buying a car

[alwayslive]

alright so i'm planning on buying a car and I don't know what to do. I can either
1) buy an older car (has 150k on it) for 5-6k, and hope that I don't need to put a ton of money into fixing it throughout the next few years
2) lease a new car for 5 years. I was looking at leasing the 2014 civic and putting down 3-4k as a down payment, so by the end of 5 years i'll have paid around 12k and will have the chance to buy it for 7k which I probably won't do
3) finance a new car, putting down 3-4k as a downpayment. With the same civic financing over 84 months i'll be paying around 200 a month and i'll have the chance to sell it after 7 years

So if I finance I pay off the car (20g) then I'll probably be able to sell it for around 10k, so in total I'll have paid 10k to have the car for 7 years. If I lease it, ill have paid around 12k to lease it for 7 years. I would just buy a used car, but I'm just really worried that it's going to constantly break down on me and I'll end up spending 10k on it anyways.

Please help!!

[tiger_handheld]

If you have no one to impress I would spend the 3-4k on the old car and save up for a new car.

My first car was a eg i got for 4200 with 172,000km on it and used it from 05-11 with doing oil changes ($30 a quarter), timing belt ($500), basic maintenance (batteries, breaks, etc). I'm sure I didn't spend 5k over the 6 years and old it for 2k. When I sold it it had 272 or close to there.

[alwayslive]

So do you think an older civic coupe (03-06) would hold up alright without me having to throw money at it on repairs? Also, would AT or MT be better in terms of reliability and low maintenance costs?

[Lomac]

Those are pretty reliable cars.

HOWEVER, any car can be unreliable solely based on the previous owners maintenance records. I'm sure there are FD RX7's out there with 300k on the odo without a rebuild on the engine, just as I'm sure there are complete and utter shit Civics and Corollas out there simply because the owner never did oil changes or replaced gaskets when they started to leak.

[alwayslive]

Thanks!

Any other cars you guys can recommend? I was thinking of looking into tiburons and celicas too but I've heard tibs aren't all that relible.

[Gucci Mane]

are you currently in school? if so, buy the 5-6k car and finish your schooling. once you've got a good job then you could buy something new or newer.

and why did you decide on a civic? in that price range you could get a fiesta st and have a hoot while driving around!

[alwayslive]

yeah I am currently in school, the only reason I'm even considering buying a new car is because I'm scared of the maintenance costs for a much older car.
I just decided on a civic because i've heard they're ultra reliable lol, just want to keep the repair costs low!

[SpeedStars]

Buy a prelude celica's aren't bad either. Coworker of mine has been driving his with a worn out timing chain for like 6 months now

[v_tec]

Originally Posted by alwayslive

So if I finance I pay off the car (20g) then I'll probably be able to sell it for around 10k, so in total I'll have paid 10k to have the car for 7 years.

No one will pay 10g for a 7 year old Civic unless you managed to put < 20k km on it

[BoostedBB6]

If your talking civics you can buy a pile of crap civic that will still last you years with little to no matinence.

[Suprarz666]

RSX could be another choice, reliable, fairly good on gas, cheap maintenance.
Although you most likely have to wait for one to come up in the 3-4k price range, but deals are out there.

[fliptuner]

Well maintained 03-06 Corolla/Matrix.

Boring as fuck? Yes. Bulletproof if maintained? Yes

[The_AK]

Just going to leave some civic input here, 2001 to 2005 em civic is completely gutless and unmoddable. Do not buy. That being said mine was Very cheap to do any sort of work on it (2004 civic manual). Had a few minor issues here and there but it got me to and from SFU for 4 years no problem. Not a baller by any means type of car but you'll.prolly.impress some jail bait if you throw a catback on it.

[Euro7r]

Civic or Corolla are good choices for cheap and reliable. Doesn't hurt the wallet. I drove my 02 civic like I stole it everyday, no problems till the day I sold it. Just do regular maintenance and keeping it mint, will last you a long time. Something about those honda engines, bullet proof.

