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Old 06-23-2010, 04:01 PM   #16
paqman
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Originally Posted by carbuyhelp View Post
I'd like to say MagicRat's suggestions are good ones.

But I guess in the whole buying process, what you should do is look in listings and choose some candidates. If you have four or five cars that you like, research about how these cars perform and read reviews about maintenance costs etc.

But with your repair cost concerns, Japanese and American cars have cheaper parts than European cars.

I have looked at some listing in Utah and found these cars within 4K to 5K that you might find good to buy: 2005 Toyota Solara SE, 2003 Chevy Cavalier LS or if you are looking for a vehicle with lots of power like you would find in a truck and lots of room like you would find in an SUV, I suggest you get the 2001 Ford Expedition 4x4 XLT. Not to mention, this is one of the safest vehicles that earned an award from the federal government after it passed so many crash tests.

But anyway, there are so many nice cars out there within your 5K budget. Just have a mechanic check it and check the vehicle's history so you will not end up with a piece of junk.
Thanks, good advice. I don't really want to get into something as big as an SUV, even though I'm not really worried about gas mileage. I dunno, could consider it. But I'll look at some of the others you mentioned.
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1997 Ford Escort ~145k miles (SOLD)
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ~13k (SOLD)
1983 Honda Magna V45 ~13k (SOLD)
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ~90k (SOLD)
2001 Ford Mustang GT ~86K (SOLD)
2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 ~12k (SOLD)
2001 Nissan Maxima - (TOTALLED)
2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue (SOLD)
1991 Nissan Maxima (TOTALLED)
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Old 06-25-2010, 08:22 AM   #17
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Originally Posted by carbuyhelp View Post
I'd like to say MagicRat's suggestions are good ones.

But I guess in the whole buying process, what you should do is look in listings and choose some candidates. If you have four or five cars that you like, research about how these cars perform and read reviews about maintenance costs etc.

But with your repair cost concerns, Japanese and American cars have cheaper parts than European cars.

I have looked at some listing in Utah and found these cars within 4K to 5K that you might find good to buy: 2005 Toyota Solara SE, 2003 Chevy Cavalier LS or if you are looking for a vehicle with lots of power like you would find in a truck and lots of room like you would find in an SUV, I suggest you get the 2001 Ford Expedition 4x4 XLT. Not to mention, this is one of the safest vehicles that earned an award from the federal government after it passed so many crash tests.

But anyway, there are so many nice cars out there within your 5K budget. Just have a mechanic check it and check the vehicle's history so you will not end up with a piece of junk.
Thanks for the suggestions. Since the last post, I've received the check for my totaled car, and it came to just under $6k. So there's my new range. I also think I've settled on the type of car I want. A friend of my is a Mustang junkie and has an '04 Cobra that is absolutely incredible. No, I'm looking at getting a cobra, but it has made me fall in love with the style of car. And the other day I saw a 2000 Mustang GT in a lot, and I test drove it, and fell in love. So what I'm going to look for is a 1999-2004 Mustang GT, for somewhere in the range of $5k and $7k. I've seen a few in that range, now it's just a game of waiting to find the perfectly clean one with low miles.

At that price range, I'm more limited to 1999-2000, but I'm fine with that. Private party blue book for a 2000 with 100k miles on it is about $6500, so that's workable.

I found this one on the local listings, but it's about an hour and 15 minute drive from me. If it's still around next week, I'm definitely going to try to take the drive out there to look at it, it looks pretty sweet, and it's got really low miles. I emailed them for more info and pictures, because they didn't provide much. But it's being sold out in an EXTREMELY rural area, so I don't think they'll have a ton of people jumping on it any time soon. The only info they've posted is, "2001 GT 85000 miles very clean magnaflow exhaust also have a set of cobra r wheels and y pipe". I'm not into all the custom stuff, but this one isn't tweaked out too bad. Here are the two pics they've posted. Opinions?

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Current Vehicles:
2008 Nissan Altima ~ 115k miles
2010 Nissan Maxima ~ 74k miles
2007 Toyota Sienna LE ~ 145K miles

Goners
1997 Ford Escort ~145k miles (SOLD)
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ~13k (SOLD)
1983 Honda Magna V45 ~13k (SOLD)
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ~90k (SOLD)
2001 Ford Mustang GT ~86K (SOLD)
2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 ~12k (SOLD)
2001 Nissan Maxima - (TOTALLED)
2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue (SOLD)
1991 Nissan Maxima (TOTALLED)
1989 Pontiac Grand Am (SOLD)
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Old 06-26-2010, 01:55 PM   #18
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Originally Posted by paqman View Post
Thanks for the suggestions. Since the last post, I've received the check for my totaled car, and it came to just under $6k. So there's my new range. I also think I've settled on the type of car I want. A friend of my is a Mustang junkie and has an '04 Cobra that is absolutely incredible. No, I'm looking at getting a cobra, but it has made me fall in love with the style of car. And the other day I saw a 2000 Mustang GT in a lot, and I test drove it, and fell in love. So what I'm going to look for is a 1999-2004 Mustang GT, for somewhere in the range of $5k and $7k. I've seen a few in that range, now it's just a game of waiting to find the perfectly clean one with low miles.

At that price range, I'm more limited to 1999-2000, but I'm fine with that. Private party blue book for a 2000 with 100k miles on it is about $6500, so that's workable.

