Car help, under $20k

[citanul]

Alas, I think I'm giving up on my current car.

I'm looking to buy a new one, and in a semi-hurry. I've never bought a car before.

The only car I've actually test driven to this point was the Honda Fit. Several Honda dealers at this point unfortunately have told me that this car carries a mark-up over sticker because of their popularity and rarity, so since one of the great draws of the Fit is that it's cheap, I'm pretty much not going to buy it.

Other new cars that are under or just around 20k:

Civic
Sentra
Rabbit
Jetta
other

Used cars that can usually be had for around 20k:

A4
3 series
Saab 93
other

I live in Chicago, the weather gets [censored], the car will be used for lightish commuting/getting around town, and so will probably be seeing an average of 50m/day 5day/week, so probably about 250m/week. Reliability is the first order of business: I don't want the car to be in the shop a ton, and I want it to last a while. Second orders are that it has to be an automatic, and it shouldn't be a totally no fun piece of crap.

Thoughts?

c

[ScottHoward]

if you dont mind spending less than 20k, then corolla,civic,accord

[citanul]

i don't mind spending less than 20k.

[ScottHoward]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't mind spending less than 20k.

[/ QUOTE ]
then corolla,civic,accord

[tedtodd]

I bought a 2005 Saab 9-3 in Boston for $19k. It had 18,000 miles. I think that's your best deal. GM has some excellent financing deals, I got 2.9% or something, and it has a bumper to bumper 100k warranty. I reccommend a test drive.

[mc123]

DO NOT BUY A HONDA.

90% of the people I know that have died in car accidents were driving hondas.

if your paying CASH, especially around this time of year it should be easy to get yourself a good deal on a private used car. Especially since anyone that has their car on the market right now will be more willing to lower their initial prices due to need for extra cash for the holidays.

Look around your local classifieds and you should be able to find a used A4, that would be my top choice as for a used car in your list.

When you approach the seller just feel him out and see if he's in a rush to sell, a lot of people are around this time of year. If you feel that they are, just say your paying cash and you are willing to pay x-amount under their asking price but are in no hurry to buy and leave them your number. Make sure you do a carfax for used cars! :O

[wpr101]

Dude that is just ridiculous. They are very safe cars. Not everybody wants an unreliable BMW like yourself.

[mc123]

lol unreliable?

Rankings and reviews done by bias magazines are a good way to determine what is a good car.

And yes hondas are generally safe cars but just my personal experiences and from those around me they have not been.

[ScottHoward]

[ QUOTE ]
lol unreliable?

Rankings and reviews done by bias magazines are a good way to determine what is a good car.

And yes hondas are generally safe cars but just my personal experiences and from those around me they have not been.

[/ QUOTE ]
statistics are for suckers
if theres more people driving hondas, then theres gonna be more people that will get killed in hondas
if everybody you know drives a hionda, then 100% of the people you know who died in an accident would have died in a honda. doesnt make honda unsafe

[mc123]

90% of the people I know now drive luxury cars, but what you say does make sense since during high school when most of these accidents happened it was common for my friends to be driving a honda prelude or what not. Still I am very bias about hondas and should not be writing reviews about them.