A recent road trip through the fine state of South Carolina convinced me it just might be time to upgrade to a vehicle with some of the modern conveniences I've read about like "air-conditioning." I'm still a little on the fence because not having a car payment is awesome!!

Budget is about $10k. Looking for something with 50,000 miles or less.

Things I want:
SMALL!
doesn't make me look like a toolbag
prefer hatchback
reliable, safe, blah blah blah
manual transmission


Things I don't care about at all:
power/handling/performance etc
froo froo (GPS, bluetooth, ass warmer, etc.)

PS the Civic is not for sale, it's staying in the family. Sorry Quinn

suggestions plz!!!

6/14/2010 11:05:49 PM

nerdchick, i apologize for my previous rude comment. i didn't realize you have status on tww. one thing you must know is i'm a true douchbag so the comments come with the territory.

[Edited on June 17, 2010 at 4:51 PM. Reason : -]

6/15/2010 1:15:49 AM

used mazda 3
used mkv golf (non GTI)
used yaris

6/15/2010 1:50:56 AM

Import a Ta ta, (from the closest country that has them, not sure we has yet here in USA. doesn't need to come from India) you'll be ahead of all the movie stars. If u ask them, they might GIVE you a conversion kit and a reimbursement voucher to convert it to USA street legal (like putting the phrase "Objects in Mirror are Losing"). They're neat little cars from India. They has one of each kind of car, even little pick-up truck.

6/15/2010 4:26:56 AM

this is easy:

honda fit
toyota yaris
scion xA

for $10,000 you can get almost new specimens of the above (used for 1-2 years or even less).

6/15/2010 6:24:25 AM

mazdaspeed3

6/15/2010 8:07:22 AM

Quote :

"Import a Ta ta, (from the closest country that has them, not sure we has yet here in USA. doesn't need to come from India) you'll be ahead of all the movie stars. If u ask them, they might GIVE you a conversion kit and a reimbursement voucher to convert it to USA street legal (like putting the phrase "Objects in Mirror are Losing"). They're neat little cars from India. They has one of each kind of car, even little pick-up truck."

lol, yeah have fun dying when you get hit by...anything.

Sounds like you shoul get a used Civic or Fit. I'd say Mazda3 but their gas mileage isn't as good.

[Edited on June 15, 2010 at 8:23 AM. Reason : k]

6/15/2010 8:23:06 AM

I would say Civic but you'd prefer a hatchback. So I will agree with the propositions of Honda Fit, Mazda 3, Toyota Yaris or Matrix, Scion xB/tC. If you could wait a bit, the new Ford Fiesta is supposed to be a really good car, and when they start becoming available in non brand-new form (demo cars, early lease trade-ins, etc) that could be an option. But that would probably mean waiting until the end of the year/beginning of next.

6/15/2010 8:38:53 AM

It's beyond me why Honda no longer makes a Civic hatchback. Just another gay move among many for them this past decade...

6/15/2010 8:41:57 AM

Go with a used Mazda 3 hatchback. You might be able to find a 2006-2007 out there that meets your mileage and price requirements, especially with the redesign for the newer models.

It's small, but big enough to haul a ton of junk. It's also got some zoom zoom in the engine, especially when it's lined up against similar cars in its class. The only thing is that the air-conditioning isn't all that great. It works, yeah, but it could be so much better. On a really hot day, it will take a good while for the AC to feel like it's making a difference. If you don't mind a wait before it gets cool in the car, it's the one to go with.

6/15/2010 8:57:22 AM

i'm kind of excited about the new fiesta...or, at least, the new 5-door focus that will have the new engine and transmission

6/15/2010 10:28:34 AM

hahahahahahaha

before i got to the end of post i was working on a PM.


I removed ac from my civic hatch and you could have had it . Its in the landfill

6/15/2010 10:32:49 AM

I say a Honda Fit. My buddy Ellis has one, and I actually kinda like it.

6/15/2010 10:55:24 AM

^^prick! You should have given it to me...I'm pretty sure the Civic compressor would have worked on my Integra

6/15/2010 11:04:46 AM

i'd just add A/C to the current civic and ride

6/15/2010 11:13:00 AM

you can spend ~$1k on the current civic and it will ride like a dream

new struts / fix AC

good to go


hell, get newer seats out of an 8th gen civic, too

way cheaper than a new used car

6/15/2010 11:52:35 AM

Agreed. What what you've listed as wanting/needing your current Civic fits the bill.

