I see a lot of guys buying beaters or daily drivers and getting a little shafted so I thought that maybe some of us could give recommendations for what to buy.
From experience I can say that buying a good and cheap car that will last a long time is a crapshoot. Even when you stick to a reliable automaker there's always the chance that some dimbulb beat the hell out of it. My own personal view (and this comes from many many years of buying old cars) is that I'd now rather spend 5000$ and get a car that will be trouble free for five years than get a 1000$ car that I'll have to put 500 to 1000$ on every year in repairs just to keep on the road. Sounds weird paying so much for a beater but think of all the expenses that can come from owning a beater for five years. It's actually more than 5000$ in some cases. Better to borrow from the bank and pay them per month than pay your garage and towing service. My .02
Mileage is important. If the car is over ten years old it doesn't matter if it's highway miles or city miles. You need something low mileage period. Also, cars over ten years old are to be avoided unless you really know the seller or pay like 100$ for it.
NEVER buy a city car. If you live in the city, drive out to the country to buy a car. City driving kills a car twice as fast than in the country.
Things to avoid: Sport cars, 2 doors, anything that could have been driven hard. You want a nice grandma owned car, believe me. If you see a baby seat in the back THAT'S THE CAR FOR YOU. The only thing with these cars is that the maintenance might not have been done. A lot of old people forget to change the oil. Ask when was the last time they changed it. Don't forget to try the parking brake. Most old cars don't have a functionning brake anymore that might come into play during an inspection.
Like air conditioning and power windows? Now you don't. This is just crap that will break. Sure, buy it if it's a great deal, but if you've found a better maintained car with less mileage for the same price and aren't sure. Go for the less well equiped car.
Automatics? Depends on the maker. But if you can get a manual go for it. The reason is simple. Old cars often kill their batteries because they have a million shorts and bad grounds. So you might need to push start it. Also, manuals are fun to drive and when you're driving some old suzuki station wagon you might like to have some sort of fun.
Honor the super reliable car trinity of Nissan, Toyota and Honda. If can find any kind of car from those manufacturers for a cheap price it's pointless to look anywhere else. Mazda and Suzuki are good deals as well, but not as super-awesome as the trinity above.
Cars to avoid: Volkswagens, European cars (Old BMWs, Saabs... ect), Hyundais, Kias, any manufacturer that's no longuer operating in the US but sold cars for a time like Daewoo. Any kind of Chrysler. Any Ford product with an automatic.Subaru, they're good quality - no argument here, but expensive in parts so if you do break down it'll bust your budget fixing them.
Here's a list of non Toyota/Nissan/Honda cars I think are very good deals.
1995-2001 Suzuki Swift/Geo Metro
PROS: Doesn't cost anything to run. Cheap on gas and insurance. Parts are almost given away. Engines are surprisingly tough. CONS: Tiny tiny tiny. Automatics have no power. Rust buckets. Head gaskets leak. Engines not very strong when run hard.
1995-1999 Ford Escort
PROS: Mazda mechanics and rated very highly. CONS: Rust, rust, rust...
1995-2002 Suzuki Esteem
PROS: Same mechanics as the swift/metro. Nobody wants it's, so very cheap to buy. The wagon is an especially good deal. CONS: Rust again, lots and lots of rust. Harder to find body parts for than the Swift.
1995-1999 Ford Ranger
PROS: Indestructible 4 cylinder engine. It's a truck! Tons of cheap parts. Not expensive to run. CONS: Automatics suck. Rusts BAD. Electrical system's not that great.
1994-2002 GMC Sonoma/Chevrolet S-10
PROS: Unkillable truck. As strong as the ranger. Super fun 4.3 V6. CONS: Hard on gas with the V6. Rust, paint peeling problems.
Anyone else have advice for our brothers out there?
Couple points I'd have to disagree with:
- If you're going as new as 2002, I'd advise taking Hyundai off of the "avoid" list. Since MY2000, Hyundai has drastically improved over their mid 1980s offerrings. Plus, their sales have gone up each year for several years. More cars = more aftermarket support = cheaper replacement parts.
- Mazda in the "un-avoid" category, especially in "beater" years. Mazdas have traditionally had higher replacement costs, specifically when it comes to electronics. Plus reliability is nowhere near Honda/Toyota/Nissan.
bah, paid 1500 for my burb and i love it, love the body style, and love it.
so far any money i "dump" into it will be my choice in upgrades, big steel + PLPD --- FTW
You contradict yourself a bit. Don't buy from a manufacture who no longer exists/ this manufacturer. Then cars that you think are good deals are almost all cars you say to avoid.
