Used car: what can you get away with?

I'll need to get a second car soon for my commute to work. I only need
something dependable, boring and cheap. There are lots of advice
columns on how to haggle and choose from whom to buy. But there seems
to be little on what price/mileage/year point is a used car still
mechanically sound. That is, at what point would the car would start
falling apart and require frequent tender loving care to keep going?
I'm sure the usual suspects -- the Civics, Corollas and Proteges --
are usable longer than the less reputable brands, but I don't have
numbers to anchor me. Do any of you have even vague opinions? Thanks.

Chris

In article >,
Christopher Wong > wrote:
> But there seems
>to be little on what price/mileage/year point is a used car still
>mechanically sound. That is, at what point would the car would start
>falling apart and require frequent tender loving care to keep going?

That point is when the owner stops doing proper maintenance on the car,
or when rust (in rust prone areas) gets to be too much of a problem.

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Timothy J. Lee
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No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

Christopher Wong wrote in rec.autos.misc

> I'll need to get a second car soon for my commute to work. I only need
> something dependable, boring and cheap. There are lots of advice
> columns on how to haggle and choose from whom to buy. But there seems
> to be little on what price/mileage/year point is a used car still
> mechanically sound. That is, at what point would the car would start
> falling apart and require frequent tender loving care to keep going?
> I'm sure the usual suspects -- the Civics, Corollas and Proteges --
> are usable longer than the less reputable brands, but I don't have
> numbers to anchor me. Do any of you have even vague opinions? Thanks.

There is no simple magic solution to this problem. Some cars are going
to be black holes as soon as the dealer sells them. Others can last with
little problem for 40 or 50 years. But those are the extremes. It depends
upon the car, really. You can use the cars reputation as a general guide,
but as a car ages the reputation means less, and for an estimate of
longevity the general condition of the car becomes the only gauge.
An older low mileage car for a couple of grand will probably serve as
well as a newer higher mileage car for twice that. One of the things
that you can do with older cars is look for known problems. This can
be an indicator of just what might go wrong, and what you will need
to replace.
For instance, the timing chain and gears of some 3.8 liter GM cars,
Or the intake manifolds of other years of GM cars, or the transmissions
of smaller Fords, and some Chrysler models. Or the cost of just doing
some needed maintanance, such as timing belts on many cars.
Or some cars have spark plugs that are very hard to get to.
Do some research, find a car that you like, and ask in here about known
problems, and have an independant mechanic check it out.
Price wise, I would guess that under 1500 to 2000 the cars will almost
always be problematic, and will require extensive work. Above that
you should be able to find something good, as long as you stay away
from the cars the young people love to drive.

--
Dick #1349
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
~Benjamin Franklin

Home Page: dickcr.iwarp.com
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Christopher Wong wrote:
>
> I'll need to get a second car soon for my commute to work. I only need
> something dependable, boring and cheap. There are lots of advice
> columns on how to haggle and choose from whom to buy. But there seems
> to be little on what price/mileage/year point is a used car still
> mechanically sound. That is, at what point would the car would start
> falling apart and require frequent tender loving care to keep going?
> I'm sure the usual suspects -- the Civics, Corollas and Proteges --
> are usable longer than the less reputable brands, but I don't have
> numbers to anchor me. Do any of you have even vague opinions? Thanks.

You can't do much better than an old Bug. Just about the simplest damn
car to drive and maintain, and built fairly solidly (lots of metal.)
4-speed manual tranny, 4 cylinders (easy access to the single belt, easy
to change plugs and oil), aircooled (really oil-cooled, to be accurate)
thus no radiator problems. I've owned a '68 and a '58 Bug, back in the
'90s. They get the job done, very few problems.

If you live in the West or get a Bug from the West (Arizona, California)
rust won't be an issue. Standard maintenence has to be taken care of
since stuff does wear out, but getting parts is generally a no-brainer
as there are millions of these things out there. The old-style Beetle
was manufactured up till 1998, so many parts made in Brazil and Mexico
are available and are still being made.

A car is just the sum of its parts, so "mileage" and year of manufacture
don't mean so much in these older vehicles. A '60s Beetle might have an
engine from 1990 and a tranny from 1995. Ask for records.