How do y'all pick a daily beater?

Here ya go Rob 

2003 civic si 129k miles for $2500

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/d/round-rock-2003-honda-civic-si/7120869037.html

Cars seem to find me as well. 

1. Went Shopping for a Toyota I come home with a Merc. 

2. I was looking at a used boat and I come home with a GMC. 

3. I wanted to return the title for a car that I was holding so a friends wife would not know about the car and instead they delivered the car to me. 

4. Offered really cheep $$$ on a Saab wagon (daughters car at the moment) thinking that they would not take it and they did. 

5. Same with my wife's H2. Offered half the trade in value and they called back a month later and I then lowered my offer even further and they still sold it to me. 

6.  Went to look at a hacked together Frankin 944 and came home with a 89 951 M030 optioned car that was under a tarp out behind the sellers house.

I guess in a weird way I am always looking for cars but I never need to buy a car.  I think that is the key.  Always be shopping but never be in a position that you have to purchase a car.  Oh and having cash on hand is also the key.  Don't fixate on a specific car type or brand.  You are limiting your options and potential to get a really good deal on a car. Be flexable and open to change.   Be willing to change your mind.  

I also prioritize price and condition.  I especially look for soiled or ripped seats.

If something catches my eye I'll search for a dedicated forum (there's one for almost every car out there) and go through FAQs on inspection and maintenance.  Usually a dedicated forum will have links to download service manuals so I can see some maintenance procedures.

I'm with Frenchy on this one.  I pretty much don't do used cars.  The only exception would be something desirable that someone I know is looking to get rid of for a fair price. 

Right now, my daily beater is the Mazda MPV I bought brand new 15 years ago.

In reply to Subscriber-unavailabile :

Winner right there. 

I had an 07 or 08 Fit manual and it was a good car. Easy to drive, seats were okay, good room for size, good on gas and okay highway car even with buzzy nature. I hauled all kinds of stuff in that like a pickup truck! That Kia Soul that someone posted would be great. I'd even recommend a Nissan Versa sedan or hatch with a manual if you could find one. If they are down in the range, Versa Note as well.

For me, beaters are like rescue dogs. You don't find them. They find you. 

Several I have inherited from family, often for free. Sometimes a friend knows somebody who needs to get rid of an old car and heard I was a car guy. I don't think I have paid anywhere near $2,500 for any of them. Maybe $200 at the most from somebody I don't know that well. I really do come across more of these than I need. 

Whatever I can afford when my current beater dies, look for the least rust and cheapest insurance. 

I've always lucked out on beaters. I only bought one car brand new and got rid of it after 2 years because payments/debt sucks.

My current beater is 99 zx2, I'm all in for around $1350 over  past 2 years of ownership. Just have to find a car that's been decently  taken care of and cheap on consumables.
 

Best part of a beater is you  can drive the piss out of it all time til it breaks, and then buy the next one.

John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:

For a good value in the used market, I recommend non-sporty cars w/ manual trans.  

I have written about it in the past

Might be a F-150 V6 w/ 5 speed.

Might be a Hyundai Sorento w/ manual

Might be a Kia Soul

Might be a Chevy Sonic w/ manual

People just don't go shopping for manual trans vehicles any more.  They sell really slow which gives you time to shop and these slow sales can also mean a huge discount over their auto trans brethren.  These cars don't sell slow because the offers are too low, these cars sell slow because no one even bothers to call about them or come see them.  

Open up your CL/FB and sort by "manual trans only" and see what pops up.  

A quick search in Austin CL yielded me:

2010 Soul w/ 103k asking $3.5k

2006 Escape w/ 96k asking $3.6k

Adding on to John's sound advice: In that price range much of the choice is about the particular car and how it was cared for rather than the model and miles. Between two nearly identical cars, you could easily be looking at $1,000+ in deferred maintenance on one and not the other. As much as I love my German cars, I would probably buy a 10 - 15 year old Asian instead. Fit, Civic, Corolla, Camry would be in my search, Escape (+ Mariner & Tribute), Soul, Sorento, and older CR-V would be on my list for an SUV.