[dn53]

I've owned an 02 civic coupe for almost four years now, purchased at 96k and now I am at 170k. It's true they are gutless and the automatic tranny is prone to problems. If you decide to buy one I'd recommend you get a standard as mine is starting to slip. The car itself has been very inexpensive to maintain. Common issues are the srs light on (typically seat belt buckle), door lock actuators failing (both sides for my car), and a slipping auto tranny.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by alwayslive

So do you think an older civic coupe (03-06) would hold up alright without me having to throw money at it on repairs? Also, would AT or MT be better in terms of reliability and low maintenance costs?

It's odd that you are mentioning 03-06 Civics because those years span 3 different versions of the car (over 2 generations).

The 7th gen Civic was technically in production between 01-05, but you should really consider them as 01-03 as the pre-facelift version, and 04-05 as the face-lifted version. Generally speaking, Honda screwed up bad on the 01-03 cars, and long term reliability is extremely poor among those cars. Engine mounts fail, front struts are too wimpy to withstand the load of the car, head gasket issues, SRS airbag / trigger issues, seat belt buckle issue, control arm bushings issue, auto tranny slipping issues, the list just goes on and on. The older the car, the more likely these problems will surface.

Honda knew they fxxked up, and they cleaned up their act with the facelifted 04-05 cars. Except for the automatic tranny high mileage slipping issue, I think all the other common failures on the 01-03 cars got fixed.

06 marks the 8th gen Civic. I seem to remember the initial batch of these cars having some sort of gas pedal issue, but they should all have been recalled since it was discovered relatively quickly afters sales started.

But there you go, 3 different cars. I would avoid the 01-03 Civics.

[tofu1413]

Id just pick up a pre 00' civic or EL... Good dds. Reliable and fun to drive as well.

[underscore]

I'd vote for buying a used car but don't spend your whole budget on the car itself to cover for any surprise maintenance items that may pop up early on. Civics, Corollas, Camrys, Celicas, are all common cars (cheaper repairs) and can be very reliable platforms (all commonly seen well over 300k) IMO if you get a Honda made between 96 and 05 don't get an auto, they had a lot of problems in that time frame.

Originally Posted by SpeedStars

Buy a prelude celica's aren't bad either. Coworker of mine has been driving his with a worn out timing chain for like 6 months now

I'd only get a Prelude if it was well maintained, but many of them aren't. Oil consumption and timing belt tensioner failures can be pretty common with them, and all of the autos die.

[StylinRed]

get a 2014 Dodge Dart $0 down $45 a week & use that $4k you would put as a downpayment for your weekly pays and you'll have about 2 years worth of payments there or use that $4k and try to grow it
or go with a Nissan Versa/Micra etc.

best thing would be to take transit (so you're not locked in debt) and grow your $4k

[punkwax]

Originally Posted by BoostedBB6

If your talking civics you can buy a pile of crap civic that will still last you years with little to no matinence.

Sure doesn't sound like a pile of crap to me..

[godwin]

It sounds like you want to get a commuter vehicle.. but I think the distance from where to where is also important in the decision making process. eg going up SFU mountain vs going from West side to UBC, makes a huge difference, you want more torque on the former.

[BrRsn]

smart thing to do would be to pay cash. You might be able to get an 8th gen civic for ~$7k if you're lucky. 8th gen civics are great, the only thing wrong I've seen with a lot of them is motor mounts. When you start the car, or put it into reverse you'll hear a loud humming/vibrating sound. You'll also get weird shifts and low speed jerkiness = motor mounts are bad. Not too bad of a DIY but something to keep in mind as it can cost a couple hundred to fix


For the record, my 7th gen (2001) civic had 35x,xxx kms on it when it got totalled in an accident. No issues whatsoever aside from some worn out bushings and timing belt every 150k -- in the time we owned it I never even touched the transmission (so original fluid for 350,000 kms and it ran fine)

[alwayslive]

Thanks everyone! Currently looking at either a 04/05 civic or any black integra with 160k or lower. I'll be using the car to mainly drive within richmond, and I drive to UBC and downtown sometimes.

[dared3vil0]

Shady kingsway dealer, overpriced, but if the price is fairly flexible this one looks decent;

just make sure to get an inspection of course.

2004 HONDA CIVIC SI 5 SPEED, LOCAL, WARRANTY

[you!]

buy a GTR