OT Any Decent Used First Car Suggestions?

[cheerisloving]

Honda's and Toyota's are great first car brands. I have a Nissian Versa hatch, which is fairly inexpensive and even the base model comes with Bluetooth technology.

 

[njallday]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Kias. Kia's are actually great, reliable cars. (in my experiences.) My mom drove a kia for 6+ years and all she had to do was fix the air conditioning once. She traded it in for a Mercedes SUV and has had nothing but (extremely expensive) problems- and its like a 2012, I think? My dad and step-mom just bought a new Kia Sorento and a Volvo SUV, and hasn't had any problems with those (but, they are new.) They had an accord before that which is being passed to my step sister, and it's about a 2006 and has literally had no problems.
I don't want to go into my other cars' history but I'm currently driving a ford taurus and it is probably the worst car ever with the most ridiculous random repairs, and I'm 3 hours away at college- its so unreliable. Yesterday my 4 month old battery died. It won't hold a charge. This will be my 3rd battery in the three-ish years I've had this car. I just recently bought new tires because I've only ever bought used ones, and I've had 13 flat tires on the used ones (which were actually fairly new and had a lot of tread left) and one blowout at midnight on the interstate on the way back to college, in the middle of nowhere... so I told my dad I wasn't going to the used tire places anymore and I needed new ones. Haven't had a problem since (probably mostly my fault on the tires). We've replaced the water pump twice, had the entire front end redone, last semester it broke down and my engine was cracked, We've bought at least 8 different 02 sensors because they keep blowing out (or whatever they do to stop working), new spark plugs 4 times (i think thats normal but i don't know a lot about cars), it shakes when I drive, BUT, for some reason since the last time it was in the shop, my gas mileage has gotten ALOT better. I get about 25 mpg right now, and I was getting 17, on a good day. My oil light also comes on when I'm stopped too long (they didn't find anything wrong with that) and my check engine light NEVER TURNS OFF. I think the longest it's ever been off was 3 days, and that was after it was being fixed for a week. My car dislikes me and I will NEVER buy a ford again. I'm unlucky

yeah that sounds like you should file a lemon law complaint.

 

[ShoWStoppeR]

great info everyone thanks so much!

I should also really be looking for something that runs good in snow/cold climate.

I'd love a nice used jeep of some sorts!

I too have been doing some car searching, and here are some things to think about:
how much driving do you do? that will make a big difference in your car search. you need to make a list of what you are looking for in a car, for example, do you need something stellar on gas? or are you driving short enough distances that it doesnt matter? If you're driving short distances, leasing is always an option. You can get alot of newer models for (relatively) cheap. do you prefer a sedan or suv? sedans are (typically) cheaper. do you care how old it is? you have to be careful with certain make/models. while a car may have awesome reviews for one year, it might have been on recall another. do you care how many miles are on it already? the more miles on it, the cheaper it'll be. but that's a double edge sword, because the more miles it has, the more wear and tear it has, and the higher risk you have of doing alot of maintenance. When you're buying used, it might be smarter to look into places like car max and auto trader. Cars are typically more expensive coming from the dealers themselves.
Here's a few that I've been looking into that have some pretty good reviews: Toyota camry, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Ford Focus, Nissan Altima, Nissan Sentra.
Mind you, I'm mostly making my decision based on gas mileage, safety, and reliability. I don't need anything fancy. I drive about 500 miles a week for work, and I'm a recent college grad paying on loans so naturally I'm not looking to pay stacks on a car with fancy features lol

 

[ShoWStoppeR]

Honda Honda Honda.

I've had 2 Toyotas and a Honda and here's the deal: a Toyota will last forever if you keep up all the regular maintenance (even the big ones every 40-60K miles.) A Honda will last forever even if you don't maintain it.
Do some research too. Many "foreign" cars aren't.

This is very good to know. I'm currently split right now between a honda civic and a toyota camry. I have a ford escort right now and the amount of money I put into that thing to fix the most random crap that would malfunction is obnoxious. I just need something with 4 wheels that goes and is able to keep up with my high mileage without breaking the bank, either in gas or parts (I drive about 500 miles a week)

 

[ShoWStoppeR]

The red car causing your insurance to go up isn't really true. At least not on mine. I went from a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer ( so many problems) to a 2006 red Saturn ion (still on cloud 9 [emoji7] lol) and my insurance stayed the exact same.


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I recently learned that it isn't the car itself that causes insurance to jump. While insurances won't charge more for a red car, it has been proven true that cops are more likely to pull over a red vehicle (especially a sports car), and with every ticket you get, you'll see a rise in insurance. So indirectly, yes, it is true that driving a red car has the potential to be more expensive, especially if you have a lead foot.

 

[Nothanks]

I second (or third) the Kia recommendation. And to go along with it, Hyundai. They're actually made by the same company. I have a Hyundai Elantra and did have a Kia Rio. I loved them. They get awesome mileage and their warranty is amazing.


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[Mamarazzi]

This is very good to know. I'm currently split right now between a honda civic and a toyota camry. I have a ford escort right now and the amount of money I put into that thing to fix the most random crap that would malfunction is obnoxious. I just need something with 4 wheels that goes and is able to keep up with my high mileage without breaking the bank, either in gas or parts (I drive about 500 miles a week)

I'm saying civic. It really will hold up.

