People who know things about cars

[Knuckle]

Honda, Nissan, Toyota.
That's if you want a vehicle that will last and provide excellent fuel economy.

[Zogimer]

Originally Posted by Knuckle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Honda, Nissan, Toyota.
That's if you want a vehicle that will last and provide excellent fuel economy.

Boring, boring unless you've got a crazy budget for thier sport cars, boring.

Get something fun to drive, like a used Miata.

[Myth]

A lot of good points on here. Regardless of what you buy you will at some point need a mechanic. If you already have one, ask them for their opinion because they will be the one working on your car.

If you are going to have it maintained/repaired by a stealership, then purchase your car at one you trust.

Always, always, have your potential used car purchase checked out by a mechanic you trust. Any dealer worth their shit will allow you to take the car for a few hours (leaving your license/current car as collateral). Getting your future car on a lift and looked at by someone who knows WTF they are doing is huge. Personal story, my current car was listed for 11,995. I took it to my uncles shop, put it on the lift and found it was in an accident (front passenger bumper bracket was bent). I was able to haggle price down to 9995 because of this. No big deal, it's just a bumper bracket but dealer knew, did not tell me about it, and it wasn't on the carfax report.

Moral of story, get your car checked by a 3rd party.

[gotrocks]

Originally Posted by Myth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Moral of story, get your car checked by a 3rd party.

this is extremely good advice.

also,

Originally Posted by raavak

get a used Honda Accord

this is the sweet spot, honda accords will, quite literally, run forever, even if you treat them like absolute shit. I know this from personal (anecdotal) experience.

[Auvdar]

I got a 03 Hyundai Elantra new for around 12k that I was able to pay off in a few years. Have had almost zero problems with it, with basic maintenance. Has a lot of miles on it now (just about 150k) since I would drive to Seattle a lot. Still runs great and gets around 32-34 MPG now.

My Dad also had a Hyundai from the 90's, thing still runs decent. They aren't powerhouse cars, but everyone I know who has had one says they are hard to kill. Plus they are cheap.

Next car choice would be a used Subaru Legacy.

[Knuckle]

Originally Posted by Zogimer [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Boring, boring unless you've got a crazy budget for thier sport cars, boring.

Get something fun to drive, like a used Miata.

shes talking about getting a fucking kia sedan and you are calling nissan/honda/toyota boring? honda civics and sentras with the right badging are as fun as you want them to be and within her budget.