My daily driver is being officially retired. Pic related. Its a 2001 Nissan Altima that my dad bought new and passed it on to me when I turned 18. Im now 33. Its the only car ive ever driven and it was always pretty reliable as far as getting me where i need to go. Its got a long of stuff "wrong" with it, but it drives great. I always worked on it myself when it needed fixing but its been giving me issues lately and left me on the side of the road last week and now its up for its SMOG check and its having catalytic converter issues that ive known about for a while. Its not going to pass and its just not worth putting anymore money into it. My girlfriend and I have been saving up our money and were hoping to buy a house sometime this year, so the fact that I need a new car kinda throws a wrench in our plans. We live in SoCal in the LA area. Long story short, I need a car. Financing a new car doesnt seem like a good idea since like i said, were planning on buying a home this year. So im looking at buying a used car. Preferably less that $15k. Nothing fancy, just something that will hopefully be as reliable as my 2001 Nissan Altima was. Im by no means a "car guy", so im not really sure what kind of cars i should be looking for. Any tips on what cars i should be looking at? What i should be looking for when inspecting a used car?
>>28215299>bought new and passed it onThe cheapest way to buy a reliable 5-year-old car is to buy a new economy car and drive it for five years. Oh yeah, and maintain it properly. Save your cash for the down payment etc on that California real estate and finance a car if you can.
>>28215299OP here. Just from looking around, i found a 2010 Honda Civic GX with only 44,395 miles on it for $9500. is this a good or bad deal? miles seem really low.
>>28215425How does that compare to book and other asking prices for similar? Not going to look it up for you. Doesn't sound crazy but you are in what might be the best market for used cars in the world so you should have lots to compare to within a short drive.
>>28215425>2010 Honda Civic GXIt runs on CNG.
>>28215444>Honda Civic GXkek
>>28215435>>28215444>>28215457Yeah see, i didnt know it ran on CNG. Nevermind. I just saw what looked like a good deal.
>>28215299its insane to me that 10 year old cars with 100k+ miles on them are around $15k!
>>28215501No lowballs. I know what I have.
>>28215299OP here, how about this one?2016 Mazda 6 Touring. 105k miles. Asking for $9k. clean title.
Don't buy a house with someone you aren't married to. You're asking for a fuckton of headaches.
>>28215299What else are you looking for?Driveline? Size? Mileage? Age?The go-to is an LS400 or a pre-08 Town Car/Grand MarquisThe Town Car will be cheaper but get worse mileage and be largerYou can also get a really nice 90's-00's buick (3800 v6) for 10k but they're GM through and through, expect GM bullshit...I say pre-08 because canbus was largely mandated in 08: it cuts down on massive wiring looms but relies on precise voltages; if shit really breaks it'll be fucked forever
>>28215549looks like it has been in a collision
>>28215604>DrivetrainFront wheel drive is fine.>Sizeim used to a sedan, so thats what im looking at, but a crossover would be fine too.>Mileagepreferably somewhere around 100k. obviously less is better.>Age10-15 years old. if i can get something slightly new for cheap then thats great too. see >>28215549again, im looking for something that be reliable.
>>28215619Yeah so my suggestions hold upYou can get the buicks and town cars way under 100k miles with your budgetGood to spare some extra for repairs anyways, you're bound to some across something broken on any used vehicle over 8 years old
>>28215613how can you tell?
>>28215549>>28215628Front fender looks a bit fucc
>>28215628left front fender liner is missing
>>28215636looks like there is some minor damage on the front fender. looks like its missing a small piece
>>28215647that's the tow hook hole. the driver has smashed into somethingmaybe the car is appropriately priced, I don't know the market value of these cars, I only pay attention to enthusiast vehicles
if you go older Toyota an es350 is like only 1-1.5k difference than a camry/corolla just fyi
>>282156479k for that is a steal dude. check service history
How do functional 5-6 year old slightly above bottom tier FWD econoboxes like Civics enter the market? Like why do people that bought a new econobox get rid of it that quickly with only like 80K miles. I genuinely don't know, are they fleet cars or something?
>>28215299Keep in mind you can get a 2025 Nissan Versa S with a manual (so, not the CVT people hate on Nissans) for $16k. I think it's the kind of thing you'll have to cross a state to find a dealership with one though.
