Used car recommendations

$5k max price. 

Decent mileage desired. No need to tow or go off road. Reliability more important than performance or fun to drive. 

Looking at local craigslist cars. Lots of choices. What are your recommendations so I can narrow my search. 

Toyota Avalon. Mechanically a Camry, but bigger and nicer inside. 

But nobody recognizes the name like they do Camry.  So you can typically get the nicer model in nicer condition  for less money on the used market. 

What is decent mileage for you? 30mpg highway?

Also, last year I paid $5k for a 2006 Impala in pristine condition with 47,000 miles on it. Not sporty, but comfortable, roomy, and perfectly pleasant commuter that gives low-mid 20s in fuel economy. 

In reply to Antihero :

I don't have any set mileage goals in mind. I really want cheap to operate and maintain. Mileage itself is more like a tie breaker and maybe not the most important thing.

This is for a car I intend to buy and give to someone else.

Any restrictions on body type or transmission?

In reply to Duke :

Impala and Avalon are both good ones to look for.

https://wilmington.craigslist.org/cto/d/2008-ford-fusion-se/6567107567.html

What about a 2008 Fusion?

Looked at a few vehicles over the past couple of weeks. Going to look at a 2007 Prius today. It has 140k miles, got a new battery in 2014 at 110k miles. Looks clean from the pics.

It's got navigation, so I'm guessing it has most of what ever other options were offered.

I think I remember some threads here about Priuses and that in general their biggest problem is lack of driving excitement. I drove a different one a couple weeks ago, but it had a salvage title and had more miles. What do I need to look out for?

Here is my Prius thread.

The only real update has been, "I bought a second one too." Mostly no updates otherwise because there has been nothing to say. 

From what I know aside from the batteries, they're obnoxiously trouble free. 

The Prius had the usual rock chips on the front, but was overall fairly clean. The only thing that didn't work right on it was the TPMS system light comes on even when the tire pressures are all good. I figure that is not too expensive to fix (assuming a bad wheel sensor) or too hard to ignore.

I think I'll buy a Hyundai Santa Fe that we looked at last week. It will get worse mileage, but has an interior in better shape and can carry more stuff than the Prius. About the same age and miles.

Just to close this thread out. I bought a Santa Fe from a guy a couple miles away. Mrs T.J. saw it posted on facebook marketplace. Car is clean. Hopefully it will be reliable.

In reply to T.J. :

what year/engine? 

Can't say how bad it would be on a Prius, but the TPMS light on my Crown Victoria is easy to ignore...after a while. Occasionally it goes from a solid yellow to a rapidly flashing yellow. 

What set it off?  When I got a pair of tires mounted on two "new" wheels at W-M they didn't want to swap the sensors from the old wheels. 

In reply to Bob the REAL oil guy. :

2007 with 3.3L V-6.

RE: Prii....

Hate to be that guy. Of all the catastrophic engine failures I've seen, I have only seen one flavor of stock, unmodified, engine decide that the best place for the piston was just outside the block. Guess what car it was in. 

Granted, all signs pointed to low oil level, but the rod didn't break, the bearings looked OK... Just ejected the piston. Never seen that before. 

Also granted. I live in a retirement town. Know who really like Prii? Retirees. There are literally thousands of them around here, and very very very few have any sort of troubles other than the HV battery every 5-10 years.

Edit* I see I'm late to the party.

T.J. said:

In reply to Bob the REAL oil guy. :

2007 with 3.3L V-6.

oH, nice. THose are pretty solid. That V6 is stout and the 5-spd auto is pretty good.