Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What's the most reliable car that $3K will get my kid?

I'm matching what he's scraped together, so he'll be at $3K, tops.

When I was looking with his brother 2 years ago, the candidates were Corolla, Civic, Camry, Accord, Taurus/Sable, LeSabre, and a few Hyundai models.

Any other sleepers out there?

Thanks,

FC

I've got a 21 year old Civic with 230K miles that I've driven daily for four years. I have $1400 in the initial cost and subsequent repairs.

Based on that, I'd recommend one in a heartbeat.

2nd

A used Toyota , or Honda

Never owned one myself, but have friends with Civics old enough to vote...

A '92 Civic was the first car I ever bought new. Loved the hell out of it, but sold it when I got a company truck.

FC

Civic or Accord , the older Honda's seam to run forever.

No Taurus their engines are designed to fail at 100k and most do not make it that far before they start having problems.

My dad and my brothers both crapped out at about 75,000

My neighbor is a mechanic and has worked on quite a few and hates the motors in them.

Actually, my mechanic has said the Vulcan-equpped Tauruses are pretty good motors, but has implored us to let us have him check out anything we're interested in, before we plunk down the cash.

In this price range, every car is a sample of 1. We'll winnow-down the offerings before finding any that are worth taking to the mechanic.

FC

the one you have the knowledge to work on yourself.

Drove my first Honda Accord almost 200k miles. Gave it to my baby sister and she logged another 150k.

1995-2000 Mercury Grand Marquis check out auto trader

I had a chevy impala that drove like crazy, decent gas mileage and you could fit 2 deer in the trunk easy.

One negative vote for a Camry.

I bought one for my son two years ago with 125K on it. Nothing but problems until the transmission failed 8 months ago.

Put a used transmission in it and it failed two months ago. Just donated the POS to the local county Career Center rather than accept the $300 trade offer that I got.

No more used Camrys in my future.

donsm70

The mid-sized Hondas (Accord) and Toyotas (Camry) will offer a bit more crumple zone for a young driver than the smaller model offerings of the Civic and Tercel.

I am on the north side of 430k of a 1990 accord I am planning to buy it something perty at 5k. Would drive it anywhere any time.
Stick with the manual transmission and it will outlast his childhood!
K

Those old cars are sleepers. Those and the Crown Vic are such old grandma, uncool cars, they don't bring much.

I was talking to a Police Lieutenant this afternoon. I asked how their Ford SUV's were holding up. He said they weren't going to last like their old Crown Vics. He was telling me how much abuse those Crown Vics could take and keep on running. Grand Marquis is a Crown Vic clone.

Not too cool, but a lot of ride for the buck.

DF

Beat me to it.

Buick LeSabre with the 3800 engine.

The main thing with used cars is how they were treated by the previous owners.