Buying First Car and i dont know shit.. Help ?
 

So im 19 and im going to start looking for a car relatively soon but im a total car newbie. I dont know what to look for and what to watch out for. Im currently driving my parents 1992 Dodge Caravan and i am looking to buy something completely different. I can spend about 10k on it so its going to be a used car. Any recommendations ? Anything i should know ? No details are too small.

Before we can even begin to help you on what to look for, watch out for, maintenance, reapairs, costs, how to deal with teh sellers etc. It might be useful to figure out what car you want, or even some general guidelines to what genre of cars to look at.

What do you want your car to do? Do you care about gas mileage? How important is reliability to you? American, Foreign, or either? Do you want durability, ruggedness and versatility, or sporty and fast? If you want sport and fast, straight line performance, or something light and good in the corners, or mix of both? If something larger, how large? Full size SUV, smaller, or large sedan?

The best way to start, is figure out what you want your car to do. There WILL be a car out there to do it for you probably. Once you know what you want, figure out the possibilities. THEN look into each of them, pros and cons, and test drive them. You are then in the position to buy the best car for you and your money.

Not sure on the laws and policies in Canada, but a sporty car is going to cost a lot of money in insurance if you're under 25 in the US. You can get a decent car for 10k, whether you want a newer, more economical car, or an older, sportier car.

YA the insurance is rape up here. But if you want a nice car go with a caviler or any kinda sport car there are lots....get an auto trader.


I want a 98 2 door Caviler and well I don't even want to know how much that is going to cost....so I might go under my dads name until I move out:D

not saying anything on the Cavalier issue other than stay away.

and this, do the words Cavalier and sports car really belong together.hehehe


sorry Pain Train I had to say it.

stick with japanese economy cars until you actually know the burden that comes with american economy cars (they are all crap!)

What Halx said. Get a civic. It'll run forever and get good gas mileage while you're doing it.

You could look at older Mercedes or BMW's... If you just want the thing to run, then maybe a Honda is better. Its all about priorities.

yea get a car with a good reputation.
i have a 87 land cusier and its great for what i want and my insurence is like 600 for a 19 year old male.
so all that works for me.

I suggest Toyota, Subaru, Saturn, Honda or possibly VW. Nissan if the price and miles are right. I like Toyota trucks and 4-Runners. Ask a mechanic that you trust what he recommends.

Learn all you can about the car you decide on. Call the bank and get book value on the approximate year/mileage.

Any car is only worth what you are willing to pay for it. Remember that when you are talking with the salesmen. Market value may be higher or lower than what you personally will pay.

Get preapproved, don't tell the dealer until you are at the finance desk.

Settle on a price, NOT A PAYMENT. They have a nice little game of jacking the price up to make your payment.

Get a solid interest rate before you drive home. If they call back and try to jack up your rate, RETURN THE CAR and find a new dealer. They can make $1000 a % point by selling it to the lenders. They know what you qualify for when they see your credit report.

Gap insurance is for people that want more vehicle than they can afford. Put away 20% for a down payment. If you cannot afford the down, you cannot afford the car.

Buying an extended warranty is betting that the car will break. Make your decision based on the total vehicle.

IMO - American cars are unreliable crap. I have worked on Cavaliers more than any other car.

Get a sheet of paper, write "Salesmen are not my friends" 300 times. Rinse, repeat.

It's not 2 door, but you might consider a Maxima. Yeah, I'm abit biased, but they get decent mileage, dont have to do much in the way of maintence and are fun cars to drive (surprises alot of people how much power they have).

Another thing that I would look out for if I was in your shoes is a timing belt. I would try to avoid a car with one because when its time to replace them its normally about a $400-$600 job (maybe less, probably more, lol), if it's an interference engine and the belt brakes your looking at a substancially higher ammount though.

Maximas can be very entertaining. Bill Cosby had a Q45 (infiniti version of the Maxima) that he sent over to Stillen Sport Cars. When he got it back the sucker was fast as hell.

:lol: :hmm:

If a Cavalier is a "nice sports car", my Thunderbird is a Bugatti Veyron.

**Please delete this**

Well I like the look of the caviler, and whats so bad about them?



I was also looking at 2 92 Nissian 240SX's but are they worth it?

Under that nice sheet metal, the Cavalier is about the same as it was in 1982. And it wasn't anything special back then, either.

