"Beater" Car - Suggestions Needed

I use my 2011 Toyota Corolla S as my daily driver for work and it's been extremely reliable for the past 4 or so years I've owned it. Used to commute back and forth from SA to Austin for a while too. Does everything I need and is not as boring as the basic corolla models, plus you can get the same year/model now for around $6k according to kbb.

 

+1 Honda Civic

Damn things run forever with oil changes only.

 

Hyundai Accent, Elantra, Veloster
Toyota or Honda (Pick one)
Kia forte, sephia etc
Geo/Chevy Tracker
Old Mercedes diesel
Pontiac G6 (convertible)

 

I love Preludes, My first car was an 86 Si 5 speed, second car was an 01.

 

Late '90s Celica

 

OP where are you located? Location plays a BIG part of car recommendations IMHO.


Fun to drive, Low cost, 4 adults...
Nissan Altima comes to mind, Cadillac CTS, also Acura MDX. <-- I can't say how much someone would want to steal these though.

 

BMW 3-Series, E46 sedans can be had in good condition for what you're looking to spend. My BMWs were all very reliable. Maintenance is pretty straight-forward on them. And they are lots of fun. The only real downside is that you have to drive and park like a dick whenever you drive it.

 

Get some kind of Toyota. They tend to run crazy mileage on them. Someone over on the 1st gen forums accumulated 998,000 miles on his '03 SR5. My neighbor has a '92 Corolla with about 400,000 miles on it. Parts are common, they're easy to fix, and they're good quality.

 

Not anymore.. Audi recently took that title away.

I'd check prices on Outbacks with the h6 3.0 motor... That's the most reliable one. The 6cyl turbo has turbo rebuild cost if it hasn't been done, and the 4cyl have the"routine" headgasket issues.

Edit: you could also look for a Cherokee (00-01s typically have what i think is an intake manifold cracking issue). But they are basic, cheap, dependable.

 

if the city or airport isn't too far away; a 3 year old Nissan Leaf can be had for $6k. I leased one for 2 years. Great around the town car, easy to park, carries a lot. Is very quick between 5-40mph. That big heavy battery below your feet pulls down the center of gravity and it corners like a go-cart.

I leased one for 2 year and spent ZERO dollars on maintenance. No engine, no transmission, no radiator - although I'm sure the gearbox would need some fluids at some point. I had a 50 mile/day round trip commute that cost me $1.5/day - most of the time I could charge at work so it was half of that. I put about 23k miles on it and it had full battery capacity when I turned it in.

Might not be great if you live somewhere it goes below freezing in the winters, the heater is weak and seriously cuts into range. Supposedly the battery life is a huge problem if you somewhere hot like Arizona, although the AC is plenty strong.

 

My brother just bought one of those the other day. It was real cheap, we'll see how she holds up.

 

I hear they're particularly cheap in Colorado.

Other than a small rattle in the ceiling by the map lights mine was solid until the day I gave it back. I'm interested in knowing how well those batteries hold up at 75-100k miles. I'm thinking about getting one to pull behind the RV.

 

I bought a 91 Accord w/ 170K miles for $1100 and put over 100K miles with only oil changes and 2 CV joints. Most reliable car I ever owned next to every 22R truck I've had.

 

Cb7!

I've had two... Good cars.

 

90s Miata, cheap fun, plenty of parts, plenty of forums that tell you how to work on it, driving it is like driving a go cart

 

May I suggest you take the boring Corolla and make that the airport/beater car. Get your wife something nicer and more fun with your 5-6k budget. She'll thank you for it.

 

As much as I hate getting into a car payment, maybe a new (or low mile CPO) car for my wife is the best idea. She has to be on base by 0530 most mornings, which can sometimes be a challenge in Ohio.

The corolla isn't fun, but I know most of the maintenance history and I won't have to sink any money into fixing someone else's issues.