Need help from TW gurus on buying my mother a car

Hello,

I am looking for a decently cheap car, that is safe for an older woman, should she be in an accident, that will not have many problems and that if it does have problem, that I can fix them myself. I consider myself to be a tree shade mechanic and I have done all work that has needed to be done in my Tacoma, Jeeps, etc.

Right now I am looking at a 2010 Honda Civic. The 4 door version. I know Honda's are good, but I have personally never owned one. I can get the car for under 10k, which would be awesome. I have done my research and cannot find much that is bad about the car, but perhaps some of you have some personal experiences which may be good or bad and can share them with me.

If you know of any car that would be good for me to buy for her, please do not hesitate to suggest it and please say why it would be a good choice.

A couple things to have in mind are:

- Price needs to be around 12k or less. I do not want to spend more than that as there are other things I pay for her.

- Car cannot be too old. I cannot count on a car that will start having problems. I do not have the time to be fixing something every month.

- Car needs to seat 4 people.

- I am still not favoring Kia's and Hyundai's much, even though I would probably would buy one if it was for me personally. just would not feel safe putting her in one.

- Car needs decent MPG. Above 30 preferably.

I know I am asking for a lot, but I will appreciate any help a lot.

Thanks!

 

That has been the experience I have heard the most.

Just found another civic, 2009, at like 8k. I am going to look at them both tomorrow.

What sucks is that if I had done this 2 weeks ago, I would have been able to get a better price than I will get now at beginning of the year.

 

My sister, brother, and I bought a one owner 2004 Honda Civic for my 70 year old Mom a couple years ago.
She loves it.
It is easy to drive, gets great gas mileage.
We have taken on longer trips together (My sis, mom and I).
Absolutely no maintenance.
I have a 97 Honda Del Sol (basically a civic) 140k that hasn't anything but normal maintenance since new still on the road drives like a champ.
There is lots of online info & help too for repairs.
Honda civic is my vote

Oh forgot to add, I paid $7k for the car. It was a one owner 2004 mileage was high 89k but my mom puts like 40 miles a week on it. It was clean with all records owned by a doctor for his kid's fulltime babysitter. Private sale. They are really hard to find here privately in good condition under 8k.

 

X2

I work at a dealership in the used car/reconditioning department. Any Honda or Toyota we get doesn't really need anything done to it besides an oil change and maybe air/cabin filters to get it ready for the sales lot. Even the ones with over 80k on them.

 

When compared to a GM, Ford or Chrysler product that is high mileage. How sad.

 

TYVM to you all. I think I have made up my mind, in part thanks to you all. It really help when people have nothing but good things to say about something you are about to buy.