6/15/2010 12:16:03 PM

I didn't mention this but I'm also starting to think my car is a death trap. It seems like every other car is a monstrous juggernaut, one dropped cell phone away from crushing me like a soda can. If I'm gonna drive a small car then I want the extra 15 years of safety advances on my side.

I love the Golf but it's too expensive.

The Yaris looks great! so does the Fiesta, maybe I'll wait till I can get a used one. I've heard a new model usually has bugs the first time around, should I worry about that? The Mazda 3 is a bit big, but I just read that Mazda is bringing the 2 to America. (that's another one I'll have to wait for though)

what do you guys think of the 2-door Focus or the Mazda 2? Maybe I'm not ready for the leap to 4-door ... not having human-sized back seats means I never have to drive when there's a crowd

6/15/2010 4:07:10 PM

Quote :

"The Mazda 3 is a bit big"

Quote :

"I didn't mention this but I'm also starting to think my car is a death trap. It seems like every other car is a monstrous juggernaut"

i give up.

6/15/2010 4:24:55 PM

^

Quote :

"If I'm gonna drive a small car then I want the extra 15 years of safety advances on my side. "

Personally I'm not fond of the looks of the 2-door Focus, but that's a personal preference. I think Focuses are generally decent to good cars though. The Mazda 2 is very similar to the Ford Fiesta (they share a platform) and appears to come in a 3-door whereas I think the Fiesta is 5-door only, but as you said, it's not out yet.

If you like coupes what about the Scion tC?

6/15/2010 5:17:00 PM

Quote :

"The Yaris looks great! so does the Fiesta, maybe I'll wait till I can get a used one. "

What about the Honda Fit?

6/15/2010 6:00:17 PM

Quote :

"If I'm gonna drive a small car then I want the extra 15 years of safety advances on my side. "

Just weld in a roll cage and get some seats from the s2000 - add a/c and you are good to go.

went you get ready to sell just ask $texas and wait for some young ricer to buy.

6/15/2010 6:23:53 PM

^ lol ... don't forget the 5 point seat belt

Quote :

"What about the Honda Fit?"

it's also a bit bigger than I really want, but I like the interior more than the Mazda 2 or the Fiesta. (all three are on the bigger side but the Mazda 2 is the smallest)

Also it looks like a pistachio

I just found the Hyundai Accent and the 3-door is 10k brand new too good to be true? anyone know anything about this car?

6/15/2010 9:51:42 PM

It's a Hyundai...solid, but unspectacular. No frills. Hyundai's rep has improved leaps and bounds over the last 15 years. Usually good safety ratings too.

6/15/2010 10:19:07 PM

RE: Honda Fit

Quote :

"it's also a bit bigger than I really want, "

It weighs 2500lbs, it's the smallest car Honda makes, and and is among the smallest/lightest cars you can buy in the US, period.

I'm gonna follow H8R on this. I, too, give up.

[Edited on June 16, 2010 at 9:05 AM. Reason : for reference the Accent is about 100lbs lighter than the Fit.]

6/16/2010 9:03:54 AM

do you want a hatchback for looks or for utility? if utility (or any of your other criteria, really), there's no better choice than a Honda Fit

car magazines love them

6/16/2010 9:21:56 AM

i want a honda fit

6/16/2010 9:31:51 AM

Quote :

"^^prick! You should have given it to me...I'm pretty sure the Civic compressor would have worked on my Integra"

It may have fit, but if I remember his A/C correctly, "worked" would have been a stretch.

[Edited on June 16, 2010 at 10:03 AM. Reason : Also when I saw this post two days ago I nearly sent a PM on Quinn's behalf]

6/16/2010 10:02:48 AM

its a honda....ac always sucks.

6/16/2010 10:42:03 AM

With regards to

looks
utility
space
'performance'

Fit >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yaris

6/16/2010 11:34:10 AM

Quote :

"It weighs 2500lbs, it's the smallest car Honda makes, and and is among the smallest/lightest cars you can buy in the US, period."

Actually I have to redact what I've said before. I saw a Nissan Versa hatchback today, and it was much smaller than I had thought from browsing pics. A comparison of the measurements for the Versa, Fit, etc shows that they're taller but almost exactly the same length and width as my civic!!

I think I've been misjudging sizes from the pictures with no people, the cars looked almost like SUVs to my untrained eye.

