Question about buy a car

Foxrac said:
I have some questions about buy a car, I'm currently research on car and expected to buy in June.

I had noticed that some members said American cars aren't last longer as Japanese car but it's not true when most American cars are made in after 1998 that where life of mileage has improved, closer or equal to Japanese car, I want more detail about life of car because some cars that I looked it was over 100,000 miles.

I'm looking at sedan car and good gas mileage, 30 mpg at least and quality of car, I picked Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla and I had been concerned about quality of Ford Focus and Chevy Impala, I had heard from some people that has alot of problem with Ford Focus.

What's common average for down payment? I think it was between 10% to 20% as minimum.

I have 2 weeks to left to make final decision.
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Honda Civic is considering to be a candiate to match your need. The perfect year for a Civic is 2003 and later cuz of low maintenance. Oil change every
10k miles, oil filter change every 20k miles, timing belt or coolant change every 120k miles. I bought an used certified 2003 Civic EX w/manual tranny
for my son. No troubles since purchased. Any Hondas with high mileages are
easy to pass the emission inspection. Some Civics had automatic tranny problems (u need a mechanical insurance). Toyota Corollas is ok, some emission problem such as EVAP and Cats. Camry? No no no, Camry with 2.4L engine, have engine block problems, costly. They are on 2002 to 2007.
If you want a Camry, u must have a mechanical insurance. Ford Focus? Forget it. Make sure used car have repair history, Salvage title is no no no.
good luck
 
Foxrac said:
What about VW Jetta? any pros and cons?
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Before I bought my Isuzu, I decided to try out a 2002 VW Jetta 2.0 wagon. It was fast as hell even with 5 speed stickshift. Sad was the asking price was too much to bust my budget but it appeared to be a steal with 75k on the clock. The most cool thing about that car was it had a switchblade key lol!

If the Jetta's price was what I paid for the Rodeo, I would have had the vw in my driveway, but it was too much...

and on Ford Focus...get the ZX3, ZX5 or ZXW editions with the Zetec 4 cyl motor. They're so much reliable as I can attest that my ZX2 Escort shares that motor with the Focuses. 157k on it and that motor still runs strong :)
 
web730 said:
Heard good things about VW Jetta some time ago but it's pricey (to buy anew) but used... hmm?! Need to check its record and consumer reports on Jettas.

My friend's wife once wanted that car but it was bit too exp for her to buy a new Jetta at the time.

I know what types you meant to seek... $8K, I think you could find good ones less than 100K miles if luck... if so, I would only recommend Toyota cars which can unquestionably meet your requests esp mileages and longevity.

Recommend to check autotrader.com which helped me lot.

Good luck, Foxrac!
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I had tried to look on auto trader and not alot of list to find car that's meet my exception in 50 miles, same with cars.com and I thought it was recession that cause make more difficult to find right car.

Thanks for suggestion.
 
missywinks said:
i would suggest test driving it and then taking it to your regular mechanic shop and ask them for their opinion. they will tell you if the car is any good and predict what things need to be fixed in the future so you have a good ball park figure of what you will be spending. because you know those car dealers are always bullshitting people and your mechanic will be honest.
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Yup, I'm realized that car dealers can be greedy and mistrust to customers and check car fax isn't reliable so enough because there's never known if some people don't take care of car.

I think it's more risky to buy used American car than Japanese car because some used American car that people bought are broken on the owner and could get fooled.
 
Foxrac said:
I had tried to look on auto trader and not alot of list to find car that's meet my exception in 50 miles, same with cars.com and I thought it was recession that cause make more difficult to find right car.

Thanks for suggestion.
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other way around. the recession caused people to pinch penny to buy used, efficient cars especially for college students. funny huh?
 
diehardbiker said:
I might be outdated BUT I once owned VW Jetta Diesel, they are damn good on diesel (55-60MPG), and nope it is not Turbo diesel which gets about 45 miles to gallon of diesel.

Very good on driving on curvey road, I did drove 80mph on heavy curve road, no other cars I have drove that handles that with that speed.

They are good car back then but when it comes to replacement parts and even tires, they are damn expensive! Speaking of tires, almost impossible to subsitute as I did once and it ruined the tires. That was back in 80's. For example a brake cable, its only 3 feet long guy wire with just special bolt on ends, its not fancy one and can be easily made and it cost whopping 89 dollars! If I had machine shop, I could make it for less than 5 dollars. Brake pads, cost me 125 dollars and it looks pretty much similiar to my Jeep which cost me only 20 dollars.

I am not sure about current VW, so Im just giving ya what I experienced back in 80's and it could change.
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I had researched about VW Jetta then I'm pass on it because of high maintenance cost and VW hasn't change to make friendly to generic parts.

You are right about VW Jetta.
 
diehardbiker said:
Understandable,

My advise to start with, if you can come up with $2,000 dollars then buy car with 2,000 dollars and deal with repairs as replacement of monthly payments because you usually won't have to repair every month. It is STILL alot cheaper than car payment.

But if you can afford 200 dollars car payment with no problem, then I'd go for Honda.

Im sorry, I know I owned Jeep which is 100% American made, I am good at fixing it and keep it running. There are plenty of drivers that are not good at fixing them, it is more expensive to keep sending car to shop that is why they go for Honda that got hallmark of quality.

I hope that UAW employees wakes up and start to worry about quality of their work and get their cars improved... that is part of their job security, and they flunked, look what mess they got themselves into.
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I'm go with car payment for some reason.

