You had $16,000 to spend on a pre-owned vehicle...
 

These are the only conditions: It must be fuel efficient(at least 28mpg hwy), it must have 4 doors and it must have less than 35,000 miles on it)

Go get 'em!

Nissan Sentra or Altima.

Hyundai Sonata Limited

This.

Ford Fusion
Hyundai Santa Fe

I am bias but my vote goes for the Nissan Altima.

Camery.
Sonata.
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Camero.

08-10 Honda Civic

Get a NEW Chevy Cruze.

Camry, Accord or Sonota in that order.

I don't know the exact fuel specs, but I recently bought a 2010 Impala with about 20,000 miles on it for a couple K less than that.. Good car and a ton better on fuel than my old Expedition (but what other than a Jet wouldn't get better gas mileage?)

a Corolla would probably provide the most years of service and for $16k you could get one almost new.

Always thought the Nissan Altima is a sweet little ride. I'd go that.

This.

Go with this.

Last September, I bought a 2009 Subaru Forester with 14,500 miles for around $17,000, so close to your amount. It has full time AWD for our snowy winters and muddy boat ramps, gets over 30 mpg highway, can pull a trailer which allowed me to get rid of my gas guzzler pickup and comfortably fits our family of four on trips.

Not a sexy rig but fits my needs exactly.

Spend about $1000 more & get a brand new ford fiesta, 40mpg, sporty looks, full warranty.

My parents have a new Fiesta and it is a pretty nice car, though small. Dad is pulling in over 42 mpg in rural driving (manual transmission). They make a great car for someone without kids.

Yeah, not the roomiest cars, but i'm pretty comfortable in them at 5'9.

And you cant get better mileage without going to a pain in the ass hybrid.

There seems to be plenty of room for driver and passenger. The back seat wouldn't work for us with two teenage boys.

I wouldn't mind one of the five door Fiestas when we are empty nesters.

It's a certified used vehicle, 2010 or 2011 , has around 10-20k miles.
Damn near every 4 cylinder sedan that I just looked at could be had for 16k or less.
You just need to decide if a model year and a few miles are worth leather and a moonroof. ;)
For my money, Toyota's certified program is best, then Honda and GM.

definitely looking for a family car

Would probably do a used BMW 3 series.

The older I get, the more I am disturbed by the unchallenged hypocrisy of "real" Americans who won't buy American cars.

Id never own a BMW out of warranty.

Go drive a Camry at Sullivan Toyota, see how that fits.

I plan on driving my current car into the ground, but if I was going to get a new one, it would be a smaller SUV. I really miss the storage capacity and ability to haul bulky objects. I wonder if you could find a used Murono for that price?

Willy Sullivan is a guy I'd like to business with.

Acura TL. May not find one under $16,000 with your mileage requirement but I love those cars.

A new Corolla or a certified used Camry.

I am actually impressed with how the "generic" car models such as corolla, taurus, altima, optima, etc. have been able to produce pretty sleek looking cars lately.

I'm with you on this one. Fuel effeciency is overrated.

The new 300+ HP V6 Camaros are rated at nearly 30 mpg highway. I don't think you'll find a low mileage used one at $16K, though.

love my altima, I'd go with another.

I have Fusions, Camrys and Altimas here for under $16k. ;)

Altima, from an owner of two.

Or one with 4 doors.

Only criteria I suggest;

The manufacturer did not receive a bailout.
The manufacturer is not unionized.

I drive a Camry that was made in Kentucky.

Do you ever take the doors and trunk off and switch them around to make a multi-colored car, just for a change of pace?

I have a sneaking suspicion there's an inside joke here, weather you want to believe it or not.

Dodge Charger...
Fuel efficient is pussy.

i would go with an Avalon. I did.

Y'all are boring!

Is this in the current year? Because if it was in the 1950s I'd do one of those Corvettes.

Oh, wait. No four doors on those.

Id beat down a Hyundai dealership on a new Elantra.

If anyone wants to do that call me! I sell new Hyundais Nissan and Hondas :P

I bet selling cars is fun.

Spend 10k on a Honda Civic and save the rest.

Honda Accord.

I'd buy a new Elantra for $16k if that's really the price (rather than a used Jap or American or German car). Over the years it's been fun to watch Hyundai go from total crap vehicles to decent ones and now they are trying to compete with the Lexus's and Acuras of the world.

The best purchase you will ever make in your life would be a brand new Toyota corolla for that coin.

Go to a dealership looking for a brand new 2011 and if they don't have one, have them look for one.

Just tell em you want it to have 4 doors and you don't care what else.

I tried that once and the hood flew up and broke the windshield and my wife was afraid to drive it.

So....lets say you find a clean, low-mileage 2011 model vehicle. the Dealer is asking $17,900. How do you determine where to start the negotiations? What's your first offer?

