Car Shoppin' Electric Shock'n

zombie boy 2000

Well...
My hooptie was stolen on Sunday morning which does "suck" as you may have guessed. On the bright side of life, it was the beater car of the family and was probably not much longer for this world. So papa needs something to back up the Ion when the wifey and I head in different directions.

I've lined up taking a looksey this evening at a 2000 VW Passat and a couple of 2003 Mitsubishi Gallant ES's. Mileage is around 65K for all three. Asking price is pretty much the same. Condition is supposedly optimal.
Beings that I know pretty much nil about automobiles, I wonder if I might be able to score a wee bit of help in regard to the aforementioned models.

Gracias amigos y amigas.

RuSsMaN

I've got a 94' Mistubishi 3000GT VR4, 84K I'll make you a deal on.

sucks2beme

Toyota and Honda lead the way. You'll pay more upfront, but no big surprizes

Bill Ayotte

What's the price range?

Bill Ayotte

RuSsMaN wrote: »

I've got a 94' Mistubishi 3000GT VR4, 84K I'll make you a deal on.

Those are sweet cars.....

Systems

I would avoid any Mitsu or VW product period, new or used. Well known for the past 15+ years non stop that they are some of the most terrible cars made. example:


Pick up a used Honda or Toyota. They will obviously be more expensive but well worth it.

I once bought a 88 Civic DX hatch as a beater for $3000, drove it for 2 years, added 25K miles to it (140K ish total) and sold it for $3500.

jflail2

My girl drives an 04 passat. Very fun ride, but long-term reliability just isn't there. I am VERY glad we got it on a lease, b/c next June it is, without a doubt, going back.

That being said, it is a blast to drive, very comfortable and has lots of bells and whistles.

I'd look at the typical honda, toyota, etc boring but reliable for another 50 years type rides if you're just looking for a point A to point B beater.

I drove an 83 Nissan Sentra station wagon for what must have been 6 years. I paid 250$ cash for it, and the whole time I drove it I swore "I'm just driving this pile of junk till it dies."

I sold it after 6 years (for $200 no less), and last I heard it had been driven to Texas (from NC no less) and was still running there. That's what I'd consider a good "second" vehicle The damn thing would NOT die, and believe me, it didn't get tons of love.....

Good luck with your hunt!

zombie boy 2000

Bill Ayotte wrote: »

What's the price range?

Asking about 9K for all three... which I'm sure is a tad negotiable.

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I hated to lose that piece of **** Escort. Bought it new after college and ran it like garbage. Cross country multiple times. Would miss a scheduled oil change or ten. A couple of fender benders. One serious. Never gave me any problems at all. We're talking 160K miles in 6 years and not a single issue.

Hope the **** that snagged it gets the clap.

Bill Ayotte

I'll take a look around here, I am about three hours south of you, 1hr40min in a 07 GTI....:D :eek:

zombie boy 2000

Thanks Bill. I appreciate that.
Like I mentioned, the only time I've bought a car was new. How much haggling really comes into play on the used side of life? Have I just seen too many movies?

PolkThug

zombie boy 2000 wrote: »

Thanks Bill. I appreciate that.
Like I mentioned, the only time I've bought a car was new. How much haggling really comes into play on the used side of life? Have I just seen too many movies?

Count on 60-100% markup. If selling used at 9000, they probably got it at auction for 4500-7200.

Ron-P

Toyota and Honda lead the way. You'll pay more upfront, but no big surprizes

We bought a used 2000 Toyota Sienna back in 2003 I believe, in that time we put less then $1k into it, part of the $1k was new tires all around and the 60k miles service package. Other then that it's been a sold van and it only has 55k miles on it. It will last us for a very, very long time. You can't beat Toyota's reliability.

Of course knowing that we have such a great van is one reason why I bought a MINI. Not the most reliable car on the road by any means but the most fun to drive of anything I've ever driven. Sometimes fun outweighs reliability.

heiney9

Silverti wrote: »

I would avoid any Mitsu or VW product period, new or used. Well known for the past 15+ years non stop that they are some of the most terrible cars made. example:


Pick up a used Honda or Toyota. They will obviously be more expensive but well worth it.

I once bought a 88 Civic DX hatch as a beater for $3000, drove it for 2 years, added 25K miles to it (140K ish total) and sold it for $3500.

Let's see. I've been driving since I was 16 and I'm now 40 so that's 24 years. In those 24 years only 3 times did I personally own something other than a Volkswagen or Audi product and I can say they have NOT had the kind of issues reported in these mass advertised type surveys. You can swing the stsatics any way you want to get a more desireable outcome.

