Nfl Fan wrote:If you were only spending 3-4 grand, i'd pick up a newer Grand Am with lower miles way before I'd get some 150,000 mile foriegn car. I've had probably 5 Grand Am's and have had great luck and no service woes. Plus, you get to drive American and I for one prefer to do just that.
My two cents.
LOL, exactly my first car. It's been great for me. I posted my post before I read this one too.
Along those same lines, I have a friend who's driven 2 Grand Ams for over 10 years. The first one he got back in high school (a long time ago) and drove that forever. A few years back he bought a newer one. He loves them and apparently they're pretty reliable because he's really hard on cars.
My first car was a $1500 Escort. Tough to pick up ladies in a car like that. Keep an eye on the classifieds in the paper and take someone very knowledgable with you. Take cash and haggle. You can get yourself some quality wheels for under $5k.
If you've got the cash all saved up already, federal auctions aren't a bad idea. Back in highschool, my friend won a '92 Toyota Camry with a blown tranny for $250 (he didn't mind the bloodstains) and then fixed it for a total cost of $400. Drove the car for a year or two before he sold it for $2000 to some chump. He was real happy with the $1600 profit.
Another friend of mine was a oil tech at a Car-X and one day, some idiot had a car towed in. He wanted to know why the car wouldn't start. Turned out that the idiot had never changed the oil and drove almost 12000 miles on it (new '04 Audi A6). The idiot got all mad and told me friend he was just going to buy a new BMW, so my friend offered to take it off his hands. The idiot agreed, then my friend bought and installed a new engine for about $2000, and he drove around in an almost new Audi for a few months before selling it for $45K.
beanoX3 wrote:Another friend of mine was a oil tech at a Car-X and one day, some idiot had a car towed in. He wanted to know why the car wouldn't start. Turned out that the idiot had never changed the oil and drove almost 12000 miles on it (new '04 Audi A6). The idiot got all mad and told me friend he was just going to buy a new BMW, so my friend offered to take it off his hands. The idiot agreed, then my friend bought and installed a new engine for about $2000, and he drove around in an almost new Audi for a few months before selling it for $45K.
That's probably the best way to go. You just need a rich idiot and happen to be the lucky guy to stumble upon said rich idiot.
josebach wrote:The guy gave away a $45,000 car? An "oil tech" with the expertise and tools to install a FWD Audi engine?
Him and his friends are all wrench monkeys. Out of the group of 4 who tinkered on this car, 1 is a mechanic for Acura, 2 for Landrover, and the oil tech is now a mechanic at Ford. Me, I just held the lamp and pressed the buttons on the pneumatic lift.
josebach wrote:The guy gave away a $45,000 car? An "oil tech" with the expertise and tools to install a FWD Audi engine?
Him and his friends are all wrench monkeys. Out of the group of 4 who tinkered on this car, 1 is a mechanic for Acura, 2 for Landrover, and the oil tech is now a mechanic at Ford. Me, I just held the lamp and pressed the buttons on the pneumatic lift.
Any car is a good car, as long as it's well taken care of. Well maybe not any, but 90% of them are. As a suggestion don't be hasty. The perfect deal for you is out there. Take your time and look over any car your interested in. Pop the hood and give a good listen while it idles. You can tell a lot about a car by it's idle. A good car idles very well. Check all the fluids. Give each tire a shake. Feel and listen for any loose bushings, ball joints, and you might be able to feel or hear a bad tie rod. While test driving listen for any strange noises. Don't settle on the thought, " it's no biggie. Shouldn't be much to fix that." Unless you know exactly what the problem is. But, sorry, I'm good at this. Scaring the crap out of car buyers. Needless to say, settle for a good running car over a good looking car, but if you're patient you'll find something just right with a little of both. Good luck!
The other night when I was talking to my parents about buying my own car, my dad said that I shouldn't have to pay for my own car so my parents are going to buy it Technically it will still be my parents car, but they said it will be mostly mine, good deal I'd say
sox 06 wrote:my dad said that I shouldn't have to pay for my own car
Lucky you but your dad's wrong.
I think he said it because my sister was able to drive one of the family cars whenever she wanted for the first three years she had her license and he thinks, to be fair, I should have the same opportunity.
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by Omaha Red Sox » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:27 am 
Technically it will still be my parents car, but they said it will be mostly mine, good deal I'd say 
