Hey guys,

Anyway things have been working out, school's almost out of the way, and i need to get a car as my office is quite a distance from home. Let me warn you that i know next to nothing about cars, but I've done research, checked out autotrader.com and i bet this question has been asked before but i'd still like some input.
As this is my first car, I dont want to blow too much money on it, but i need something durable... so I'm willing to go up to $8000 CAD on it (with taxes and any certifications/etc needed), at least that's how much my dad wants me to spend on a car, and with insurance & gas & maintenance i really dont want to blow more than $500 on it monthly.

Right now i'm prefering Hyundais and Toyotas, I drive automatic only...so.... any tips/suggestions, things to look out for, favourite cars around that price range?

thanks

1.)make sure your part are avalible after 6 year you have to go to junk yards for
2.) if your not handdy or have no tools make sure its a car brand you mechenic works on on a daily bases.

Make sure parts are avaliabl in your area and they a cheep. If it is an car that no one drives part will be a lot of money.

the mechanic will charge you if the parts are hard to get.

i would go with a Toyota if i was you.

all depends on where you live.

I like hyundais, they have really good reputations for reliability. I have a '99 honda civic I bought new in '99 that I really love. It has 85k miles on it now and the only thing I've done to it is change the oil and replace the tires. Oh, it did develop a loud muffler so I had that replaced too. I plan on driving it for 15 years or 150,000 miles, which ever comes first, so I have just over six years left.

If I were buying a new car I'd look into a volkswagon diesel jetta. I can get bio-diesel around here, so I could be super enviro friendly.

Edit: learn to drive a stick, it's easy and automatics can be a pain in the ass.

Toyota has a better reputation for reliability. Honda != Hyundai.

Also, I have a '90 Toyota Celica with 150k miles on it, the only thing I've done is chance oil, brakes, CV joint, radiator, and steering rack. And the previous owner didn't any major work on it aside from normal maintenance. And the car's still driving string. I plan on making at least 250-300k miles on it.

The only piece of advice I can give is that a hybrid won't start being cost effective until about 10 years after you purchase it.

Other than that I've never had a car... being 26 and all.

I want a smart car, coming to USA in January.

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But anyway, ask enough people and you'll find someone to support any model you are considering.

the smart car looks nice but it doesnt have much room

I'm drunk. (apologies for posting on your board drunk.)

nice, hope you didn't get drunk alone though!

I would get a VW.. But that's cause I have one. Get a car with good miles per gallon.. My ex drives a Toyota Corolla 2006. It's a nice little car. Supposedly has 40 mpg according to some car sites.. But his car manual says it only has 30mpg highway and 23 mpg in city.. =/ My Beetle has 25 mpg in town and 30mpg highway and mine is from 1998.. Supposedly the newer Beetles have 38mpg highway and 29 in town, but again that's according to some websites.. I'm gonna bet Jetta's are better. And apparently the new VW Rabbits are really, really good. =D However, supposedly if you get a Turbo diesel Beetle, they go 42 mpg highway and 38 mpg in town. But again.. That's according to websites. =)

Just surf around, definitely buy for gas mileage and however much you want to pay a month.;D

I'd go for a second hand Smart Roadster.

Since you live in north america where they don't import Peugeot, Citroën or any of the real fun cars, i'm just going to suggest to try out Ford Focus. One with the sport package if you can. It's the second most fun vehicle (on 4 wheels) I've ever driven. Just check the doors are in ok condition, the euro model had some assembly flaws that allowed for massive rapid corrosion.

Why is it we can't/don't get Peugeot and Citroen here? They're fun to race in video games , but I've never seen one in real life before.:'(

Because of (U.S.) americans unreasonable hatred of anything french.

There's nothing unreasonable about hating escargot.

I like wine , I like women who parley vous francais.

The Eiffel tower's a nice lightning rod.
It probably looks cool in thunderstorms.

It used to be that Europe didn't have as strict exhaust emissions standards as the US. Iirc Germany didn't require catalytic converters until 2002 or something. That adds a lot of cost to the manufacture of a car. I don't know if it's still the case. So maybe that has something to do with it.

Rated mileage is great, but thats all estimated crap. You can get higher economy than is listed in the book given the right driving practices. Of course, with gas prices the way they are, you want to be aware of estimated/actual economy, but don't pay an exorbitant amount for a car that gets an extra 6mpg. You have to see if the extra cost is worth it.

I think from the "energy efficiency" angle, you have to look at it collectively, not individually. My cutting 25% off my $40 electric bill does nothing for me, but when everybody starts doing that, the price will drop with lower demands. (And make it more feasible to be supported by renewable resources.) It's about a change of attitude that will affect the future.

But if you've only got $8000 to deal with, then your options are limited. You should never spend more on something that you can budget. So yeah, I'd look for a used compact car with an asking price of around $7000 that has been well maintained.

