I am trying to help a family friend buy a car and trying to set him in the right direction.
Recent College Grad who is doing a 1 yr Fellowship (like internship) at the Ohio State House (gov't) and he has hopes of then entering law school.
He is not particularly automotive minded. With the recent graduation I think he would like a little bit of a "symbol of success" and he seems to see this as more important to have a car that is not too old more than a lux brand.
Budget hopes are $4k (give or take $1k)
I would like to push him to a manual trans but I am seeing that as an uphill fight. So, auto is likely the answer.
I have been noticing that Ford Fiesta of say 2011 & 2012 vintage are very cheap with manual trans. They are only slightly more with auto. I see this as a way to get a "Current Car" which is still offered in showrooms for very cheap with 80-120k on the odo.
What can you tell me about Fiesta automatic transmissions?
All years seem to be a 1.6L engine attached to a 6 speed auto (not CVT)
No, no, no ,no
No, no, no again and no.
The auto in the fiesta and focus are why they are considered unreliable.
If you need an auto in a similar vehicle get the yaris or the spark/sonic
I was wondering if they were hard to sell.
This is a current CL ad and in the pics there is snow on the ground. That's over 6 months ago to sell this car.
Another has no leaves on the trees.
_
New Reader
8/21/18 4:00 p.m.
Wasn’t it called the “power E36 M3” auto?
Snrub
HalfDork
8/21/18 4:03 p.m.
There's a reason auto Fiesta's are so cheap...
'14 and up are supposed to be OK.
I had an '11 with 45k and a '13 with 56K with no problems.
Ford has an extended 100k /10 year warranty that is transferrable.
Pretty sure Ford worked the bugs out long ago, and it was mostly how they were programed (ECU tuning) if I'm not mistaken, not necessarily mechanical although yes would lead to mechanical wear.
My mother has a '16 sedan, bare bones w/ the auto. It rides much nicer than it ought to be considering it's size and class. Me personally though, this type of car really needs the manual to make it enjoyable pretty much like anything else in it's class. I'd say they're a good value in the used car market if you're cross shopping anything 8 yrs or newer and under $5k that doesn't have a quarter million miles already.
As long as you get the last two posts with whatever car is gotten, the car will be fine.
The other thing to factor in- how long will the car be owned- I'd be willing to wager that soon after getting out of law school, the car will be updated. So depending on how long that takes, the time risk to this issue may not be that long.
So as long as it's not your money spent fixing the car, it's a fine car to deal with.
