Best 4 Cyl Used car ?

What sort of price level/year model do you want to consider?

There are some year/models of most cars that seem to hold up better than others, even from the same manufacturer.

There was a thread not long ago that seemed to indicate that none of the Big 3 makes a really decent 4 cylinder.

The 2.2 Ecotec seemed good to me when I had a rental Malibu equipped with it. Been around a while and I've seen nothing bad about it. Lots of them out there. This is a tech group. Seems some here would have some opinions. But without a GM mech posting, it's all hearsay.

--Vic

Sure! But affordable examples are rotting to the ground, and good ones are...

Get a *NEW* Honda instead! ;p

We had a six, and I lost track of it around 225,000 miles...

Chevy II 4-cylinder. Reliable and simple as an anvil.

I like my 2000 Escort ZX2, which has given me little problems (well, except for that damn bolt, which I think was a maintenance problem with the previous dealer). When I had it in recently the tech who was working on it mentioned that it's got a very reliable engine, which apparently went into the Ford Focus as well.

Don't buy a Focus from the first year they were out, though -- Ford moved the design from Europe and suffered some teething pains. The next year's model onward are nice, I'm told.

A GM tech posted on this a couple of years ago.. He thought they were good engines, basically.

FIL has a little GM pickup with this engine, and it has stayed together okay, but is a piece of s*it WRT economy. Gets less than 20 mpg. The pickup is a major POS.

Hard to go wrong with a Honda Civic, if you can find one in your price range in your area that isn't rusty already, and that hasn't been turned into a rice rocket. Judging by the few Korean compacts over 2-3 years old I see driving around, I'd stay away from them. But I see 7-10 year old Civics all the time, still looking nice. Sorry to say I can't think of any American models to recommend in the kid-car price range- any I see over five years old are smoking rust buckets. (escorts, older GM J-cars like Cavelier, etc.) But having said all that, upkeep and how carefully it was driven are more important than brand. Basically, you want a 'little old lady' car- one that had oil and other fluids changed regularly, and was not driven by a young male. If it spent nights in a garage, that is also a plus.

Look on the web for, How to buy a used car

As far as the best name brand used car is concerned, there are so many variables it is hard to say. cuhulin

Like Tim said, the ZX2 was a decent little car, based on time tested Escort components. Most kids want 4 doors, but this was a decent little 2 door coupe and was still being made in the US when the Focus was being made in (UGH) Mexico.

I used to work for a guy selling used cars, and he was a Ford guy, so we had a lot of Escorts and Tauruses (er, Tauri...?) and if I couldn't get my hands on a Toyota or a Honda, one of these would do.

And I am beginning to see a lot of the ZX2s coming up on the market, some with low miles for low $$$.

The Chevy II in later years used what came to be known as the Iron Duke. Some runs of that engine were a disaster, most of them cracking at the water jacket above the lifter floor. This was in the 80's.

A 60's era engine was similar in size but a different engine. (Stovebolt.)

Back to the OP, I would find a good Toyota or Honda, but research the year model. Some of these had problems, some were bulletproof. That is why I asked what his limits were on year models.

Thanks everyone!

I am willing to spend no more than $3000.

It is so hard to find a good Honda in my neck of the woods, New York City and Long Island area.

That has not been beat to death by a punk with his pants hanging off, and sounds like a Cessna plane coming in for a landing!

Oh I forgot the Yankee hat turned sideways!

Joe

My sister owns a 1996 Honda van/car.(I think she said it is a 1996) About three months ago, she had to have new motor mounts installed in her Honda.Other than that, it has been a good vehicle.I don't know if it is a four cylinder or a six cylinder though. cuhulin

You need to be aware of vehicles that were caught in a flood and then cleaned up for resale.Look under (roll around under there) any vehicles you are interested in for rust.I think they use salt on the roads and bridges and overpasses in New York, don't they? cuhulin

I think they use salt on the roads and

They used to do so, for sure. I bought a Fiat 128 from NYC as a learner car for my daughter. It fell apart in about a year. Unbelievable.

We used to sell Salvage Title vehicles, and some of them were flood cars.

IF IT IS DONE RIGHT, a flood car can be a good buy.

They fell apart after a year when you bought one *NEW!*

Fix It Again Tony...

Fix it again Tony? Heh, that married Irish woman in Europe, (she and I email back and forth to each other sometimes) one time she hired an elderly guy by the name of Tony to do some work on her bathroom plumbing.He actually tried to solder her bath tub drain pipe because it was leaking.She wound up hireing somebody from a proper plumbing repair shop to fix it right.Good old Tony spent the money she paid him for drinks at the local pubs. Good on yer, Tony.Have one on me! cuhulin

No, no...it was used

Lots of Brits named Tony, Cuhu...and the analogy doesnt always stop there.