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 =)

[lagos]

We ended up picking up a 92 geo prizm with 220,000 on the clock for 900$. Really nice car for the money and seems to have been serviced regularly.

Only issue I found with it is that it idled a little rough while in drive. I have never really worked on an automatic before, I'm curious if there is an idle adjustment that can be done to smooth out the car. The problem goes away as soon as you put the car in park. I guess I'll mess around with it once we get tags for it and drive it home.

[ricochet1490]

my celica does that if I have the a/c on.... it's not terribly uncommon from my experiences with autos and small engine displacement.... Unless it's pretty bad, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But if you can adjust a screw or soemthing it'd be worth it.

[lagos]

my celica does that if I have the a/c on.... it's not terribly uncommon from my experiences with autos and small engine displacement.... Unless it's pretty bad, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But if you can adjust a screw or soemthing it'd be worth it.

Yeah it seems to me like there is something simple related to the auto trans that would fix it. Either that or the motor mounts are bad.

[Bitter]

92? Mounts are bad.

[lagos]

92? Mounts are bad.

You're probably right. And its an easy fix!

[azian_advanced]

my first car was an 89 Celica GT-S that i bought for only $500 10 yrs ago. they came with a high revving 3SGE with T-VIS so it's a fun car for its age plus maintenance was a cinch. came with four wheel disc brakes, auto climate control, cruise control, A/C, strong heater, power seats that can be adjusted to hug you really well around tight corners, and moonroof. only thing i really hated were the super long shift throws and that it wasn't an alltrac.

[lagos]

So we finally got the car home and got to take it for a real drive.
Its a nice car. Purrs like a kitten and has a lot of get up and go (probably due to short gearing on the trans). Due to this the car has been nick named Zippy Kitty by my girlfriend (chicks!).

Once we got it home I noticed a few small issues.
1. speedo doesn't work
2. radio doesn't turn on.
3. might need new brake pads.
4. alternator belt is starting to wear.
5. headliner is totally gone

Other than that it runs great. Just needs a little TLC. Hopefully I can find some wiring diagrams and a copy of the bgb for this car. It will be a fun summer project to fix up!

[ricochet1490]

total creme puff

[SwissFerdi]

Concerning the rough idle, is the problem in drive occurring when you're at a stop, applying the brakes to hold the car? If so, mine does that as well, and I think that's just a case of the 7A going "f*ck this load."

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Mar 12, 2012 - 8:42 AM

[lagos]

Concerning the rough idle, is the problem in drive occurring when you're at a stop, applying the brakes to hold the car? If so, mine does that as well, and I think that's just a case of the 7A going "f*ck this load."

Yeah its only when you are in drive and at a full stop with the brake depressed. The steering wheel will shake and its rather noticeable. I think its because the engine is under load, but the motor mounts are not dampening the vibration enough.

[ricochet1490]

That's even the norm for my 5s auto. That's just how it is. All my mounts are good and it still vibrates that much.

[SwissFerdi]

Yeah its only when you are in drive and at a full stop with the brake depressed. The steering wheel will shake and its rather noticeable. I think its because the engine is under load, but the motor mounts are not dampening the vibration enough.

To echo Ricochet, that's not mount-associated, unless my mounts are shot as well. The problem-solver is to shift into neutral when sitting at idle waiting to move. Less taxing on yer brakes as well...

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Mar 12, 2012 - 6:26 PM

[97lestyousay]

the 4a front mount is pretty weak, I had a bad one in my 88 gts rolla, I was going to swap it with my
91 parts car, but it was bad too. I have a high comp 4AGE out of a 91 gts with ecu when you decide to swap.lol

[lagos]

Yeah its only when you are in drive and at a full stop with the brake depressed. The steering wheel will shake and its rather noticeable. I think its because the engine is under load, but the motor mounts are not dampening the vibration enough.

To echo Ricochet, that's not mount-associated, unless my mounts are shot as well. The problem-solver is to shift into neutral when sitting at idle waiting to move. Less taxing on yer brakes as well...

If you never changed them and the millage on your car is up there, than chances are your mounts are shot.
I mean, if you think about it...no new automatic car does this. People would probably not buy them at the dealer, thinking something was really wrong if they did. The problem could also be caused by too low of an idle speed, but since this car has no tach, its hard to tell.

This post has been edited by lagos: Mar 13, 2012 - 7:54 AM

[97lestyousay]

I have 3 A series engine cars, and all 3 front mounts were or are bad including my celica with 110k on it.
A guy told me you can wrap it with a radiator hose the same diameter for a cheap fix but I haven't tried it.
All mine are manual so it doesn't bother me that much.

[SwissFerdi]

If you never changed them and the millage on your car is up there, than chances are your mounts are shot.
I mean, if you think about it...no new automatic car does this. People would probably not buy them at the dealer, thinking something was really wrong if they did. The problem could also be caused by too low of an idle speed, but since this car has no tach, its hard to tell.

True. I base solid mounts on the fact that I get no ill sounds or movement at any other point in driving, and I've only 100k miles. Still, could be shot. I should actually be in that area within a few months, so I'll check them out while I'm down there. For me, there is indeed also an accompanying drop in idle revs.