What beater should I buy?

[EcoSwag1990]

I recently got a job 90 miles away and due to my fiance's current job and my 15 month lease I will be commuting daily for at least a year. This equates to about 49,000 miles/year.

I currently daily drive my Mustang to my job 10 miles away but I need something more fuel efficient for this job and I don't want to put miles on my baby. I'm budgeting $4k for a superbeater. Any suggestions?

I'm willing to swallow my pride and drive the lamest car imaginable as long as it's reliable and gets good mileage.

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[Armen]

Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla.

 

[Strokerswild]

^^^ Yep.

 

[daltron]

I recently got a job 90 miles away and due to my fiance's current job and my 15 month lease I will be commuting daily for at least a year. This equates to about 49,000 miles/year.

I currently daily drive my Mustang to my job 10 miles away but I need something more fuel efficient for this job and I don't want to put miles on my baby. I'm budgeting $4k for a superbeater. Any suggestions?

I'm willing to swallow my pride and drive the lamest car imaginable as long as it's reliable and gets good mileage.

Cash or finance? If willing to finance, don't rule out spending a little more for some certified car. A Smart car, Fiesta, etc should be had for cheap and you know it will still be under warranty and get good gas mileage. Last thing you want to do is buy an older beater that you put 50K miles on a year and have something break.

 

[SolarFlare]

I'm in the market for a daily. I found a small dent in my passenger door and yesterday I ran over an otter. I drive about 10 miles in back roads (not lit) and i run the risk of hitting birds, possoms, raccoons and even gators. I've decided it's not worth it. I'm looking for a late 90s civic.

 

[tcman54]

I'm in the market for a daily. I found a small dent in my passenger door and yesterday I ran over an otter. I drive about 10 miles in back roads (not lit) and i run the risk of hitting birds, possoms, raccoons and even gators. I've decided it's not worth it. I'm looking for a late 90s civic.

....and yesterday I ran over an otter..just sounds so matter of fact like it happens all the time, just cracks me up for some reason.

Terry

 

[Zodiac]

....and yesterday I ran over an otter..just sounds so matter of fact like it happens all the time, just cracks me up for some reason.

Terry

LOL I thought the same damn thing.

OP I'd look into a 01-03 Maxima as a DD/beater as well as the suggested econoboxes.

 

[EcoSwag1990]

Cash or finance? If willing to finance, don't rule out spending a little more for some certified car. A Smart car, Fiesta, etc should be had for cheap and you know it will still be under warranty and get good gas mileage. Last thing you want to do is buy an older beater that you put 50K miles on a year and have something break.

Yea I'm probably going to buy it outright. I was strongly considering a sport bike but apparently they don't last that long. Looks like it might be a Honda civic or similar.

Anyone have experience with the Prius? There are a couple of great deals on some with like 110k miles but how do I know if the battery is still good? That'd suck to buy and then have to replace that

 

[MikeD1]

I'd look around for a nice '03 - '06 Infiniti G35. You'll see loads of them for sale with 250k+ miles (yes, they are really dependable) but for $4k or less you can snag one with < 120K miles. They share lot of parts with the 350Z, so any Nissan dealer can service them.

My '03 G35 with 120K miles is still my DD & primary vehicle for transporting rescue dogs !

Other options would be same years Maxima or Altima - also good for 250K miles with low maintenance.

 

[SolarFlare]

Good luck with timing chain work on those early VQs

 

[MikeD1]

Good luck with timing chain work on those early VQs

TC's were never an issue with the VQ's, they were an issue on the early (90 - 92) Q45's as they has Bakelite chain guides & needed to be replaced before 100K miles.

Only issue with the VQ's is the crank & cam position sensors which seem to go around 100K miles. They are cheap & easy to replace.

 

[BMR Tech]

I drove my old '97 Escort to 324K miles. It only stopped running after a pretty serious rear end impact/collision. Would not start. It was totaled anyways, so I had no reason to troubleshoot. 32-34 MPG averaged.

I then acquired a 2005 Focus that I put 211K miles on before selling to a co-worker. He now has 233K miles on it. This was the first year they went to timing chains instead of belts I think. I remember researching it before purchasing the vehicle. 27-29 MPG averaged.

Both of those cars really only needed tires, battery and brakes. Never any other issues.

Now I have a 2008 Mercury Milan that I DD. It was my wife's until about 65K miles...now I have it up to 115K miles. Tires, brakes, and a battery have been my only replacement parts. It is smooth, quiet, comfortable and quick for a 3.0L V6 older car. This car averages about 23.5 MPG for me.

I have had a lot of cars, but I try to stick to Ford products. When I stray - it always bites me in the A$$.

 

[tcman54]

I drove my old '97 Escort to 324K miles. It only stopped running after a pretty serious rear end impact/collision. Would not start. It was totaled anyways, so I had no reason to troubleshoot. 32-34 MPG averaged.

I then acquired a 2005 Focus that I put 211K miles on before selling to a co-worker. He now has 233K miles on it. This was the first year they went to timing chains instead of belts I think. I remember researching it before purchasing the vehicle. 27-29 MPG averaged.

Both of those cars really only needed tires, battery and brakes. Never any other issues.

Now I have a 2008 Mercury Milan that I DD. It was my wife's until about 65K miles...now I have it up to 115K miles. Tires, brakes, and a battery have been my only replacement parts. It is smooth, quiet, comfortable and quick for a 3.0L V6 older car. This car averages about 23.5 MPG for me.

I have had a lot of cars, but I try to stick to Ford products. When I stray - it always bites me in the A$$.

Wow, lucky you, my first new car I had ever had was a 1984 base Ford Escort, my parents bought it for me $8K new, biggest pile of crap I have ever drove, only had about 60,000 miles on it and it dropped a cylinder, so it went from 85hp to like 67hp, between me and work was a big hill, could barely make it up the thing, lol.

Terry

 

[EcoSwag1990]

Ok so I've homed in on a 2008 Ford Focus with 170k miles and they won't budge further than $3,500. No tax since i live in Delaware.

Is that a great deal to you guys? Bad deal? Too good to be true?

I'm going to go test drive it later on tonight

 

[cosmo]

Ok so I've homed in on a 2008 Ford Focus with 170k miles and they won't budge further than $3,500. No tax since i live in Delaware.

Is that a great deal to you guys? Bad deal? Too good to be true?

I'm going to go test drive it later on tonight

Get maintenance records if possible, if you can get a local mechanic lined up for compression test do that and find out online what it should be at, and just check to make sure the trans works decently. Look at the hoses underhood and check to see if they're cracking near the radiator and whatnot. That's how I buy my beaters. Got a '02 Miata with 140k miles on it and have beat the piss out of it with no issues for $3k.

Brakes, suspensions, etc will likely need to be changed regardless but that isn't a big deal. The engine and trans are more critical. Just make sure the bones are good.

That many miles and that price seems a little high. Just a quick cars.com search shows they are more around $2.7-3k. If it shows it has been well maintenanced though, I would probably do it.

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