What are best "beater" cars?

[basketsbears]

Hi,

Just in case we turn back one or both vehicles (I'm really wanting to be cash only) - what are some good, reliable beater cars or minivans?

Thinking of $5000 or less?

Thanks!

Lynn

[mavric]

we got a 98 s-10 blazer for $2500 . V-6 4x4 suv get's about 18-20 mpg and there are ton's on these suv's out there. cheap to work on and lot's of part's to be had in the junk yard. Just my 2 cent's .

[NoMoreCards]

Just coming out of BK, I bought a 1994 Grand Marquis. We called it the "Granny-mobile" because that is what it looked liked. Anyhow, we paid 3000 for this car and it had 98K miles on it or so. We drove this car everywhere!!! I sold it 2 years later, with 150K miles on it and got 2K back out of it. The only money I put into the car was brakes, tires, and we replaced 1 rusty brake line.

I see these cars EVERYWHERE!! They were built strong, and they last. They are also rear wheel drive and with a bit of weight in the trunk...it gets around like a tank in the winter. Great car!! I loved it. My biggest complaint, it didn't have a CD player and was not pretty. But it drove and rode very nice and was extremely dependable.

[hmsmith]

Honda's or Toyota's. Most of them easily get over 200,000 miles. I saw one for sale with 394,000 miles on it!! They say over 80% of the toyota's sold over 20 years ago are still on the road.

[159515951]

Almost any car made in the past 15 years or so will go well past 200k miles, if maintained properly.

[jst4f]

We have a 1992 Buick Century, aka granny rocket, with 240,000 miles. The V6 has lots of power. No major repairs and I change the oil, with standard Dino-oil, every 3000 to 6000 miles.

[keepsmiling]

Good q, I need one too and was actually thinking about coming here to ask. My '93 beater van needs over 1K worth of brakes, just not worth it anymore. I need a slightly less beat up beater
Just remember that you will need to allow for regular repairs on old cars. It adds up. Significantly at times.

[daveinIL]

This past spring I managed to find a true gem of a beater car. I bought a '98 Nissan Sentra with A/C, power widows and locks & cruise control for only $2200. It had only 62K miles on it but had some body rust and damage. I put about $700 worth of tires and brakes on it and it has been fantastic since I bought it. My main reason for buying this was as a substitute for driving my F150 to work every day. The F150 gets about 16 MPG and the Sentra is at 35 MPG since I bought it. I drive almost 75 miles round trip to work so the new car will pay for itself in only 12 months (even less if gas goes higher).

[wobbly]

You can find a great used car under 5K. Get a friend that knows about cars to help you if you can. Avoid dealers and shop on craigslist or auto trader. Try to find and honest privite seller. You can go to a third party site like www carsurvey org and see reviews from other folks. Take your time and be objective and just walk away if it doesn't seem perfect! I bought a car in 2006 for 3000 that we are still driving. I sold a lease car back to the dealer and bought a high milage luxury car. It was well maintained by the original owner at the dealer and was minty.

Good luck!

[ValleYum]

Don't forget the CarFax! The place that changes my oil reports the maintenance to CarFax.

[basketsbears]

Don't forget the CarFax! The place that changes my oil reports the maintenance to CarFax.

How do you look up a carfax?

[basketsbears]

You can find a great used car under 5K. Get a friend that knows about cars to help you if you can. Avoid dealers and shop on craigslist or auto trader. Try to find and honest privite seller. You can go to a third party site like www carsurvey org and see reviews from other folks. Take your time and be objective and just walk away if it doesn't seem perfect! I bought a car in 2006 for 3000 that we are still driving. I sold a lease car back to the dealer and bought a high milage luxury car. It was well maintained by the original owner at the dealer and was minty.

Good luck!

Thanks! I am looking on CL and Indiana Auto RV. I have looked at everything. There are so many different cars. Some of the "luxury" cars were pretty nice. I just did a search with $5000 as my limit. Hopefully, will be able to do it.

Lynn

[basketsbears]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I am searching all different types - mainly on CL.

Thanks so much!

[wobbly]

If you have 5K to work with, why not search on cars 3k to 4K? Then you have a repair buffer! You can still find some really nice cars in that range. The car survey site helped me a lot too because I'd find a car and look up the model and year. If it had too many : ( faces I'd pass it up! A good American car is a Crown Victoria. You can find minty ones that old folks drove and had serviced at ford. I almost bought a university patrol car until a friend suggested that it probably had a bunch of inebriated college kids in the back!

[basketsbears]

If you have 5K to work with, why not search on cars 3k to 4K? Then you have a repair buffer! You can still find some really nice cars in that range. The car survey site helped me a lot too because I'd find a car and look up the model and year. If it had too many : ( faces I'd pass it up! A good American car is a Crown Victoria. You can find minty ones that old folks drove and had serviced at ford. I almost bought a university patrol car until a friend suggested that it probably had a bunch of inebriated college kids in the back!

Thank you! Good idea! I will change my search to max of $4000 (I need to save it, but am trying to plan ahead).

I think I am driving my husband absolutely crazy!