2005 Scion tC Coupe

Just found a nice honda. What do you think about this one and what should be a fair price to offer?
KBB shows $5350 and he is asking $5750
2001 Honda Accord LX,4CYL, Automatic, Clean Title, 96k

 

Dude overpriced, I wouldn't pay more than 3-4 grand for a working pre 7th gen Accord. And it's an LX model without alloys...I wonder if it even has ABS.

 

Agreed, way too much for a car that is over 10 years old. Either keep looking and be patient or buy new because it seems like it's hard to find any decent deals on used cars right now. Check out the new Kia Rio, starts at $13,400 (with M/T). Although realistically be prepared to put down at least $16,000 for a decently equipped automatic Rio. Put a decent down payment and finance the rest, you'll end up getting your money's worth rather than buying an old used car that is probably going to need expensive repairs somewhere down the line.

 

I agree that a brand new entry level car is better than a really old, high mileage used car. I don't think very much of the new 2012 Nissan Versa in absolute terms, but I have to admit that it represents a very good value less than $12k sticker. If someone had $6k as a down payment, the remaining balance would make a nice, affordable 24 or 36 month car loan. Just an example.

I really have to disagree with the statement that "mileage doesn't matter." It does. It matters a lot, it matters more than the original reputation of a brand or model for initial reliability, at least when car is 10 years old.

You left out the only important piece of information. The Celica GT had the plain vanilla 1ZZ-FE, which was just a Corolla motor. The GT-S had the horrific 2ZZ-GE, an engine with a reputation for self destruction, with only an additional 30 or 40 horsepower in return for all the trouble.

I advise anyone to avoid all Celicas, since the last decent one to be imported was the All-trac turbo model back in 1993, and considering the low sales and enthusiast reputation, there can't be many intact surivivors.

 

Ehhh, any car past the 100k miles mark will undoubtedly need more regular and irregular maintenance than a comparable new car, no matter how you cut it. It may seem like you're getting a great deal at the time if you go for a high-mileage used car, but add up all the (much) higher costs-of-ownership, and even with the lower insurance rates it's not worth it.

Now, that can vary in importance: for someone who needs a reliable daily driver, I'd highly recommend avoiding a high-mileage used car. For an enthusiast who's willing to tinker with their cars and do a lot of self-maintenance, high-mileage may not be too much of an issue.

 

2012 Nissan Versa looks nice. Even the price tag is great. Was the versa around that price tag from the beginning?Also what how is its performance?

 

There was a sub-$10k version of the Versa for a few years, but the current sub-$12K base Versa is much better equipped.

Here's the PBS Motorweek test of the 2012 model:

2012 Nissan Versa |MotorWeek

The performance is about what you'd expect - you're not going to go drag racing with an 18 second quarter mile time. The upside is that it's new, with a warranty, and it costs half a much as a Prius. When gas prices hit $5/gallon this summer, you won't be happy, nobody will be happy, but this car won't eat you alive. And you wouldn't have to worry about catastrophic repair bills with a new car.

The downside of a 10 year old, 100K car is that you don't know exactly how much life it has left. The 2003 Infiniti G35 was a great car back in the summer of 2002, and if a person has owned one since the summer of 2002 and put 100K on it, they might be well advised to put a few more miles on it. That doesn't mean it's smart go out an pay a signficant amount of money for a 10 year old, 100K+ car. I've owned cars that were older than that, but they were purchased new by a family member or by yours truly, and I started racking up repair bills from the low 100,000s onward.

My advice is to look at affordable new car alteratives. I used the Versa as an example, since it's the least expensive car I can think of, and the 2012 sedan is actually fairly attractive and finally has all of the safety options that any car should have.

http://www.nissanusa.com/st/nissan/pdf/compare/2012/2012_Nissan_VSD.pdf

 

My 240SX was bought with like 186k miles, and now almost 1 year later I've hit over 194k miles, no MAJOR issues, just small things. I change the oil every 2.5-3 months, Seafoam the motor, and do all the maintainence. Proper maintainence is the key. Yes obviously the owner's reputation makes a difference, but my 1997 Acord hit 193k miles when I crashed it and my CR-V hit 212k miles before it had too many issues not worth repairing.

 

The only concern I have regarding this Nissan is its engine. Its only 1.6 L.
When I was driving my ford with 2.0L in the uphill of Virginia, it was screaming and could not go over 50mph. So, if I have 4 people in the car, would it be able to take the load?

 

4 people with any small engine is going to be nothing short of a disaster (and I'm only somewhat sarcastic with this point). I think it should have enough power to move you along at a somewhat safe speed uphill, depending on the grade. I've done quite steep grades in NC in a 2.2 2000 Camry, which, when it was new, didn't have much horsepower to begin with. It was probably 9 or so years old when I drove it, with my aunt and two cousins, and we did fine. I would guess that it had probably around 120 hp or less (considering the age). The Versa is 109, so there will be a difference, but it should be able to get the job done. Just stay in the right lane, but don't put your hazards on, please.