2 Questions About Buying a Used Car..

[stewman23]

First question i had was what reccomendations you guys have for a nice, sporty convertible for under 7500....I've looked into a few, but dont know what will give me the nicest look with the best performance...

Secondly, does anybody know about government seized car auctions...are the cars there legit and worth the savings you get, or am i going to just find a bunch of lemons and cars not worth the headaches? From what i hear it's a great way to get the car you want for cheap...http://www.cheapcarfinder.com is where i was looking...is it worth it to sign up for 35 bucks to find these auctions?

[Kirwan]

First on the sporty convertible...

I've driven an older Mustang GT for the past 6 years, and it gives me a smile every time. So I'll recommend you look at them.

A friend had a Celica GT, which was also nice - smoother, and less wind on the highway, but nowhere near the power of the big V8. The backseat was less confortable than the Mustang, but the trunk was larger.

I drove a Miata - actually pretty nice, also smooth, but so small.

We looked at a BMW3 series but were thoroughly disappointed with the power and performance. And the top is manual - this one required that you actually get out of the car to work it. That seemed like it would be a pain in the long run.


As for the government auctions... I have a friend who buys there and swears by them; you can get a good enough deal that you can drive the car for a couple years, then sell it on the open market for very close to what you paid for it. But it's only been vanilla sedans, or maybe 4x4's that I've seen there. You have to have the cash in hand, and buyer beware, of course. He uses this one:
http://www.autoauctions.gsa.gov/index.cfm