Can anyone recommend a good used car for a college student?

[kelsey]

My son has about $7000 to spend on a used car for comuting back and forth to college and work. he wants something decent that will last at least 4 years or so, and has good fuel economy. But of course being a 19-year-old boy, he doesn't want anything too 'girly' or ugly. And something with a decent amount of power. What's the best he can get for his price range?

[shank0668]

2000ish camaro?

[SSmoked]

look at that i was in the same predicament 2 years ago and went for a lightly used mazda3. good gas milage, best hp in its class, best inerior in its class, best exterior in its class, overall best in its class lol. i paid 13k for mine and it was a 06 with 16,000km on the tach.
not sure of prices in the states but for 7k u could probly pick up a nice civic or mazda3. u could stay american and get a cobalt, but than again the interior on that car is brutal.
good luck

[lil_chef]

a brand new 2009 mazda 3 cost me 14k out the door, and i love it. kinda girly, but its a good enough car to get him through college. make it manly by getting him a stick

[Zieke]

just for comparison. im 19, and im in my A school still for the navy.
i bought a 2004 2.0L Jetta for 6k. i bought it to get me where i want to go with decent gas mileage. it may not be the manliest car i could get but, when it comes down to price and the cost of insurance and gas down the road, its a pretty good choice.

Just make sure to get a good reliable car. have EVERYTHING checked and have a diagnostic done.

[FenwickHockey65]

Cobalt SS?

[tradosaurus]

Originally Posted by kelsey

My son has about $7000 to spend on a used car for comuting back and forth to college and work. he wants something decent that will last at least 4 years or so, and has good fuel economy. But of course being a 19-year-old boy, he doesn't want anything too 'girly' or ugly. And something with a decent amount of power. What's the best he can get for his price range?

I bought my son a 1999 Honda Civic this summer for college.

In fact he picked it out and loves to drive it.

I've attached a photo of some improvements he made.

[Zabo]

7K?

2dr Blazer/Bronco. Full Size. V8 standard. Fairly good on Gas for a full size and for 7K he can find a good rust free well maintained example. Not to mention probably have money left over for gas and insurance. Not to mention these vehicles will go for over 200K miles without much trouble.

[Justin]

I picked up my '02 V6 Camaro for $6k. Being as it's the V6 it's pretty good on gas. Actually, remarkably good. I usually average around 30 MPG, but I'm a pretty calm driver most of the time.

[syr74]

This one is easy, Ford Focus SVT. To be certain a nice, low mileage example would fit into your sons price range I went through some listings at the Auto Trader website. I found a black, 2004 3-door with 52000 miles on it listed for $6200. The interior is extremely well laid out and comfortable, the car handles extremely well even in poor weather, fuel economy is great (well over 30mpg highway in real world driving) it feels quick and sporty without being a death trap, and it is extremely reliable and relatively easy to work on. For six grand you are going to be hard pressed to find another car this sporty and this nice with those miles on it. Best of all, these cars are typically very well kept. Heck, I'm thinking about one of these as a daily beater myself!

[seeknay2000]

I actually bought my first 1995 Camaro Z28 for $7,000 - great car, but of course put a lot of work into it after I got it since it had 80,000 miles on it...Serious suggestion - dont get a used car. Absolutely not worth it. When I was shopping around dealerships I had the choice of the camaro or a ´safe, reliable´ honda civic with 80,000 miles on it. Absolutely no point. I know nobody likes car paymnets, but it´s the way to go. Right now new cars are being sold at great prices, especially once october, november hits.

Get a Honda Civic, Toyota Camary, Chevy Cobalt is sporty as is a Mazda3 - something sporty but cheap. You can get brand new cars for around $15,000 including taxes and everything. For $7,000 you´re in a very dangerous zone - very dangerous. You spend $10-12K you can get a really good certified pre-owned car with warranty and low mileage. You get a used junker for $1000-$3000. But $7K is right in the middle. You get a sporty car with 70,000 miles on it and next thing you know you´re making repairs for $100 here, $500 there - all of a sudden you´ve invested another $2,000 within first couple years. Once you´ve invested that much you don´t want to sell it, but everytime a new repair comes up you have to put down another couple hundered.

buy new! you will save yourself and your son a headache!

[seeknay2000]

Some examples...

mazda3, new $16K - used with 85,000 miles, $7,000
chevy cobalt new $15K - used with 60,000 miles, $7,000
honda civic new $15,500 - used with 80,000 miles, $7,000
corola new $15,350 - used with 80,000 miles, $7,000

anyway - just some quick quotes. Basically all the same, 70-80K miles on the car for $7K, or about $15K MSRP (probably get for $14K with current deals) for brand new. I know people say some cars last 200,000 miles, but it´s not normal, at least not without a lot of work. With $7K you will get a good used car. But after a couple of years, depending on how much he drives, it will hit 100,000 mile mark - and probably start investing more money into it. By the time he gets to 150,000 miles he will have invested same as if he bought new in first place.

Worst case get a $14K brand new car, put down $5K and finance the other $9K. Although he´ll have monthyl payments he wont have to worry about any major repairs for years

[kelsey]

Originally Posted by syr74

This one is easy, Ford Focus SVT. To be certain a nice, low mileage example would fit into your sons price range I went through some listings at the Auto Trader website. I found a black, 2004 3-door with 52000 miles on it listed for $6200. The interior is extremely well laid out and comfortable, the car handles extremely well even in poor weather, fuel economy is great (well over 30mpg highway in real world driving) it feels quick and sporty without being a death trap, and it is extremely reliable and relatively easy to work on. For six grand you are going to be hard pressed to find another car this sporty and this nice with those miles on it. Best of all, these cars are typically very well kept. Heck, I'm thinking about one of these as a daily beater myself!

He likes that one on AutoTrader, but this guy is all the way in California lol. Are those really good in the snow, since they're front-wheel drive?

[syr74]

Originally Posted by kelsey

He likes that one on AutoTrader, but this guy is all the way in California lol. Are those really good in the snow, since they're front-wheel drive?

I used that car as an example to point out what can be had. Focus SVT's are relatively rare compared to some of the high volume stuff being cranked out these days, but if he can spend a week or two looking something similar should pop up on Auto Trader nearer to you......the great thing here being that while this particular would represent a good deal this isn't an unheard og pirce range for this car.

Depending upon tires the car should work very well in snow.