Yup, I love to get jeep but only problem is high insurance because I'm under 25 then decide not to get it until few years and poor gas economy isn't issue if you have good paying job, there's no predict about what happen to oil price and SUV seems trends to have high insurance for under 25.

For UAW, I have mixed feel about UAW, I'm wonders about UAW would help to prevent auto companies to become greedy and save workers from abuse by managers, however itself for UAW is greedy because they have greater power over car companies and need re-consider about financial issue. For car companies with no union required like Japanese car, they got good pay but never heard about got abused by managers. If you are against on union then what happen when you live in non-right to work state like NY is one of them.
 
Jiro said:
damn that sux! i know how it feels to borrow someone's car all the time..... good luck with your purchase!
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diehardbiker said:
I agreed, I can't image living without cars! No way I can keep my sanity if I lose my vehicle.

DHB
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Yup, borrow the car is no fun and there's one that I borrow the truck is gas guzzling and have pay around $40 every week on gas.
 
deafsmogtech said:
Honda Civic is considering to be a candiate to match your need. The perfect year for a Civic is 2003 and later cuz of low maintenance. Oil change every
10k miles, oil filter change every 20k miles, timing belt or coolant change every 120k miles. I bought an used certified 2003 Civic EX w/manual tranny
for my son. No troubles since purchased. Any Hondas with high mileages are
easy to pass the emission inspection. Some Civics had automatic tranny problems (u need a mechanical insurance). Toyota Corollas is ok, some emission problem such as EVAP and Cats. Camry? No no no, Camry with 2.4L engine, have engine block problems, costly. They are on 2002 to 2007.
If you want a Camry, u must have a mechanical insurance. Ford Focus? Forget it. Make sure used car have repair history, Salvage title is no no no.
good luck
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What about 2000-2002 Honda Civic?

That's interesting about you gave a more detail about Honda Civic and I made narrow my choice to between Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, I haven't make final decision but I do consider Honda Civic.

Thanks for great suggestion.
 
sablescort said:
Before I bought my Isuzu, I decided to try out a 2002 VW Jetta 2.0 wagon. It was fast as hell even with 5 speed stickshift. Sad was the asking price was too much to bust my budget but it appeared to be a steal with 75k on the clock. The most cool thing about that car was it had a switchblade key lol!

If the Jetta's price was what I paid for the Rodeo, I would have had the vw in my driveway, but it was too much...

and on Ford Focus...get the ZX3, ZX5 or ZXW editions with the Zetec 4 cyl motor. They're so much reliable as I can attest that my ZX2 Escort shares that motor with the Focuses. 157k on it and that motor still runs strong :)
Click to expand...

Oh really, I had checked about Jetta on website and found several Jetta in my area that cost around $9,000 or less with high mileage like over 50,000 miles.
 
Yup, your right www.Craiglist.org got plenty of advertisement mostly from owners. You can easily find it down there. Reason it is so popular is that it cost nothing to you PLUS the seller as well. You could advertise for free down there.


web730 said:
Did you try Craiglist yet? It has many used cars listed.
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There's alot of cars from dealers that haven't appear on website that what I know.
 
get a scooter. it's way too awesome :cool2:
 
I rather buy cars from owners than though Dealer. Reason? You know who you are buying from. With Dealer, you had no idea who the previous owner are. Hopefully it won't be the previous owner is was busted in drug business and dealer bought it off from auction. Scary? Yeah

If you met the owner who is elder or the one that you can tell they are taking good care of the car, you would sleep well the following night. On other hand, you wouldn't want to buy car from a bum or who don't give damn about their cars....


Foxrac said:
There's alot of cars from dealers that haven't appear on website that what I know.
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If you are worry about insurance? GET old cars

my 94 geo tracker I get 30 mpg it 4wd I got for $600. I got my money out that in 2 months. Insurance cost me $50 per month for that geo.


sport car cost insurance more plus newer cars like 2000 or up cost more.



Ford focus with ztec engine are good. Saw 2003 focus go to junkyard before you say I check it have 365,000 miles I don't see Honda civic with that high miles most time 250,000 miles.

For Toyota I heard it good but they have problem with engine that get sludge so bad that you try change oil so often.

What about Chevy Malibu
they get 30 mpg and ride is comfy.

Or Saturn? My cousin have one I believe it 97 sl2 he have 323,000 miles it still run expect burn oil. he get 35 mpg with 5 speed manual. How he put that lot miles he was live in Georgia so he would drive to here almost every weekend.
 
diehardbiker said:
I rather buy cars from owners than though Dealer. Reason? You know who you are buying from. With Dealer, you had no idea who the previous owner are. Hopefully it won't be the previous owner is was busted in drug business and dealer bought it off from auction. Scary? Yeah

If you met the owner who is elder or the one that you can tell they are taking good care of the car, you would sleep well the following night. On other hand, you wouldn't want to buy car from a bum or who don't give damn about their cars....
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what about using CARFAX?
 
diehardbiker said:
I rather buy cars from owners than though Dealer. Reason? You know who you are buying from. With Dealer, you had no idea who the previous owner are. Hopefully it won't be the previous owner is was busted in drug business and dealer bought it off from auction. Scary? Yeah

If you met the owner who is elder or the one that you can tell they are taking good care of the car, you would sleep well the following night. On other hand, you wouldn't want to buy car from a bum or who don't give damn about their cars....
Click to expand...

Does people can issue a loan from bank when buy car from owners? I don't think so.
 
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