Best car for me

Hi, I am needing a relatively inexpensive reliable but nice car I am not ashamed to drive. I work on all my own vehicles and it needs to be easy to work on.

I am currently employed but we are not doign well and if I have to get another job I may have to drive considerable distance almost exclusively highway miles.

Of course, I hear Civic's accords, etc are great on reliablility but they are expensive. I like them, but are they mainly a women's car? I am a 37 year old guy with a family but am almost entirely by myself when I drive.

I found an 03 black escape v6 with 4 wheel drive that seemed cool, but not sure how well these would do on gas or their reliability.

If I had to do partial interstate driving would a 4 cylinder handle it ok?

What would you suggest?

Reply to
stryped
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Kia Spectra

Reply to
Paul

I am still waiting on Oprah to give me a new free Pontiac.Or Obama to give me a new vehicle.I want a new full size Dodge van with all the trimmings. Haw, it aints ahh gonna happen. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Not least because Dodge doesn't make full size vans anymore. (which is too bad; back in the 80s the Dodges were the nicest to drive IMHO between Dodge, Ford and Chevy.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Best car I have seen before was a 1952 Ford six cylinder manual shift car.It belonged to my mom.It was the first car I ever worked on too, a new or rebuilt fuel pump I put on there in 1957.On the coldest days, pull the dashboard choke, the car always started right up first time every time. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Ditto, but it was a 1964 Nova. But I never worked on it.

I did almost run it into the garage door once when I was 13. They 'locked' the ignition after that...

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

Um, guys I meant a little newer........

Reply to
stryped

If you're buying a used car, the best car is the one that was treated best by the first owner. Find a car, any car, that was given regular oil changes and ALL of the regular maintenance in the schedule in the manual, and has a log to prove it, and buy that car.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

I have owned many four cylinder cars- the only one that would not take sustained highway driving was a real old Fiat 600. Horsepower depends on the total capacity, not the number of cylinders. There are fours around that are bigger than some sixes, 'cause each cylinder is bigger. I am currently selling a 98 Neon that has a 155 hp four. It had dohc

4-valves per cylinder. Because of the horsepower it pulled a low numeric final drive ratio, so the engine speed on highway was low. BTW it also got 38-40 mpg on highway (variation depended on AC use). If you can, try to find spec on cars you are looking for, and find "speed per 1000 engine rpm" in highest gear.

You may find some stick shift cars are a good deal for highway. Sometimes the final drive ratio on some sticks is a tad lower than their auto brethren.

Reply to
Don Stauffer

Thanks.

Some cars I thought about:

Honda Civic Honda Accord Ford Escape (I like these but wonder about mileage) Toyota Corolla Ford Focus

All would hvae to be several years old with some mileage on them to afford them.

Reply to
stryped

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How to buy a used car cuhulin ................................................. I went to a used car lot.I found my girlfriend's red dress in the back seat! ~ Rodney Dangerfield .................................................

Reply to
cuhulin

Over 6 years I have rented another car about every two weeks and I have had all of those. All are decent cars. None really any better than the other. All are made very cheaply. All machines break eventually. You will find Honda expensive to buy and to repair. IMO, they are overpriced and no better than the rest. The Accord is a level or two above the others in price and comfort. Its a nice car if you can afford it. The Ford Escape is nice. Its a Mazda. The ones I had ran about 21 mpg average. They are top heavy and fall over. Corolla is decent but its very noisy and its 0-60 time is about 15 seconds. You will need foam ear plugs for this one. Focus is a nice car. If you get a used one, see if the trans has already been rebuilt. They go bad frequently. You have left out some good affordable cars: Kia / Hyundai - hard to beat. Subaru - nice cars but gas mileage is not that great.

I have had my 06 Spectra for about a year now. So far nothing has gone wrong. The factory stereo is great, I can hang my arm out the window, and the dash is visible in daylight. It has understeer though. The license plate lights burn out due to slamming the trunk lid. It looks easy to work on. Everything is accessible. It used to be a lease car.

Reply to
Paul

all of those.

very cheaply.

nice car if you

average. They are

You will need

visible in

the trunk lid.

I rented a Hyundai Sonata for a few days recently, drove on back country roads, 75mph highway and city and it seemed to be an all around agreeable smaller car.

Reply to
Pete C.

ad all of those.

made very cheaply.

s a nice car if you

pg average.  They are

s.  You will need

dy been rebuilt.

sh is visible in

mming the trunk lid.

lease car.- Hide quoted text -

What kind of mileage did the 4cylinder accord get?

Reply to
stryped

A married Irish lady friend in England had a 2000 Ford Focus car.Some kind of a deal the U.K.department she works for provides the car she uses and she pays part of the cost.Later on, she was provided with a new Vauxhall car, she hated that Vauxhall car.After she got the Vauxhall car, she tried to buy back the Ford Focus car, she loved that car.Nowadays, she drives a 2007 (maybe it is a 2008) Fiat Punto car. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

all of those.

very cheaply.

nice car if you

average. They are

You will need

been rebuilt.

is visible in

the trunk lid.

car.- Hide quoted text -

From my log book: Got an Accord in Jersey, Oct 2007, drove around NYC for 4 days, then all over PA, then to Ohio. About 1300 miles total. Average approx 26. High 34, Low 22. Center console was a bit low. If you do any long distance driving, make sure it has a center console that you can rest your arm on. That was one of my main criteria for a car rental and purchase. It was a nice car.

Reply to
Paul

Chiming in late, I have an '04 Suzuki Forenza I bought used in 2006 for $8k. It's 109hp, 5spd manual, 4door. It's a great urban assaut vehicle. Not sure what a "considerable distance on the highway" is but I have taken mine on 100 mile trips running 80mph. Of course it's light and runs about 3500rpm @80mph but power has never been a problem for me. Only bad thing is the cheap model (mine) doesn't have cruise control. I also get about 35mpg highway and 28-30 around town. According to KBB, it's only worth $4200 now. Never had a problem other than a burned out headlight.

HTH, Derek!

Reply to
genius

stryped wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g20g2000vba.googlegroups.com:

Go for something over 100Km on the odometer. If you can't afford to buy new, you want under $10,000 right?

Reply to
fred

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net:

The other day on my way into the grocery store, I was passed by an AC Cobra. At the very least a replica. Heard it about 1/4 mile away earlier. Horrible paint job. Pale pale blue body with white or even paler blue stripes. Wasn't really impressed by the engine sound. A GT6 sounds *far* better IMHO.

Reply to
fred

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net:

Different points of views obviously. Watch the movie Steve McQueen directed and then tell me that .

Sorry, no idea. I don't sell car parts for a living.

Reply to
fred

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