Nomad
Reader
5/21/22 11:33 p.m.
Been looking for my son's first vehicle that he will be using to commute to school and drive his sister in. I used to be an avid autocrosser so I'll have fun teaching him some car control and put some events under his belt. Maybe even rallycross for kicks.
Criteria:
Manual because everone should learn and it makes phone distractions harder.
I'm looking for reliable of course, to last the next 4-6 years.
The ability to take it to a few autocrosses, for learning handling, is an option, so competitiveness no, but participation yes.
I was hoping to spend $5k and avoid super high miles (I was thinking 150k is getting up there)
I've been mainly focusing on Mazda 3, Civic, Corolla, maybe even a small pickup (have to make it handle)
Maybe I'm asking too much in this search? Everything under 5K is salvage, or 200k+ miles, or beat to death. I'm getting anything at 150k mi and 18 years old listing at $7-8K, a favorite seems to be $8995. Maybe its just the manual option that is doing it
This market sucks. SoCal is not playing nice. I have to be more patient I suppose.
Is this part of the "new norm"? Any tips?
Start looking out of state?
Unfortunately it's not just California, prices for everything have gone up pretty hard here in Arizona too. That's just how the current market is unfortunately, both cars and rent are too damn high now!
I went to go check out a 1998 BMW 318ti for a friend earlier today, and even though the thing had 264k miles, peeling clear coat, a bad driveshaft center support, non-working radio, every single warning on the gauge cluster, a CEL, horrendous vacuum leaks, and non-working windows, the seller refused to budge from $2500, which is crazy. That's a $1000 car in my book.
I did a fly-buy-drive last month. Portland has a pretty decent market right now. Seattle is pretty good too. I flew into Seatac and bought a car and drove it to Texas.
If you have a staunch requirement of manual trans, then...
Both FB and CL allow searching for vehicles to only show cars that have a manual transmission. The easiest way to find a deal in this new, crazy market is to look for a manual trans. So few people now know how to drive one so that eliminates far more than half the shopping public. Sure, in a sporty car like a Miata, the manual is far more desirable but in non-sporty cars (or even less sporty cars) like Corolla, Kia, Hyundai, Ford Fusion, etc manual trans cars sell very slow. You might be able to turn that slow sale into a cheap sale price.
Sort by manual trans and see what shows up. But, be sure to verify by pictures that the car is really a manual trans. Many seem to get listed wrongly.
Don't be afraid to buy a car listed as, "needs a new clutch". Be sure to drive down the price to accommodate for the clutch replacement but again, so few people understand manual trans any more...they certainly don't understand clutch replacement.
Nomad
Reader
5/22/22 8:29 a.m.
Ohh, 318ti, love to add that to the list but 'he' doesn't want a project car "I" do.
Years ago I bought my '74 2002 in Portland and shipped but had an enthusiast give it a look for me, never suspected I'd be considering that for a daily sewing machine.
The prices I'm looking at are higher than all the prices I sold my various vehicles for 6-8 years ago.
Anything else I should add to the list for a 15 year old, 150K car that should still have decent life in it?
Focus? Lexus? Acura?
Maybe bigger like Accord, Camry, Mazda6? I found a manual Camry, but since the exterior needs "tlc" I wonder if they did any maintenance whatsoever.
Nomad
Reader
5/22/22 8:40 a.m.
John Welsh said:
If you have a staunch requirement of manual trans, then...
Both FB and CL allow searching for vehicles to only show cars that have a manual transmission. The easiest way to find a deal in this new, crazy market is to look for a manual trans. So few people now know how to drive one so that eliminates far more than half the shopping public. Sure, in a sporty car like a Miata, the manual is far more desirable but in non-sporty cars (or even less sporty cars) like Corolla, Kia, Hyundai, Ford Fusion, etc manual trans cars sell very slow. You might be able to turn that slow sale into a cheap sale price.
Sort by manual trans and see what shows up. But, be sure to verify by pictures that the car is really a manual trans. Many seem to get listed wrongly.
Don't be afraid to buy a car listed as, "needs a new clutch". Be sure to drive down the price to accommodate for the clutch replacement but again, so few people understand manual trans any more...they certainly don't understand clutch replacement.
Yes, that's what I've been doing. So of course the options are much fewer.
Almost every example so far is 200k mi and $20 years old and still listed at $6k. I feel like that's getting to the limit of life on some of these compacts (since NOBODY ever has maintenance records!)
I need to be patient. I know nothing about Subaru reliability, or Hyundai, and am skittish of high mileage E46 BMW .
I don't know where you are in SoCal so I set FB to 40 miles from Anaheim. These are my favorites manual trans cars that came back.
2006 Accord Coupe 179k asking $6.2k
high mile but good reputation cars and nicely equipped
2015 Sentra sedan 61k miles asking $9.4k
Modern era car with low miles. Sure, high end of sales price but will be slow to sell. It says already that the ad is more than a week only. I expect its much older. Nissan CVT auto trans suck but this being a manual should make it much better.
