To buy a new car or not

[Effington]

I'm currently driving around in a '95 Chevy Cavalier, but really haven't driven it much for the last 3 years as I've lived and worked in Chicago, so took the train to work. In fact, the only times I've used my car is to get groceries, and an ocassional trip to the suburbs. Public transit is pretty good.

That all changed when I got a new job last week in the suburbs, so I'll be driving out there everyday. Anyway, as my luck will have it, my car decided to stop working. It has been on/off the last few weeks in terms of starting. I thought it was the battery, and bought a new one, but that wasn't it.

I took it in to the repair shop and they couldn't find anything wrong; sometimes the car will start, sometimes it won't. It won't start if it is very very cold or if it snowed the night before. Otherwise, it typically works. I brought it in when it worked, and he couldn't find anything, although he recommended I replace the spark plugs and wires, which would cost $600. A lot of money for something that wouldn't fix it. And where my blue book value is about $500.

I got a second opinion and I think the guy was just trying to rip me off. Meineke replaced all 4 spark plugs, wires, and fuel injectors for $250. However, they said the same thing; they think that's the problem, but since they don't see the car in it's non-functioning condition, they are not 100% positive. The parts did look warn, though. For $250 I felt it was worth it. I do almost no maintenance on the car.

That being said, I think the car may last a bit longer, but something newer is in the near future. What are my best options, if my goal is to get as much utility from the car for the price? (Most miles driven per dollar spent)

Since I realize cars depreciate like crazy in the first few years, logic would tell me my best bet would be something like an '05 Honda Civic or an '05 Camry/Corolla, since they are both pretty reliable and inexpensive cars. My friend is in the same position as me, but I think he's buying one brand new.

Do you guys have any other suggestions or insight I may not see?

 

[Obsidian]

sounds to me like the car should be in good shape now. Some of the wiring around my battery was corroded, too, but it got fixed recently (it was actually not very expensive at all in my case).

 

[Arizona iced tea]

i would look into a late 90's or early 00's subaru. you can get a impreza cheap and subarus are probably the most reliable cars on the road. ive seen many stories of them going well over a million miles, but thats overkill... personally im a VW fan but they arent to reliable

 

[Bible_Belt]

If your car was a 95 Nissan, Toyota, or Honda, it would still run well. Don't be afraid of an older car, as long as it is one of those three makes. Rust, resulting from road salt, would be my biggest concern in a used car from Chicago. Other than that, those three makes of car will go about forever if treated well. I have a 91 Nissan truck with 250k miles, still running strong.

 

[ketostix]

If your car was a 95 Nissan, Toyota, or Honda, it would still run well.

That's not necessarily true and too many people believing foreign cars are better is a big reason we have less jobs here (and even if they're assembled here it's not the same thing economically). Take the a '95 Honda Civic the equivalent of a Cavalier. If you did no maintenance on it like the OP said about the Cavalier, the timing belt probably would've broke by now and being an interference engine would've been destroyed not to mention it would need valve adjustments and that little, hard working 1.6L engine would have probably been pretty worn. There's a reason you see more older american cars on the road than foreign.

My brother just sold his '95 cavalier and everything woked fine on it and it ran well and had about 200K miles. You can get 200-300k out of a GM car too. Plus since people believe the myth that GM cars aren';t good they arre cheaper to buy used.

 

[splinterkb]

sounds to me like the car should be in good shape now. Some of the wiring around my battery was corroded, too, but it got fixed recently (it was actually not very expensive at all in my case).

Yeah and just add in that the car wont start sometimes and it sounds like its running GREAT! I would buy a new car before you dump more money into it. If you want a car that will go high in miles go for a toyota, honda, lexus, mitsubishi... you get the idea. They do cost more than other cars at the same caliber, but you pay for what you get. An 05' Accord might run you up a few bucks... Whats your budget?

 

[Arizona iced tea]

my 1989 Ford F-250 has 292,000 on it and i wouldnt think twice about driving it to california (if diesel wasn't $3.80 a gallon )

as far as gas mileage, chevy is kicking honda's ass at the moment, people just assume Japanese cars are better...

 

[ketostix]

Thats stupid!

The reason there are older domestic cars like ford, chevy, and GM that are still on the road is because thats what America was driving then....

How many people were driving a honda in the 60's? 70's? even 80's in America?

I'm talking about cars models just even 10-15 years old like the chevy cavalier, model years where there were even more foreign cars purchased.

And economics! Are you serious! Its great for us economically!

This just flat wrong and stupid.

 

[Maxtro]

I would not recommend buying a brand new car unless it was a hybrid.