Alright so my friend's little sister rear ended someone in her Saturn L-Series a couple of months ago and is now looking for a new car. She got $4,000 from the insurance company because her car was totaled in a 10MPH collision (damn Saturn!) anyways, she wants a four door sedan, preferably a I-4 because of the mileage, under 120k miles and something that doesn't look old (square lines) What do you guys think?

Here's my list
* 1990-92 Accord. Great cars, but tough to find under 120k
* 1993-97 Altima. See above
* Anything with a 3800. Might be a tough sell because it's V6 and it's "an granny car" (tough for 17 year old girl to get over car's image)

I'd say a Chevy Malibu from the late 90's. Maybe an old VW Jetta or a Mazda 626.

Really though, the Accord/Camry option will probably be best, but they can't be had for THAT cheap unless they have lots of miles on them or something...

Exactly.

I tried to find a good 90-92 Honda Accord about 6 months back. Everything around $3000 was atleast 150k miles or beat to utter shit.

Mazda 626 is a hell of a choice. Forgot about that one. My dad had a '91 DX for 170k miles, said it was one of the best cars he's ever owned since he bought his first car back in '73. Very very reliable and durable car, and they're much cheaper than a Accord.

VW....noooo thanks! They've got terrible reputations and are extremely expensive to fix.

I'll have to tell her about the Malibu/Cutlass.

Hey, maybe a Buick Century or a Ciera?

Early 90's cutlass supreme. Possilby a convertible one.

Didn't you ask this question before? Or maybe it was somebody else but do a search and see if you can find it because someone asked this same sort of question a little while ago and it probably has a lot of helpful replies.

Nope, that wasn't me. I know there was a thread titled "the 20k question" that was goin around last week.

93+ 626 with MANUAL ONLY.
97+ Regal LS
Any Protege
89+ Maxima

She could go to the White Bear strip and look around for something

Alright so my friend's little sister

http://autopia.org/forum/images/smilies/postpics.gif With a photo of her we could do a much better job.

She's nothing to look at. Trust me on that one. If she was, I'd be on her like THAT.

The blood runs cold in that family. Very very cold.

Nope, that wasn't me. I know there was a thread titled "the 20k question" that was goin around last week.

No it wasn't that one. It was one for around this price range which is why I thought about it. Anyway if you can find it it probably has the same sort of suggestions that this one is going to get.

Tell her parents to stop being stingy and cosign on a loan for her. If I was a parent I'd feel a little safer with my kid in a car thats worth lets say 10 grand maybe. I think anybody with any ambition could cover the payments on a car thats 10-15 grand especially after putting 4 grand down.

Funny you mention the Maxima Jesda, her brother has the '93 SE I'm always talking about.

Given that anything in the Lexus line.

I'd say a Chevy Malibu from the late 90's.

I second.....

-Looks nice
-Great stereo
-Pretty fast
-Great handling
-Comfortable
-Pretty gas efficient

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/DopeStar156/1999%20Chevrolet%20Malibu%20LS/malibu9.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/DopeStar156/1999%20Chevrolet%20Malibu%20LS/malibusticker1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/DopeStar156/1999%20Chevrolet%20Malibu%20LS/malibu5.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/DopeStar156/1999%20Chevrolet%20Malibu%20LS/malibu6.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/DopeStar156/1999%20Chevrolet%20Malibu%20LS/malibugauges1.jpg

97+ grand prix gtp.
mmm oh yes she will love it

www.clubgp.com (http://www.clubgp.com)

It's hard to find a GTP for under $4,000 unless it's super high mileage. And if she did, I'd be constantly bugging her to let me drive it! :D

My friend's family is about as blue-collar as it gets. A lot of american pride in everything american. Their grandparents worked up on the iron range in northern MN, and when they went under in the '70s-'80s due in part to the foreign steel used in foreign cars, it left them with a lot of bad feelings towards foreign cars in the entire family, so it's kinda hard for any of them to buy foreign, especially Japanese. I'm still stunned about how my friend got permission to get his '93 Maxima. :confused:

Alright, so going by that, here's what I'm thinking:

*88-96 Buick Park Avenue/ Lesabre
*88-96 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight/ Eighty Eight
*88-96 Grand Prix/Cutlass Supreme/Regal
*90-96 Cutlass Ciera/Century (for some odd reason, I have a bit of a soft spot for these old A-Bodies)
*88-96 Bonneville

Look at the 86-89 Accords. You could find a near mint one from some older person for less than 4k. They are great cars and there still are some very good ones still around. I like the '89 Coupe myself but then I'm partial having owned one. Plus the car can be had in 4dr, coupe, or hatch. It will run for ever if you just do basic things.

I think Altima's are a steal!
Civics/corrollas too expemsive..

we almost bought this one...but decided on a much cheaper car to save some cash...


