Buying a Car: How Hard Can It Be?

So over the past few weeks, I have been looking at cars. I just want a good car that's easy to work on, roadworthy, reasonable to insure, and costs less than $5000. It turns out that this task is far harder than I expected. I've always wanted to learn manual, so all the cars I've been looking at are stick-shift. However, if there's a plush luxobarge or a good SUV, I'll happily settle for an automatic. Two weeks ago, I went to look at a Dodge SX 2.0 (Canadian Neon). It looked promising. Only a few scratches, and the price was right. However, when it was taken out on the road, all was the opposite of right. It oil starved and fuel starved up hills, and had a gnarly misfire. I decided to walk away from that one. Nothing interesting popped up until yesterday, when I found a 2007 Ranger at the same dealer my parents bought their Matrix from. It was a charcoal grey 2.3 5-speed, with a layer of filth and a tonneau cover that had been to hell and back twice. It seemed promising, so I set up a second appointment to see it when it was all cleaned up. Much to my dismay, I got an email today saying the price had gone from around $4000 to almost $6000. On top of that, it needed new brakes all around, and the transmission had issues. I've decided to pass on that one too. I've switched priorities, and am now looking at ZJs. Hopefully, I will have another installment in the car-buying chronicles next week.

tldr; cheap E36 M3 is still E36 M3, and you never know who to trust.

Drop down to the $1k-$2k price range and use the rest of the money for repairs. I've usually found the $4-6k cars are in between new enough to still expect a decent amount of money for and old enough to need some major repairs soon. At least on the sub $2k cars you have money left to fix them.

EvanB wrote: Drop down to the $1k-$2k price range and use the rest of the money for repairs. I've usually found the $4-6k cars are in between new enough to still expect a decent amount of money for and old enough to need some major repairs soon. At least on the sub $2k cars you have money left to fix them.

Will do.

What Evanb said, also look at an xj instead of zj, a MUCH better jeep (I've had 3xjs and 1zj, family has had an additional two wjs) and can be had with a manual. Shy away from the 4cyl though. What city are you in again? I'm bored and might as well help you hunt E36 M3 on kijiji, nothing like having someone toss out random ass car ideas to broaden your horizons.

Something like this:

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/cto/5344965769.html

Galvanized body so they don't rust too much, redblock engines are easy to work on and reliable, the turbo works well with the automatic trans. Lots of parts available.

chiodos wrote: What Evanb said, also look at an xj instead of zj, a MUCH better jeep (I've had 3xjs and 1zj, family has had an additional two wjs) and can be had with a manual. Shy away from the 4cyl though. What city are you in again? I'm bored and might as well help you hunt E36 M3 on kijiji, nothing like having someone toss out random ass car ideas to broaden your horizons.

Will focus on XJs. I'm in Kelowna, so Castanet would be a lot more useful than Kijiji.

In reply to EvanB:

Ah yes what a beaut! I had a 740ti and now have a 245 +t and a 244ti so I should say they are wonderful vehicles.

Edit: before your response I clicked your name and searched kijiji there's a handful of great econobox beaters like a protege 2.0, civics and other crap for under 5k. The only search criteria I used was 6k max and manual trans. See what speaks to you but as Evan said a Volvo is a great vehicle but if it doesn't speak to you just keep looking. Remember just test drive everything you can, get a feel for what you might like and then make a decision. No need to rush unless you have to cause a few more weeks waiting to get the perfect vehicle would be much better than ending up with another gbody clunker or similar. Sorry I couldn't help myself

Or this if you prefer a sedan for some crazy reason:

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/cto/5314273211.html

I consider the Volvo 7/9 series to be one of the best cheap daily drivers.

^ man is full of truth tonight, I've never spent more than $500 usd for a running Volvo. And the only reason they break is cause you make them muhahaha

I will say if you do go for a Volvo try to get one with lh2.4 engine management (1989 for 240 and 740 I want to say) less hassle and more modern. 240s after 92 (I think)were lh3.1 which sucks for turboing but the 740/940 turbos were always lh2.4 watch out for non turbos some were Regina which blows donkey dong

G_Body_Man wrote: So over the past few weeks, I have been looking at cars. I just want a good car that's easy to work on, roadworthy, reasonable to insure, and costs less than $5000. It turns out that this task is far harder than I expected.

