Hondas are gonna be the most expensive beaters, followed by Toyoters and Nissans. I never traded my Cavi, I couldn't find any Rangers that I liked in decent shape.

As for the good deals, you'll want to look for a car owned by somebody who doesn't know JACK about cars and thinks it has a major problem. That's how I got mine so cheap. Don't be scared if the add sucks either. The add for my car was very basic, basically said 1997 Chevy Cavalier, 4 cyl, 240K miles, $500.

 

Mazda MX-5 Miata

 

Keep your eyes peeled for elderly owners. Get this, back in 06, one of my older brothers that isn't into the Ford trucks found a 2000 Mercury Sable LS premium (loaded) with only 51xxx on it, he paid 4700. The thing is in great shape, needed a few things, but still under kbb. In february of this year, I got my truck, 04 xlt ext cab as you can see in my sig... 36xxx miles mint... paid 11000. That will be a good bet. They just drive them, usually are not beat on. If it were me, that's what I would do seeing as it has worked out great for us so far.

 

You can't go wrong with a Honda from the 90s (take your pick, they were all solid). These cars are super easy to work on (easier than an American made car), and parts are not 3x more expensive. Besides, even if the parts were 3x more expensive, they only need these parts 1/6th as often as their Domestic made counterparts.

Barring that, motorcycles are a good choice for commuting. $1,000 would buy you a nice standard motorcycle and could get you in the 45-50mpg range pretty easily. At the moment I commute on my motorcycle 75% of the time, but hopefully come winter I will have my Datsun 510 up and running well enough for commuting.

Edit: The Datsun was free, so keep your eyes peeled for a free car

 

i dated a girl in hs who had something like an 86 mazda 626. that sob had lots of miles, over 250k when she had it and the only thing that happen to it during that time was a balljoint failed and the drivers window fell out of the regulator.

 

For a grand, just about anything with a 4 banger will do the job. It doesn't matter what brand or model, look at everything and pick the one that seems to run the best and need the least amount of work.

 

I'd go with a ford festiva. My buddy had one that was a piece but would still run with 300000 miles on it. He put it in a ditch at 50mph. Pulled it out and still ran with no real damage. It was still running when he got rid of it. Another one of my buddies has an old subaru. I think he picked it up for $1300. Very high miles but it runs great. Just my opinion. Also cant go wrong with a racecort.

 

You could always get a scooter

 

 

A guy I work with has one.... and a jeep and a silverado...

 

Well, after looking all over Craigslist for the last 3 weeks, I finally pulled the trigger on a 94 Saturn... Nice little car, no issues, runs great. Previous owner had 4 new tires put on in Feb ($329.00) and replaced a front bearing (not sure how much the part was, but he paid $110.00 in labor in March). He provided receipts for these 2 repairs. 149K miles is what it has on it. $900 cash got me this beauty...








(I have the back seat folded down because it will never be used).

About the only problem with it is that it's purple. :o

Thanks a ton you guys for all the input. I'm shooting for another 150K miles on this. I have 2 buddies that both have one and both have over 300K on there's.

 

Sounds like a good deal.

 

Congrats
1

 

i bought a 93 taurus for $500 a few years ago and got 1 year out of it. the tranny finally blew at 172k..i sold it to a neighborhood kid for $50..never had any problems with it till that...

 

a nice luxury saturn / barney mobile





hope it gets you good mileage, I would have held out for an escort wagon with a trailer hitch and a glass pack myself