A combo of the two above...
2012 Altima Coupe 102K asking $9k. This will be very slow to sell. Body is scuffed. This is way overpriced. But, I susepct that the reason it's not selling is not because he's turning down offers. I'll bet he's just plain old not getting any calls of offers on this car. Two door cars are really hard to sell. Anyone with the need for kid car seats will not be interested. Also, the world doesn't really know (or care) that the Altima was offered as a coupe
2005 Scion xA 153k asking $4.9k
Damn yeah pulled up Craigslist for LA, will post other suggestions below but wanted to share this guy first, would love to fly and drive this bad boy back to the east coast for $5k
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/d/beverly-hills-1972-honda-z600-coupe/7486605704.html
I appreciate the photo artistry where the shrubs and marigolds mimic the scheme of the cars.
I just paid 6500 for a 2008 civic coupe with a five speed, 1.8. It only has 92,000, but I still would have considered it a $3-3500 car.
i'm still looking at the market, since the first two years of the R18 engine had the blocks leak coolant. Mine has had to have the overflow tank topped up twice, and I'm checking it daily. Something to be aware of if you were looking at 8th generation civics.
Tommy's XA is the winner in my mind.
Nomad
Reader
5/22/22 10:18 a.m.
Thanks, Looks like I need to spread the net a bit wider. Saturday is the posting day.
I'll pick through some of these.
Unfortunately the subcompacts are probably out due to size. My wife hates them. Maz 3 is as small as she'll go as she thinks she's going to have to drive it sometimes.
In reply to johndej :
The 108k Accord in Redondo looks like a winner. A quality written ad from a seller I think I'd like to buy from.
Nomad
Reader
6/8/22 9:05 p.m.
After sleuthing for weeks and plenty of frustration at what's available I decided to check out one relatively close to me.
A 2006 Mazda 3 S GT sedan 5spd manual with poor photos, a split driver seat, and a randomly responsive seller who doesn't speak english.
103K mi, listed at $5800 and 40 min away. All other comparables are in the $6800 level with $130+k
Well, I saw it, drove it, poked around it and decided to just do it. $4500 later... I'd like to pay less but glad I didn't pay more.
It feels tight, brakes good, engine good (will keep an eye on oil levels but no leaks to be seen). Kept engine temps level all the way home and A/C is good. The split seat should be mendable once I remove the seat upholstery and restitch the seam.
2.3L, 5 spd, leather, heated seats, Bose sound, 6 disc, auto headlights and wipers, auto climate control.
I'll be doing the typical fluids, engine and trans mounts, tires and a suspension refresh. Thanks for the help.
Now to get ready to teach him to drive stick and then hit a few autocross events! Thanks for the helps
In reply to Nomad :
In this market that seems like a good price with only 100k and not 200k
How hard is it to sell a non-sporty, manual trans car? I looked back at this posting and both the Nissans are still available. Sure, they may be over priced...and they may be Nissans, ha. It says the Sentra has been listed for 3 weeks and the Altima for 4 weeks.
John Welsh said:
I don't know where you are in SoCal so I set FB to 40 miles from Anaheim. These are my favorites manual trans cars that came back.
2006 Accord Coupe 179k asking $6.2k
high mile but good reputation cars and nicely equipped
2015 Sentra sedan 61k miles asking $9.4k
Modern era car with low miles. Sure, high end of sales price but will be slow to sell. It says already that the ad is more than a week only. I expect its much older. Nissan CVT auto trans suck but this being a manual should make it much better.
A combo of the two above...
2012 Altima Coupe 102K asking $9k. This will be very slow to sell. Body is scuffed. This is way overpriced. But, I susepct that the reason it's not selling is not because he's turning down offers. I'll bet he's just plain old not getting any calls of offers on this car. Two door cars are really hard to sell. Anyone with the need for kid car seats will not be interested. Also, the world doesn't really know (or care) that the Altima was offered as a coupe
2005 Scion xA 153k asking $4.9k
Nomad
Reader
6/9/22 8:34 a.m.
In reply to John Welsh :
You aint kidding. So many listed at 6.5+ and poor condition (only looking for manual)
Of course I'd been looking at so many cars I offered 4500 (listed at 5800) but I could have gone lower as she accepted right away. Doh! Found her registration paper and it looks like she paid $2000 a year ago when her Kia popped its engine.
It's hard to sell a manual, non-sporty car. Very few can drive a manual, and if they're sharing a car, having two drivers who can both drive a manual is near-impossible.
I had a lot of trouble selling my manual '98 Camry 14 years ago, and ended up selling it to a friend. It was clean, well-maintained, etc. but once people saw it was a manual there was zero interest. In the last 14 years, I think there are even fewer people who can (and want to) drive a manual car. Sporty cars are the exception, but I see that trend changing, as well. Think of how many sporty cars no longer offer a manual option - Corvette, BMW 3-Series (non-M). Even the new Supra started as auto-only. And try to find a new, manual pickup!
