Hello Veeky Forums. Im currently in the process of buying my first car and I'm quite ignorant when it comes to vehicles along with most people I know being seemingly extremely biased when it comes to them.
So, currently I have about 4.8 grand or so saved and I'm looking to buy a cost effective car that'll last me a few years. I would prefer something unique but obviously I'm not expecting anything with my budget. I read through the sticky.
Im looking mainly on craigslist and so far it seems like the car I like the most in my price range is the mazda 6 or mazda 3. I found a Mazda 3 that I'm looking at tomorrow listed at $3750 with 102k miles.
What are your thoughts on these cars? Are they fairly cost efficient and reliable? It seems the go to hondas and toyotas all have very high mileage and inflated prices. I've been looking for about 2 weeks or so now and I've gotten frusturated looking for a decent camry/civic/corolla/accord.
TL;DR: With 4.8k saved up, how much should I set aside for oh shit money, what kind of cars should I look at for cost efficiency, and what are your thoughts on the mazda 3 and 6?
Sorry if these questions are stupid, I'm very new to looking at vehicles. Also, I have a friend who is into cars that I can take with me to look at vehicles, but he tells me to just go with a toyota or honda of which the prices seem inflated in my range.
Nope, its the 4 cyllinder sedan. Talked to the owner and he said he just got the head gasket and radiator replaced along with having service records for maintenance. Also forgot to post its year is 2008.
Adrian Price
Thing is, at that price you'll need a decent "oh shit" fund. I'd set aside at least 1500. The best thing you can do is browse through your local Craigslist with the price filtered
Brayden Bennett
>Head gasket replaced
Ohhhhhhh, I'd fucking run from it
Jordan Campbell
This. Its been overheated and abused to fuck
Anthony Wright
Hmm alright. Is there a good place I can learn so I can start to gauge things like this when it comes to used car buying?
Grayson Young
Agreed
Dominic Bennett
Mazdas are good cars, but they are a little over-priced on the used market (at least here in Oz, presume it's the same in the US). Same goes for Toyota and Honda. Consider a Hyundai. I just bought my wife an Excel for her first car. Great value and very reliable.
Dominic Miller
post your local craigslist.
Kayden Campbell
there's a bunch of decent videos on youtube on buying used cars
always have an actual mechanic check out whatever you're seriously considering BEFORE you buy it
what city are you in so we can try to find you some decent choices
Jacob Taylor
>trusting an aussie who recommends hyundai Not even once
If you want to go "LEFT LANE COMMUNITY ENFORCEMENT" mode these are a tremendous bargain for the amount of car that you get. Parts are dirt cheap, systems are simple and reliable and after 85k miles the police auction them off to be picked up by taxi companies and livery services who use the cars until they literally break at 225k+ miles.
There are less douchebaggy colors but I like black vics and the haste with which people get out of your way if you do 5 over
>aren't Lincoln's expensive to fix? No, it's a glorified thunderbird, and the engine is from the Mustang Cobra and Lincoln Navigator, it is literally one of the most reliable motors ever built by Ford >Maintenance Fucking easy as pie muh dude
if you're black or don't mind being pulled over because they assume you're black
Andrew Martin
That thing is a fucking spaceship. How funky.
OP continuing on the cop car front, there's a dealership near you called MT automotive and they specialize in taking local area PD's cars and making them nice again. What you'd be trading for in fuel economy in one of these cars (approximately 20 MPG) you get in return a rear wheel drive body on frame American sedan with a V8 and comfy seats. What I would do if I were you is not to buy direct from a police auction but rather buy secondhand either through craigslist or through a dealership that specializes in cop cars like MT Automotive.
Yes, some of the cars are ravaged but there is a reason why there is a boatload of 2,000 dollar P71s out there and it's because the cars are so common that the beat to shit ones are worthless. If you're paying 4,500 dollars or more you're getting a car that has years of life left in it. The ways to tell whether these cars have been abused are pretty easy - the comfier the options included on the car, the less severe duty service it's seen. Full carpeted floors, cloth back seat (as opposed to vinyl or the plastic one), cruise control, CD radio, steering wheel mounted controls, velour front seat, et cetera are all markers for cars that never hopped curbs. 2006 and up Crown Vics have engine hour meters that give you idle time; this one (phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/5911074347.html) has the last picture showing only 816 hours of idle time on a 170k mile car which is very very nice. Note that idle time is with the car running in park or neutral so the total engine hours are going to be higher than that.
Damn! Thanks for all the postings guys. Got alot of calls to make. I kind of disregarded lincolns because I was told they are kind of difficult to maintain, but looking a little more they do seem like a good buy.
What a shame, low mileage TC's like that are hard to find. Those are really great cars.
Grayson Phillips
Keep in mind that Lincoln is a subsidiary of Ford - Lincoln Town Cars are basically Ford Crown Vics but with more plush equipment on them like air shocks in the rear. Many Lincoln cars have a cheaper Ford equivalent and they share a bunch of parts. There are some Lincolns like the LS which are a disaster but you will usually get away with quite a nice car if you shop around and pick something that isn't waiting to throw a rod through the block or crack the block in half
Adam Hughes
Alright awesome, I'll look into MT Automotive and for postings. Appreciate the help.
Carter Gomez
My first car was a 2004 Audi A3 1.6 FSI. I think it was a pretty good, car. It didn't have too much power but it was fun to drive and had 6 gears, so it was good in highways too, They are not all that expensive and look quite "modern" too, compared to cars from the similar era at least.
They are not expensive either.
Ethan Gray
Or you could not look like a faggot P71 driving wanna be cop and get that badass Mark VIII posted earlier
I would have killed for that as my first
Robert Martin
>Or you could not look like a faggot P71 driving wanna be cop and get that badass Mark VIII posted earlier
Or you can respect both cars and stop being a moron LOL
Jace Lopez
Yeah, OK Deputy Dipshit lmao
Andrew Hall
>Deputy Dipshit
LOL very funny. Have fun guessing whether I'm a police officer
