What are some good reliable cars that are cheap ?

[carvent]

im looking to buy a car in the price range of 2000 - 4000 dollars.

Ive been looking into the toyota celic, honda civic, pontiac grand prix. Any other suggestions on what ar i should get.

[Airjer_]

Saturn SC2? I don't know how old or new you are looking but I have never been disappointed with any of my saturns. Hyundai tiboron isn't to bad either.

Unless you have a couple thousand extra to spen on repairs I would stay away from the pontiac! Its hard to find bad Honda and Toyota but not impossible

[tblake]

Originally Posted by Airjer_

....Unless you have a couple thousand extra to spen on repairs I would stay away from the pontiac! Its hard to find bad Honda and Toyota but not impossible

WHAT?

No, the things that go wrong with pontiacs are Lower Intake Gaskets, Crank Position Sensors, MAF sensors, and wheel hubs. All of which are easy repairs and the parts can be purchased at any auto parts place for a decent price.

Can't really say that about honda's or toyota's. Although very good cars, When an issue does happen, you better have thousands to throw at it due to high labor costs and part availability.

Friend of mine broke a timing belt on his honda prelude v-tec, 2.2 DOHC (h22a1). The darn thing, man I went through a fiasco with it. Not to mention replacing all the bent valves, the head gaskets were hard to find, I went through 3 different timing belts before I got the right one, once putting the belt on, found out that the tensioner was shot and the waterpump on there was the wrong one and wouldnt line up to the t-belt cogs. What a mess.... Not to mention that the head bolts were dealer only. I walked in there and told the parts guy what I wanted and for what motor. He looked it up and goes, "that will be $13.75, do you want all 10 of them?". That question caught me off guard. I looked at him and said yes. Then he said, "ok, your total comes to 145.00" WHAT?!?!?!? No, I think I'll pass on them head bolts. Anyways, started the rebuild process on that car in feburary, and wasn't able to finish untill june.

Bottom line, buy what you want, test drive numerous cars before you decide, and take the one that fits you.

[richtazz]

Recommending a Saturn but dissing a Grand Prix? Wow, you have exquisite taste Airjer.

Every Saturn I've ever seen is burning oil badly at about 140k, and usually have blown a head gasket before that, especially the twin cam models (which the SC-2 is). As Tim stated, test drive anything you're interested in. The Grand Prix is a great looking car and other than a few issues that all cars have, very dependable. We have members at the Grand Prix Forums with a ton of miles, one has over 325k miles and it's still running great. The other cars you mentioned are smaller, so if you're looking for something zippy, the GP may not be for you. As Tim stated, find one that fits you and your budget and do your homework. Any car from any car maker can be a lemon and no matter how dependable it is, if you don't like how it drives you'll never be happy.

[Airjer_]

First of all I have never had a head gasket fail on any of my DOHC 1.9's. I have seen and replaced many 1.9 SOHC heads due to head porosity. Yes they do burn oil but so do a lot of other cars, irrelevant point!

Second of all it would have been a lot easier to replace the t-belt at its recommended service interval and saved your buddy a lot of time and money. His negligence should not be a valid argument to the quality of the vehicle. Strike 2 for irrelevance, its not hondas fault maintenance was neglected resulting in needless and expensive repairs.

We service many honda and toyota vehicles that are in incredible condition with well over 250k miles. Most if not all of this have most of the original O.E. parts on them! I guess I would rather spend a couple of hours replacing a timing belt then a day and a lot more cash replacing a transmission, intake gaskets, wheel bearings, window regulators, chasing misc. electrical anomolies, broken sway bars, lower control arm bushings, Front timing cover gaskets, fuel pumps, alternators, water pumps, all the a/c issues, lets not forget all the EVAP issues while we are at it, and god knows when and where it will leave you stranded! You don't have to preach to me, I see and fix it every day. If you want to drive a car get one that spends less time with its wheels off the ground!!!

[richtazz]

How is burning oil an irrelevant point when talking about dependability?

Tim never knocked Honda's quality, he just mentioned the fact that they can be difficult to get parts for and are too technical for the average DIY to work on. Do you even read posts before commenting?

My GP has had less done to it than my cousins Honda Accord of the same mileage and year, and what I've had to do has cost me significantly less. The quality gap has closed immensely between the Japanese and American cars to almost be non-existant, but our biased media has it out for the American car industry and won't let it go.

As I stated before, get a car that fits you, the way you drive, and where you live. I love my Grand Prix, and my cousin loves his Accord (neither of which burns oil BTW). All cars have their issues and making an informed choice is what will make you happy.

[tblake]

Originally Posted by Airjer_

...Second of all it would have been a lot easier to replace the t-belt at its recommended service interval and saved your buddy a lot of time and money. His negligence should not be a valid argument to the quality of the vehicle. Strike 2 for irrelevance, its not hondas fault maintenance was neglected resulting in needless and expensive repairs.

Yes, replacing the belt at the recommended change interval would have been better, but how many timing belts do we break on our 3800 GP's? How many timing belts do we have to replace?

To add one more thing... To the OP. Do internet research, and its usually best to test drive all the vehicle's your intrested in all in the same day one right after the other.

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by Airjer_

If you want to drive a car get one that spends less time with its wheels off the ground!!!

I did 12 years ago called a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. It has never left me stranded.

[ctwright]

Nissan Sentra maybe.

[tblake]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

I did 12 years ago called a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. It has never left me stranded.

Isn't that something Bob?

I was dinking around with my car the other day (cleaning the bird sh1t off actually) when I though to myself. Jees, is this car really 10 years old already? For its age, it sure doesnt look it, body and hardware are holding together nicely. Plus the motor is as strong as the day it rolled off the assembly line (even more so now ) And has never left me stranded either.

[ctwright]

Well, I don't know if any of us has asked him this question or not? Do you want something that is fairly easy to work on? Gas mileage, even cup holders? Tell us what some of the things that you like so we can tell you what features are available in the cars we have or know about.

[BNaylor]

The first part of the OP's post is self explanatory. See below.

Originally Posted by carvent

im looking to buy a car in the price range of 2000 - 4000 dollars.

Personally I would not buy a used car in that price range. I don't care if it is a domestic or import.

It will probably be a money pit!

[grandprixgtx00]

just one little comment...how many times was the 3800 motor voted best motor of the year by motor trend?

if you get a GP...just make sure its got the 3800 and not the 3100.

[tblake]

The 3100 is a good motor. I've got nothing bad to say about it, but the 3800 beats it in power and reliability hands down.

[ctwright]

Well, I'll never own anything else with a 3800, I have a buick regal with that in it now it's been a pain, everything about it. Biggest thing was the plastic bypass hose fitting, it broke off and I had a time with that I tell ya. Not sure what all GM vehicles with this motor has this or not but if you get it I would definitely check to see what kind of fitting is there and if it is plastic go ahead and replace it before it breaks off. And what is up with plastic intake manifolds? Well, this isn't a motor issue really more of a space issue surrounding but everything is impossible to get to, may be more area to work with on the grand prix but not sure. I had to raise the engine up just to drop the oil pan to change the gasket.