Help me find a car for my friend - was in Questions For Spectre thread

SquareLeft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
586
Location
Southern Ohio, USA
Car(s)
2019 Mazda6 Sport, 2002 Subaru WRX, 1961 Morgan
I feel like I've cluttered up the "Questions for Spectre" thread long enough with these fishing expeditions!

Here's the scoop on what we're looking for:
The car will be driven by teens - the boy is 16, the girl is 18.
Looking within about a 100 mile radius of ZIP 25705 (Huntington, WV)

The desired specs have changed slightly:
Target price is $3,500 or less
4 door sedan (or possibly a CUV like a Ford Escape). They don?t want a 2-door anything.
Prefer a 4 cyl. over a V6
Must have an automatic transmission
It's transportation, so we're looking for reliability over 'sportiness'
The mom is a 'no-rust' freak and doesn't want a project car
A decent sound system would be a big plus

***

Here are the latest 3 possibilities to survive the 'on-line problems sites'... any and all comments welcome!

2010 Honda Fit (slightly over target price, but...) http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5828093041.html

2005 Honda Accord http://athensohio.craigslist.org/cto/5799437338.html

1997 Mazda Protege http://parkersburg.craigslist.org/ctd/5827970057.html

As always,
Thanks in advance!
SL
 
No, no and no.

If you seek a rust free car, there are none that have survived a winter in Ohio. :p
 
Thanks, ScarFace88

The Fusion might be a good possibility. The Lexus is probably too 'vanny' and the Maxima is too fast. The Corolla looks nice, but has a lot of miles.

Best regards,
SL


Um....

2004 Maxima: 265hp, 255 ft-lbs, mid 6s 0-60 (around 6.6-6.7 IIRC).
2007 Fusion V6: 221hp, 205 ft-lbs, low 7s 0-60 (7.1-7.5)

The Fusion is still fast enough to get into trouble...
 
Um....

2004 Maxima: 265hp, 255 ft-lbs, mid 6s 0-60 (around 6.6-6.7 IIRC).
2007 Fusion V6: 221hp, 205 ft-lbs, low 7s 0-60 (7.1-7.5)

The Fusion is still fast enough to get into trouble...

True enough, but I've been knocking myself out looking at cars (most of which haven't made it to this discussion) for several months.
I'd like to be able to 'order' the perfect used car, but I can't do that. All I can do is try to point out the weak points of some of the cars Jill comes up with and suggest the best reasonable alternatives I can find. This latest switch to '4-doors only' shot down a very nice Civic coupe...

I guess I'll send Jill the Maxima link as well, since the daughter will (at least initially) have the use of the 'better' car while the son will get the hand-me-down Sentra (which has turned out to be a fantastic first car for the girl). I'm just trying to find the least dangerous options - Jake is a gamer and he'll probably test the limits of whatever he gets to drive.

In any case, I'm sure you folks know that I appreciate all the comments!

SL
 
Updated specs

Updated specs

I didn't do a very good job of providing enough details on the 'specs' that we're looking for, so here's a revised list:

Target price is $3,500 more or less
We're really looking for a smaller 4 door sedan (Civic/Accord size - or possibly a CUV like a Ford Escape). They don?t want a 2-door anything.

Driveway space is somewhat limited, so please, no 'full size' cars (especially ex-police cars) or full-size trucks (and yes, I understand that an x-cab Ranger is nearly as large as a full-size car...) Also, no Jeeps, Xterras or other off-road-y vehicles and no vans or crossovers. I've already found a couple of nice smaller SUVs that generated NO interest from the family.

Jill prefers 4 cyls. over V6s or V8s. As discussed in an earlier post, power = temptation :rolleyes:

Must have an automatic transmission
It's transportation, so we're looking for reliability over 'sportiness'
The mom is a 'no-rust' freak and doesn't want a project car. And, yeah, I realize that any used car from Ohio will have SOME rust, but we'll just have to live with that.
A decent sound system would be a big plus

So, now that we've eliminated 99.9% of what's available, I'll go back to hoping for a miracle!

SL
 
If you're near Cincinnati, you could go a little farther south into Kentucky and find less rust cars. I know normal people aren't eccentric like us here but, it's a thought.

Has she considered Honda CRV's, Elements or Rav4's? Now, that I'm looking, they seem to hold value..

'02 Corolla with less than 110,000 miles: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/682819640/overview/
'00 Corolla that also has less than 110k: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/671471389/overview/
'00 Volvo S40!? https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/676460809/overview/
'00 Corolla with only 68k: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/681112295/overview/
'02 Nissan Sentra with 66k though, the clear coat has seen better days: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/678928351/overview/

I know some of these are a fair distance away but, they seem really good. :dunno:
 
I didn't do a very good job of providing enough details on the 'specs' that we're looking for, so here's a revised list:

Target price is $3,500 more or less
We're really looking for a smaller 4 door sedan (Civic/Accord size - or possibly a CUV like a Ford Escape). They don?t want a 2-door anything.

