Best and Worst vehicles under $6K

[Groves]

What are the darlings of the sub-$6,000 car market? What are the tempting stinkers?

My household knows that when I need knowledge & wisdom, with a side-salad of snark & buffoonery, I seek if from you all.

"I'll ask Chiefs Planet"

Child No. 3 had a 2005 Prius just go belly up. Main battery, we'll probably pay to find the bad cells to make it more sellable. So now they're in the market for a vehicle.

I used to be current in my "No subarus after 200k" and "No Buick Encores with the Ecotech" and "No Jeeps ever" type of 'wisdom', but I'm out of date. I know it's always a tradeoff between condition and miles and reliability.

I need your help.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by booger

Mercury Grand Marquis in the RWD platform with V8

Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord. I’m a GM guy but those are some good vehicles. I will post some screw tube I mean YouTube videos if you want.

Also cross check potential buys on cars.com and use their user ratings as a benchmark. Me personally If it’s not 4.3 4.4 4.5 stars out of 5 I say screw it and move on to the next one. Vehicles are dime a dozen. You’re looking for practical and reliable from the looks of it. Also lots of vehicles on cars.com with free carfax. You get to check service and maintenance intervals and hopefully the prior owner kept it up and running. Or they didn’t because lots of rotten shits these days don’t even change the oil once a year. Carfax has its own app and website for searches. Edmonds as mentioned is good. Repair pal website is a good resource for your toolbox

I was going to specifically call out the Corolla and Accord, but just figured you'll never find those for under $6K unless there is some kind of major problem. They are great cars though, if you can find.

[TLO]

Find a car with a 3800 V6
Drive it until a nuclear apocalypse hits.
Continuing driving after.

[loochy]

maybe try a motorcycle

[Pennywise]

Get an old school Mongoose.

[booger]

https://youtu.be/IMbnV28WVqw?si=JxhvHgM1LHiAWY1M

Scotty Kilmer is biased towards Japanese stuff but he’s got good videos discussing these things and specific years. Toyota I would personally stick with V6 but that’s just me. You also have the option with most of their V6 to stay with a timing chain and not a timing belt. Hondas have the belt as do some Toyotas and many others. Just buy one that has the verified timing belt remove and replace recently mileage wise done. I just stick with timing chain Toyotas. Luxury Toyota is badged as a Lexus. Check out the Lexus RX 350. Also have been advised by long time mechanic I know for past 25+ years is stay 2017 and newer with domestic suv crossovers etc. Not sure on the exacts but I trust him so it’s in my set parameters when shopping

[booger]

https://youtu.be/4QgoDoSzpEM?si=BVgPrk1Zwi9Icoid

The car care nut

Subscribe to him if you like Toyota and foreign vehicles. He’s a former Toyota certified mechanic I believe now has his own shop.

Above is example of a good vehicle that still has an expensive fix. Sometimes you can’t avoid these things no matter how hard you try.

If you’re interested in a particular vehicle do a YouTube search before you buy.

Example type in: the care car nut 2010 Lexus RX 350 and see which videos pop up. Then you can double check by just doing a yt search for 2010 Lexus RX 350 and type common problems behind it.

Find a good guru and stick with them. You can chase all sorts of videos otherwise. Keep it simple and type year make model in the search for any vehicles and take your time if possible.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by wazu

Unfortunately this is what we've found. It's brutal trying to get a car for a teenager these days. I don't have much advise other than to suggest you add Nissan Altimas to your list of cars to stay away from.

I remember Nissan was running a buy one, get one free special back maybe like 8-10 years ago.

I kept thinking “there is no way these are quality vehicles if they’re giving one away upon purchase”.

[dlphg9]

I've found the cheapest place to shop for vehicles is Facebook marketplace.

[booger]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

I won't buy anything besides a Toyota or a Honda...have always had the best luck with gas powered models and trust the more than EV or most Hybrid.

Bugeater and Livesteam those 2 corn cobs have good advice on Honda and Toyota on this board folks just need to do a search. Some of these vehicles are harder to come by but worth the effort in today’s market and vehicle world in general. They just screwed the hell out of so many from 2009 on up trying to usher in a horseshit electrical market where the engineering and research and development was pure junk and hope. Now we’re all getting kicked in the teeth with shit vehicles so you have to be a disciplined and lucky consumer to protect your purchases

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by booger

https://youtu.be/IMbnV28WVqw?si=JxhvHgM1LHiAWY1M

Scotty Kilmer is biased towards Japanese stuff but he’s got good videos discussing these things and specific years. Toyota I would personally stick with V6 but that’s just me. You also have the option with most of their V6 to stay with a timing chain and not a timing belt. Hondas have the belt as do some Toyotas and many others. Just buy one that has the verified timing belt remove and replace recently mileage wise done. I just stick with timing chain Toyotas. Luxury Toyota is badged as a Lexus. Check out the Lexus RX 350. Also have been advised by long time mechanic I know for past 25+ years is stay 2017 and newer with domestic suv crossovers etc. Not sure on the exacts but I trust him so it’s in my set parameters when shopping

Yeah Accords are great, but you're right, if the T belt breaks, it can bend the valves and that's when things get really expensive. Always make sure the T belt is in good condition.

[booger]

Originally Posted by TLO

Find a car with a 3800 V6
Drive it until a nuclear apocalypse hits.
Continuing driving after.

Those were rock solid thoroughbreds. If you can find an older vehicle with one it would be worth it as long as it has been recently driven and not sat for years

[booger]

Originally Posted by Bwana

Yeah Accords are great, but you're right, if the T belt breaks, it can bend the valves and that's when things get really expensive. Always make sure the T belt is in good condition.

Stupid engineers and their ideas!! Timing belt wtf?? Horseshit I say lol keep the chain!

Take this from me personally folks… Bwana has great advice on many subjects and has been a great resource for me. I’ll take him in my foxhole for life battles and advise any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Rock solid dude!!

[ThaVirus]

I haven’t shopped for a new car in a long while, but I just Googled and found a couple 2015 Honda Civic’s for just under $6,000. A 10-year old Honda should last for a while.

I also tried Googling 2015 Toyota Corollas and wow. Cheapest one I saw was just under $8,000 with 206,000. How is that any kind of deal? The prices on those were all over the place. Most were over $10k and I even saw a 2018 Corolla for $16k lol

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I haven’t shopped for a new car in a long while, but I just Googled and found a couple 2015 Honda Civic’s for just under $6,000. A 10-year old Honda should last for a while.

I also tried Googling 2015 Toyota Corollas and wow. Cheapest one I saw was just under $8,000 with 206,000. How is that any kind of deal? The prices on those were all over the place. Most were over $10k and I even saw a 2018 Corolla for $16k lol

Welcome to post COVID pricing, where everything shot up like 80% and has only dropped like 30% but people act like it's a deal and pay the price, so manufacturers don't feel the need to step back in line because people keep buying.

[booger]

Salvage aka rebuilt title vehicles that have been totaled for simple stuff like hitting a deer you can get good deals on. Lots of growth in small repair shops/dealers who work with insurance companies to acquire vehicles to fix and resell from what I’ve seen. Lots of time just a new bumper cover and hood or other body panel and the fix quotes are so high they total a very good vehicle. Just make sure you check with your insurance and your bank if taking out a loan to make sure you cover the costs etc. Do your homework with that but it is another market option folks can look at. Won’t make sense for everyone