I'm helping my son-in-law shop for a car. I've already been hitting up CL/Marketplace, but thought I'd see if there might be anyone in that area with something.
He's looking to spend about $3k, strongly prefers a manual trans, but it doesn't need to be anything sporty or fun. Just cheap & reliable.
Have you looked at 2003 +/- VW Jetta? I put 325,000 miles on mine and it still had the original clutch, got great gas mileage and ran with very reliably. It was the 5 speed and the 2.0. I did keep up with changing the timing belt.
Con - the heater hose connectors were made of plastic and became brittle with age. It also blew rear lights about once a year but that was an easy fix and cheap.
The reason I sold it was because the left front tie rod was bent and I attribute to my driving faster than I should have on these rough all weather (dirt) roads we have in this county.
I looked...my first choice. $2.6k Ranger, pre-runner
Does Rotary qualify as cheap and reliable? 
If "son in the Amry now" is not a scam then this Accord every time!
Trade beauty for reliability. Sun baked paint is probably a staple of the area. If me, I would vinyl wrap hood, roof, trunk lid in either white or light gray that would compliment the car. Get a replacement door card shipped in from a cold climate.
You probably know that I like Gen2 Prius as appliances. I looked and found this one. It is a '09 (last year of Gen2) so it really isn't that old. It also only has 134k miles. I very much trust a 134k mile Prius.
Ask if it has had front brakes replaced because in my experience they last about 130k miles, really. Nothing complex about front brake replacement.
What I like about this ad is that the seller looks to be a genuine owner, not a dealer disguised as an owner. I get that vibe from what looks to be the replacement new, Ford Fusion Hybrid parked next to the Prius and a loaded version of Fusion. This too is/was a loaded version of Prius.
I do see a couple of flags that there was once a front end collision. I would ask the seller about that and if he is forthcoming then proceed. If he is sketchy then back off.
The headlamps look to be aftermarket projectors. Not the same as my headlights. The ad says there are chips in the hood paint. This is sort of a non-issue because the hoods are aluminum, but, this hood has been replaced and cheap replacements are steel. I can tell the hood has been replaced w/aftermarket becasue the factory stickers are not there.
Picture of my hood:
Also, the black plastic radiator cover has been replaced. Again no stickers like mine:
The passenger side fender has been replace because there is no black vin sticker like mine. However, the driver's side sticker is there.
I also notice that the car does not have the factory fog lamps in the front lower grille. This tells me that the bumper cover has been replaced and when replaced they went with the cheaper, no fog lamp version. I have one that I have done the same with. I can also see in the picture of the steering wheel that the car does have the switch for fog lamps. On the outermost portion of the turn signal you rotate the stalk to turn on the headlights. In the inner portion of the turn signal you rotate for the fog lamps. I see it on the inner portion. Also, this loaded trim level with leather and nav certainly had fog included.
None of this completely scares me away. If the AC works, the car is priced well. Here, this car would be $6k. he's asking $4k but use this info to negotiate down or eliminate. My guess is that the seller knows none of this because he certainly isn't hiding this via pictures. If has owned the car for years, he probably bought it this way. If it has held up this far, it will hold up longer.
If you get the vin, we can run it through the Toyota site that reports back any dealer services, anywhere in the US.
In reply to John Welsh :
I almost sent him that RX-8, but we like him more than that. I did send him a couple 7th gen Celicas, which I believe are pretty solid cars, correct?
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
I like the Celica!
GTS gets you the roudy twin cam. GT gets you the more pedestrian single cam.
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