The new Elantras are nice ****ing cars. I'd never buy brand new, but I'd get one a year old or so that still has low miles. Great warranty, and quality automobile. These are not your broke Dad's Hyundais.

No they're not. Hyundai has really stepped their game up.
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Hyundai is a great brand. However, if you buy a USED Hyundai, Kia or Mitsubishi, you do NOT get a 5 year 50,000 mile bumper to bumper and 10 year 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty. You get the remaining of 3 years 36,000 bumper to bumper and the remaining of 5 year 60,000 on drivetrain!

I don't understand why people are wowed by Kia and Hyundai's rise in quality. Honda and Toyota's were crap boxes when they first came to the U.S.

Brand new Chevy Cruze or Malibu

I was fairly impressed with the Cruze.

I like it a lot, and for the price you can't beat it. Seriously I'm really thinking about purchasing one. It has more leg room than the Malibu and is imo a lot more stylish.

Almost right.

The 2nd owner gets the remainder of the 5 year 60000 mile bumper to bumper, but does not get the 100k powertrain. Of course, the powertrain is covered in your bumper to bumper 60k as well.

UNLESS.

You buy a certified used hyundai, then you get the full warranty.

Oh no you ditunt.

Search for something in your price range with the options you want at carmax.com and use that as a baseline for comparing other suggestions. You may not get the cheapest deal possible on a car, but you can have pretty good confidence that it's in good shape and you don't have to haggle.

Here's some results based on your criteria.

The store nearest to you is in the DFW area.

Not how I understood it, but I am no expert! More research indicates that YOU are correct sir!

Go to edmunds.com's used car section

http://www.edmunds.com/used-cars/

Fill in the section on "Appraise a used car". Fill in mileage and options. It will give you are range of prices based trade in, private party and dealer retail. I would start a little under private party and go from there. Edmunds' prices are based on what cars actually have sold for in your area, unlike the arbitrary prices on Kelly Blue Book.

If you start too low, they won't take you seriously and will jerk you around. Make them a reasonable offer and be prepared to walk. if they say no and counter with an unreasonable offer, thank them and get up and leave. If they let you leave, you were way too low. More than likely, though, they will change the counter offer.

The best deal is the one you are happy with for a car you like. Don't worry about if you could have squeezed them for a few more dollars.

Actually some of the best car buying advice that I have read.

Thanks. I've had a lot of practice. :redface:


As a side note, I've been kind of looking on Craigslist for a car for my son in the "under $5000" range and have decided that 90% of the people on there are complete idiots. :shake:

3 different members from different parts of the country have recommended a new Chevy Cruze. Worth at least a test drive if you ask me.

If you want to buy new you can get a few decent cars in that 16k range. A stickshift elantra maybe, or one of the new nissan versas, or a hyundai accent, also a honda fit and some other cars. Possibly even the aforementioned chevy cruze.


Truecar.com

It really is literally the lowest way you can buy alot of cars. My dealership hates it when the leads come in, becuase we are already 600-1200 back of invoice. But, we just sell it, becuase its volume. Go into truecar type what you want and bam, lowest price you will see.

True car is ****ing stupid.

I beg to differ.

Yeah, I went thru that several years looking for a beater. Hang with it, you will find one. I spent $1350.00 and am driving it still 3 years later!

All the leads we get, the customer has the figures for a MANUAL, and they are looking for an automatic. I have not heard of a real dealership giving Truecar.com ANY merit. We use a large website provider and they basically said, "answer them if you want, but their leads are bullshit". And they service some of the premier dealerships in the country.

70 posts in and nobody has suggested hosting a hookers and blow party with the 16K, then stealing a car.

This place is maturing right before our eyes.

People punch in their car in KBB while neglecting it's true condition and then take the highest price as if it were gospel.

Your clapped out 12 year old Kia with over 200,000 miles and a branded title is not worth $4000. :facepalm: (true story)

Brand new Honda Fit, amazing vehicles for the money and extremely versatile with the cool interior configurations. Plus the resale is absolutely insane, you basically lose nothing if you're not socking on miles.

Kinda frightening.....hunh?.....

The Fit is an awesome car. But I feel that the Cruze is in the same league! And I have sold both Honda and Chevy.

Damn. My car was about the 10th that I had looked at. 98 Mazda 626 with 192K. But air blew cold, power windows, locks, Sunroof and......wait for it.......oscilating center vents all worked. The body was good, NOT great and he wanted $1500.00 Title was clean.

I sold 6 from truecar leads alone last month. We do get a few looking for that mythical car that you cant get, but most people know what they want or are very close to it. Thats why we follow up with them and sell them a car.

If the customer knows what he wants, truecar is a great way to get it without hassle.