Id say do a little research before you buy anycar.
That
super reliable trinity is a bunch of B.S. all car companies have problems.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
I own a 97 Kia that I paid 200$ for as a beater thing is awesome...
leaks oil bad but thats fixable.... 130k on the clock was used to drive back to work by a guy I know for8 years and he never once had a problem and neither have I
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
Sappy96 wrote:You contradict yourself a bit. Don't buy from a manufacture who no longer exists/ this manufacturer. Then cars that you think are good deals are almost all cars you say to avoid.
Id say do a little research before you buy anycar.
That super reliable trinity is a bunch of B.S. all car companies have problems.
I said to avoid Ford with automatics. I would never reccomend a Ranger or an Escort if it didn't have a stickshift. The rest on the list are Suzukis and GM products, which are decent.
All cars have problems sure, but some have wayyyyyyyy more than others.
And if a car's been well maintained it makes a lot of things moot. Even old Lada's work pretty good if they've had oilchanges every 2000 miles and regular maintenance.
What about a Geo? Great gas mileage, manual transmission, you can get them cheap. Just remember though, its only a beater, you dont want to make it a money pit. Also, what will you be hauling? Those are just some of the quesions you have to ask yourself.
dan
my father has owned several 80-90's 3 series bmw's and he hasn't really had to fix anything on any of them. His current beater is an nice 87 325 that he bought for 1k and drives the hell out of it without having to replace anything. My sisters first car was an 86 325 with close to 300,000 miles on it she drove the hell out of it for 2 years until she totalled it.
I have an 85 toyota truck that my father bought new. We replaced the waterpump and give it regular maint and thats it... 22 years of trouble free use. I used to beat it 4 wheelin on the weekends as well.
Old volvos dont die either.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
dubduce18s wrote:What about a Geo? Great gas mileage, manual transmission, you can get them cheap. Just remember though, its only a beater, you dont want to make it a money pit. Also, what will you be hauling? Those are just some of the quesions you have to ask yourself.
dan
I love Geo's. I had a 1991 Pontiac Firefly Turbo (Same fuel economy as a Geo 3 cylinder except it made 70hp) with a manual tranny and it was amazing. Replacing the 3 cylinder engine cost me 750$ and it ran beautifully. The only reason I sold the thing was the body. It was so rusted that it broke in two places underneath and the steering went all wobbly.
I'd totally buy another one, but my 2002 Sunfire is technically by daily driver/beater so I don't need one anymore except maybe as a backup car.
The Best Winter Beaters of all Time ...
2nd Gen V6 Cavaliers
Tercels
Mark II Diesel VWs
Cheap to purchase, cheap to insure, cheap to repair, and can take a stupid STUPID amount of beating while getting good gas milage.
i got a 91 integra for 600 bucks and it runs awesome. i only had to replace the radio due to the first one not working but my friend had his stock one so it didnt cost me anything. only thing i put into the car is regular maintance
Any ford from the 80's and at least early 90's with an auto tranny is a bad move. Even brand new. For example, 11 months after buying a 90 Taurus Wagon, the tranny fell out... it was brand new. Needless to say, it wasn't replaced with a Ford.
Tech Tone Blog
you mention the metro/swift but leave out the festiva. the festy's 1.3 is a pretty stout engine and runs for ever. they are small and rust is the only real downfall as with any older car...
also, for slightly more expensive tastes, subaru makes a really dependable car and if you are in any location that gets snow, the awd is awesome.
my advice... whatever you buy as your winter/daily, make sure it isn't something you want to mod. modding one car is hard enough, having two is well... nuts
welp i recently bought a 93 daytona es for my girl to drive around and it runs awesome. i have a 91 dodge shadow turbo es that i bought as a winter car like 4 years ago for 300 bucks and i haven't sunk a dam dime into it except for the oil change and tune-ups and my '86 turbo z i payed 400 dollars for a few years ago w/ a blown headgasket and it is now a high 12/low 11 second car and it could be a daily driver if i wanted it to be but thats what the cavy is for. mopars live forever (as long as you enjoy changing trannies and head gaskets hehe)
People say that what doesn't kill you in this life
will make you stronger. I'm not sure if that is true
or not, but i do know one thing-You have to learn from
it and it has to make you better.......it has to.......
