Car shopping

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:13 am

There is a whole lot more to this story, but to get to the end part, I'm trying to decide between three cars. I have the car loan preapproved, but I have a cap of ten thousand dollars and can only purchase from a franchised dealership. I have a personal rule against buying cars for $2k from people on the street, or 'clunkers' as a friend calls them.

I live in deep East Texas, so it's half an hour on the highway to anything bigger than a gas station and will routinely spend about five minutes a day on dirt roads, and I plan on taking an hour-long road trip about once a week or more to Dallas.

From what I can tell, I have these choices:

A. 2005 Toyota Prius, 132k miles, $6.8k here
B. 2006 Scion xA, 68k miles, $10k here
C. 2009 Hyundai Accent, 32k miles, $10k here; there's another at the same lot with only 1 mile on it for the same price, but I suspect it's dangerous to even try to drive if it sat on the lot for four solid years without moving
D. 2005 Honda Civic, 95k miles, $8k, here

If you have any advice, I'm all ears.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:55 am

What's the condition on the Prius' batteries? The cost is cheap sure, but if they're nearing the end of their lifecycle, what's the cost of replacement?

Personally, I'd go for the Honda, but that's a bias on my part.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:38 am

A Prius is a status symbol. It doesn't get better gas mileage than cars of its size (you can look at Tzor's signature for actual proof instead of the inflated numbers Toyota's ad campaign pulled out of their ass). I'd advise against getting one.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:11 pm

My wife and I both have Hondas (hers is a Civic), but I don't know much about 2005 Civics. Can you check something like Consumer Reports?

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:07 pm

I'be seen Tzor's numbers, which are still about 10mpg better than anything else on the list, not counting the people I know who have gotta nearly 60mpg. As for the battery, actual research indicates that the rest of the car is more likely to die than the battery. It's still up for debate, as it is a car with over 130k miles.

From what the online reviews indicate, all but the Hyundai have a history of longevity, the accent being much less touched though.

K · Post by K » Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:54 pm

I'd probably go with the Prius because it's the cheapest and Toyotas tend to last forever. The chances of a conscientious Prius driver who maintained his car is probably higher too.

That being said, Prius mileage is better in cities with stop and go traffic, so you won't see a lot of savings.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:29 am

I have to admit that when I drove to California, I became disillusioned with higher gas mileage.

My current car (V6 minivan) gets about 20 mpg, and the Nissan Sentra got 30. The monetary savings of gas on the trip with the rental car was about $100 (1700 mile trip). That means that monthly, I pay about $55 for the privilege of being able to throw my friends and family into my car, haul boxes to my storage unit, go grocery shopping all day long, have great leg room and more comfortable seats, not get my skirts wet when it's raining, and don't have water pile up on my windshield in bad weather.

I'm willing to pay that, actually.

On the other hand, the rental car went faster (my car wouldn't sustain going more than 70 mph for extended periods of time) - which meant that I drove from Olympia, WA to San Rafael, CA in 12 hours, stops included. The Nissan had a nicer turning radius, as well.

---

Have you had the chance to test drive any of these kinds of car? Do you care? How much is the insurance for each?

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:41 am

Do you know what's annoying about guessing insurance? I am guaranteed to be hounded with phone calls about them when I try to get an online quote. I know the Prius can be as low as $66/month if I go for the minimum the law allows, including the full coverage part because I have to when taking an auto loan.

ADDENDUM: I have one friend advising against the Prius because 132k miles is way too much for a taking a car loan for. I have another suggesting the Accent because it's the newest, another suggesting the Scion because it's the lowest miles without being as unsafe as the Accent, and yet another suggesting the Prius for similar reasons to K.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:45 am

If you have a current insurance company, call them and ask.

Also, have enough money for repairs. No car I've purchased (not even from the dealer) - or that friends have purchased - have made it through the first three months without something breaking on it to the tune of about $600.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:47 am

Unfortunately, I haven't had a car for the last four years, so I never renewed my insurance.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:21 am

I only just found out about how you have insurance for yourself as a driver in america. That shit is fucking weird.

Anyway, check the prius miles thing with your car loans company. I'd be leery about buying it because of the very high miles, but my usual concern would be engine wear, which wouldn't be that big a deal with the prius.

Juton · Post by **Juton** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:12 pm

As of this post it looks like the Civic has been sold. My general advice for someone being a used car is to buy one made by someone who has a reputation for reliability. My top three choices would probably be Honda, Toyota and Subaru. This may not apply to someone in one of the dryer more arid states, but you need to check the undercarriage for rust, it's a good indicator of how well the car was maintained and it's bothersome to fix rust problems after the fact.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:35 pm

I had called the dealers Monday to actually buy one of their cars. Every. Single. One. Had been sold within the day I posted the above list and they hadn't gotten around to removing them from their online listings by Monday.

Due to time constraints and the fact if I waited another day or two, I'd be unable to look again for a car for a month and a half...I now drive a 2010 Hyundai Accent.

Ravengm · Post by **Ravengm** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:43 pm

Find old ladies that are selling their cars due to age or whatever. I got mine on the cheap by buying it from an elderly woman.

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:30 pm

I drove a 2001 Hyundai accent 2-door for about 10 years before retiring it in order to get a larger family vehicle once we had kid #2 on the way (and downgrading the chevy cavalier from family car into my new work-commuter). Twas a fun enough car. I let its exterior appearance go to pot to make it my ghetto mobile so that I could park wherever downtown and not have to worry about anyone messing with it (and nobody ever did!).

It got pretty decent mileage (usually 40 or so, one tank got ~50 once... musta had some nice tailwind on a long highway drive) while I tracked such things on a notepad... but after many tens of thousands of miles I lost the pad and lost interest. By the end of its life it was still getting at least 30mpg. *sigh* It was my last manual transmission car. Despite that it is always me driving everywhere, my wife insists on automatics so she can drive.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:57 am

I wish I'd thought to get a preapproved car loan. Might have saved me a lot of time yesterday.