OT-Cars... Tips on buying a car, Help FINDING a car, and general car information...

[seth16]

I am now in the market for a car (well have been for a while) and now have some money to help with that whole 'car buying' thing and i think it would be easier and better to buy a car from a private owner, and not from a car dealer. I am not having any luck finding one that fits my price and needs, and if i can find one that is owned by either someone i know, or a friend of someone I know, i can have more of a peace of mind when buying it. I am basically looking for a car, not an old beater, but a decent used car that wont fall apart too much on me. A four door would save me insurance money and makes trasporation of friends and family easier, but if it is a good deal, i may lean towords a two door. I am looking for a car around $2000, but may go higher if they are willing to work with me on something. just PM me if you know of anything or even SEE anything that you think would work. I dont wnat to go into this whole thing alone and having help from people who have done it all before helps aswell. I really like the Mitzubishi Galant's and Mirage's, IDK why, but i do.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, also if you can give tips as to particular brands or cars to stay away from or to try and find.

Thanks for your time,
Seth

 

[chrisstie]

I don't know anyone personally (if you met me a few years ago I could have sold you my suzuki jeep from 88 lol)

But out of curiosity have you tried every few days going to ebay motors and searching within say, 50 miles of your zip code then sorting by price?

If you see something you like while the auction is still on you could probably always go visit the seller and see what the deal is with the car?

Not much to go on but hope it helps, I get a lot of cars returned to me when I do this for my zip and some aren't *too* pricey

 

[cowboyswife]

autotrader.com

 

[InLimbo87]

I'd stay away from any mitsubishi's that would be in that price range. They are notoriously unreliable. I would take a serious look at early-mid 90's honda civics and the like. Can't beat the reliability, and the price will be similar to what you're looking for.

 

[mflamb]

I agree, stick with the private owner. Do google searches on each model of car you are interested in.
Too bad this wasn't a few months ago. I just sold a great 97 Escort that I bought new. It was a great car. Previously we passed cars onto our college student kids, but they all have good cars, so we practically gave it away to get it out of the driveway.

 

[chrisstie]

I have to agree with the stuff about mitsubishi - if you're looking for functionality more than a cool car for your first car a honda or a toyota would be great reliable cars

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10440489#post10440489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InLimbo87
I'd stay away from any mitsubishi's that would be in that price range. They are notoriously unreliable. I would take a serious look at early-mid 90's honda civics and the like. Can't beat the reliability, and the price will be similar to what you're looking for.

Actually they are very good cars IMO. The 3000 GT is one great car.

 

[InLimbo87]

The 3000 GT is a nice car, however both unreliable and out of the price range he is looking at. In order to get something Mitsubishi for under or around 2k he would have to buy an early-mid 90's eclipse,mirage, or galant. All of these cars are proven very unreliable in comparison to other cars in the same price range/age group.

 

[MIKE ALERS]

got to agree with inlimbo and christie.i sell used auto parts for a living and one is for sure and is easier to say what doesnt break on mitsubishi than to ask what they suffer from.me and my wife both owned mid 90's honda accord's and sold with well over 200k on them.never had to replace anything mayor except for the normal wear and tear parts.

 

[AquaKnight]

Seth, would you be willing/able to do some basic maintenance stuff on the car yourself? Oil change/spark plugs/wires, etc? What about something more serious like an alternator replacement?

The only thing that really comes to mind is something of a fleet car for anything remotely newer. The Ford Crown Vic and 1999+ Dodge Intrepids/Stratus's. The Vic's can handle cop duty very well and mature nicely, but they really aren't very cool, unless you ghetto them out, but even then, in the eye of the beholder But in reality, you aren't going to find a cool car for $2000. The 99+ Intrepids are pretty reliable if you can find one that doesn't burn oil like a banshee.

One option esp. since you have cash, would be to attend one of the local car auctions. I know some really good deals there have been had. IMO buying Private Party in this range is tough, because usually sellers like to over-value their cars and with it being so low a cap, really not much swinging room. I'm a GM die-hard through and through, but would have hard time recommending something, not knowing whether your wrench turning ability lol.

