Buying your first car.

[IggyWH]

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YOur going to have to give more info than that-
2 door, 4 door, trunk space an issue, will you be driving in any extreme climates?

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And this is why autotrader is such a great site. The power search has a ton of options.

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I've looked around a little bit, it's a nice site, but my problems start when I get to the third option, "Make/Model"

I have no idea what I want as far as Make goes.

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You don't need to. Use the all makes/models option and look at pictures to see what you like. Once you find cars you like, you then can do a search for just them.

Make sure to enter in your price range so you're not searching range rovers if you can't afford one.

[lgas]

Based on your criteria, you have a lot of options. In an attempt to help, here is one car that would not qualify, so definitely don't get one of these:

http://www.arielatom.com/

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call your insurance agent and fine out what models are cheapest for insurance.

[David H]

Ok I searched for Automatic transmission, <25 miles from zip, <$3000, and what caught my eye was a Geo Prizm. So I'm going to look for those a little bit.

Any other suggestions?

[AAAA]

they tend to be throw away cars usually and tend to wear out at 50,000 miles...check with consumer reports for quality and repair costs.

expect rack and pinion, and front end work, timing belt and cvboot replacements as well as tranny expenses...check the tail pipe for water, and look under the hood for signs of rusty water and overheating.

ask owners why they are selling and check the chain of title online to see if the car has changed hands a lot. beware of salvage titles too...

if you are not mechanically inclined, try to get a friend to go with you car shopping...learn how to play good cop bad cop.

[faded]

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Ok I searched for Automatic transmission, <25 miles from zip, <$3000, and what caught my eye was a Geo Prizm. So I'm going to look for those a little bit.

Any other suggestions?

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If you're looking for something in that price range, I'd go with something from Honda/Toyota

[Esperante]

Hyundai Accent
Mazda Miata, Mazda 3
Honda Civic
Even old Beamers are good. they last 500k+++ miles.

[zephed]

Get something in the price range of a Honda Civic. Used is good because you are probably going to have a few wrecks in your first couple of years.

[zephed]

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I would prefer a 4 door, but a 2 door wouldn't be terrible. Don't need a huge trunk, just something reasonably big for daily crap. As for extreme climates...occasional snow, but I live in Cincinnati, so I should be okay as far as that goes.

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If you plan on driving people around a lot, get a four door. Otherwise, a two-door is fine.

[Pokertastic]

I was actually looking at buying my first car within the next few months. I looked on autotrader and found a lot of sunfires and cavailiers for around $3000-4000(canadian) in the 1995-2000 age range with 100,000-150,000km on it. Would one of these be a better option than a 1990-1995 honda civic with 200,000-250,000km?