>>28215667needs change, carseat, payraise, etc. It's not like the resale value falls off a cliff like some other cars
>>28215681Just seems like demand would be massively higher than supply, people that just want a get there machine and don't want to have to eat the new car depreciation
>>28215667TCO actually goes up on them after five years. Check Edmunds TCO. You might as well trade in on a new one.t. didn't and is going to drive his shitbox until the wheels fall off or he can't stand it anymore like the rest of you, because he was raised that way
>>28215667>>28215667TCO actually goes up on them after five years. Check Edmunds TCO. You might as well trade in on a new one.t. didn't and is going to drive his shitbox until the wheels fall off or he can't stand it anymore like the rest of you, because he was raised that way
>>28215667Ironically most Hondas and Toyota econoboxes are leased so there's a pretty constant supply of ~4 year old low mileage cars. They take it and finance it out to some retard who will drive the shit out of it for another 40k miles before trading it in on something better because he's not in enough debt.
>>28215501When the average new car costs $50,000 and any 100k mile car within the last 20 years still has 150,000 good miles on it (while the $50k one has the same 250k total) you can see that $15k is a steal at 10 cents a mile vs 20.I have my 20 year old 70k mile car insured for $10,000 since it would cost at least that much to put myself into a good condition replacement.
>>28215745There's also a steady stream of people that want a low down payment and monthly low payment, which inflates the price of low end used cars.
>>28215765More off leases will just make the used car market cheaper. It's people overpaying for used vehicles that fucks it up. People think they're smart and "skipping the depreciation" when they go and buy a 4 year old off-lease for $5k off the MSRP of a new model. This eventually trickles down to the 10 year old cars and eventually the 15 year old shitboxes.
>>28215681What cars do have resale go off a cliff?
>>28215299>Its not going to pass and its just not worth putting anymore money into it.Just title it in another state. Here's how>go to another state with no smog (or another state with county that has no smog)>rent a mail box from UPS>obtain drivers license with UPS box>transfer title to yourself>profitthrowing a perfectly good car away for emissions issues is retarded. go register your shit in NV or AZ and avoid the CA cuck taxI just registered my trugg in AZ today, cost me only $25 and no smog
>>28216308That's not a "perfectly good car." He's 33 and has a car that's now worse than the one he had at 18 and is worse than pretty much any 16 year old's first car.You only live once and you can't take it with you so it's worth it to spend a bit on something that looks at least a little nice, and he can get something that's in much better shape for not hugely much more (in absolute terms relative to the average American salary) than fixing that thing up to "drivable." There's plenty of cars for sub-$8k that are reliable and in much better shape than his.
>>28215299Unironically a 2wd low option hemi charger or a base 300 is right in your price range and they very few problems beyond brakes and front suspension up to 120,000 if it wasn't beat on. Challengers work too but they are almost always beat on.The main issue with the LX cars was always the RFE/NAG1 torque converters, but since they all have ZFs in them now they are fine except for the front lower rearward and forward control arms and the HEMIs have always been stupid reliable for the most part.Stay away from the v6s.Also, the fwd Jeep econoboxes seem pretty reliable and can be had on the cheap.Be careful of the turbo fwd modern Buicks (2017+), they tend to have the 6t70 auto which I have seen a lot of failures on, plus they are ecotecs which become wrenching nightmares.
>>28216855>Stay away from the v6s.WRONGstay away from heavily used V8s. the low idle oil pressure of hemis rapes the cams and they develop lifter tick. V8s of any car will be thrashed to hell and back and more than likely owned by a person of color who never changed the oil once.all of Chrysler's v6s of the past 20 years are drop dead reialible. the 3.5 is literally unkillable, the 3.6 goes 600,000 miles before you even need to think about a timing job. people who recommend that premium-only 16 sparkplug 7 quarts of oil 9 mpg iron block truck motor for anything less than drag racing or pulling are full scale fucking retarded, especially when the pentastar exists.>The main issue with the LX cars was always the RFE/NAG1 torque converters, but since they all have ZFs in them now they are fine also kind of wrong, the torque converters are an issue on those too but it's like 200k+ with no fluid changes that does it.
>>28216855>Also, the fwd Jeep econoboxes seem pretty reliable and can be had on the cheap.also wrongthe jeep factory in michigan has the worst track record out of all of chrysler's facilities and often produces cars with critical defects, like forgetting to put locktite on the pentastar's oil galley plug bolts because they were too busy getting high in the parking lot. this was on 60 minutes even.
get you somethin a lil fun anonhttps://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/736760639https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/737374440https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/731181252
>>28216891Meh.
