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So my last car was recently totaled, and now I am in the market for a used
car, that doesn't cost me to much money. I am looking for a fairly fuel
efficient, reliable car, and have a budget of about $4000 (at the most). I
thought I would get your advice about a few of the options I am looking at.
I may add more later. Anyways, what I have found for now are:
1997 Eclipse RS, 97K for $3800
I test drove this car today, doesn't look like its been real well cared
for and the engine made a rattling noise when the car was idling.
1996 Nissan 200SX SE, 89K for $3000
Seems like a pretty clean car (have a test drive scheduled for monday)
Check engine light is on, supposedly from leaky exhaust (from the
description it sounds like it may be around the catalytic converter, I
don't have to worry about emissions around here, so would this cause an
real problems?)
1994 Honda Civic Sedan, 124K for $2600
A bit of rust in the usual areas for Hondas. Also the radiator and
muffler have recently been replaced.
1998 Cavalier Coupe, 114K for $2000
Don't have alot of info on this car yet.
1999 Olds Alero GL Coupe, 106K for $4000
One owner car, who always had consistent service from a local dealership.
The car overall looks quite nice.
Anyways, I was wondering which of these cars in your opinion, A) Will be
the most reliable, B) Is the best value.
thejonathan22
civic for me
great on gas and reliable
BTW an exhaust leak will cause you to burn more gas and lose power
newyorker
1999 Olds Alero GL Coupe, 106K for $4000
One owner car, who always had consistent service from a local dealership.
The car overall looks quite nice.
If it's the V6 model, than buy this one. I had a 99 Alero, and it lasted
till 210,000 mile sand if I could have opened the hood it would have kept
going for another 40k. Seriously.
3xBeam
I dont know what makes you so sure of this. I know Olds went out of
business a few years ago, not sure why (lack of buyers, quality issues,
etc.) but I wouldnt buy their cars, even if they appealed to me on any
level.
Buyer, check out www.carsurvey.org they have owner reviews and such, if you
read through, you may notice certain problems with certain cars (or lack
thereof), it has helped me and everyone I know when it came to making a
decision about buying a car. GL
newyorker
I also have a 99 Alero witht the V6. I have a bad head gasket...a costly
repair. After talking to the Olds dealership workers I found out that the
head and intake gaskets are quite a problem area in these engines. Also,
the passlock security system malfunctions a lot, there's even a thread on
here about it. 3Xbeam, you got lucky.
I highly suggest that you do not buy a newer Alero, or any GM with that
particular engine (I believe it is a 3400 or something).
giant016
Thanks for the suggestion on Car Survey.com. I was looking around on there,
and on Edmunds, and on KBB reviews, and from what I hear, the Nissan is
supposed to be at least as reliable as the Honda Civic, and according to
some sites it is actually more reliable (KBB review in particular, but
doesn't beat the Honda by much). So besides the exhaust problem I'm leaning
towards the Nissan. (From my research online, the check engine light
appears to be coming on because the rear O2 sensor has failed, this is
supposedly not a major issue. I'll have to dig into this and check it out,
if anyone knows anything about this, I'd appreciate comments.),
thejonathan22
Id still go with the Civic. A buddy of mine has one its a 95ex, drove the
crap out of it, just had somethin go wrong now at ~170k miles. I have never
been too big a fan of nissan, I looked at an older SE-R before my civic
(the 200sx) and while the performance was there, there wasnt enough to
really shock me. Then again my civic is an 01, a bit roomier ad more
refined, but I would still take the Honda
newyorker
The thing was cared for every month btw. My mother sold it to me after
having it as a company car. I cared for the engine every time it needed
anything. Maybe that's why.
And Giant, you could be right maybe just luck. But I was going to say the
3400 was awesome! lol....
Oh and the head gasket was "going" on my car but it was still strong. The
car over heated but I just left the blowers on.
3xBeam
Well, I just thought I would post and say I ended up buying the Nissan.
Turns out there was a bit of miscommunication over the phone (the person
selling had an accent) and the problem with the check engine light had
already been fixed. The car seemed quite clean on both the inside and out,
and everything seemed in good working order.
thejonathan22
good luck with it..... may she bring you many miles of joy .... or just get
you wherever the hell you're going :mrgreen:
windsonian
