1st car hunting help - Portland area

I have a nephew who has just embarked in leaving the house and starting to try this over hyped grown up stuff we do. One of the 1st items on his agenda is finding a 1st car in the sub 2k range in the Portland Oregon area.

I know the hive loves a challenge and and we also have a few members in the area. Lets see what you can find on craigslist that I am missing.

Criteria is simple. Reliable over pretty. 25+ mpgs. Top contenders include civic, carolla, miata, 6 banger stang. Starting college student and not much of a car guy, hopefully there is something around that will change that.

He needs something that can haul all that stuff he is taking to college. That makes moving to and from college so much easier.

I'd offer my 94 BMW 740iL, but it may not meet the needs. It is available for under 2k and it has a lot of new parts, tires and lowering springs along with newer paint. Would make a great donor for an Animal House homage.

Anyway, scour CL and post up anything that looks interesting and we might be able to take a gander and put in our two cents.

My vote? As cliche as it seems, a Scooby or Volvo wagon would fit the bill.

Roadmaster Wagon? Can move stuff around, cheap, reliable, easy to get fixed, not 25+ MPG but insurance will be cheaper than Civic or Mustang insurance because of low theft rates and no sporty car tax.

I can't speak to Portland, OR specifically, but there are areas of this country where $2k does not buy what I would describe as a "perfectly serviceable car". Especially WRT the mechanically disinclined.

25mpg is possible in a B-body wagon, just not probable. 2.73 axle, 4.3L "baby" LT1, LRR tires.

My LT1 Impala SS kissed 20 mpg many times with 3.08s and 255mm rubber. Of course, now with a tune, 285s, and 4.10s I'm lucky to see 16

Miata in that range might get you a little less car for the price compared to a civic or corolla just because it has an enthusiast following.

I will say you might want to avoid the attractively-priced VW stuff in the 98-03 range. Enthusiasts are fine with their foibles, but taking it to a shop to be repaired (and it will have a few thousand little annoying problems) will be pricey. VWs of that era did an excellent job of engineering things to be proprietary right down to things like vacuum lines. Unless you're a pretty good fabricator, a secondary air injection code means a $180 dealer-only part to fix. Any other car would be $5 of hose and 5 minutes to fix.

He might enjoy something like an S10 or Sonoma. They came with a ZQ8 option that was a nice little truck. You may recall the S10 Extreme model which was a ZQ8. The Chevy version was a little gawdy with ground effects and decals but the GMC version was very clean and understated. Its a handling package; lowered, specific wheels, shocks, sway bars, posi, quicker steering box, etc. I'm just thinking it is a pre-engineered sport truck that looks clean, handles pretty well, and has a lot of utility for a college student. The 4.3L V6 will dance right around the 25 mpg line on the highway and its a bulletproof drivetrain with cheap parts and easy labor to fix.

I picked up this one with only 60k miles for cheap. Find one with around 100k to get in the $2000 range.

Some good suggestions. Here is some of what I have found

Neons have left PHX a while ago https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/5858344518.html https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/5818369109.html

Some Hondas https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/5858588617.html https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/5858517819.html https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/5858613908.html

Wild cards I really like this sentra https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/5849566009.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/5858429133.html

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/5858423925.html

Sub $2k there aren't a ton of turn key Miatas or Mustangs worth buying and you'll tend to get a lot more Toyota than Honda for your money. Corolla or Camry would be good, just make sure you get one that doesn't burn oil and run synthetic oil in it. 4 cyl 5 speed Ranger/S10 is another good cheap option. If he really doesn't care about looks a Grand Caravan will average low 20s if you keep your foot out of it and will haul all his stuff around.

This is the land of subarus and volvos, so Volvo wagon?

portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/5843068449.html