>>28217019BMWs are more expensive to fix than MOPARs if you plan to have the car for a while. You'll also get way more power/fun out of the MOPARs I linked because they aren't 2 decades old.
>>28215299How much better could you get paint like that to look for cheap?
>>28216874>the pentastar'I speak of the 4cyl jeeps. Pentastars are trash anyways.
>>28217067>Pentastars are trash anywayswrong
>>28215775I think we're in agreement. The other thing is that finance terms get substantially worse on cars older than about ~5 years, which makes newer used cars more desirable and drives the prices up. Modest used cars are not the bargain a lot of people, including me, were raised to think they were. It's a different story when you're talking about a $40K+ car that loses half its value by 50K miles, of course, if that's what you want.
>>28216871>stay away from heavily used V8s. the low idle oil pressure of hemis rapes the cams and they develop lifter tick.That's not what causes it. There was a bad batch of lifters and springs over a decade ago. The problem has long since ended, same with the valve seat issue for the MDS/non-eagle engines. Any hemi post 2014 is going to be bulletproof even if Daekwan was hauling on it.>all of Chrysler's v6s of the past 20 years are drop dead reialibleThe 2.7L water pump called and said you're a faggot.>also kind of wrong, the torque converters are an issue on those too but it's like 200k+ with no fluid changes that does it.The torque converter damper plates fail under heavy load because where it meets the input splines is too soft of a metal for the torque load, hence why the torque management on the NAG1s is so extreme, as this was Chryslers fix. All it takes is one hard launch or highway downshift or onramp run to start the ball rolling. Swapping in an aftermarket or new oem converter solves this issue and the NAG1s and RFEs can go 350k+ miles or more without a rebuild. I've seen NAG1s babied and with regular fluid changes that still burnt out the converter before 100k.
>>28217089the 2.7 hasn't been made in 20 years you dumb motherfucker
>>28217090>the 2.7 hasn't been made in 20 years you dumb motherfuckerIt was literally an engine option in the Chargers and 300s until 2010 you retarded nigger.
>>28215647>that hood/bumper gapman this thing ate shit lol
>>28217089>Any hemi post 2014 is going to be bulletproof even if Daekwan was hauling on it.that's just not true, the models-specific forums are full of hemi tick complaints and help, hoovie bought a hellcat recently that had it, and i have been told by a georgia policeman that it is still a concern on their vehicles as well. it's not just the bad batch of lifters, which also affected the pentastar, that just made it temporarily worse. the engines just don't get enough oil pressure at low rpm to keep everything slick and it still happens.it's not so much that the cars get beat on but that they get beat on and then idled a lot. people love to listen to the engine burble while they charge their phone off it. when you start treating a hemi like it's in a prius it starts eating itself out of spite.
>>28217094and that marginally different longitudinal version of it has the water pump issue corrected, it's obviously not the same engine from 1996 dumbass
>>28217113>the engines just don't get enough oil pressure at low rpm to keep everything slick and it still happens.Internet forum theory. Any newer hemi with lifter tick was is 100% an owner issue. Boomers still think they only need 5 quarts of oil and that torque specs are a suggestion.I've also seen faggots complaining about lifter tick and how they were sold aa lemon when the sound they hear is an exhaust leak or the fucking fuel injectors.>Do you really think someone would do that? Just go on the Internet and lie?Mopar forums other than LXForums and ALLPAR are absolute fucking wrenchlet cancer with a dose of full fucking retard.
>>28217115>has the water pump issue corrected, it's obviously not the same engine from 1996 dumbassIt is the same engine and all of the parts are interchangeable, even the bore and stroke is the same. The only difference is the oil pan and intake manifold and accessory layout. The LX version still has the bolt holes for the fwd accessory system.It has a slightly different waterpump gasket, but still fails the same way just at a slightly higher mileage.It's the same fucking engine as it was in the 90s.
>>28215667New car price incentives and trade in values. Also many people fear having older cars, especially those above 100k miles.