In that price range, definitely look at the Mazda 6 and 3. They are great highway and all around fun reliable cars and you’re not paying the Toyota Honda tax. 

I have to love whatever car I am in.  Currently, my beater is an absolute wreck of a 91 four cylinder mustang notchback.  I bought it to make it a rally cross car.  I have absolutely fallen in love with the car.  I also have a 01 supercharged Miata and an 06 supercharged mustang.  The 06 mustang is my pride and joy and only has cone rash.  I will not take it anywhere it will get a door ding, or if I do it is parked well.  I will drive the older mustang and Miata in the winter.  I'm blessed to have all these cars, not to mention what my wife and kids driver.  But for my personal cars I have to love them.  That way, whenever I have to put money into them, I feel it is worth it.

Find what you love at your budget, get the best you can at your budget, if you love the car, you won't care about the consequences. 

My beaters have all be me rolling the dice on impulse buys. Success rate is questionable.  3 fails, 2 definite wins, and 1 I Iike enough that I kind of don't want it to be the beater so I'm about to look for another car. 

I always try and buy a car from one of the wealthier communities.  Better results buying a 150K miles Lexus from a town with million dollar homes than a 150K miles Camry from a city with a ton of 3 family rentals.  Its amazing the deals you can get from rich people once they right a vehicle off in their minds.  They just want it gone, where as a poor mom with three kids and no father, has to get every penny for her run down Altima.  A certain $1000 Range Rover with a broken hood cable and a dead battery, and a 600 Jag with a hole in the oil pan come to mind.

Thanks for all the advice.  I think my biggest lockup was researching all the different potential options of cars to dig into which was more reliable and cheaper to fix.  I was struggling between cool/fun factor and just plain practicality.  Sure the 25 year old BMW is cool, but not practical.  I also struggled with manual v. auto.  Was the little man in my head telling me the manual was a more reliable option over an automatic a valid statement or was I trying to convince myself because a manual is more fun?  Silly things like that.

Every time I looked at something fun-ish, I heard my dad's voice telling me to be practical. 

Subscriber-Unavaible: I saw the Civic Si rather late.  Wife had a new one years ago. Insuring a "hot" hatch gave me pause on it as we have some insurance issues at the moment.

I ended up looking at a Focus hatch, but with almost 200k miles, it was truly beat down.  A full suspension rebuild, some pick and pull parts, etc, would have made it better, but I didn't have a way to check the engine health.

Looked at the rebuilt title Fit.  Saw where the damage was (basically, passenger side radiator support), airbags never blew, 90k original miles.  Local car.  Glovebox had a full brake job recept done at 86k miles in Oct. 2018.  Newish tires, revved like an eager puppy. 

Negotiated to less than my budget and it's now in my driveway....... 

Let's see if I made a good choice.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

The Fit sounds good. 

That receipt... Did you buy the car from the person who owned while the work was done or did you buy it from someone who rebuilt it?   If bought from a rebuilder, does that receipt have the name and contact info of the previous owner? 

In reply to rob_lewis :

Nice!
I've wanted a fit for long time and noticed them popping up in $2/3k range on CL. I was gonna upgrade my DD but decided to just keep my current beater. 
Let me know if need any help working on it. 

Bought it from the dealership doing the rebuilding.  He actually had a number of cars there.  Wife asked about the Golf GTI, but it was out of our budget.  Looks like the receipt has the previous owner's phone number.  Why do you ask?  I feel kinda weird about contacting someone about a car they had before.  So far, except for the accident, it looks like it was taken pretty good care of.   Couple of whisky dents (typical in Austin) and the carpets need cleaning since it's obvious they had dogs.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

I have contacted the previous owners before. In one case I did not get a second key and the 3rd row headrests (that have to come off to fold the seat.)  The previous owner still had both and I paid them for. 

Maybe not contact them now but later when another question arises. 

There are multiple companies out there that make them but an aftermarket rear sway bar on those first gen Fits make a noticeable (at least to me) improvement to the feel of how they drive.