I am helping my younger brother find a car to get around and also for him to use at work delivering pizzas. He doesn't know how to drive stick so slushbox would be preferred and also somewhat decent on gas. I have a line on a 93 Dodge Shadow locally. It has under 100k, slushbox, es model and all it needs is a battery. It is very challenged priced. Anything to look out for?
There's a '93 Shadow racing in the Lemons Summit Point this weekend, I'll let you know how it does 
In reply to 92dxman:
One word... RUST.
They rust everywhere. Look at mine!
Other than that, they are cheap, fun cars that are simple to maintain. Good luck!
Teach him how to drive stick. That way, when he's out doing pizza deliveries, he can drive your car home from the bar AND bring you pizza.
They are STUPID easy to work on. I'm talking early-'90s-Toyota easy.
Does this car have the 4cyl or v6? Either is very reliable and easy to work on, but at least with the V6 you can make it a very fun car without a motor swap. 
My first car was a Plymouth Sundance Duster with the V6. It was a very fun, very reliable car.
According to the ad, its a 4 cyl and has some new parts. I'm going to see if I can go look at it or someone in my family can. It is right around the corner from all of us.
Take a battery with you so you can test drive.
There is a pizza place here that has a fleet of probably 10 of them. Been in use since new, and it is a popular place. They are just now starting to get replaced with Mitsubishi iMiev's (Mitsubishi US headquarters are just down the road, and there is a stupidly low lease deal on them)
The 4 cylinder is a good motor if the head gasket has been dealt with, but the DOHC Mitsubishi V6 makes it fun, moreso with boost.
SOHC in these cars, but yes it's a fun motor to begin with and can make a lot of power on boost with a completely stock bottom end.
But the 4 cyl is NOT a fun motor to begin with, but can be upgraded to make a lot of power on boost with completely stock parts from the turbo 4cyl bottom end. That's the usual line. To be honest, ive got a non-turbo motor that i stuck turbo manifolds on and welded an oil return into the pan, and ive had it on the street at 16psi with spikes to 20 and it hasnt broken.
But if you keep automatic that thing will just be slow forever unless you boost it. But it's a reliable setup and it's very torquey for it's slowness so they're not bad to drive at all (assuming 2.5 L).
I drove a Shadow 2.2l N/A for a few years, wrecked it, continued driving it, and sold it to a kid who beat on it for another year or so before finally killing the transmission and taking it a junkyard.
I always thought a 2.5 Turbo swap would be a lot of fun, but only if it were super cheap.
I thought "needs a battery" was code for, "this car doesnt start and/or runs like E36 M3".
g/f had an 88 Sundance Turbo. It was decent car that took a lot of abuse before she ran the engine dry of oil (long after we had broken up)
I thought "needs a battery" was code for, "this car doesnt start and/or runs like E36 M3".
Well, a starter is over $100 but surprisingly, 'runs like E36 M3' is usually less than $100 on these motors unless it has multiple issues.
"It needs a TPS, CTS, cap, rotor, wires, and an injector."
That'll be $100. 
EDIT: Checked rockauto.. that list would actually be $60. 
Looks like the perfect pizza delivery car!
My 88 turbo with getrag 555 was my Pizza Delivery machine/DD for a long time. I LOOOOOOVED that car. Only issue was (eventually figured out) thrust bearing failure that caused it to eat clutches. Over several years of ownership and a about 100,000 miles (sold with 265k on original turbo) were clutch problems, timing belt failure (non-interference) and a wheel cylinder failure that would cause the left rear brakes to spontaneously lock. Oh, and a BROKEN front motor mount. And it drank gas...then again, I had a hard time staying out of the boost around town.
Cheap to own. Fun to drive. Easy to work on (aside from the mish-mash of metric and standard) I miss it.
...and WHEW! Nothin on craigslist
Had a 91 Shadow w/2.5 4-cyl and slushbox. 4-door hatchback. Wife drove it for several years. It was wrecked a couple times. Then handed down to oldest daughter. Started falling apart, mainly from poorly fixed collision repair (body shops). Only complaint was it ate belts, new would be fine for a while then squeal getting worse over time until replaced. Supposedly pulleys were aligned but still did it no matter what I did. Even replaced pulleys and tensioners, didn't help. Otherwise, not a bad car. Fun to drive and parts weren't too expensive.
Main pulley alignment issue with these is deformed alternator bushings (tensioner design contributes to this), but new ones are available in a hard poly that should fix that problem forever. ~$25
Got rid of the car years ago when it started to fall apart from poorly repaired collision damage done by body shops. Learned how difficult it is to weld cheap pot metal the doors are made of when the hinges tore out from being mis-aligned. A year after I traded it in (easier than trying to sell myself), I got a letter from an impound lot 3 states away that they had towed it when abandoned. I could have got it back for the cost of storage and going 3 states away to pick it up. Didn't want it back. Wish I'd known about that repair when I had it though.
Had the 2.5 tbi 3speed auto in a spirit for a few years, wouldn't call it the most reliable car (although it was reliable) but definitely the cheapest to run vehicle ever. And it would never top 26 mpg with that trans.
Driven by my sisters, at various times, with no air in the tires, no oil in the engine, no coolant, no trans fluid. Just.topped them off when I noticed and it kept chuggin along.
I think.a.set of.wires and plugs (flip the distributor end of the wires 180 for test drive. A timing check (intermediate shaft can jump a belt tooth easily) with a timing light, a junkyard pickup (under distributor) will get the car running "good enough" for a long time.
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