Honda and Toyota are consistently ultra reliable that's hard to argue. The VW's certainly are a hell of a lot more fun to drive and in my experience with proper routine maintenance certainly aren't as horrid as everyone (who probably has never owned one) point out using these type of surveys as evidence. I've owned many over the years so I can atleast give you an honest opinion.

I say go for the fun car and get the Passat; is it the 1.8T or the V6? My parents have a 2000.5 (1.8T) and other than the ABS sensor going out has been a very reliable car. Check the service history because if the oil wasn't properly changed on any 1.8T their could be a sludge issue. Also I'd tend to stick with a manual over an auto.

H9

P.s. My last car a 1991 GTi, I put 200K before the body really started to give out. Was it like a new car at 200K, no but it still ran very good and was reliable as any car could be.

sucks2beme

zombie boy 2000 wrote: »

Asking about 9K for all three... which I'm sure is a tad negotiable.

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I hated to lose that piece of **** Escort. Bought it new after college and ran it like garbage. Cross country multiple times. Would miss a scheduled oil change or ten. A couple of fender benders. One serious. Never gave me any problems at all. We're talking 160K miles in 6 years and not a single issue.

Hope the **** that snagged it gets the clap.

Escort-
had one for 9 years. Ate spark plugs every 4 months, and carbs every year.
I was too cheap to give up on it. Used it as a winter beater.

Go cheap or buy new. The just paid for ones that show up in dealerships
are your worse value. Higher interest rates for these make them almost as expensive per month as new. Never again. The Mrs. gets the new ones.
Get an ugly car and run it into the dirt.

schwarcw

I've been driving Buicks the last 10 years. They are an old man's car but there safe, reliable and as JD Powers showed, very dependable. Plus, they are never stolen! They are an invisible car to thieves because the young folks aren't interested in them.

venomclan

Get a Honda or Toyota and don't look back.
V

zombie boy 2000

Well...
settled on a silver 2003 Dodge Neon SXT. Immaculate inside and out. Sunroof. 40k miles. $7000 took it home.

Not my first choice in vehciles, but the price was right and the need was definitely there. It's actually really, really fun to drive. I could do a whole lot worse for a "beater car".

bobman1235

Yeah, the Neons don't look like much, but they're pretty solid, especially for a Dodge/Chrysler product. My dad gave an older Neon to my step-brother, a noted car killer, and try as he might, the thing is still going strong.

Fireman32

Congrats on the car man.

Systems

heiney9 wrote: »

Let's see. I've been driving since I was 16 and I'm now 40 so that's 24 years. In those 24 years only 3 times did I personally own something other than a Volkswagen or Audi product and I can say they have NOT had the kind of issues reported in these mass advertised type surveys. You can swing the stsatics any way you want to get a more desireable outcome.

Honda and Toyota are consistently ultra reliable that's hard to argue. The VW's certainly are a hell of a lot more fun to drive and in my experience with proper routine maintenance certainly aren't as horrid as everyone (who probably has never owned one) point out using these type of surveys as evidence. I've owned many over the years so I can atleast give you an honest opinion.

I say go for the fun car and get the Passat; is it the 1.8T or the V6? My parents have a 2000.5 (1.8T) and other than the ABS sensor going out has been a very reliable car. Check the service history because if the oil wasn't properly changed on any 1.8T their could be a sludge issue. Also I'd tend to stick with a manual over an auto.

H9

P.s. My last car a 1991 GTi, I put 200K before the body really started to give out. Was it like a new car at 200K, no but it still ran very good and was reliable as any car could be.

Honestly, you are lucky. That just one figure. Its mainly due to the big 3, the beetle, Golf and Jetta whom have for the past 15 years consistantly ranked the worst in their very large class's (5 year rankings, meaning problems over 5 years)). Even below the Korean manufactures such as Kia and Daewoo. No ifs ands or butts about it. Every person I have even known who made the mistake of buying on has paid for it, right off the lot. The Toruge broke records from problems in its class. The only thing that was saving VW was the Passat which actually had average reliability in its class. Every car enthusiast board I have posted on is packed full of people saying "I bought a GTI once and it was a fun car but the thing was a complete piece of crap, every thing and any thing busted".

I also thing it’s a stretch to convince even normal people that VW is reliable, its pretty universally known. That’s why most women buy Jettas 

Its funny because there’s actually entire long term web sites devoted to VW problems:

http://www.myvwlemon.com/

BTW: its also known that the VW's actually built in Germany are much better off.

schwarcw

Congrats ZB! Those Neons have a lot of jump when you hit the gas! Pretty good gas mileage too. Good luck with the new car:)