Good car for college, around $5K

Pontman43 · 09-30-05, 10:15

I am looking for a good, reliable car for college in a little less than a year. I wanna get it now so I know what I need to fix and I can get the most of it paid off. What I am looking for is, not horribly ugly, 4 doors or pickup, good gas mileage, under 100K miles and cheap.
What I am looking into is:
Saturn SL1 & SL2 & SW1 & SW2 (96-99) fairily cheap, reliable (from my experiences with them) and decent looking (MPG?)
Mazda Millenia (98) Looks good, and V6 (reliability? MPG?)
Cant really think of any more, but suggestions are welcome.
Thanks

animes2k · 09-30-05, 11:20

I know you might not want an "econobox" but the last version of the Tercel is great. My fiance's 97 is running over 100k miles with just regular services. Anything you need to do to this car you can do yourself. She regularly gets 34-36mpg hwy. Then there's my stock response... Honda Civic. Parts are cheap and plentiful, maintenance is easy and fuel economy is pretty good.

truzoom · 10-01-05, 01:06

I'm not a big fan of J-bodies, but I see enough cavaliers and sunfires around to realize that they're good commuting cars.

Why not throw some money into one of these?

You can still detail it

Chang · 10-01-05, 10:16

My stock response is is the honda civic also you couldn't ask for a better college car, very reliable, very cheap to fix, great mpg.

Or I vote 1991-1994 MR2 hehe but I'm a little biased.

drewski59 · 10-01-05, 11:09

Another vote for an older Civic.

But a used Protege would be high on my list, also.

Burlyq · 10-01-05, 11:15

Yup, another vote for Honda Civic and only Honda Civic, and BTW I'm a GM/Ford truck guy so that's saying soemthing. The Civic is simply the most reliable car on the road for the money, and the new styling is quite stylish. I had my mom step up into an accord and the family loves it. So Civic if you hung up on the money, but the Accord if you don't mind spending a little extra. We tested both and the Accord drives sturdier and it more comfortable.My neighbor had 180k miles on his Civic and he recently bought an Avalanche because he fell in love with mine, anyhow, he still got 2500 trade money for that thing, amazing! The dumb dealer gave him more than he was going to sell it for, lol. I got him the internet deal 400 bucks under employee discount on the Avalanche (25k) so it was bare bones for the dealer, then he inquired about the trade. Anyhow, the dealer wanted it because they are so popular for resale. My sister=in-law had a protege and it was very reliable too, but I didn't like the way it drove personally. It felt like a go-cart to me.
Oh damn Pont I just noticed that's you what a bummer, I could have got you into that Civic, my neighbor even works down there near you, well in Pittsburg or there abouts. I'll keep my open for you. Where you going to college?

Terran · 10-01-05, 07:20

1995-1999 maxima. Mileage seems to vary alot though. I get 27 mpg highway (well, rural really) and was recently able to get 29 driving like a granny. However, I've heard of people getting less than 20mpg. I don't know why.

You might also want to look into protege's. They're fun little cars to throw around. Not very powerful, but they handle nicely IMO. I like burlyq's comment about not liking them because they feel like a go-cart...that's exactly why I DO like them

.

For cheap and reliable but not much fun you could look at the chevy prizm...it's essentially a corolla only cheaper because it doesn't have the name. The older version of this was the geo prizm. I think they were made until 1997.

The civic is a good choice, but they tend to be rather overpriced, and I don't really care for how they drive. I wouldn't say they are any more reliable than the prizm (at least not much) and they're more expensive.

SpoiledMan · 10-01-05, 07:50

Well I guess you know what my vote would be for eh?

Pontman43 · 10-01-05, 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burlyq

Yup, another vote for Honda Civic and only Honda Civic, and BTW I'm a GM/Ford truck guy so that's saying soemthing. The Civic is simply the most reliable car on the road for the money, and the new styling is quite stylish. I had my mom step up into an accord and the family loves it. So Civic if you hung up on the money, but the Accord if you don't mind spending a little extra. We tested both and the Accord drives sturdier and it more comfortable.My neighbor had 180k miles on his Civic and he recently bought an Avalanche because he fell in love with mine, anyhow, he still got 2500 trade money for that thing, amazing! The dumb dealer gave him more than he was going to sell it for, lol. I got him the internet deal 400 bucks under employee discount on the Avalanche (25k) so it was bare bones for the dealer, then he inquired about the trade. Anyhow, the dealer wanted it because they are so popular for resale. My sister=in-law had a protege and it was very reliable too, but I didn't like the way it drove personally. It felt like a go-cart to me.
Oh damn Pont I just noticed that's you what a bummer, I could have got you into that Civic, my neighbor even works down there near you, well in Pittsburg or there abouts. I'll keep my open for you. Where you going to college?

Oh well, its OK. I am going to go to DVC for the two years then transfer to a four year, not sure what college yet though. I want to go into accounting I think.

As for the list, I scratched the saturns after hearing from my mechanics that they have a lot of weird, expensive to fix problems. So the new list is,

Honda civic (although really hard to find with low miles, under or right around 100K perferably)
Mazda Protege
Toyota Corrolla (what my mechanics rec. due to low maintnance costs, reliability, gas, cost) probably at the top of my list do to being able to find one with under 100K faround $5K
Older Honda Accord (my family has had a 92 since new and now has 150+K and still runs great!, plus after market parts are cheap and plentiful)

Another thing I have to consider is insurance, so its needs to be 4drs. Insurance for me, a 17 year old male for a new civic (what I was originally looking at) was $500 a month (full coverage, needed because of loan), more than the car payments!!!!! And for a 92 accord is was like $200 a month! These quotes were through esurance and I have no points, but one claim last year (hit in parking lot). Most of my money is going to insurance, now I see why people drive w/o insurance!

Burlyq · 10-01-05, 08:56

I was a business major but dropped out of the business program after I took an accounting class, it was horrible. Take an accounting class at the JC before you comit to that as a major. Better yet become an electrician, I am having my spa wired and the guy is getting 950 bucks for about 6 hours labor tops.

truzoom · 10-01-05, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burlyq

I was a business major but dropped out of the business program after I took an accounting class, it was horrible. Take an accounting class at the JC before you comit to that as a major. Better yet become an electrician, I am having my spa wired and the guy is getting 950 bucks for about 6 hours labor tops.

Really?! Was it intro level financial accounting? I'm taking that right now and loving it

Burlyq · 10-01-05, 09:12

TruZ it was like having a full time job for 3 stinkin credits.