My new $1000 find...
It's ok to laugh...it's funny!
My little brother is going with me, but...I had to retrain him from buying a Sunfire with a blown headgasket last year because OMG IT HAS A TURBO AND IT'S A CONVERETABLE
And then he drove his own $500 Sunfire to death after the thermostat failed - it overheated and he just kept driving until he blew the head gasket. And then drove some more. So...depends on your definition of knowledgeable
LOL well...I guess having another set of eyes doesn't hurt. Really, you sound pretty knowledgeable anyway, I think you know what to look for as much as any non-professional car person does.
I'm really eyeing that Taurus. I used to have a Taurus sedan and I LOVED that thing. And then some asshole ran a red light and killed it
My brother's girlfriend has a Taurus sedan and it runs well too, and it's late-90s. But I also had a Sable (Mercury's taurus) and it was a piece of junk and I WAY overpaid for it. I emailed the guy about the Taurus and he said "nothing major except a/c doesn't work, should be able to drive anywhere." Of course I know people can hype up their cars, but I think it may be worth a look. A/C doesn't matter much longer at the moment, so I can save up to have it fixed. Or get it fixed with my excess financial aid.
Yeah the AC thing...it's pretty hard, at least around here to find cheap, old cars with functional AC unless the owner has had it fixed at some point. No AC is usually a given when looking for under $2000 cars and definitely in no way means something else major is wrong with the car. Sometimes all they need is charged, which is a fairly easy fix. But if they need a new compressor or other new parts, it can get pretty pricey to repair. This wagon is the first car I have had in forever with functioning AC but the heat has worked just fine in all of them.
A loan is pretty much out at this point. My credit is shot...as in, planning to file for bankruptcy shot. And then my stupid Caliber was a voluntary repossession, but a repossession all the same. I've also had AWFUL luck with car loans. My first car loan, for my Taurus, it was totaled after 6 months and I was out several thousand dollars because I didn't have gap insurance. My second one was for my Sable, and that car lasted a year and then died, so then I got the remainder of that loan put on my Caliber loan. My Caliber was awesome for 2 year, and started to go downhill the third year. And then by the end of the third year it was also dead dead dead without putting several thousand dollars I didn't have into it (hence the voluntary repossession). I still owe a few thousand on my Caliber, so technically I am still making car payments. On a car I don't have anymore. My Caliber was only 5 years old. My Taurus was 2 years old. My Sable was I think a 2001, so it was only 6 years old. And that's sort of why I want an older car. New ones have been shitty in my experience (except my Taurus. I LOVED MY TAURUS. WHY DID YOU SQUASH IT YOU STUPID BITCH. I'm still not over it.)
UGH! This is one reason I always balk at getting a car loan. There's something to be said for not buying things you can't actually afford for sure. The car I had a loan for really didn't last any longer than the cars I got cheaper because the frame broke. Rust is a huge issue here and was the ultimately the reason my beloved 1994 z24 has to go. It had 197k on it and still ran fine but Jeff didn't know how many more times he could jack it up. Was very sad to see that car go, my parents bought it "nearly new" with 1,700 miles on it in 94, I learned to drive in it. And still remember taking a 400 sized crate to the dealer, just to be sure it would fit in the backseat LOL. My parents have a $2500 used Cavalier now that runs good but the frame is rusting. Their 2003 van that only has 50,000 miles on it is starting to suffer from rust too. Ohio winters are just really, really hard on cars.
So I have had...
$3000 89 Camaro RS, my first car and only loan car. I drove it for 5+ years but it got a new transmission at some point in there. Frame broke, can't remember the mileage 150ish?
$1200 91 5 speed Cavalier that lasted me 5+ years but had to have a new clutch during it's time with me. Pretty rough body and such a base model it didn't even have a rear defogger but I drove that car all over. I killed it by accidentally running over landscaping rocks and breaking the flywheel. It was a $400 repair but by that point the rust was so bad that it wasn't worth fixing. It must have also had around $150ish.