However if I was you, this is what is I get. Sure, the CEL may be on all the time, and some of the fancy electronic gizmo's not work, but if this was 1990 you'd be pretty cool. Link :lmao: :lol2:

 

[ben&bobbi]

Seth,
you can look at cars a little above your price range too. Like mflamb said, i personally have come down quite a bit on vehicles i have sold just to get the out of the yard.

for vehicles in that price range, you will most likely have to do the minor things - brakes, tune-up, possibly tires. that kind of stuff.

but remember, you can always offer private owners lower prices and possible take the offer. Most will be cars they were going to trade in, but the dealer offers them $500 and they know it's worth more than that.

and be careful of honda and such that may have been "riced" out and not well taken care of.

 

[MIKE ALERS]

the 2.7l motor on the intrepid run about 2,000 dollars used because of such high demand. a use honda motor runs from 350 to 550 because they just sit in stock forever...just something to think about

 

[bluerug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10441292#post10441292 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaKnight407


One option esp. since you have cash, would be to attend one of the local car auctions. I know some really good deals there have been had.

You have to have a dealers license to do this.

Go with an old 3000gt, iam sure you can find one in your price range come to think of it.

 

[sytanek]

Look for an early 90's honda. We have a 91 accord with several hundred thousand miles, and do not plan on getting rid of the thing anytime soon. Just drove it to ft myers a couple weekends ago, only used a quarter tank getting there. The insurance on it is pretty decent too. Paid 950 for it private seller. We also have a 95 isuzu rodeo we paid 1200 for from a private seller that runs pretty good too. Had a 98 escort zx2 we bought 3 yrs ago and sold this year for 1300, Though I have to say the honda accord, albeit the oldest, probably runs the best and i feel was the best deal.

 

[sytanek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10441606#post10441606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluecarpet
You have to have a dealers license to do this.

Go with an old 3000gt, iam sure you can find one in your price range come to think of it.

You do not have to have a dealers license to do this. There is one in oak hill and one in mount dora that do not require a dealers license. A majority of them require one, but not all. Even the ones that do sometimes have a once a week or once a month where you don't need a license.

 

[bluerug]

Oh well i never knew that, i always thought the Ocoee auction you always had to have a dealers license. Thanks for the heads up. .

 

[jsl6v8]

I'm big on Toyota I had a 91 celica that I eventually gave to my brother when I got a saab, it had over 220k miles on it only thing I ever did to the car was oil changes tire rotations and a new alternator which was easy enough to do myself. getting the saab was the worst thing I did repairs sure aren't cheap. I got the 91 celica gts back in 2000 for 1500 from a dealer. But I would check autotrader and ebay motors, but be careful with ebay motors with all that fancy fineprint.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

seth i'm a technican and i've worked on gm's, and nissan's and would also recommend a honda. my 97 civic has over 300,000 on it and never went to honda for warranty work and i've replaced the axles 3 times brakes 4 times and it still gets 28 miles to the gallon. it's only went down on me once and it was a ignition control module. 15 mintues on the side of the raod and 3 years later still running like a champ. and some dealers have wholesale lots that you can get cars cheap. if we got one in and it didn't pass my inspection or cost to much to fix and not turn a profit it went back there. and if you do buy from a private seller then ask if you can have it looked over at a dealer. dealer will charge from 80 to 110 to check it over and it is well worth the money. if the owner dosn't want you to do this then there is something up. give me a call and i'll release all the secrets about the dealers and business:smokin:

 

[dugg]

I know someone with a 1982 280z that is a good dependable car for sale. It is only a 2 seater though, and needs paint. It has new tires, and runs good. I heard him tell a guy last week that he wanted to sell it for $1700. Other than being a 2 seater, if someone wanted to paint it, it would make a sweet little car. The guy has lived by me for 3 years, and i have never seen him having to work on it. I would check insurance rates on it first though, being a sports car, it might be too expensive to insure for someone your age. It has a 6 cylinder and not sure if it's auto or manual. I could check for you if you want.

 

[InLimbo87]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10441606#post10441606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluecarpet


Go with an old 3000gt, iam sure you can find one in your price range come to think of it.

Why the 3000GT's? He didn't even mention liking them. Not to mention, they are way out of his price range.

Here: 3000GT's within 50 Miles of Orlando

The cheapest one is $4,500. And I seriously would not trust the cheapest mitsubishi you could find (I wouldn't even trust one that was in good shape)