I need car advice

[St. Ajora]

I hope to be driving by this spring, and since I am eager to get on with my travelling and hiking plans, I need what they call an "automobile" to do so. The trouble is, I know nothing about cars and all that stuff and I'm hoping people here could give me the low down on what kind of car to buy.

Of course, I'm going with used here, so don't suggest anything outrageous. My cut off will probably be 5 thou.

Things to consider:

Safety
Mileage
Environmental concerns

These are my three biggest aspects to consider when purchasing a car. I don't know what else should be important to me, so please give me a crash course in the art of cars, o wise ones. Especially what I need to do/have looked at when I have a particular car in mind, so I don't get shafted.

[Seraphblade]

Is there a certain price range you are looking for? A new or used car?

Are you looking for a 4-door sedan, a 2-door coupe, or maybe a larger vehicle?

If I considered a car to buy, it would be the 2006 civic. It's affordable and has great gas mileage. We all know how expensive gas is nowadays.

[Sailor Sexy]

He spells out quite clearly that he's looking for something in the $5k range and used.

The sad reality is, it's tough to get an overall good car for $5k. Now, you can get plenty of cars that say get good gas mileage, but they won't have as many safety features. Typically I've found that the best vehicles out there come from Japan. Your Toyotas, Hondas, and Mazdas are usually pretty good bets for reliable and safe.

One thing you'll want to do is definitely get a 4 door. The reason being that 4 door cars are cheaper when it comes to insurance. Also, I know you're on that budget, but try and get the most for your money with safety features like airbags. My Mazda has airbags and that saves me 25% off my insurance bill. I keep stressing insurance because in the long run that will wind up costing as much as your car in some cases.

A real good idea might be to go and pick up a copy of the Consumer Reports automobile edition. That gives reliability ratings, tells you gas mileage, and even says what the average price on the used models are going for. That would give you a good place to start from and a good idea on what you can expect to be able to negotiate the price down to. Never accept the sticker price (or if not buying from a dealer, then the initial asking price). People can and will always go lower.
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~Uguu!~

[Vextor]

If your cut-off is $5000, then you won't find a 2006 Civic for sure. Hondas deprciate slowly because they're good cars (I work for them, so I know). To find a civic at that price range with reasonable miles, you'd have to look for model years around 1997 and before, I'd think. Safety features and all that would already be pretty good at that level, but older cars will tend to have less amenities, especially the digital kind. It's only in the last 5 or so years that cars have become "wired" with various gadgets. Before that, you'd be lucky to have a CD player.

Also, don't ignore the American cars either. They're not all that bad (because a lot of them work with Japanese and European auto-makers as well-- like GM and Toyota, Mitsubishi and Chrysler, Ford and Subaru... etc), as long as you don't mind something like 26-29MPG. A smaller car will always get you better mileage, but smaller cars will also not survive crashes very well, so if safety is a concern you may wanna go for something bigger. Cars like the Dodge Neon is what I'm thinking about though, there's many of them out there and they don't have real gaping flaws. Never go for a Chevy Cavalier-- they are tough to handle with bunch of blind spots... although if you're hit by another car you'd feel pretty secure in it.
Avoid Kia or Hyundai vehicles from before 2004 etc. Their new models are atctually pretty good, but there are some safety concenrns for their older models. The additional benefit of driving a car made by the Big-3 (GM, Ford, Chrysler), if you're a driver in the USA, is that most places can repair them fast (parts are readily available).

Volkswagen (Golf, Jetta) are good cars, but parts tend to be hard to find if something does happen, especially in the more rural areas. If you can find a Jetta from around late 1990s around $5000 (probably possible), that would be a good buy.

Japanese cars (Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, Honda, etc) tend to be expensive, even used. If you can get one at around $5000 at the later 1990 model range, that'd be a bargain, or there must be something wrong with the car (such as very high mileage or previous collision history).

Also, another thing you wanna think about is cargo capacity. If you're gonna be moving stuff a lot, you'd want a hatch-back instead of the trunk being a separate compartment from the passenger cabin.

[St. Ajora]

Yeah, I'm really not looking for something new. That's definitely not something I could afford right now. Even this car buying depends on if I can get college paid for. I want to consider options before I go out looking, though.

[Calvin]

Another idea is to finance ~before~ you get the car, instead of letting car salesman run your credit and finance basically whatever they want. You do this by going to a bank and saying "I want a car loan for x amount of dollars." This helps in a number of ways. After you get approved for the loan, than go buy your car (You don't actually have to take the loan before you buy the car--you just get approved).

1. You can usually get a lower interest rate than by going through a dealership.
2. It helps keep you in your price range. If you go to the dealership and say "I've got $5000," than that's as high as you can go because that's what the bank approved you for.
3. It makes it easier to get a price lower than the sticker price (this is tied in the second point).

I've heard good things about the Ford Focus, which is another car to consider. You could probably find a 2000-2002 one in your price range.
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I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home, and you can't say those
things to me, that make me fall down on my knees.

[Vextor]

Oh yes, Focus is good. It has a number of recalls, but none of them are TOO bad.
It also has good cargo space.

[sybillious]

another thing; when you go, make sure this friend has some mechanical knowledge. this will help you sort out obvious lemons from the get go (hopefully).

don't go larger than mid sized if you can help it, insurance, tagging and gas will eat you alive.
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prinny...DOOD!

gotta gotta get a...SPICE WEASEL!

to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[Amyral]

if you want advice on buying a car, here's some small pieces.

If the person you are buying from won't let you take it to a mechanic of your choice, walk away. Especially for used cars, if they won't let you take it to someone else and check it out, forget the deal and go.

If you are buying it from a dealer and ask them the price, any good dealer will point to the ticket. That's because they know a sucker will accept the ticket price (and thus will accept all sorts of add-ons to the price).

When negotiating for a price, never act like you love the car. Treat it like you are doing them a favor by buying it. It will help you get a lower price if the dealer thinks they have to work to get you to buy. When they state a price, state something unreasonably low (anywhere between 45% to 50% of the sticker price). While they won't sell it to you at that price, it will get the negotiations going.

Don't give them any identification information until you are ready to do further negotiations on the price. Tell them you are from out of town, don't show them identification, don't tell them it's your first car. If they can get a hold of your credit information, they have the upper hand.

As for some other information, there are a variety of different sites out there that will report on things ranging from safety to comfort. Here are a few you may be interested in.

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/pages/ResourcesLinksDeptofEn gEPA.htm
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/

[Scarlet Assassin]

You can get a Lumina for 5 grand, real easy. It has a built in cage in the frame so it's the safest sedan out there, but it's a tad heavy so the gas mileage might not be what you're looking for.
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Chief of Beat-em-up Honeys Division, Devoted Protector of Lady Tifa Lockhart