Well-maintained and fuel efficient 1995 Nissan Altima GXE in very good condition
with extremely low mileage (44K). One owner. Silver with gray interior.
Automatic, AC, power moonroof, ABS brakes, power steering, power windows and
mirrors, driver and passenger front airbags, power locks and remote entry,
cruise control, AM/FM/cassette. $3,800.

SAFE, DEPENDABLE CAR PRICED TO SELL

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/car/176538889.html

Look at the 86-89 Accords. You could find a near mint one from some older person for less than 4k. They are great cars and there still are some very good ones still around. I like the '89 Coupe myself but then I'm partial having owned one. Plus the car can be had in 4dr, coupe, or hatch. It will run for ever if you just do basic things.

They're kinda cool cars. Not in the same way our Cadillacs are but in a much different way. Kinda like a loyal little dog that keeps coming back no matter how much you forget about it, it's got personality too. My friend that has the '01 Accord Coupe had an '87 Accord LX-i Hatchback and he still wishes he had that car, he talks about it all the time. That car to him is like Rick and his '89 Eighty Eight. I used to ride in that car too, and that was a fun little car, especially with the 5-speed.

Alright, so they're looking at an '01 Grand Am SE, with the 2.4 I-4. Does anyone have experience with these? Most of the reviews about these on Carsurvey.org say they're junk, and the '99's have a horrible reliability reputation.

If I remember right thats still a Quad 4 engine which had HG issues in the early 90's. Its probably not as good a engine compared to the 6 Cyls. Dont these still sell around 6k?

Yeah I thought they were much more expensive than $4000 also. Makes me a little suspicious though. Their V6's have a lot of problems though too.

Personally, I'd stay the hell away from a 99-05 Grand Am. I just hate them sooooo much.

Friend of mine from work bought a 01 gt last year and she just had problem after problem for a while. Brakes, leaking door seals caused interior to get flooded a little and a few other things. I do like the wheels better than any other in its class with the chrome ones.

Yup, those are typical problems for those Grand Am's.

I always hated that red interior lighting too. Fugly.

My sister's 18 and she has a 1994 Regal sedan with a 3800. She kinda hates it because its a grandma car, but my dad picked up the $2,500 it cost so she doesn't complain too much. Plus it's good on gas and has more than enough room for her purposes. The car has around 80,000 miles and hasn't missed a beat in the almost 2 years she's had it. Like I said, it isn't the most stylish ride for an 18 year old girl, but besides that she really can't compain about it. She also likes the fact that her car is way faster than mine and she can actually drive (an amazing feat for a teenage girl or any woman in general) so I stand no chance in a race against her. Oh well, I still got the bigger bedroom.

Yeah those too, but the Regal/Cutlass Supreme/Grand Prix Sedans are just so damn ugly!! Reliable cars though.

I was in a 94ish Regal on a trip to Michigan last year and I was pretty amazed how well they do on the mileage. Even with the car well loaded we still got 30+ highway, Somewhere close to 475mi on a tank of gas. Seats werent that good because it had 160k on it but it still ran nice and didnt give us any problems during the trip.

Alright, so they're looking at an '01 Grand Am SE, with the 2.4 I-4. Does anyone have experience with these? Most of the reviews about these on Carsurvey.org say they're junk, and the '99's have a horrible reliability reputation.

Cheap car for cheap people; cheap in a bad way. Avoid.

Yeah, I'm gonna push hard for anything with a 3800 or a Century/ Ciera. The 3800 is one of the greatest american motors ever, and will get around 21MPG city, 30+ highway. Plus, she doesn't need to sacrifice space and luxury to get it.
The Ciera/ Century is just a reliable old workhorse, not as nice as a Park Ave, but a lot better than a Grand Am or a Saturn.

Alright, so tomorrow she's gonna go look at an '01 Dodge Stratus with the I-4. I believe it's the 2.4 but I could be wrong. It's got like 70,000 on the odometer and they're asking like $5000 for it. What are the known problems on those? What should we look for and be mindful of?

2.4 has some head gasket issues.

Alright, so that Stratus was junk. 31,000 miles for $5000. It was in some sort of accident. So we're back to square one again. I'm gonna see what decent cars I can find for about $4500.

Have you been checking cars.com and carsoup.com?

Yeah, I did that yesterday. Found a hell of a lot of mid '90s Civic Sedans in that price range and a lot of Centurys and Cieras. The Walser group (dealer that I work for) has 23 cars under $5,000, so I told them that we'd look at what we have.

I would try private sellers first though. You'll get to see the car how it looks and that helps judge how well is was or wasnt treated and the price is likely to be lower than dealer prices. With cash in hand you'll be able to knock the price a little lower too. When people get 4 grand flashed in front of them a few hundred wont really matter