What used car to buy?

[luvnmy2bys]

My son just graduated from college in December. He just got a great job in a nearby town. The commute is 45 miles roundtrip and he will also have some local travel in his personal car around town. His father and I would like to buy him a good used car with the following requirements: reliable, good fuel economy, nice enough to drive clients in , and between $10 to $12 thousand. This will be our graduation gift to him, along with the offer to live with us for the next 2 years rent free, as long as he his saving some money to live on his own. Does anybody have any suggestions on cars that would fit in the above criteria? Ideally this car would last him several years while he built his income. Lucky for him he only accumulated about $8 thousand in student loans and we expect he can pay this back while living at home.

 

[DawnM]

I would look at a used Honda Civic or Honda Accord. He could also check out a Toyota Camry or a similar Toyota car.

Our Toyota is 10 years old this year and runs like the day we bought it. I am not kidding. I plan to drive it another 10 years. Then I plan to get a little 2 seater car as my kids will be grown!

 

[honeylove]

I agree, Honda or Toyota is the way to go, they last forever!!!

The Civic or Corolla is a great "starter" car for a young adult, good on gas and highly reliable!

 

[lady9]

Another vote for a Honda! My DS 16 bought my sister's 1999 Accord with his own money. It runs and looks great. We hope it lasts him through college.

 

[Sagginit]

Honda! I am a Honda owner for life after my first car i got a 92 about 6 1/2 years ago, kept i for 5 1/2. i was able to sell it for the same price i paid! yes that is right in all those years i only put in repairs/maintenance. i upgraded to a 2003 civic and love it so far. again bought below BB value so in a few years or so when I want another newer one I should get a decent price. also if he is driving clients in a wierd way it is so practical you get respect (i once read many close millionaires drive these type of cars for their value).

i know people who have hated their first cars that were used kias, mustangs (yup turned into a money pit), saturns (although I think it may have been the driver). my mother also had a thunderbird for years and for one of my friends it was her first car. both hated 2 doors and the thing skid as soon as a raindrop hit the ground.

 

[Southernmiss]

Hondas, Camrys (had one last to 285,000 miles until DS got it ) are great nice cars.

DH now drives a Nissan Altima 70 miles each way to work. (he had the camry before DS got it.) It has been a good car for his purposes and fits within your $ parameters. Great gas mileage, a little sporty looking and no mechanical issues.

 

[swilshire]

I would say Hondas or Subarus. Used Hondas retain their value and tend to be expensive. You might find a better deal on a Subaru.

Sheila

 

[sillylily]

Another vote for Camry; I love love love mine. I never had a car before this one that I was anything but indifferent to, but my Camry just chugs along on my godawful commute without a whimper. I'm all about reliable, since my commute time is over two hours every day.

 

[Swimalie]

Another vote for either Toyota or Honda. My husband has a 2001 Toyota Corolla as his commuter car. He drives 28.5 miles each way. The car is holding up well and gets good gas mileage (fills up once a week only).

 

[girli565]

I also agree with a Honda or Toyota. I've had my civic since 2007 when I bought it new and it has never been in the shop for anything other than maintenence. I drive about 50 miles round trip every day, it has 68k miles on it. I plan on driving this car until it dies. My husband has a Yaris from 2008 and other than normal wear and tear its been perfect.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would actually recommend AGAINST all the cars listed so far. Because those all hold such high resale values, you're going to have to get a fairly old car to get in your price range. You could probably get a nice Ford or Chevy in that price range that is 2 or 3 years old. Suburus don't do particularly great on gas mileage, so I'd skip those unless you have a need for AWD.

 

[luvnmy2bys]

We will start looking for a used honda or toyota. We started looking this weekend at Carmax but are also going to look at craigslist. We have a great mechanic who will check out anything we are looking at before we purchase it.
Thanks

 

[kiki02]

We will start looking for a used honda or toyota. We started looking this weekend at Carmax but are also going to look at craigslist. We have a great mechanic who will check out anything we are looking at before we purchase it.
Thanks

Toyota. No question there. More specifically, corolla (imho). GLUCK

 

[wiigirl]

I would definetly go with a Toyota...they are usually bulletproof unless abused.

 

[mrodgers]

I would actually recommend AGAINST all the cars listed so far. Because those all hold such high resale values, you're going to have to get a fairly old car to get in your price range. You could probably get a nice Ford or Chevy in that price range that is 2 or 3 years old. Suburus don't do particularly great on gas mileage, so I'd skip those unless you have a need for AWD.

A fairly old Toyota or Honda would still be more desirable than a 2 year old Ford or Chevy in my mind. We did the brand new Ford, had more money wrapped up in repairs and maintenance than I've ever had buying used 100k mile Toyotas. Everyone says, it's maintenance, you have that with every car. Yeah, a lot of it was maintenance, but the maintenance intervals I found to come about 4 times as often as with my Toyotas.

We will start looking for a used honda or toyota. We started looking this weekend at Carmax but are also going to look at craigslist. We have a great mechanic who will check out anything we are looking at before we purchase it.
Thanks

Been looking for a car for 2 weeks. I looked at Carmax. "Everyone I know loves Carmax and they all buy from there, and it's cheap..." my mother said. I looked at Carmax and everything was thousands over priced.

