Help me pick a Econ Car

He is talking about the older SL, but an ION maybe a good choice as well.

I recently went through the same group of cars trying to find something for the girlfriend with the same rules and $3500 to work with. The protege 99-03, and focus 02-03 were the best picks of the bunch. Reliable, fun to drive, and the interiors weren't made of chinese grade plastic.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/tasty-vanilla-a-what-car-thread/31326/page1/

That said I like the saturns too and found a good deal on a 2002 Saturn SL sedan that needed a little work for $900. Its out occupying space in the driveway now.

PubBurgers wrote: I bought an 03 Focus Wagon for $4300 a few months back. While the car itself is decent, the gas mileage is worse than I thought it would be.

I rented one like that. The 2.0 and automatic make for one hell of a gas pig of a small car. You're at 3/4 throttle to get it to move anywhere at any sort of "safe" speed.

I'm going to go check out a Protege5 I found. It's a little more than I wanted to spend but its in good shape.

Two questions though. As silly as this sounds, could I get financing for less than 2k? After my trade in, I would only owe a little under 2k, and I really don't want to dip any more into savings.

Second question. Should I make any attempt to fix the Miata at this point? It needs new tires, a new cat, the carpet under the soft top isn't fastened down (I broke most of the fasteners when I replaced the top), and there are few ugly parts on the paint. Just surface stuff, but noticeble. I figure I could probably get 5k for my trade in.

Details on the P5 and what they're asking for it?

You might be able to get financing for that little through a credit union... Worst case scenario, take out a little extra to meet their minimum, and keep the extra on the side (DO NOT TOUCH IT) and use it to make the payments for the first few months, or dump it right back on principle.

We did something similar with our Jeep.

I bought a used car off a lot by taking in one of those promotional rate credit card company checks. You have to be sure that you have no other balance on the credit card and you have to be sure tha you pay it off in the proper timeframe before the interest rate changes.

Again, I must stress that this account has to have no balance on it because if it does have a balance at a higher rate they screw you by letting the old charges at the big rate still accumulate while they pay off the cheap rate first.
Likewise, if you do this with a credit card you can not put anything else on that card until the car is paid off. If you do put other charges on that card those charges will be at a higher rate and will be the last thing to be paid - screwing you that way.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Details on the P5 and what they're asking for it? You might be able to get financing for that little through a credit union... Worst case scenario, take out a little extra to meet their minimum, and keep the extra on the side (DO NOT TOUCH IT) and use it to make the payments for the first few months, or dump it right back on principle. We did something similar with our Jeep.

That sounds like a plan. Here is the P5 in question.

http://tinyurl.com/4czo3ye

Looks pretty good... but i wouldn't pay that much for it.

What can you talk them down to?

I like the way the carfax reads on that Protege. My guess is a navy man owned it with the San Diego to VA transfer.
I looked at Edmunds.com and I would offer $5k and settle for any price that does not go into $6k.
Of course, that price is only if it really is clean and things like the tires are verifiably new. If they are worn the deduct the total value of tires, like $400.
A Mazda of that age should have a VIN sticker on every body panel. Look for them all as proof of no panels replaced.
Remember, Carfax only shows accidents that were reported!

Twin_Cam wrote: Every time this kind of "what car" thread comes up, I say Saturn, and I doubt you'll be the first to actually listen, but: Saturn! You can find a 3rd-gen (2000-2002) sedan for less than $2000 in good shape now. Wagons are around, but quite rare in manual shift. Parts are dirt cheap and everywhere, the engine bay is downright spacious for a modern car, it'll get you 36-38 mpg mixed, 40+ all highway in good tune and with skinny tires, and will run to 200K miles easily.

I steered a non gearhead young woman in that direction and she has had 3 years of driving for a couple oil changes and put gas in it maintainance.

Asking for some more advice again.

Should I make the effort to repair to Miata before I trade it in, or just send trade it as is?

Drewsifer wrote: Asking for some more advice again. Should I make the effort to repair to Miata before I trade it in, or just send trade it as is?

I've never traded a car in, but I can't imagine getting a positive return on repairs unless they can be done real cheap.

I'll agree w/Nocones on a Vibe IF the price is right. Staying under $5k, I'd go with any Focus after 2002. Saturns are cheap and easy, but uncomfortable for long commutes. Maybe a 4cylinder Vue would work. A Mazda5 might work-again price & miles might be a stumbling block- but I can't get past the fact that they are fugly. The Mazda3 would be great, as would a Versa, but they aren't to that price point yet. For mileage,comfort, utility, and economy my pick would have to be a Focus3 or 5. Doesn't do anything great, but does everything well.