OP here>>28216308it's currently not running and its not worth all that trouble.>>28216777yeah, that's what I'm thinking. get something relatively cheap that will last me another 5-10 years with good maintenance. I honestly make good enough money to able to afford pretty much whatever I want ($60/hr) but like I said my priority is saving up for a home, so a new car or a more expensive car doesn't seem very logical at the moment.>>28216891Ive never liked the look of modern muscle cars.
>>28215299I need help with specific Makes, models, and years of cars. cause when I try and do research on what older cars are re reliable, it's pretty much just Honda civic/according and Toyota camry/corolla.
what do you guys think about something like this?https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/13c01c47-ecff-4711-bd88-12f00b8d875a/?aff=atempest&utm_campaign=atempest&utm_source=autotempest&utm_medium=trp&utm_campaign_id=1&utm_trusted=TRUE
>>28216871>V8s of any car will be thrashed to hell and back and more than likely owned by a person of color who never changed the oil once.KEK why the fuck are v6lets so fucking delusional goddamn
>>28217260This?https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/caedc438-9f4d-4159-8523-87bd434bc2f2/?aff=atempest&utm_campaign=atempest&utm_source=autotempest&utm_medium=trp&utm_campaign_id=1&utm_trusted=TRUE
>>28217275another camryhttps://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/ed2861b3-0f31-4cbc-aca5-69b9306fc79e/?aff=atempest&utm_campaign=atempest&utm_source=autotempest&utm_medium=trp&utm_campaign_id=1&utm_trusted=TRUE
>>28217248LexusAs has already been said, any GM with the 3800 motor. Search for pre 2008 Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Chevies with a 3.8L V6.BMWs with the M54 and M52 engines are good.https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/1G4HD57226U234469https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/2G4WC582861291652https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/2G4WD582381209729https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/1G4HP52K14U241120https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/2G4WD582461101374https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/1G2WK52J92F284711 (how do you have NO last-gen Grand Prix's within 100 miles of Los Angeles?)
>>28217260>>28217275>>28217280Look at this one>>28217019That's low miles for an M54 engine, and it's just such a nice car.
>>28217306attacks, I'm liking the Buick Lucerne. its cheap and has low mileage. its about 2 hours away from me but I can make the drive.
>>28217316Kek good luck getting someone not into cars at all into an E46. Notice how I didn't do my apparent "pasta" of reliable BMWs and Mercedes in this thread; OP wouldn't understand nor appreciate the beauty of an E30, E31, E39, F10, W124, R129, W140, or W201.
>>28217377Forgot E92
>>28217377OP here. ive always liked the way BMWs look, but all I've ever heard is that they're expensive to maintain and repair.
>>28217402If you don't know how to turn a wrench, their tendency to nickel and dime you with small stuff will turn into benjamins since shops are like $150/hr. That one should be reliable mechanically.GMs will be cheaper and they're comfortable cruisers, but their handling is mid.
>>28217509ive done every repair on my car. rack and pinion control arm, Cv axel, ball joints, alternator, and a lot more. I can work on a car. although, I definitely prefer not to.
>>28217587So consider the BMW. Get yourself the specialty wrench for the radiator fan and a socket for the oil filter and you're set.The Buick is fine too.
>>28217587Just get an E30 325i (probably without a huge turbo, E39 530i, E92 or LCI E90 335i, W124, R129, W140, or W201, and enjoy roadhead from your gf in class, style, and sophistication
>>28217606E39 has such a slow steering rack and no LSD.
>>28217616fun um but the E39 is the best sporra sedan overal that there is, and Rack & Pinion (STRAIGHT 6) E39s are perfect right out of the box
But, hey, don't just take my word for it
>>28217628Someone has never driven a ZHP.
>>28217654>coupes are sports sedans!!!Retard.
>>28217656there are sedan ZHPs.
>2 bmw troons fighting over who's favorite unreliable goyslop gets crashed by gayrab drivers the most while everyone else makes genuine recommendation
>>28217677E46 sedans are ugly, and all E46s need subframe reinforcement to be driven hard lol
>>28217805Why are all the "genuine recommandatiins" always USGPMT+ bullshit though? It's as if no one here actually likes cars
>made up monkeybabble the bmw troons have tried to force so they can feel hecking vxlid n shiet about their goyslopI jej'd. You forgot to call them eggshit btwAlso what does the PMT part mean? Plus McDonalds T???
>>28217958MT stands for monster truck, and you don't even have a car, kek
>>28217979I see. Then, bmw troon, what does the P part stand for?
>>28217866