They're not bad for being an outdated econobox, but certainly not anything approaching a sports car.

still doesn't answer either one of my questions:mad:

Cavaliers are always behind in everything, styling, power, technology, people think they are sports cars but they have what 165HP in the fancy Z24 or whatever it is called, and people go around and drive them like they're Lambo's. I absolutely hate them the new one looks cross-eyed or sad or like it got punched in the hood. Maybe if they could find a better car to use as a basis (sunfire) they might be able to do something, but I highly doubt it. I don't even consider the Cavalier a sport compact, it's more like an econo-sport-disposable car.

much like most others I concur with the Japaneese econo car, you can't go wrong.

Plus, the cavalier's reliability is crap, it's performance is crap, it's interior is crap, it looks like suppository, and for the money you can get 10 times more car if you go with even a hyundai, much less a honda.

I agree I'd take an Accent over a Cavalier any day

Did he have a Q45 or I30? Do you know what year by chance? The Q45 is actually a different car, it is a V8 and IIRC RWD? (not to sure of RWD though). Indeed quite a fun car, but I tend to like the maxima's more because of a broader aftermarket.

A few of my friends have hit 11's with their maximas, quite impressive, and it really doesn't require that much money (stock internals and all).
Actually just a few days ago a good friend of mine ran the following:
R/T.......... .741
60' ....... 2.254
330'....... 5.949
1/8........ 8.944
MPH....... 82.74
1000...... 11.510
1/4........ 13.673
MPH....... 106.41
He has a 2002 6spd with headers, modified stock intake, and some weight reduction. Stock wheels with 245/45-17 Toyo T1-S tires. He was the first guy to break into 12's with a 5th gen (running nitrous back then ;)).

Granted it would be kind of difficult to get a 2002-2003 maxima for $10,000ish, but I've got about $3500-$4000 invested in mine and it has awesome handling and can run mid 14's, and its really fun to drive and I never worry about it breaking down on me. Just oil, gas, and tires :)

Acura Integra GS-R.

So I should go for the Nissan 240SX?

It cost less, has less km and well has leather interior:)

I like the 240 a lot but that's just my opinion, it'll be better than the Cavalier that's for sure, once again my opinion, others will think otherwise.

Ya well I will take your word that they are good cars.....and my buddy said to take the 240 iver the Caviler


the only problem both 240's are in Ottawa


damn long boring drive!

Grab the import auto trader I'm positive there will be a 240 in K-Town.

ya probably, but I like the black one with the leather interior:D

Pain Train, I geuss I wasn't clear enough, but paying the same as you would for any other car in its class but getting what amounts to a reskinned 1982 model is a pretty big reason why the Cavalier is a bad choice IMO.

silent_jay said that well, except that the Sunfire is the exact same thing as a Cavalier aside from cosmetic differences, so it'd hardly be an upgrade.

As for the 240SX, I know they have a pretty strong following but aside from that I've never really looked into them.

They're good cars if you can find them in good condition. I was kinda looking for one a few years back just to play with, and didn't find many. Those I did find had been beat on pretty badly.

Shit man there is 2 in mint condition up in Ottawa, I'm getting the black one with leather:)


I hope by next month , and before summer is here!

Yup. I put 119k miles on mine before it needed any work. And it is fun as shit to drive. AND Honda makes cars that you can crash brutally, and walk away from.

Anything Honda/Acura is a good value

The only American cars I'm familar with are those I rent during my business trips over there. As Hal says, they're all shit. Horrible power, suspension like marshmallow and handling like a drunk elephant. Having said that, a lot of the "Japanese" cars you get over there are specifically built for the American market, so many of them (not all) are not much better.

If you can, go European. Much more expensive though, so probably not an option. Stick with the Japanese cars. They're decidedly better.

So, the only real advice I have is don't go into the dealership and say "Buying First Car and i dont know shit.."

:)

Mr Mephisto

I love those lines, they describe American cars perfectly.

It doesn't matter who makes the car if your goign fast enough your going to get hurt if you hit a TREE!

I certinly love my civic. Gets 35 mpg regularly, and I hammer on it usually.

No complaints, whatsoever.

Get a FireBall exhaust for it...souds so awesome!

old mercedes and BMW's can be very good cars, our mercedes at home has 350.000 km (diesel) and still runs like new :-)

but if you live in europe I would recommend you look into audi or VW, they are also very reliable (although there second hand price might still be high)