Yesterday I found and purchased a 1993 Civic DX four door sedan with 185k miles on it. I had actually been leaning towards a newer car lately, but for one, finding a newer used car in good condition with a clean title would cost a lot more. I can afford more car, but fact is I wanted to keep experimenting with older but great condition cars and maybe save money.
I have computed the cost of owning and maintaining my 91 Civic (sans gasoline costs), and it comes to about $800 per year. This is the initial purchase price plus oil changes, timing belts, etc. divided by the number of years I have owned it. It includes some high priced repairs from years ago that I can now do myself, so I expect my yearly cost to keep declining for some years.
On Craig's List, I did tire a little of all the multi-owner, really often beat up and raised my sites (and budget). The multi-owner part translates to an iffy maintenance history, in my mind. Plus some of those owners seem to drive their cars hard, because they know they will sell the car soon.
Here's why I ended up with the 93 Civic DX:
-- Single owner, as supported by Carfax (not 100% foolproof, but I accept it for this car)
-- Everything under the hood works. The timing belt likely needs replacement and could break tomorrow, but I factored this into my price.
-- Fuel mileage better than most (all?) of the 95 and later Civics that are most available.
The 95 Civic DX manual tranny could not be beat. A couple of these crossed my radar. The problem was I found I really liked power steering, and the 95 Civic DX manual tranny does not have power steering. HX's are in short supply. By contrast, the more fuel consuming EXs are abundant. The coupes' small size started bothering me at some point, and I went back to four-door sedans recently. More fitting for a woman my age, too.
One thing I am theorizing at this point is that the KBB prices (private party and retail used) tend to reflect the concept of one owner, so better car. The retail used cars tend to be one owner. It makes a difference, from all I saw. I ended up buying from a new car dealership that has just started doing internet used car sales. I saw a new ad on Friday and called Saturday. The sales pitch (if any) was toned down compared to that to which I was used in regular dealership sales departments. They still cajoled, behaving like money should really--oh come on--not be an object. I smiled and good humoredly quipped back that it was an object, and "Here's why I need /this/ out-the-door price, and why /you/ need this car off your lot... " I got a free hot dog and two bottled waters out of the deal too. My local advisor and I talked via cell phone during the back-and-forth, and he said that lunch was just assumed to be a part of the deal, so cut them no slack on the out-the-door price we had planned, just because they'd fed me. I was ready to walk away at all times. It is sure nice having reliable wheels at one's disposal when buying used. Anyway, working with the internet sales crew seemed consistent with reports in the last few years here of negotiating over the intenet for a car. The internet sales departments are much less ridiculous as they try to make their money. Knock-on-wood my new used car does not fall apart in the next seven days.
My new used car sure drives nice. I have already tried it on the highway for 40 miles or so. It is better aligned than my
91 Civic, or maybe the new 93 Civic has had some suspension work. I found a better driving experience (compared to my
91) to be rare. Craig's List had a lot of cars that needed the sort of work I do want to try some day, like CV joints (that is, half shaft replacement) and a questionable A/C system, but I wanted to try to start off with a fairly clean history of maintenance. The value of this became clear as I drove much newer, younger cars and compared the feel of everything to my 91 Civic, the car I have owned and maintained since 1991. My 91 Civic was way too often far superior in feel, looks, and general condition.
I spent a little more, and I think I got a little more. If this second Civic lasts five years, I will be quite happy with the initial investment. We are looking at some serious gas savings as well.
I did learn that autocheck.com is thought of as a wee bit superior (and less expensive) than carfax.com, when it comes to title checking.
I really do read all the posts to this and other threads. At a minimum, they go into the "put 'em up on the shelf; take 'em down when you need 'em" category.
Forward with new experiences with the 93 Civic DX.