I have been looking for a cheap truck since October. I have sent out dozens of emails, phone voice mails, and texts to CL sellers and have had almost zero response. Those who have responded only responded once and ignored questions like "when can I come look at it," or "I have cash ready and I live down the road."

Seriously... I have had cash burning a hole in my pocket since October and I can't get anyone to take my money. I think I would have better luck standing on a street corner with a sign; "WTB your truck."

curtis73 wrote:

G_Body_Man wrote: So over the past few weeks, I have been looking at cars. I just want a good car that's easy to work on, roadworthy, reasonable to insure, and costs less than $5000. It turns out that this task is far harder than I expected.

I have been looking for a cheap truck since October. I have sent out dozens of emails, phone voice mails, and texts to CL sellers and have had almost zero response. Those who have responded only responded once and ignored questions like "when can I come look at it," or "I have cash ready and I live down the road." Seriously... I have had cash burning a hole in my pocket since October and I can't get anyone to take my money. I think I would have better luck standing on a street corner with a sign; "WTB your truck."

I hate when that happens.

Usually the only hard thing about buying cars for me is being left with no money after I've bought too many.

Buying cheap cars can be really hard. Especially once you start getting picky and demanding things like a manual transmission in a largely automatic market, or a thorough service history or this or that...

I've been going through similar trying to find a car for my partner, the more you narrow the field, the longer you have to wait to find that perfect car.

You've got 2 choices, either buy cheaper and be less picky and be prepared to spend money getting it up to speed or be patient and wait.

G_Body_Man wrote:

EvanB wrote: Drop down to the $1k-$2k price range and use the rest of the money for repairs. I've usually found the $4-6k cars are in between new enough to still expect a decent amount of money for and old enough to need some major repairs soon. At least on the sub $2k cars you have money left to fix them.

Will do.

this ... if bought cheaply enough, then the repairs end up less than your original budget ... even if you have to get some of done by others

a $2k car with $4k in repairs, could EASILY be a better car for a lot longer (and less spend down the road) than the purchased off the lot (especially off the lot .... mark up and all that)

good luck ... I won't pretend to know WHAT car you should buy ... the easy button is always the Honda/Toyota ...etc ... taking on some of the GRM choices, while lots of fun, tend to be cars we'er always working on ... little things here and there ... sounds like you really are after something that you're not going to have to worry about

as I said .. good luck

Or GTHO your limited, restricted market and buy something good somewhere decent. You've spent enough time complaining about this that if you'd spent that time working you'd have enough for a train ticket to Portland.

I think I could find a car to fit your requirements within a day of landing in Dallas - Fort Worth even if I was walking!

people make this harder than it needs to be.. i can count on one hand the cars that i spent more than $1000 on since i started driving in the fall of 1991- 2 of which i own right now- and i have never had a car leave me stranded far from home. sometimes you gotta fix E36 M3, but that's a part of owning a cheap car.

novaderrik wrote: people make this harder than it needs to be.. i can count on one hand the cars that i spent more than $1000 on since i started driving in the fall of 1991- 2 of which i own right now- and i have never had a car leave me stranded far from home. sometimes you gotta fix E36 M3, but that's a part of owning a cheap car.

the only vehicles that have ever left me stranded have cost more than $1000. actually more than $10000. the cheap ones always get home.

In reply to novaderrik:

This, most cars I buy are $400/$500 and are more reliable than the $5000 crap my brothers get. Meanwhile both their cars are in the shop needing 2k worth of repair each and I'm still driving the piss out of a 1988 Volvo that I still haven't managed to blow up despite adding a big turbo on a naturally aspirated motor with 200k miles.

novaderrik wrote: people make this harder than it needs to be.. i can count on one hand the cars that i spent more than $1000 on since i started driving in the fall of 1991- 2 of which i own right now- and i have never had a car leave me stranded far from home. sometimes you gotta fix E36 M3, but that's a part of owning a cheap car.

true this ... but what I was thinking and maybe what others were also .... you can buy the inexpensive older car, spend enough to bring it to nearly "new" standards .... then you've still got less $$ in it than if you'd bought a newer car that still needed upcoming pricy maint

thought about doing something like that myself ... get an older Golf and transplant a modern TDI into it, and refresh all the interior... etc

i think the most i have ever spent on a car for myself is 900 bucks. ive only needed towed home once and it was my own stupidity not the cars fault! If your going to work on it yourself find something older and cheap with a good body and fix the mechanicals.