 Civic isn't too awful. Just a couple years newer and they get really expensive to insure. Other cars don't change insurance cost so much between 1996 and 2002 models.

As for price range, that $4500 is probably in the right area. I'm just dabbling in the idea, not really sure where I'd go with the whole thing, so I'm not 100% sure where my price range is.

You can pick up a really decent Neon in that price range and those are plenty cheap to insure!

1158628088 Norfolk Va craigslist.
1998 Civic HX with 62 k miles.
Asking $4700 OBO.

regards
gary

https://providence.craigslist.org/ctd/1155473552.html

2002 Neon SXT 56k miles.

Moon roof, CD player, and very clean except for a scuff on the center console lid and it's only $4,495. I kinda want it but it's too far.

what about your lease???

also, maybe consider a cavalier. I got mine 5 years ago and it was 2k

(mine's not for sale though)

this is a nation wide search for 5 speed chevy prizms. they're really toyotas, as you know, just less expensive...

https://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1241732282220

edit: did a providence area check...https://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1241733219777

I would recommend a Ford Focus with a 5 speed. My dad has an 08 Focus sedan with everything but leather seats and its really nice. I wouldn't mind having one myself, and that's saying a lot because I hate driving small cars, but the Focus is fun, reasonably comfortable, and gets great mileage. Its not that expensive to insure either.

-Jay

I think I might be able to end the lease early and not owe money, or even get some money back. Value is pretty high on the Rabbit right now.

Great idea on the Prizm. It probably doesn't suffer as much from high resale value due to the Chevy badge and insurance is decent. Neons might be good indeed, though the posted one is automatic. Cavaliers should be fine.

Focus might be too new.

THC,

That craigslist post wasn't my car...I was referring to my post in that thread where I described the car. Anyway, here's the info:

- 127,000 mostly highway miles (original Florida car from 1998 - February 2005), no rust!
- 5 speed manual, power windows, power door locks w/ factory remote, A/C, factory stereo & cd player
- New Nokian i3 LRR tires & 4 wheel alignment at 113k miles
- New front brakes and rotors @ 97k miles
- New timing belt and water pump at 105k miles
- New O2 sensor in the last 1k miles
- synthetic oil changes
- Lifetime warranty muffler
- 42 mpg winter to 49 mpg summer (at 70 mph!...have gaslog in car)
- Current on all service
- Runs absolutely perfectly

I didn't realize you were planning on replacing a relatively new car with an older model. Certainlythe Focus has been on the market for almost 10 years now, you can get an older one with a 5 speed. Personally I like the current body style much better than the first one. Somehow it looks more like a "real" car to me. Then again, I guess that's why I like K cars too, because they look like "real" cars. A neighbor a few houses down has a Dodge 600 Turbo convertible. Sweet....

Anyway, I'm kinda suprised as I thought you needed a newer vehicle as a DD so you have the reliability of a newer vehicle. I guess a revised recommendation would be either an older Focus, or a Saturn.

-Jay

I did think I needed a new vehicle for reliability, but I was stressed about keeping my new job and such. Now I'm comfortable and I know they would be fine with me occasionally missing a day due to a breakdown.

When I was shopping for the current car I sat in a Focus and found that I would be quite miserable in it, the layout is all wrong for me. Perhaps an older Focus is different.

be careful if looking at some of the older ford focus's, they're known to have some major reliability problems. the brakes don't wear well either. newer ones are supposed to be quite nice.

if you can find it for the price, a 5spd toyota echo is a very reliable car and you'll like the gas mileage. its not a lot of fun, but can't have everything.

give the newer hyundai's a look too. although the accent may not be top notch for hypermiling (although i've nearly busted 40mpg hwy, and i drive fast) they've become very very reliable cars and the price is excellent. newer ones only get better but anything after 2000 for the elantra or 2001 for the accent isn't bad. before that time they had some pretty major tranny issues. anything before '95 was just terrible garbage.

I'm shocked HC, because we usually have similar tastes in cars. Like I said my dad has an 08 Focus sedan with a 5 speed, & everything but leather seats and I love driving it. The Bluetooth integration with the cell phone and Microsoft SYNC are great! You don't need to touch the phone, radio, or CD player. My sister has the previous model Focus. I think hers is like 5 years old. Hers is a sedan with mid level trim and an automatic. I hate driving my sister's car.

Yeah, the Focus should be good but the problem is my elbows and knees. I'm a big guy but my torso fits any car fine; my elbows and knees need plenty of room and armrests in the right places. When I had my Pontiac, I used to think I hated it because the ride was too stiff or the car was entirely too small, but eventually I realized that my entire problem was elbows and knees pushing against armrests and consoles making me hurt after more than a few minutes.

When I chose the VW, I sat in it and my elbows went directly to the same angles and distances as in my truck and my knees weren't obstructed or banging on anything. When I sat in the 2008 Focus, the door armrest was too low to be used, the window sill was too high and too close, and the center armrest was neither forward enough nor high enough. My knee may have been pushing against the center console like it did in the Pontiac, too.

Since I can't yet measure that need to figure it out from known interior dimensions and photos (some day I'll spend some time to figure it out), I just have to sit in cars to find out if I'll fit or not.

Any mods you'd consider if you had a used car versus a lease?

Definitely. I'd almost surely try to mess with gearing if I could afford the investment, unless the car came with tall gears. I might try some aero mods, and there's a good chance I'd try a WAI.

I think I'm not going to do it, though. I'm even thinking that I might buy the VW after the lease (and I'd definitely do something about the gears).

Buying the VW might be a real good alternative from the aspect of you had it since new and know the car and what was done (or not done) to it. So if you like it and plan to keep it a long time it could be worth it.

Sometimes buying an older used car is a crapshoot.

Just a thought.

Insurance costs are flat if you don't have Comprehensive and Collision, something to consider...Also OP, how long did you own that rabbit? How long did it take before you got comfortable at your job?? It just seems like it'd have been cheaper to just rent a car for the duration instead of buying a new car.

Liability is generally the largest insurance cost for me, although on the Rabbit collision is higher.

I was at a particularly weak point when I committed to the Rabbit, and it was not the most logical long-term choice in hindsight. At the time there was no room for the unexpected and I didn't realize that I'd have such a great workplace in the future; I had to be 100% sure to get to work on time.

It's not a total loss for me, I really enjoy the Rabbit and even with gas prices down it's still paying for itself, but I could have done better.

At this point I'm thinking my next car will be a 1996-1998 Volvo 850, which (on paper) offers most of what I like about the Rabbit and should be a reasonably long-lasting car for its price range.

I would suggest avoiding the Focus; I've had two and they are enjoyable cars to drive, but they are not the most reliable cars. They aren't bad on the major stuff (save for SVT's), but a lot of niggling crap seems to break just like on the VW's we had.