Best daily driver for $1500.00

What used car would you by for $1500.00? A beater point A to point B car that's trustworthy.

 

Matt's old 308, I trust it would break down pretty often.

 

K-Car, LOL!

DL

 

Volvo 740.

Mines got 340k miles on it, been to the top of Pikes Peak. All the way from California to Florida and back. Recently I trusted it enough to do a 500 or so mile round trip (250 out, 250 back) for thanksgiving. Runs nicely and has been very reliable for me.

 

Yugo!

 

Believe it or not, Yugo isn't far off from what I'd choose. I bought a 1978 Fiat 131 wagon with 30,000 miles on it for $600 a few years ago and drove it for 25,000 miles. No problem. Didn't give me any trouble at all. Of course I've had 8 Fiats (ranging in price from the $600 to $10k and in years from '64 to '81) and know them really well now and can tell a good one from a bad one and pick a good one and spend a weekend and a couple hundred bucks on timing belt, brakes, fluids, and tune up and then drive it for quite a while without worrying. My current driver is a 1972 Fiat camper van (and its back up is a '69 124 spider, currently at the paint shop getting pretty.).

Cheap Italian cars rock!

 

this, or this.....
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I've put 32000 miles in 3 years on an '86 BMW 528e I paid $1050 for. I put another $1000 (and some sweat equity) into it right away and have spent another $1250 or so since. It's a great car that helps me rationalize my other toys.

I'm getting to the point where an '00 5 series looks pretty attractive though. Or maybe one of the Jags Sunny speaks so highly of. You can only drive beaters for so long.

 

Lexus ES250 if you can find one...

 

Best for the money? Any older 4 door Honda or Toyota

Most fun? Fiat X1/9

You might also look at smaller pickups, like an older Ford Ranger or Toyota (whatevermodel)

 

I'm currently driving a 1990 Honda Accord EX auto while my other car is in the shop. It's the shop loaner with 230,000 plus miles but it drives very well for it's age.

Another car to think about is a first gen 1985 RX7, I found one for $1000 but it needs a lot of body work.

 

If Fiats are out, you can't really go wrong on the reliability of any Toyota with the 80s/90s 4-cyl 22R engine. Those things last forever. Sedan, coupe, or pickup - your choice.

 

Body work shouldn't scare YOU off, unless it's got the cancer.

 

Early Eighties Diesel Mercedes. 300k miles is nothing.

 

This sounds like a great choice. When you get your 'real' car back, you can turn the Rx7 into an SRX7 racer to compete w/ Rob.

 

Maybe next week if I'm lucky. If anything I just want to start buying & selling used cars on my own again, turn them for profit but I'm stuck at work from 7am to 4pm most of the time.

 

Those cars are built like tanks, you can find them al over Houston for 500 or less. I used a lot of them as parts cars.

 

I'll second that. A friend of mine was doing some Army stuff on the east coast, and had too much crap to bring home (California). He spent $1,500 bucks on an early 80s S-class turbo disel with 308,000 miles on it and drove that baby all the way across the country. It's still running, he drives it all the time.

 

1985 to 1989 toyota MR2. 1970 to 1973 base model camaro . 1974 to 1977 firebird or formula.

 

If you get a Yugo and will be in the cold temps be sure it has the rear window hand warmer option.

 

Har Har, old joke. I wouldn't be surprised if Yugos are named a true collector car. I seen some of them pull impressive run times at a autocross events.