94 Cavalier z24 mentioned above which was free to me and the best car ever. RIP Blue Car.
$250 97 Lumina that was in decent shape and very reliable. My friend sold it to me for scrap price because she had 4 cars and didn't want to get a battery for it or try to sell it through the papers, so she was going to have the junk man take it. I drove it 2+ years and a rod went bad in the engine. Ended up selling it with a bad engine for more than a bought it for. 170ish miles. So that's what...1 month's car payment for 2 years of driving?
$300 91 Caravan originally came from the same friend the Lumina came from. Another friend bought this off of her for $600 around the same time and drove it for a few years. It's gas tank fell off and scared her, so she didn't want to drive it any more LOL. It only had 120k something but having always been in OH it certainly had some rust issues by time I got it. Too bad, I liked it - smaller and better on gas than modern mini vans. I sold it for around $300 when I got another car so probably only had it 6 months or so.
$850 97 Cavalier...the dreaded Gold Car. Bought this car when car prices were high. It ran ok but OMG was it a bad looking and poorly cared for car LOL. Someone had decided to spray paint it gold, after scratching it all up with sandpaper. If that wasn't bad enough, they put Walmart tribal decals on all over it. It's radio only worked sometimes...then not at all. It's turn signal to go left was manual. It was...beat up. Looked like a teenage boy's car. But it did run and all we ever put into it was a couple new gas lines, a "new" used tire and patched the gas tank, so I shouldn't complain I guess. When the engine went on my parent's "nice, good, reliable" Stratus that they had just paid off after 5 years, my dad drove it all winter to and from work. Sold it after we had it a little over a year for $600 just because I didn't like driving it - it really needed to be with a teenage boy LOL. I don't remember the mileage but I want to say around 130k.
$750 Grand Caravan has a rough body but very solid frame and under body (was a FL car originally). Bought it off of a friend who was a mechanic, so mechanically it was well cared for. It's been pretty good and reliable, expect for some coolant leaks which I had to have repaired. Have had it for a year and a half maybe. Not currently running, needs a new ignition switch. I definitely see why people like these vans so well, it's got a lot of cool features that my other vehicles didn't and it's really comfy. But it's probably going once we get the ignition switch fixed since the wagon gets better MPG and there's always a decent market for running mini vans around here and I can probably get more than I paid for it. Around 188k right now.
So that's it...my car history LOL. I have spent under $8000 in my entire driving life (14 years) purchasing vehicles.
It might also be worth mentioning my standards for "Can drive to dog shows" are probably lower than average. I mean, my Caliber had a freaking wheel FALL OFF on the way to a dog show, and I had a bad feeling the whole time that something was going to happen because it was making bad noises. But I still went. I do have roadside assistance that guarantees me a tow home if worst comes to worst, and my brother would come rescue my sorry ass out of Nowhere, OK if I needed it. I mean, it would be very nice if I could stuff everything I own in my car and drive to the west coast when I move, but I know in reality that won't happen (I wouldn't even have trusted my Caliber for that). But...driving 30 minutes to the stable without overheating would be lovely.
This made me LOL! Yeah different people definitely have different ummm...minimum requirements from their cars. Also the things I have had happen with vehicles going to dog shows. My mom's Transport died...like died for good on the way to a show. It started overheating and because we were "almost there" she didn't want to stop and it blew a head gasket. My friend's Caravan decided that it's front heater wasn't going to work on the way to a show that was 3 hours from home in the middle of a huge snow storm. We drove for over 2 hours through the snow storm with me kneeling between the seats wiping the frost off the inside of the windshield. She finally couldn't take the stress of driving in such bad conditions with no heat or defroster and we stopped at a hotel thinking we must be most of the way there. Turns out...we were about a 40 minute regular drive from where we started. Heater worked just fine in the morning and though it was a close call, we got to the show in time for me to get into the ring...and finish Loki!