What are best "beater" cars?

[basketsbears]

2002 mazda protege 5

Only the 2002 year?

[basketsbears]

I have bought every single one of my vehicles according the the ratings on Consumer Reports, and it's been spot on for pretty much all of them. You can get a really cheap subscription on consumerreports.org (I think it's like $6/month or something, and you can cancel anytime.) The vehicles that are consistently rated highest are Hondas and Toyotas, although Nissan and Ford have had some good ones, as do some others, but those are just what I remember. The used car guide on there will rate cars back to 10 years based on engine, transmission, electrical, etc. But as I said, Hondas and Toyotas are about the only ones that pretty much get great ratings on all areas, for all years, on all makes. Those are often harder and more expensive to repair, though, so I think it would be worth it to check into some ratings on the domestics.

I know you mentioned you were looking at the Indiana Auto & RV and CL. I'm not sure what area you are in, but in the Louisville area, be very careful about where you purchase a car. ALWAYS check the Carfax or Autocheck report. The Clark County Auto Auction is a massive auction open to anyone, and there are a lot of shady people buying cars there, fixing a few things, and trying to sell them for a profit.

Thanks for the warning. I am in Indianapolis. I saw on Auto Trader about carfax and it seemed there were some free carfax on there too. I had not been aware of carfax before (the last few vehicles I have purchased were always new from dealer).

I am kinda excited about this, even though I am going to miss my Jeep. I think my husband wants to keep his truck, so at least by removing one payment, that will save us about $500 monthly not counting the full coverage insurance.

Thanks again!

[papie]

I have bought every single one of my vehicles according the the ratings on Consumer Reports, and it's been spot on for pretty much all of them. You can get a really cheap subscription on consumerreports.org (I think it's like $6/month or something, and you can cancel anytime.) The vehicles that are consistently rated highest are Hondas and Toyotas, although Nissan and Ford have had some good ones, as do some others, but those are just what I remember. The used car guide on there will rate cars back to 10 years based on engine, transmission, electrical, etc. But as I said, Hondas and Toyotas are about the only ones that pretty much get great ratings on all areas, for all years, on all makes. Those are often harder and more expensive to repair, though, so I think it would be worth it to check into some ratings on the domestics.

I know you mentioned you were looking at the Indiana Auto & RV and CL. I'm not sure what area you are in, but in the Louisville area, be very careful about where you purchase a car. ALWAYS check the Carfax or Autocheck report. The Clark County Auto Auction is a massive auction open to anyone, and there are a lot of shady people buying cars there, fixing a few things, and trying to sell them for a profit.

[HHM]

2002 mazda protege 5

[basketsbears]

If you have 5K to work with, why not search on cars 3k to 4K? Then you have a repair buffer! You can still find some really nice cars in that range. The car survey site helped me a lot too because I'd find a car and look up the model and year. If it had too many : ( faces I'd pass it up! A good American car is a Crown Victoria. You can find minty ones that old folks drove and had serviced at ford. I almost bought a university patrol car until a friend suggested that it probably had a bunch of inebriated college kids in the back!

Thank you! Good idea! I will change my search to max of $4000 (I need to save it, but am trying to plan ahead).

I think I am driving my husband absolutely crazy!

[wobbly]

If you have 5K to work with, why not search on cars 3k to 4K? Then you have a repair buffer! You can still find some really nice cars in that range. The car survey site helped me a lot too because I'd find a car and look up the model and year. If it had too many : ( faces I'd pass it up! A good American car is a Crown Victoria. You can find minty ones that old folks drove and had serviced at ford. I almost bought a university patrol car until a friend suggested that it probably had a bunch of inebriated college kids in the back!

[basketsbears]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I am searching all different types - mainly on CL.

Thanks so much!

[basketsbears]

You can find a great used car under 5K. Get a friend that knows about cars to help you if you can. Avoid dealers and shop on craigslist or auto trader. Try to find and honest privite seller. You can go to a third party site like www carsurvey org and see reviews from other folks. Take your time and be objective and just walk away if it doesn't seem perfect! I bought a car in 2006 for 3000 that we are still driving. I sold a lease car back to the dealer and bought a high milage luxury car. It was well maintained by the original owner at the dealer and was minty.

Good luck!

Thanks! I am looking on CL and Indiana Auto RV. I have looked at everything. There are so many different cars. Some of the "luxury" cars were pretty nice. I just did a search with $5000 as my limit. Hopefully, will be able to do it.

Lynn

[basketsbears]

Don't forget the CarFax! The place that changes my oil reports the maintenance to CarFax.

How do you look up a carfax?

[ValleYum]

Don't forget the CarFax! The place that changes my oil reports the maintenance to CarFax.

[wobbly]

You can find a great used car under 5K. Get a friend that knows about cars to help you if you can. Avoid dealers and shop on craigslist or auto trader. Try to find and honest privite seller. You can go to a third party site like www carsurvey org and see reviews from other folks. Take your time and be objective and just walk away if it doesn't seem perfect! I bought a car in 2006 for 3000 that we are still driving. I sold a lease car back to the dealer and bought a high milage luxury car. It was well maintained by the original owner at the dealer and was minty.

Good luck!

[daveinIL]

This past spring I managed to find a true gem of a beater car. I bought a '98 Nissan Sentra with A/C, power widows and locks & cruise control for only $2200. It had only 62K miles on it but had some body rust and damage. I put about $700 worth of tires and brakes on it and it has been fantastic since I bought it. My main reason for buying this was as a substitute for driving my F150 to work every day. The F150 gets about 16 MPG and the Sentra is at 35 MPG since I bought it. I drive almost 75 miles round trip to work so the new car will pay for itself in only 12 months (even less if gas goes higher).

[keepsmiling]

Good q, I need one too and was actually thinking about coming here to ask. My '93 beater van needs over 1K worth of brakes, just not worth it anymore. I need a slightly less beat up beater
Just remember that you will need to allow for regular repairs on old cars. It adds up. Significantly at times.

[jst4f]

We have a 1992 Buick Century, aka granny rocket, with 240,000 miles. The V6 has lots of power. No major repairs and I change the oil, with standard Dino-oil, every 3000 to 6000 miles.

[159515951]

Almost any car made in the past 15 years or so will go well past 200k miles, if maintained properly.