If you had $1,500 to spend on a manual commuter...

This belongs to a friend of mine.  He does pretty well with it locally, but he's also a pretty solid driver.  

Posted for inspiration/enablement.

Anything toyota. 

1500 can buy a really nice tercel.  Mine was only $250

stuart in mn said:

For $1500 you can't be choosy - you buy whatever car is in the best condition at the price.

I sort of agree but a $1,500 1989 Seville or Mercedes and a $1,500 Civic aren’t in the same league.

Festivas

Anyone?

Anyone?

(99% automatics I’m guessing)

malibuguy said:

Anything toyota. 

1500 can buy a really nice tercel.  Mine was only $250

Not around me. I've been looking for a two door manual off and on and anything without significant body damage is  $1500 and up. Anything that looks "nice" is over $2k. 

Matrix/Vibe.  XRS/GT if you can find it.

I hate that I like this:

In reply to Knurled. :

Seems your experience is vastly different than mine.  I've been daily driving a DOHC SL2 for the last 17 years (about 350k miles) spread out over 2 different cars. Never replaced or maintained a chain on either engine.  And yes, I do routinely let it run a quart or two low before topping it off.  I really neglect it, and it keeps going.

I’d buy my 91 integra that was for sale, and is now the “berkeley you; now nobody gets it” car.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Shame.  They pop up here and there for less then 1k most of the time

EastCoastMojo said:

Not sure exactly where you are located in MA. Surfing the lists of Craig, I found this, which looks appealing.

It appears that you have misspelled "appalling".

malibuguy said:

Anything toyota. 

1500 can buy a really nice tercel.  Mine was only $250

"Really nice Tercel" is an oxymoron.

Unless you get a rare EFI car, then they're great.  The carbs on the carb cars were so bad that Toyota had a repair kit that had an Aliens-looking nest of vacuum hoses and stuff that bypassed some things on the... whatever.  I dunno.  Even after the "repair" they never quite ran very well.

I feel like the answer depends on how long your commute is, highway versus surface roads, and what kind of weather you might face. That said, there's a world where a Mazda 6 is a great answer. 

$1500 safetied or as is? The best car you can buy for that money is one which has a mechanical problem you can resolve reasonably easily. Finding owners that have already moved on and are sick of the old car might get you there too. Sometimes going with the tried and true (eg. Civic) makes sense, but sometimes you can find a newer, lower mileage example of a mid-tier reliable vehicle. That Focus ST posted earlier looks pretty tempting to me, although I'd carefully examine the rust holes. Surface rust can be your friend. A grinder, some POR15 and a spray can really improve things and keep most cars rust free in the visible areas for a long time.

If you can find a Matrix XRS with a good clutch for any less than double your budget, act fast, take it home, and feel like you won the Olympics......all of them.

The best Geo Prism you can find. All of the Toyota robustness, non-of the percived Toyota resale value.

Justjim75 said:

If you can find a Matrix XRS with a good clutch for any less than double your budget, act fast, take it home, and feel like you won the Olympics......all of them.

See my above post, but replace Geo with Pontiac Vibe. 

I was looking for the same and ended up with a zx2, which im very happy with

ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual) said:

I feel like the answer depends on how long your commute is, highway versus surface roads, and what kind of weather you might face. That said, there's a world where a Mazda 6 is a great answer. 

It’s roughly 40 min and split 50/50 between surface roads and highway. It’s at night so it’s an 80mph jaunt on the highway and there’s a great, long, hilly and curvy road that’s devoid of traffic the last 10 minutes to work. You can do 5 over the limit and feel like a rally driver as the road is rough and narrow as well. It’s a great mix of driving. Slow car “fast” is the name of the game (mostly because I’m morally ok with 5-10 over the speed limit at night on public roads). And it’s New England so 100 degree heat, downpours, 20 degrees in a snowstorm, we have it all. And I’m a mandatory employee so I don’t have the option of calling in due to weather.

Knurled. said:

EastCoastMojo said:

Not sure exactly where you are located in MA. Surfing the lists of Craig, I found this, which looks appealing.

 

It appears that you have misspelled "appalling".

 

It comes with a lot of add-ons. Most of which are red flags. 

Good point. Removed.

I picked up a Manual Volvo 850 for $1000. It needed new door cards and a seat that cost me all of $200 at the pick and pull. Even including 4 new tyres, I think I spent $1500 on a shiney black boxy volvo with a 5 speed.

I loved my Volvo 850 and it was a ton of fun to drive. A set of shocks woke up the handling. The gas mileage wasn’t that great though. 

In reply to Justjim75 :

I payed $1200 for my XRS, albeit with a worn clutch.  $100 clutch kit, $25 ball joint, and a Saturday later, and it's been a reliable DD.  Everything else I've done to it has been cosmetic refresh and autox upgrades.