I found this one on the local listings, but it's about an hour and 15 minute drive from me. If it's still around next week, I'm definitely going to try to take the drive out there to look at it, it looks pretty sweet, and it's got really low miles. I emailed them for more info and pictures, because they didn't provide much. But it's being sold out in an EXTREMELY rural area, so I don't think they'll have a ton of people jumping on it any time soon. The only info they've posted is, "2001 GT 85000 miles very clean magnaflow exhaust also have a set of cobra r wheels and y pipe". I'm not into all the custom stuff, but this one isn't tweaked out too bad. Here are the two pics they've posted. Opinions?

If you wana look at that car then just try to find a few more in the same area or something lol. Give yourself an excuse. I drove well over 2 hours to get my car. And I do like the look of that Stang. Looks really clean in the pictures
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Old 06-26-2010, 09:19 PM   #19
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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If you wana look at that car then just try to find a few more in the same area or something lol. Give yourself an excuse. I drove well over 2 hours to get my car. And I do like the look of that Stang. Looks really clean in the pictures
Lol well I didn't find a good excuse but I did make the drive down today. And I made the purchase! It was just about as clean as the photos made it look, it drove great, engine looked clean, there was some oil around the oil filter but I determined it was from the filter adapter, and it wasn't a leak, just a small accumulation.

I had a nice long drive down the canyon to get aquainted with her and it was fun. It is a little pimped out for my tastes, I feel like a punk kid driving it, but it definitely was worth $6500. It looks like a much more expensive car. My neighbors all gawked when I drove up, lol.
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Current Vehicles:
2008 Nissan Altima ~ 115k miles
2010 Nissan Maxima ~ 74k miles
2007 Toyota Sienna LE ~ 145K miles

Goners
1997 Ford Escort ~145k miles (SOLD)
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ~13k (SOLD)
1983 Honda Magna V45 ~13k (SOLD)
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ~90k (SOLD)
2001 Ford Mustang GT ~86K (SOLD)
2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 ~12k (SOLD)
2001 Nissan Maxima - (TOTALLED)
2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue (SOLD)
1991 Nissan Maxima (TOTALLED)
1989 Pontiac Grand Am (SOLD)
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Old 06-27-2010, 08:48 PM   #20
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Originally Posted by paqman View Post
Lol well I didn't find a good excuse but I did make the drive down today. And I made the purchase! It was just about as clean as the photos made it look, it drove great, engine looked clean, there was some oil around the oil filter but I determined it was from the filter adapter, and it wasn't a leak, just a small accumulation.

I had a nice long drive down the canyon to get aquainted with her and it was fun. It is a little pimped out for my tastes, I feel like a punk kid driving it, but it definitely was worth $6500. It looks like a much more expensive car. My neighbors all gawked when I drove up, lol.
Congratulations lol. I'm sure you could do a little bit of stuff to it to, "un-pimpify" it, so to speak. Looked really nice from those pics, hope it treats you great. (more pics on the way? )
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Old 06-27-2010, 09:13 PM   #21
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Originally Posted by Shpuker View Post
Congratulations lol. I'm sure you could do a little bit of stuff to it to, "un-pimpify" it, so to speak. Looked really nice from those pics, hope it treats you great. (more pics on the way? )
Lol well the look is actually growing on me. He actually threw in a set of other rims with tires that wouldn't be as showy as these ones, but I actually really like these bullitt style rims. I think I'm going to leave it just like It is. I'll post some more pics when I get a moment.
__________________
Current Vehicles:
2008 Nissan Altima ~ 115k miles
2010 Nissan Maxima ~ 74k miles
2007 Toyota Sienna LE ~ 145K miles

Goners
1997 Ford Escort ~145k miles (SOLD)
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ~13k (SOLD)
1983 Honda Magna V45 ~13k (SOLD)
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ~90k (SOLD)
2001 Ford Mustang GT ~86K (SOLD)
2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 ~12k (SOLD)
2001 Nissan Maxima - (TOTALLED)
2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue (SOLD)
1991 Nissan Maxima (TOTALLED)
1989 Pontiac Grand Am (SOLD)
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Old 06-29-2010, 04:52 PM   #22
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

Wow.It is great that you are real happy with your purchase!
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Old 06-29-2010, 04:59 PM   #23
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Re: $3K, which old car should I buy?

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Wow. To be honest that was the Mustang listing I viewed before I gave you my opinion. I tried to look for listings within your budget and area too before I make some mistakes with my posts. I wanted to post it here but I thought I might be advertising something disallowed by AF-admin, so I didn't. What a coincidence. But it is great that you took my advice and that you are real happy with your purchase!
Lol, that's funny. Well I'm really liking the car, and can't wait to get my hands dirty and learn more about it.
__________________
Current Vehicles:
2008 Nissan Altima ~ 115k miles
2010 Nissan Maxima ~ 74k miles
2007 Toyota Sienna LE ~ 145K miles

Goners
1997 Ford Escort ~145k miles (SOLD)
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ~13k (SOLD)
1983 Honda Magna V45 ~13k (SOLD)
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ~90k (SOLD)
2001 Ford Mustang GT ~86K (SOLD)
2007 Suzuki Boulevard M50 ~12k (SOLD)
2001 Nissan Maxima - (TOTALLED)
2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue (SOLD)
1991 Nissan Maxima (TOTALLED)
1989 Pontiac Grand Am (SOLD)
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