Help finding a safe comuter car

[jessi f]

Were looking for a commuter car for me to drive back and forth to school next year. Budget is under $6000 (maybe up to 7) but we'd really like to keep lower We hoping to find a 2002-04ish Civic but theyre not coming up often and get snatched up pretty quickly. It seems like everything else we look at has bad safety ratings.

The Focus is one that come up often in our price range but the side impact ratings are horrible. But it seems the the tests were done with models that did not have the optional side/curtain airbags. So I was wondering if we could find one with side airbags it would be an option?

We've seen a couple of Jetta's that look decent too but I keep hearing they're super pricey to fix. This wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker, we expect to have to put some money into the maintenance of any almost 10 year old car we get. But just how expensive are they to keep up?

Cobalts get a Poor side impact rating...

Are there any options I'm missing in our price range? Were just looking for decent gas milage and safety really.

 

[Brianna]

Do you need to buy local or can you travel a little? I used Autotrader.com and eBay to find my car- it was a few hours away but the savings on the car more than made up for the gas I spent to get there and back.

 

[jessi f]

Do you need to buy local or can you travel a little? I used Autotrader.com and eBay to find my car- it was a few hours away but the savings on the car more than made up for the gas I spent to get there and back.

We can travel but were mostly looking at private party deals and worry about a craigslist seller flaking out and not showing up. We've been checking autotrader too and would be open to a more distant dealer if they have what were looking for. The dealer markup just seems so much higher on these older cars that were looking at.

 

[Brianna]

I was able to find a wholesaler, the KBB on my car when I bought it was nearly 16K and I paid 12. I think it helps too if you're not in a hurry and can afford to wait for the right price on the right car. Even just looking at the cars that pop up on Autotrader in your budget will give you an idea of what used cars are available and then research safety on what's available.

 

[Melanie]

Chevy/Geo Prizm. It's the Toyota Corolla, just doesn't come with the high Toyota price tag.

Used cars are tough because imo, Japanese cars last longer, but they also cost more. We were recently car shopping and domestics with 130k miles were the same as imports with 160k.

Don't be shy about browsing higher priced vehicles and asking sellers to come down. We were just looking at $5k cars for DD. 3 of the 4 sellers I asked agreed to come down $1,000 before we even saw their cars. I called them and explained that the car's for my teenage daughter, she's paying for it, and she only has $5k. That their car may be worth more, but is that something they'd consider. That's 1/5 of the price.

Definately hook up with a wholesaler if you can find one. We lucked out and were give the number of one from a dealership that had cars higher than our price range. We didn't buy from him, but he had a super clean Ford Escort for $4500 out the door. It had under 100k miles. It was the best deal of everything we looked at, by far. It would've been a great car for DD, but she really hated it and wound up with a Rav4 with a bunch more miles and a broken sun roof.

Once you find the model you're looking for stalk craigslist. The really good deals get snatched up quick.

Good luck!

 

[QuassEE]

Matrix? VW Golf?

 

[beetlemama]

I love my beetle (which was built on a jetta platform). It's fun and comfortable to drive. The gas mileage is okay (not great because it has a bigger engine) and it's not terribly carseat friendly, although the jetta would fix that problem (the biggest issue is the inward sloping rear beams). That said, each little thing gets pricey. I had both headlights go out inside of a week and you can't change them yourself (due to the design, its the first car I haven't done that myself on) and it ended up costing me $100 per light to get them changed (yes, you read that right... $200 for 2 headlights!!!!) because they basically have to disassemble the car to access them. And the first two shops I went do don't work on VWs because of that.

So, while we love the car, I doubt we'll buy another VW once this dies (we drive cars until the wheels fall off) because repairs do get needlessly costly. If we're in the position to lease a car I'd be all over a VW for the love of driving it though! They just get expensive once they start needing stuff (ours is a 2006).

 

[NVMBR02]

We just sold our 2002 VW Golf. We didn't find repairs to be too expensive, though it didn't need a lot of work done on it and Dh most small repairs himself. I do know that he needed to buy a few tools he didn't have and some of the small jobs took him a bit longer to do. For example, to change the headlight on the drivers side he had to remove the battery. Overall we didn't have any complaints.

I haven't looked at any of the crash ratings, but what about something like the Nissan Versa? They are fairly inexpensive new so you might be able to find one in your budget.

 

[jessi f]

Thanks for all the tips. Used car shopping is so frustrating And I feel bad being so picky. DH is driving a 93 (I think) Buick Roadmaster that I'm sure isnt the safest, so I feel guilty for trying so hard to make sure my car is. I've tried to convince DH we should just get him a new car that would be safe enough for him and the kids, but he thinks whoever is driving the kids should take the Mazda5 and then we'll each have our work/school cars.

I've been majorly obsessing over car ads and I just feel like the newer cars in the top in of our budget that get good safety ratings have so many miles on them it's hard to justify spending that much. And the older cheaper cars with similar mileage seem like death traps...