Also,

What do you mean you have to go to a junk yard? I've never been to a junkyard to get car parts, and I do all my own work.

Euro I emission standards were imposed in 1992 and while they didn't specify the need for a catalyst, the limits implied it.

That is not the reason, however. The reason simply is that poor sales made PSA retreat from the US market in the late 80's, which is weird since the 405 was a massive hit worldwide.

i was looking for the stick shiff boot after 6 years the stop making platics.
i heard the discontined the celica name

Just because the car is discontinued doesn't mean you can't get parts for it.

all depends on where you live.

Try all the radio presets, if they're rock or rap, move on, if they're classical music, snap it up!

Generally, from my experience, cosmetic pieces would be harder to find. Usually though, aftermarket parts and whatnot can keep a car going for a long time. Of course, it can also depend on whether the parts are still used in a newer vehicle.

Dodge and Chrysler are my preference, while Chevrolet, Pontiac, and GMC are also pretty good; Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are my favorite Japanese manufacturers and I've heard extremely good things about Honda (reliability and fuel efficiency). I've also heard good things about Toyota. I've heard good things about Volkswagen as well, but personally don't like them.

I personally hate the entire Ford alliance of companies and especially hate Hyundai and Kia. Suzuki is another good example of junk.

I would recommend having a family member or friend experienced with cars look over anything you plan to buy. Every company has it's lemon so you'll want to avoid those at all costs.

I'm sure there are people on Allegro.cc that would be happy to comment on prospective cars so when you find something you're interested in you could start a new thread for a discussion on the specific car.

I hate those things... I saw one in town and one of the rear wheels was wobbling like a wagon-wheel... It's possible that the car had been in an accident, but it looked mint... Or maybe it was driven over some dirt... Personally, I'm not comfortable driving a car that takes more than 10 seconds to get to 60 MPH. According to the Wikipedia, it's failing miserably and all companies (including the original) are backing out.

Don't manufacturers have to produce parts for 10 years after a vehicle is discontinued? That may vary by country and company...

I got this car:

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It's ugly, not reliable, needs more gas than a Porsche, but driving it is so much fun. It actually feels like a go-cart... well, if you are specific this IS a go-cart =)

If you know how to use a screwdriver this will be your choice. Parts can be found almost everywhere for almost no money.

I... I'm sorry!

_{<rant_about_HP_hardware_and_software/>}

This is my car:

http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/593671

1995 Pontiac Grand Prix SE 3.1 L V6 (Unfortunately, a 4-door)

What does a printer have to do with getting images from a digital camera?

I have no USB cable, etc., so the only way to get the images from the camera to the computer is via the memory card. The memory card slots on my PC weren't working (and rather than fight with that hardware I opted for the HP printer which I know should recognize the memory card and magic should happen... Sadly, it didn't work out that way, but it probably was still easier than otherwise trying with the PC slots. Eventually, I waited for "Windows" to recognize the memory card via the printer and then physically copied the images (15 at a time) from the mapped drive. I hate hardware.

P.S. The comments BAF is talking about were edited out when I managed to get the image uploaded.

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That's my car (a 1990 Toyota Celica GT). Since those pictures, I put in a set of white gauge faces as well. A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them it's a 1990.

@BAF: I must say I'm disappointed. No shots of the front or rear exterior. I was going to post more shots, but they turned out pretty ugly considering the car isn't clean, it was dark, the interior needs to be cleaned, and the background is a Canadian fall. It also didn't help trying to use a regular digital camera to photograph a car in the dark.

One thing I really miss is a handbrake... Who ever thought of a foot-pedal emergency brake anyway!?

I don't have any other good pictures of the exterior, but here is a picture of the front. Looks almost the same today, only the engine bay is a little cleaner, and I put in new ignition cables, distributor, etc.

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And here is an okay picture of the exterior. Best I have handy ATM.

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It won't be $CDN 8000, but personally I want one of these.

For the record, we just bought that '95 Grand Prix SE ~4 months ago for $CDN 2000.

That challenger looks like garbaaaage if you ask me .

Get your hands on this and I'll be impressed (so will everyone else )

Okay, let's pretend for a second that you actually did see one and that the rear wheel was wobbling. So now all of them are junk. Great inductive skills.

And I admire your paraphrasing skills as well.

I really did and it was. I gave it the benefit of the doubt; there could be a very logical explanation for the wheel wobbling that goes beyond quality. I don't know. Personally, I don't like them. That's all I'm really saying.

From one example you condemn them all? That's like saying all white people are psychotic murderers because the Columbine kids were white.

My judgment was made the first time I watched a review and saw it's performance statistics. That's not my kind of car. Period.

The wobbling wheel was just good for a laugh.

No matter what car you take, just make sure it has Gentoo installed. It has some nice features. I especially like Gentoo(r) GenCar(tm) Edition.

I understand that you're upset because Yves 0wned j00 a$$ but that's just lame.