GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Ok, so here's the question. You've got, say, $4000 or so to spend. You need a car. What would you buy?Here are the requirements. It has to be suitable as a daily driver. Reliable. Would like to get a couple of years out of it, at least. Preferably more, of course.Hopefully gas efficient (>30mpg on the highway). The car it's replacing gets about 35.Preferably something newer than, say, a 98. The car it's replacing is a 94 Nissan Sentra.Needs to be automatic.Options are, well, optional, lol.Year, Make, Model greatly appreciated. Plus, what kind of mileage you'd expect to see on the car for the money.TIA

shoot me. honda civic. chevy cavalier. sunfire... to name a few.basically, i would look at all the extremely common 4 cylinders you see on the road every day, and decide which you can tolerate the most.

I have a 97 sunfire that I use for work everyday doing service.I drive it very hard and is good on gas,plus parts a cheap to replace.I've had 3 that I've used for work and they have all been trouble free.I do about 60k a year.

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »basically, i would look at all the extremely common 4 cylinders you see on the road every day, and decide which you can tolerate the most.I love that way to look at it. But in all reality it is the best way. I mean, you aren't going to really get what you WANT with only 4K, but you can get something you don't mind. If I were you I would lean twards a foriegn car (like a corolla, or a Civic), cause those were cheap in the late 90's cause they were just booming off the market, yet were still pretty reliable. But that is just my little opinion.

I agree on the Cavalier/Sunfire. I had an '86 Cavalier for 13 years with very few problems and got good gas mileage. They are easy maintenance cars.

The Corollas have crossed my mind. Used cars are always so expensive in the Pittsburgh area for some reason. I had to go into Ohio to get a decent deal on my Vibe.I think I'll pick up the April 07 edition of Consumer Reports. They supposedly have an article on the best used cars in any given price range.I seem to remember seeing that they chose the 98 Prizm as the best deal under $4k. It's essentially the same as the Corolla, so it's something to consider.