Best beater/DD for $1000?, Opinions please! Options

[lagos]

My girlfriend is looking to buy a daily driver on a $1,000 budget. I figured I would post here to see if you guys had any good ideas of what to look for.

The only requirement is that the car is a 4 door and is fairly reliable. My initial idea was that a 90s Corolla would be perfect for her. Then I remembered that the Geo Prizm is basically the same car, but cheaper! So right now thats the main contender. Any other recommendations cheap cars?

This post has been edited by lagos: Mar 3, 2012 - 3:19 PM

[block]

88-92 corolla/prisms. Hands down most reliable car. I've had one every year for the last 8 yrs and its done its job. Its also very low on maintinence and parts are everywhere at the junk yards.

[lagos]

88-92 corolla/prisms. Hands down most reliable car. I've had one every year for the last 8 yrs and its done its job. Its also very low on maintinence and parts are everywhere at the junk yards.

Exactly the type of feedback Im looking for!
What millage did yours have on them?
Why did you have a new one every year? lol

[block]

I gave mine away every 2 yrs because a sibling needed a car lol. Everyone of those cars had over 250k and still driving. The one I bought last yr had 145k. I love these little cars because theyre well made and quiet. Out of those 8 yrs all I had to replace was a bad axle on oneto of them...otherwise keep up with maintinence and they'll last you a long time bro.

This post has been edited by block: Mar 3, 2012 - 3:49 PM

[lagos]

Any opinions on a Tercel?

[TRD_Ian]

yea i wish i never sold mine! they are great on gas and are cheap, parts are cheap and i imagine they are in junk yards every where, i had a 97 4dr auto, my first car and it had almost 500 thousand KM on it when i sold it, same deal just keep up the regular maintenance

[Bitter]

Anything that old is going to be pretty damn nasty rusty.

How about a later model Toyota Echo? Cheap, 4 doors, sips gas.

[njccmd2002]

tercels are reliable cars and easy to fix i had an 87 that we put 60k miles in 2 years, and only problem was the oil pump.

you cand find some still in good condition.

but you cant go wrong with the corolla

[block]

Anything that old is going to be pretty damn nasty rusty.

How about a later model Toyota Echo? Cheap, 4 doors, sips gas.

Im sure the title reads "beater" haha. I have 2000 echo and id recommend it but it still sells for a pretty penny.

[garin]

civics are nice if you can find em late 80's early 90's. the 3 port injection version is supposed to get near 40 mpg!

early 90's corollas have a trans problem. it is the a131L trans. there are a lot of tsb's on all data. my friend currently is having an issue with the transmission.

buy from old ladies! am i right?

This post has been edited by garin: Mar 3, 2012 - 9:21 PM

[ricochet1490]

if gas mileage isn't a huge concern, Any of the 90's buicks with the 3.8L v6 in em.... those motors are EVERYWHERE, and I've known guys who will buy one for 300$ and dive it for 40-50 miles and NEVER change the oil. eventually the motor blows, but they knew that would happen, it was a work car for 300 for a reason. So if you can find one, in good shape and keep the maintenance up on it..... it'll run for a long time.

Not to mention, you are LIKELY to find one that was in the possession of an old lady and all buicks are 4 door.

Oh and p.s. again - my gf's parents have a pontiac bonneville with that 3.8L v6 in it.... the car got 32mpg coming back from michigan this summer.so not terrible mileage if you can stay out of it.

[Bitter]

Beater or not, you need it to be safe and reliable. The idea is you don't spend alot and get a car which won't cost alot. Having a DD Beater is sort of thrown out the window if its constantly down for repairs.

[ricochet1490]

i meant 40-50 thousand miles.... i had a "k" in there but it's not there now, must have accidentally deleted it. 40-50thousand miles is what I meant..... aka indestructible.

[Stambo]

i agree on the corolla, do a timing belt and water pump on it and your good to go for long time

[SwissFerdi]

buy from old ladies! am i right?

Y'know, in essence, that sounds like a good plan, but when I think about it I envision short trips to the grocery store and minimal accelerator application, not to mention the car is 99% likely to be maintained by some stupid garage that doesn't treat cars well. Not a good recipe...

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Mar 4, 2012 - 6:34 PM

[playr158]

1) Honda Civic
2) Integra 4dr
3) geo prism

[richee3]

i meant 40-50 thousand miles.... i had a "k" in there but it's not there now, must have accidentally deleted it. 40-50thousand miles is what I meant..... aka indestructible.

I saw GM and 40-50 miles and it made perfect sense

I joke. I think the Chevy 350 is a great engine. Those Buicks are everywhere too. I'd go with a Geo though, or even a 5th gen Celica.

This post has been edited by richee3: Mar 4, 2012 - 11:23 PM

[kurt95gt]

If you can find one. Ford festivas make great little beaters
trust me i beat the dog crap out of one
I rode that car hard than tony hawk rides a board at the x games lol
It never broke an never let me down an i drove it 130 mile aday for work
A guy in town still has it an drives it everyday. Its got almost 260000 now an still goin strong an gets 45 mpg

[97lestyousay]

I owned a 91 prizm, I put over 150k miles on it, I used to take it hunting,
surprisingly good off road. haha It was a great car and the reason I am a toyota
owner today. I grew up in a chevy family and would have remained loyal, but the prizm
changed all that. I bought it thinking it was somehow affiliated with GM, once I learned it
was all toyota I never looked back. The only problem I ever had was the waterpump went
out at about 120k, my own fault. I did absolutly no scheduled maintence, just oil, and I
changed the plugs once, when I sold it it had 150k on the original timing belt. It had an auto
trans that was never serviced, and I never had a problem with it.

[rave2n]

I owned a 91 prizm, I put over 150k miles on it, I used to take it hunting,
surprisingly good off road. haha It was a great car and the reason I am a toyota
owner today. I grew up in a chevy family and would have remained loyal, but the prizm
changed all that. I bought it thinking it was somehow affiliated with GM, once I learned it
was all toyota I never looked back. The only problem I ever had was the waterpump went
out at about 120k, my own fault. I did absolutly no scheduled maintence, just oil, and I
changed the plugs once, when I sold it it had 150k on the original timing belt. It had an auto
trans that was never serviced, and I never had a problem with it.

Lol I had a 96 prism back in the day, how simliar it was to my ST was quite amusing, but yes I never had issues with that car and I beat the hell out of it, rarly changed the oil...all the dumb kid stuff. Was running great for years til I sold it and my brother wrecked it.

But yea, it swayed me closer to toyota =)