Help needed: Buying a used car under $6,000 in LA [solved]

[freefall]

Hell, even my 13 year old BMW has 2.2 litres but is called 320i so it's not that it has been changed in the last year or so...

Make sure you save money in a repair account

Oh god, I just noticed there's a dedicated : spectre : smiley, this is hilarious

 

[Spectre]

Did explain that. Extended warranty... don't think so. I think it's one of those cases where you just go with your gut instinct against the odds. She only plans to keep it for a year or so.

Perhaps she will have better luck than most.

4.6 even, according to official figures.

Depends on where you look and which way you round the numbers. Most name it as a 4.7.

Well, the thing is that nowadays with different turbo sizes and ECU programming you get different power outputs from the same sized engine. The 320i and the 328i have the same basic engine, but a power gap of 60 hp (184 vs. 245 hp). Should both be named 320i since they both have 2 litres displacement?

They could do it like they used to. We had two 325s in the US, the 325i... and the 325e. Both were fuel injected, one had the lower powered engine. Both 2.5s.

Hell, even my 13 year old BMW has 2.2 litres but is called 320i so it's not that it has been changed in the last year or so...

Dumb then, dumb now.

Make sure you save money in a repair account

Hey, Der Stig just got his quarterly $500 repair bill for his E46. Not unusual at all over here; possibly going to be more depending on what's gone wrong now.

 

[freefall]

Perhaps she will have better luck than most.

Either that or a lesson will be learned. Which is all good anyway, not a life or death kind of situation.
Problem with many girls is that they rely more on the emotional factors and underestimate the importance of oil changes.

Depends on where you look and which way you round the numbers. Most name it as a 4.7.

Here.

 

[Spectre]

Either that or a lesson will be learned. Which is all good anyway, not a life or death kind of situation.
Problem with many girls is that they rely more on the emotional factors and underestimate the importance of oil changes.

IIRC, the E39 does have a 'hey, stupid, change the oil' notification system. That *should* help some.

Here.

Yup. But it's 4663cc, which rounds up to 4.7. Merc rounds down, most people round up.

 

[Mitchi]

I and others keep trying to tell you guys, but few believe it - the operating environment is much harsher in most parts of North America than it is in Europe. It's been proven to not be owner abuse or lack of maintenance (data logging and free maintenance programs.) It's just existing conditions here for the majority of issues.

For a lot of the rest, it's often a location sourcing/assembly thing. Our Hyundais and Kias here come from Korea and the US and they've got a hard-earned generally good record here. Over in Europe, apparently they are loosely slapped together in Lower Elbonia and have a decidedly mixed recent record for reliability.

I think the reason we Europeans don't get this thing about german cars being unreliable is because the difference is so big. Over here in Europe, you wouldn't have to put 500 bucks per quarter year in your BMW or Merc or Audi. If you do, you are seriously doing something wrong ... why not list the things that are really that much different in terms of climate etc? I cannot really believe that things like humidity and lots of sunny days will do a lot to the mechanical things in a car. Fluids like oil and fuel should be somewhat the same.
I just can't and won't believe that the natural differences between Europe and North America do that much of a difference to a car's state.

 

[narf]

Just to give you some idea, I understand that Mitsubishi is well regarded over there - and over here it's about to get kicked off USDM Island for decades of cars that were crap (didn't hold up, went on fire) in our market. Suzuki got kicked off USDM Island for the same reason.

Is it?

Mitsu is a non-entity over here. Last year they've barely beaten Porsche by a few hundred cars in new registrations, at #25 in the rankings for 2013.
Last quarter, the best-selling Mitsu, the ASX, managed to get into the top 100... at #96.

 

[freefall]

Is it?

Mitsu is a non-entity over here. Last year they've barely beaten Porsche by a few hundred cars in new registrations, at #25 in the rankings for 2013.
Last quarter, the best-selling Mitsu, the ASX, managed to get into the top 100... at #96.

Lancer, Evo and Pajero. Yes, they have quite a reputation with those models. Others, not so much.

 

[Mitchi]

The only Mitsubishi that's well regarded over here is the Lancer Evo. And that of course only by petrolheads, so not really a huge chunk of the population.

Not many drive a Mitsubishi here, so I don't get it where that comes from

 

[Eye-Q]

Make sure you save money in a repair account

Over here in Europe, you wouldn't have to put 500 bucks per quarter year in your BMW or Merc or Audi.

Yup, that's right - I put 300 Euros in repairs over the whole last year in my 320i, including regular maintenance like changing spark plugs and filters. The only repairs were replacing two parts on the window winding mechanism and a switch for the window winder, those added up to 100 Euros, but the parts on the window winding mechanism will outlast the car since they are made out of aluminium instead of plastic. I have to admit that I put in about 1500 in the month after I bought it last year in June, but it had been neglected before and the 1500 included repairing a chafed side bolster of the driver's seat as well as other unnecessary things like replacing black decor fillet with silver one or a faded badge on the hood.

Mechanically the car is sound, even though I am driving 75% in the city. That said, german roads are often kinder to the mechanicals of cars than american roads.

 

[freefall]

I was basically trolling you by copying Spectre's advice But whatever.

 

[public]

I think Mitsu did decently well here up until the late '90s, and then just soldiered on with the Carisma for a little while, as the rest of the line-up was barely there. Then there was a ten-year lost weekend with nothing really happening, and now they're practically only selling the ASX in any numbers. It kind of boggles me why there cannot be a modern Colt - Lancer - Galant - Spaceballs - Pajero lineup, but perhaps times are changing. Nissan decided they only really wanted to sell crossovers for while as well, and are only now bringing back the Pulsar as a regular Golf competitor.

 

[freefall]

Galant

The 1996 model looks awesome. If you pardon this quite sensibly styled specimen:

The rest were uber meh. Except for earlier 1-3 generations, but those are properly ancient now.

 

[public]

Yeah, I've always liked those.

I just noticed you could buy a brand new Lancer in Germany for 14900 eur, or a dealer stock car that's advertised for 13k and something with barely delivery miles. For someone considering a bare-essentials new car, those are a valid alternative for a penalty box city car for the money. They're even decently specced, and the price is what you would pay for a low-mileage 2008 car here.

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-insera...ec-b-köln/193891610.html?lang=en&pageNumber=1

 

[Mitchi]

Huh, I did not know theses are that cheap. That's actually A LOT of car (new car!), for that money.

 

[freefall]

The beemer was totaled by a drunk underprivileged driver without a license or insurance while parked outside the apartment. Sigh.