 

[ErinS]

This is very good to know. I'm currently split right now between a honda civic and a toyota camry. I have a ford escort right now and the amount of money I put into that thing to fix the most random crap that would malfunction is obnoxious. I just need something with 4 wheels that goes and is able to keep up with my high mileage without breaking the bank, either in gas or parts (I drive about 500 miles a week)

I drive about 500 miles a week too! Every time I look at my mileage I get sad

But fortunately with a Kia the gas doesn't break the bank


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[ShoWStoppeR]

I drive about 500 miles a week too! Every time I look at my mileage I get sad

But fortunately with a Kia the gas doesn't break the bank


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i might have to look into their sedans then. My dad has a kia but its an SUV. He has no complaints about it, and has never had to do any maintenance on it besides routine stuff like oil changes. He gets okay gas mileage for an SUV, but nothing I can afford to drive lol I know you said you have a forte, not sure what the prices on those look like, but are there any other fuel efficient kia sedans worth researching?

 

[NJ Coach]

I'm saying civic. It really will hold up.

I had my civic for 13 years. It had 150k on it when I bought my new car this summer, and was still worth quite a few thousands. That engine had at least another 100k on it.

FWIW, I bought a new Nissan Altima this summer and I love it.

 

[Nothanks]

i might have to look into their sedans then. My dad has a kia but its an SUV. He has no complaints about it, and has never had to do any maintenance on it besides routine stuff like oil changes. He gets okay gas mileage for an SUV, but nothing I can afford to drive lol I know you said you have a forte, not sure what the prices on those look like, but are there any other fuel efficient kia sedans worth researching?

Rio is their "base model" and I had a 2000 rio for a few years that did pretty well for me (it was 12 years old when I bought it) and it got me 30 mpg-Hyundai equivalent is the accent. Forte (or Elantra) is the next step up. My 2013 Elantra gets 35-38 mpg hwy. the optima/sonata is the step up from that.

(I posted it earlier, but if you missed it Kia and Hyundai are made by the same manufacturer,have a lot of similarities and have the same warranty, which is why I put the comparison across the two brands)


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[Ashley]

I've recommended Kia's in other car threads.

I drive a 2014 Kia Forte. I love it. I get excellent gas mileage. I just wish I kept it clean..

My 19 year old sister.....wait she turns 20 tomorrow, anyway she drives a 2010 Kia Forte. She loves it

Pretty sure my mom will buy an Optima this year

My husband has a Kia Forte Koup. I think the qualities of Kias have gone up in recent years, so they're definitely worth looking into. And my sister has an Optima that she loves.

I have a 2009 Civic, it's a great car, no issues. I don't think it's particularly bad in the snow, but I did put snow tires on it this year. It's a small, light car, so it's not going to be as great as something bigger and heavier or with AWD.

My first car was a 98 Volvo 850 passed down from my mom. And then I had another passed down 00 Volvo S70 a few years later. Those cars were fantastic.

I'd recommend a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla for someone's first car.

 

[FamousxMindset]

The newer Kia Optimas drive really well. I know I've heard that Toyota Camrys can run forever.

 

[ShoWStoppeR]

Rio is their "base model" and I had a 2000 rio for a few years that did pretty well for me (it was 12 years old when I bought it) and it got me 30 mpg-Hyundai equivalent is the accent. Forte (or Elantra) is the next step up. My 2013 Elantra gets 35-38 mpg hwy. the optima/sonata is the step up from that.

(I posted it earlier, but if you missed it Kia and Hyundai are made by the same manufacturer,have a lot of similarities and have the same warranty, which is why I put the comparison across the two brands)


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Thank you! this is very helpful! I was reading through the thread but I'll be honest I did a bit of skimming along the way. Those are 2 makers I hadn't really thought of looking into, and now I'm glad I saw this. They seem to get great gas mileage and I'm finding them for super cheap... well that's all relative lol but initially while I was searching for cars, I was having the hardest time finding them to meet all my criteria at once. But with both of those I have alot of options in my price range. Thank you!

I would like to also mention that I think the biggest reason the Toyota Camry was an attractive choice to me is that someone had advised me to look at a life time car because of the amount of driving I do. I was told my ford escort was a life time car and its on its way to the junk yard here soon... we got it for me in about 2009, and its an 01. 50,000 miles on it when I started driving it and I now have over 150,000 miles on it. 100,000 miles in about 6 years, yep lol so basically I'm skilled at killing lifetime cars haha I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. My hope is I won't be driving like this for very much longer, let alone for the rest of my life. But that remains to be determined. Not to mention once there are little showstopper nuggets running around, I will definitely be in need of an SUV. so technically speaking what I'm getting at is I don't really need a life time car. but it's hard to know how much driving I'll be doing in the next few years, especially considering I'm looking at grad schools in Texas. So I was give or taking a few years for work and grad school, and that'll rack up approximately how many years it took me to kill my current car, hence the wanting one to last a bit longer. but ya'll have definitely been helpful in finding other options, so hopefully I'll have a new set of wheels here soon!

 

[seein_starz]

Does anyone have suggestions for a truck or suv that's good on gas? I'll be driving a lot since I live far from school and I need something I'll be able to tow with just incase our truck is in the shop or something. Any suggestions?