Looking for no frills, reliable car for ~$3,500

[NickHM]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for my first car for about $3,000 - $3,500, and all I care about is a) reliability and, to a lesser extent, b) not terrible gas mileage. As an avid cyclist who went without a car in college (I went to school in a very, very small town), I don't need anything sporty - I'd be happy with a "grandma car" with low hp. This wouldn't be a project car, or something to impress, just something to commute with. A V-4 would be fine.

I've heard good things about late 90's Saturn SL1 - good gas mileage, reliable, good safety ratings. Any thoughts? Any other recommendations?

Thanks for the help - when you don't know the first thing about cars, it's hard to know where to find good info. Also, I'm looking on cars.com and autotrader.com, and I am using kbb and carfax.com.

[sickcallawayc12]

Well, first there is no V-4. Only inline 4.

I highly recommend Saturn. I used to own a 97 SL2 and my dad has been driving Saturns for 13 years. Great cars, although, I believe they're better off being maintained by yourself and they are easy to work on. Still, its the perfect vehicle for the criteria you want. SL1s had cylinder head issues but I don't remember the specific years, but you may want to consider an SL2. Just change the oil often, replace the ECTS with brass tipped unit, keep EGR valve cleaned, specified NGK spark plugs only (no platinums), just a few things to expect when owning a Saturn. There are great owners in the Saturn forum: Sierrap15 (mod), CatFuzz, PS3, yaz4real are just a few very knowledgeable owners of these cars.