My turn. What car? $2000 edition.

Hey all,

due to financial situation, I am turning in my Elantra Sport lease.

Looking for something SUB $2,000. 99% highway driving, or sitting in traffic on the highway. I live in the rust and snow belt.

So far top contenders are 2004ish Volvo XC70's, or Crown Vic/Grand Marquis

Needs: Must have 4 doors and be able to fit a car seat. over 23mpg highway, decently reliable, will last me atleast 2 to 3 years.

Manual or auto - doesn't matter. Prefer AWD, or RWD, but FWD not a deal breaker

What says the Hive?

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/honda-crv/6715459206.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/cto/d/1999-honda-crv/6725812290.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/blue-1998-honda-cr-crv/6699462269.html

if taken care of will run for 400K miles.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

 

if taken care of will run for 400K miles.

When did these get so cheap?!? weren't even on my radar, and I know nothing of the Honda world. do they still get stolen and such?

Manual trans'ed cars have become nearly impossible to sell since the youth don't know how to drive them and the elders have "been there done that" and no longer want to drive them. As such, non-sporty cars with manual trans are the super bargains right now.  They take forever to sell and its not always becasue they are bad but rather than no one even calls to inquire about them.  Things like Kia Souls and "cute Utes" with manual just linger.  

My advice.  Open the CL city of your choice.  With the filters on the left put in a price cap and then at the bottom choose "manual trans only".  See what comes up then low ball.  

In reply to tjbell :

unknown about theft.. something the club could easily solve.. but buy one.. reliable as a 90's honda.

tjbell said:

Hey all,

due to financial situation, I am turning in my Elantra Sport lease.

Looking for something SUB $2,000. 99% highway driving, or sitting in traffic on the highway. I live in the rust and snow belt.

So far top contenders are 2004ish Volvo XC70's, or Crown Vic/Grand Marquis

Needs: Must have 4 doors and be able to fit a car seat. over 23mpg highway, decently reliable, will last me atleast 2 to 3 years.

Manual or auto - doesn't matter. Prefer AWD, or RWD, but FWD not a deal breaker

 

What says the Hive?

How about a GM W body? No resale value whatsoever, big enough for car seats, decades-old cast iron motor where the only real weakness is the intake manifold gaskets.

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/2001-buick-regal-125k/6713017938.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/2003-chevy-impalanice/6729473422.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/cto/d/1999-pontiac-grand-prix/6728851294.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/2006-pontiac-grand-prix-38-v6/6716175816.html

Fueled by Caffeine said:

In reply to tjbell :

unknown about theft.. something the club could easily solve.. but buy one.. reliable as a 90's honda.

Or, just have a manual transmission and nobody will steal it.

You need a dadmobile it looks like. You want a Toyota Avalon. 

mtn said:

You need a dadmobile it looks like. You want a Toyota Avalon. 

This is an excellent option.  Reliable as gravity, bigger and nicer than a Camry for the same (or less!) cost, and designed before the Toyota styling team got possessed by oni demons.

2011 Kia Soul with 115k asking $2.5k.   

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/2011-kia-soul/6731812052.html

That's a really new car at  7 years old and 115k is a pleasant 16k per year, normal (not too many, not too few.)

Downside is that it states it need a wheel bearing.  This looks to be a small dealer listing in the Owner section .  Push him to fix the bearing before delivery.    

2008 Versa with 6 speed manual and 200k miles, asking $1,499

https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/cto/d/2008-nissan-versa-one-owner/6720349419.html

Recently price dropped because was asking $1,699.  I expect there is more room to drop the price, ha.  

2003 Toyota Matrix w/ 139k asking $1,950 

https://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/cto/d/2003-toyota-matrix-hatchback/6723947530.html 

Duke said:

mtn said:

You need a dadmobile it looks like. You want a Toyota Avalon. 

This is an excellent option.  Reliable as gravity, bigger and nicer than a Camry for the same (or less!) cost, and designed before the Toyota styling team got possessed by oni demons.