6/16/2010 3:32:53 PM

I found a 2006 Scion XA in Raleigh for $10k and only 34,000 miles. What do you guys think? It's a private seller, I'd rather buy from a dealer if I'm spending that much. It also comes with an extra set of 4 tires. It seems like a good deal to me!

http://tinyurl.com/24hpoyb

The Internet's love of the Honda Fit is convincing me, but it sure is expensive. There are very few used ones for sale, and looking around online I haven't found one yet for less than $13k. How much can you talk dealers down for a used car? Most of the (used!) Fits I've seen were around $14-16k

6/17/2010 2:03:10 PM

$10k seems high for that Scion. Fit >>>> any Scion. That's odd about used Fit prices since their MSRP starts around there. I've never shopped for that type of vehicle though so I can't offer an explanation or any advice.

6/17/2010 2:57:11 PM

from kbb for that Scion:

http://tinyurl.com/2dadre5

i'd offer ~$9500 if you were to go with this one. i know there's 4 extra wheels included but still.

6/17/2010 3:21:30 PM

I'm assuming the wheels are steel wheels with wheel covers over them (this is, afterall, a Scion). That's not worth much. Tires are probably a bit more. I wonder what options that car has.

Doesn't an xA start around $13k new?

The link shows the price as $9500

[Edited on June 17, 2010 at 3:28 PM. Reason : not a great color, offer $9k?]

6/17/2010 3:26:27 PM

I just called my bank and they want 9-13% for a car loan, even though I'm willing to put about $5,000 down. WTF???

Can the dealer usually do better? If the best I can get is 9 fucking percent I'll just roll down the windows on the Civic

6/17/2010 3:44:57 PM

join a credit union, you'll probably get 6.5% on a used car

6/17/2010 3:46:26 PM

my car loan for $2k six years ago was 3% and i thought that was ridiculous...i paid it off in a month, though, since all i needed was to sell my old car

6/17/2010 4:01:45 PM

^^this

Or really just shop around. Sometimes you can get a good loan through a bank, maybe just not *your* bank.

[Edited on June 17, 2010 at 4:03 PM. Reason : e]

6/17/2010 4:03:36 PM

I have USAA and their rates are much better, but they wouldn't approve a loan for me It's cause of a foolish late payment on student loans from about a year ago.

I found a 2008 Fit Sport with 50,000 miles for $11,000. Best deal I've found so far, in my experience 50k is nothing on a Honda (shoot the civic is rockin 175)

6/17/2010 4:22:57 PM

on my current car loan I'm working with 5.29%, so that's ridiculous.

Go drive that Fit


FIT IS GO!!!

6/17/2010 4:42:30 PM

if you've got $5k to put down on a car, just get a $5k car, no payment.

6/17/2010 4:44:39 PM

with SECU your credit history doesn't even matter if you have an income and let them take out payments directly, or at least that is what they explained to me (i should have passed a credit check just fine though, so they may have run one and i just didnt know it)

6/17/2010 4:45:49 PM

6/17/2010 4:47:09 PM

LOL ... actually for me, the Fit will be a gas hog. 33 highway? don't make me scoff. That's about 15mpg less than what I'm used to

I guess that's what you have to sacrifice if you want things like "power steering" and "side-curtain air bags"

6/17/2010 4:53:31 PM

i know your budget is 10K but i wanted to throw out there that i bought my Dad a new '09 Nissan Versa 1.6L with automatic trans., power windows/locks, etc. (meaning it's not the base model). sticker was $16,200 but i got it out the door for $11,900 from crossroads nissan. reason i'm mentioning this is i'm sure you could look at the 1.5L with manual trans. (sticker price of ~12-13) and haggle them down to under 10K. i dealt with multiple nissan dealerships and every single one said they couldn't touch crossroads price and some even pretty much called me a liar about the price even though i showed them the paper crossroads had given me.

6/17/2010 4:56:51 PM

wow thanks for the heads up! There's a Versa at my work that I've checked out a few times. I live in Charleston now but I visit Raleigh pretty often

6/17/2010 5:03:18 PM

I'm gonna have to recommend against the Nissan.

you may get it cheap as hell, but you'll never get anything for it when you try to get rid of it after finding out that Nissan Makes Some Fucking Junk.

Stay Honda.

[Edited on June 17, 2010 at 5:14 PM. Reason : NMSJ]

6/17/2010 5:11:16 PM

NMSFJ

6/17/2010 7:57:50 PM

Here's the link for the car I mentioned earlier, a 2008 Honda Fit Sport for $11k, it has about 50k miles.

http://tinyurl.com/35jufyb

The dealer only has stock pictures, which makes me a little suspicious. the carfax is clean though, except that the odometer readings recorded there are about 5,000 instead of 50,000. weird. This is the best deal I've found yet.

6/17/2010 9:28:15 PM