I would definetly go with a Toyota...they are usually bulletproof unless abused.

Or even if abused. I never changed the oil in my 4Runner (maybe 3 times,) bought 105k and sold 189k. Ran fantastic. Also never had antifreeze in it. I don't know where it went, but I would fill it up and it was empty the next day. No burning, no leaks where I parked, and I opened the stopcock to the radiator and there was nothing in it. It was very heavily 4wheeled and driven very hard on the road. I put front brakes on it, replaced the shocks with off-road shocks, and put a clutch in it. All of my Toyotas were VERY heavily abused in regards to both maintenance and driving.

Just drove home with our new-to-us 2010 Rav4 V6 last night. Paid the same with 29k miles used as I did the junk Ford Escape 6 years ago. Same style car, small SUV. The Ford isn't even in the same ballpark as the Toyota.

 

[midwestdee]

First choice, Honda, then Toyota. If your son is 6 ft or more - think Accord over Civic. Do your home work - pick a budget - get online at Kelly Blue Book - look for used cars for sale (personally, I would never buy from a private party - only dealerships, I don't care if you "save"money). Get the print outs from local dealerships within maybe a 30 miles or so radius - then hit the road. Test drive, TAKE A CD! You will narrow down what you want really quickly - it may take you 3 or 4 weeks to find, but I bet you will by then if you are diligent (unless you live in a more rural area where your options are limited). Really look it over to see if there have been a paint job on the car, especially the back ends - lift the hood and look for paint variances. A car accident has to be reported to be logged on Car Fax - often people will pay out of pocket to avoid having their rates hiked. Some parts of the country flood damage has been a real problem - maybe check out Consumer Reports on advice for what to look for there. Good luck!

 

[mrodgers]

First choice, Honda, then Toyota. If your son is 6 ft or more - think Accord over Civic. Do your home work - pick a budget - get online at Kelly Blue Book - look for used cars for sale (personally, I would never buy from a private party - only dealerships, I don't care if you "save"money). Get the print outs from local dealerships within maybe a 30 miles or so radius - then hit the road. Test drive, TAKE A CD! You will narrow down what you want really quickly - it may take you 3 or 4 weeks to find, but I bet you will by then if you are diligent (unless you live in a more rural area where your options are limited). Really look it over to see if there have been a paint job on the car, especially the back ends - lift the hood and look for paint variances. A car accident has to be reported to be logged on Car Fax - often people will pay out of pocket to avoid having their rates hiked. Some parts of the country flood damage has been a real problem - maybe check out Consumer Reports on advice for what to look for there. Good luck!

Bolded is important to know. Carfax is useless unless it is reported. Maintenance done at a dealership is reported. Me knowing that I refilled the oil and put the drain plug back in for sure doing my own maintenance is priceless to me, but not reported on Carfax. A car in an accident and fixed in a shop is reported. A car in an accident and because I live in redneckville and have many friends who could help me with the bodywork in my own garage would not be reported.

My Jetta has been in an accident. I can see the bodywork. Bodywork on both driver's side doors, front fender has been replaced, both rear quarter panels have been repaired and the whole car resprayed. It has a perfect Carfax report though.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I am not a fan of Honda or Toyota, both overrated and overpriced IMO.

My suggestion? Test drive a lot of cars in your price range and research each individual vehicle (make sure you look into the specific engine and transmission in each, different options are often available in a single model).

What you like and what others like is not going to be the same thing. I would buy a Jeep, Ford, Chevy, Chrysler product long before I would buy a Honda or a Toyota. Newer Hyundai vehicles are getting very good consumer reviews and because they have not always had a good rep and are lower priced to begin with you may be able to find a much newer and lower mile Hyundai in your price range

 

[auger]

Toyota lover here. Second choice would be Honda, though.
We own two toyotas and will never buy anything else again.
Went through 20 years of buying ford, Chevy and hated them all. Major mechanical issues and lots of money to fix.
Since buying Toyota, we love our vehicles and can't imagine driving anything else.
Resale and reliability are totally worth the extra up front cost.

 

[swilshire]

I would buy a Jeep, Ford, Chevy, Chrysler product long before I would buy a Honda or a Toyota. Newer Hyundai vehicles are getting very good consumer reviews and because they have not always had a good rep and are lower priced to begin with you may be able to find a much newer and lower mile Hyundai in your price range

Each to his own, but I could tell you horror stories about the Chryslers we have owned because we thought we couldn't afford Hondas. They are cheaper for a reason. All the ones we owned were crap by the time they were to 125K miles, if they even lasted that long. I will never, ever, for any reason own another Chrysler product.

On the other hand, I bought one Honda Accord and two Subarus with just under 100K miles on them and got a lot of years of reliable service out of them. I just bought my son a Subaru with 159K miles on it to replace one that was totaled in an accident. I think it will serve him well for three or four years.

We have one ancient Ford truck that has been a decent vehicle. If I were going to buy American, it would be a Ford. (Even though my Daddy, the mechanic, always hated Fords. He was a Plymouth man until he switched over to Datsuns late in his life.)

Sheila