It is the best Buick Toyota ever made

The 2003+ Accords sedans are peeking into the $2000 range. Modern, reliable. Sort of the sedan version of the CR-V above. 

The Avalon is another GREAT option. 

I would say that based on my research an Avalon is the best option. I have a 2004 Accord and it's been fine, but according to Consumer Reports the Avalon is the most reliable, highest owner satisfaction car. It doesn't sound like you're trying to race it the other 1% of the time, right?

P3PPY said:

I would say that based on my research an Avalon is the best option. I have a 2004 Accord and it's been fine, but according to Consumer Reports the Avalon is the most reliable, highest owner satisfaction car. It doesn't sound like you're trying to race it the other 1% of the time, right?

Not trying to do much with it, Sporty, or utility would be cool, not a deal breaker though. going to look at a 2004 xc70 with 180k for 2500 OBO this weekend. looks promising ( I work at a volvo dealer ,too) From what I see the 2.5 goes for well over 300k easily

Another vote for the Avalon or CRV

Guaranteed a $2500 XC70 is going to cost more to keep on the road than a $2500 Avalon. I get the work connection and it might help you at work to drive a Volvo, but if you're looking at financial issues, the cheapest and best car is the car you're not working on to keep you getting to work.

I've bought countless cars in the sub $2500 range.  For me, unless it's a Biturbo, the type of car is far less important to me than anything I can find out about the cars' maintenance history.  95% of cars on the list of Craig in that price range are flat brimmed vape owned that have been Pep Boyz'd to death and/or beaten to E36 M3 and/or purchased 3 months ago from their brothers' girlfriends' cousins' roomates' neices' mother-in-law, who in turn bought it from this dude they know.  The way the ad is written is usually a dead giveaway, as are the photos.  I look for a well written, intelligent ad with good photos and someone who can document they've taken care of the car.  Cars like that come up every once in a while and you have to act fast because they sell fast, but they do exist.  Usually it's someone who owned the car from new (or close to it), kept it to 200k miles and bought a new car.  They decided to sell privately because the stealership only offered them $450 in trade.  One of the best budget cars I had was a '95 Accord 5spd.  I bought it from the original owner who had driven it to well over 200k miles and had a folder of service invoices.  Damn thing was super clean and ran like a top.  I drove it for 18 months or so and sold it for pretty much what I paid.

In reply to tjbell :

If you work at a Volvo dealer then keep and eye on what gets traded in that has a manual trans.  I will assure you that if it was traded in, the dealership did not give them much for it.  See if they will sell it to you cheap.  

I too agree than an XC70 might not be the best choice.  

The issue is, When we get trades, most of them are out of my price range, I work in a ritzy town. 

I still have my 05 T&C if you don't mind something bigger, and I'm just a bit south of you :)

If you're interested, I'm happy to go lower than your limit.

I think the Panther platforms are a great choice if you prefer rwd. Otherwise, Camrys and Accords can be found with a manual. The Avalon is the relaxed highway cruiser with fwd winter ability (although snow tires negate most of the advantages of fwd over rwd in my opinion)

Gs400

99% highway? Sitting in traffic? Something auto with comfy seats! 

Avalon, Grand Marquis, Towncar, GS300 or LS400....I would get an S class or 7 series but I don't know if that qualifies as reliable. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

The 2003+ Accords sedans are peeking into the $2000 range. Modern, reliable. Sort of the sedan version of the CR-V above. 

The Avalon is another GREAT option. 

I thought these had weak auto trannys

I think John Welsh has some good ideas.

I've noticed that smaller japanese cars tend to hold their value pretty well in the most affordable end of the market. A big part of that is because they tend to be reliable and inexpensive on gas. When you're looking for a $2k car for financial reasons, you probably need to consider total ownership costs. Smaller cars can be fun because they're nimble. A manual transmission makes things fun too. The yearly operating cost delta between a Crown Vic and a Yaris is probably $1500+.