Anonymous
Post 03/05/2018 08:58     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I might look at the used Volt and the Focus. (I think spouse would like an electric car for both maintenance and fun/green reasons, but does not want to buy a 10 year old $5k car)


two mistakes right there!!


Why?


1. do not buy american cars

2. do not ever buy american high tech cars


Just traded in my Focus after 17 years...spent almost nothing on it either.


You were lucky. Sadly, doesn't mean OP will.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2018 08:43     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:So we only drive a couple thousand miles a year. We only have one car and in theory we could probably do without it but frankly having to find a zipcar every time I need to pick my kid up at a birthday party or something doesn't seem that fun. We are not "car people"-- have no desire for an upscale car and no desire to spend time maintaining a car, but also not really looking to buy a very used car (partly because we don't want to worry about future repairs). We have also found that if you drive a car as little as we do it eventually has as many, if not more, maintenance issues as if you drive it 10-15k miles a year.

Last time we just bought a car, kept it for about 12 years, and figured out it probably cost us $250/month. I am wondering if this time we should find a lease that costs less than $200 a month, or just buy the cheapest car we can find (but it's kind of depressing to spend $15-20k on something you don't actually like), or buy used and hope we don't get too many maintenance issues.


OP, what we've found is that if you buy a new car with excellent resale value, such as a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic, the depreciation for the first 3 years or so works out to about a hundred dollars a month - this is with normal mileage. If you only end up putting 6000 miles or so on the car in three years, then then resale value would be even higher. This is the route we would go if we were you. With a new car you also get the benefit of warranty coverage, almost no maintenance - except for the oil changes, better safety/features, and generally greater peace of mind.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2018 04:54     Subject: best cheap car option
Do not buy used electric car. Batteries are ticking maintenance bomb

Why not a Honda Fit? Such a fun car to drive, great storage, snap to park.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 21:00     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I might look at the used Volt and the Focus. (I think spouse would like an electric car for both maintenance and fun/green reasons, but does not want to buy a 10 year old $5k car)


two mistakes right there!!


Why?


1. do not buy american cars

2. do not ever buy american high tech cars


Just traded in my Focus after 17 years...spent almost nothing on it either.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 20:18     Subject: best cheap car option
Get a camry, accord or civic. Buy used. Look for something owned by a little old lady (or other person who drove rarely) and has extremely low miles.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 20:11     Subject: best cheap car option
Word of advice - if you only drive a few thousand miles a year don’t get a hybrid. They’re set up so that if you don’t drive frequently you’ll have issues with the hybrid battery and if it’s not under warranty (eg if you get it used) that thing is expensive to replace!
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 18:07     Subject: best cheap car option
The used Corolla seemed like good advice. We have a 15 yo Camry we hardly ever drive. I would love to get rid of it but it works beautifully, requires virtually no maintenance, and shows no signs of trouble even after not having been driven for a long time. I see tons of the same model year on the road so it's not just that we got lucky.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 17:03     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Look at the Ford Focus.


This. I was in the same situation and this seemed like a good value. You can get a used one and get out the door for about 12k. Also look at Avis etc. great prices! I just bought at 2017 Ford Escape, fully looking, at a great price.


No Avis or Enterprise. People treat rentals like crap. Same with corporate cars.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 17:02     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I might look at the used Volt and the Focus. (I think spouse would like an electric car for both maintenance and fun/green reasons, but does not want to buy a 10 year old $5k car)


two mistakes right there!!


Why?


1. do not buy american cars

2. do not ever buy american high tech cars
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 15:56     Subject: best cheap car option
Toyota Yaris - you can get one that is only a couple years old for less than $10,000. They run forever.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2018 15:22     Subject: best cheap car option
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Look at the Ford Focus.


This. I was in the same situation and this seemed like a good value. You can get a used one and get out the door for about 12k. Also look at Avis etc. great prices! I just bought at 2017 Ford Escape, fully looking, at a great price.

DO NOT buy a former rental car.