Driveway space is somewhat limited, so please, no 'full size' cars (especially ex-police cars) or full-size trucks (and yes, I understand that an x-cab Ranger is nearly as large as a full-size car...) Also, no Jeeps, Xterras or other off-road-y vehicles and no vans or crossovers. I've already found a couple of nice smaller SUVs that generated NO interest from the family.

Jill prefers 4 cyls. over V6s or V8s. As discussed in an earlier post, power = temptation :rolleyes:

Must have an automatic transmission
It's transportation, so we're looking for reliability over 'sportiness'
The mom is a 'no-rust' freak and doesn't want a project car. And, yeah, I realize that any used car from Ohio will have SOME rust, but we'll just have to live with that.
A decent sound system would be a big plus

So, now that we've eliminated 99.9% of what's available, I'll go back to hoping for a miracle!

SL

So, what she wants is the classic econocrapbox. Good to know.


This is a Mitsubishi Carina. It's not related to the Galant but it falls apart and fails like one in the US.
 
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If you seek a rust free car, there are none that have survived a winter in Ohio. :p

That is false. My 94 Volvo was driven in NY most of its life, then I brought it to WV and drove it there 3 winters - the car had zero rust.
 
That is false. My 94 Volvo was driven in NY most of its life, then I brought it to WV and drove it there 3 winters - the car had zero rust.

WV is not Ohio. Neither is NY. Ohio is fucking notorious for its use of salt. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr235/017-030.pdf

Ohio: Salt applied at 200 to 300 lb/lane-mi on Interstate and primary highways; 100 to 200 lb/lane-mi, with abrasives on secondary roads; no more than 100 to 200 lb/lane-mi on low-priority roads

That's more than Michigan, The Rust State, which has an upper limit of 225lb/lane mile. West Virginia limits salt usage to 100-250 lb/ln-mi but mixed with sand (specifically, not just random abrasives that can actually make it worse) and it is not allowed in cities.
 
WV is not Ohio. Neither is NY. Ohio is fucking notorious for its use of salt. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr235/017-030.pdf

Spectre isn't kidding here. Ohio will send out the salt trucks if someone dumps their McDonald's ice on the road!! :mad:
Worse yet, they use that terrible liquid salt. There's no driving around it or escaping it. I do my best to stay home when it's in use.

Also, the comment about the S40 is interesting. I've rented them and have been around a few others - haven't heard the owners gripe about many problems. :dunno:

SL
 
I stand corrected on the use of salt. I just knew WV also used also, didn't realize OH used significantly more.

Stay away from that generation S40 - horrible cars, not particularly reliable, and not pleasant to sit in either. The 2004.5+ S40 is different, shares a platform with the Ford Focus and Mazda 3, and as such it is a significant improvement.
 
I stand corrected on the use of salt. I just knew WV also used also, didn't realize OH used significantly more.

There's a reason Ohio is perennially often near the top if not actually at the top of lists of "States with the rustiest cars" or "States to not buy classic cars from." Basically you can assume that if a car spent any significant amount of time in Ohio in even a single winter, it's going to be a rust bucket.

Stay away from that generation S40 - horrible cars, not particularly reliable, and not pleasant to sit in either.

Yup, they're terrible; fortunately they're mostly all gone now.

The 2004.5+ S40 is different, shares a platform with the Ford Focus and Mazda 3, and as such it is a significant improvement.

Yeah, but at that point you might as well just go buy the Focus and save the Volvo markup.
 
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Says the man that tells people that the early focus' were the most recalled vehicles ever.
 
Says the man that tells people that the early focus' were the most recalled vehicles ever.

The second S40 was built off the Mark 2 Focus, not the US Mark 1. We skipped the Mark 2 in the US and had a Mark 1+ instead until we got the Mark 3 in 2011. Totally different car made in a different country - but for the price the second gen S40 commanded when new and even commands now, you might as well go buy a 2011+ Focus instead.

Also, the major reason the Mark 1 Focus was a disaster in the US was the UAW screwing it up. The fact that it was the most recalled car in US was almost completely due to assembly errors or shitty parts supplied by UAW-infested suppliers.
 
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Since it's going to be impossible to find a car with no rust in Ohio, why not do the fly-and-drive-it-back thing with something from a place that's really rust free? It can easily be done in that budget.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/cto/5832052845.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/cto/5831896769.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/5831600549.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/5828472241.html

I can't help with the purchase as I'm booked up with thomas' Cadillac but if you ask some of the other Dallas FGers they should be able to help if you want to get something from here.
 
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