Car decision

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Not to go against the Ford bashing but I have had a 1999 Ford Taurus for 2 years and I haven't a lick of problems with it.

I will admit that it probably will expire at 100,000 miles or something major will need repaired; it has 85K on now.

I also have a friend who owned a Ford Ranger with a 4 cylinder engine. What was nice was that he changed out the engine once when it got to 180,000 miles.

Apparently, it was an easy proposition in a car like that - just hook some chains on it and lift it out and plop a new one in for $1200 at the time. He kept the body in good shape and there was only one spot of rust on it for a 1986 truck. Couple that with a stick shift and I think you have a value, if a small pick-up is your thing.

[eisor]

You can find a Toyota or Honda for $5k. I bought mine for slightly over, but it had really low mileage for its year.

Carfax Hotlistings were my best friend during my car search.

Also, Nissan's are good cars and usually cost a little less than Toyota & Honda.

I actually had a 92 Nissan Sentra as my first car. I LOVED it. I actually loved it more than I love my Camry. It got 32 mpg and ran GREAT. It had 165k miles on it and it was still going strong. That was until my sister totaled it. That was a really sad day. My dad sold it to one of his employees. He still has it.

[Broken Arrow]

BECAUSE IT IS A FORD!!

And that's because it's a TOYOTA.

So...what're you trying say here?

I have a Toyota and at almost 180k, it's still driving like a champ.

My next car is most likely going to be either a used Toyota or Honda.

I'd love to buy "American", but there isn't anything comparable in value.

[disneysteve]

I'd love to buy "American

I'm glad you put "American" in quotes. That's a point I argue about all the time. What is an "American" car. Is it the car built in America by American workers for a company based in Japan? Or is it a car built in Mexico by Mexican workers for a company based in the US? Which is "more American"?

[Tree0164]

We will be in the market for a New used car next year while I would like to buy American it will probably be a Honda or Toyota.

Anyways as long as your Ford Focus is paid off, I think you should consider buying another used car.

[Broken Arrow]

I'm glad you put "American" in quotes. That's a point I argue about all the time. What is an "American" car. Is it the car built in America by American workers for a company based in Japan? Or is it a car built in Mexico by Mexican workers for a company based in the US? Which is "more American"?

Hehe, yes that is exactly why I put American in quotes.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yes, the Ford Focus is paid for and has been for 4 years. Thankfully. It drives sweeter. But sometimes it doesn't drive is the problem. On another board someone reminded me I already changed the battery at like 50k on the darn car.

[humandraydel]

I'm glad you put "American" in quotes. That's a point I argue about all the time. What is an "American" car. Is it the car built in America by American workers for a company based in Japan? Or is it a car built in Mexico by Mexican workers for a company based in the US? Which is "more American"?

Classic!

Although, to be fair, the Mexican-American car might actually keep more dollars in the U.S. The reason being that Ford, GM, have more higher paying jobs (engineers and executives) in the U.S. as opposed to a company like Toyota which has mainly lower paid factory workers in the U.S. with all the engineers and execs in Japan. It'd be interesting to find a definitive answer to this question though.

[InDebtInDC]

Japanese companies tend to build more reliable small cars. American companies tend to build more reliable big cars and trucks. This was true until maybe 10 years ago. Now nobody knows what country builds what any more.

For your situation, I would honestly say get rid of the Focus. I have experience with them and they're not the most reliable thing on the road. Plus they depreciate really quickly.

I would recommend a 96-00 Civic CX, DX, LX, or VP. Stay away from the EX, HX, and Si models since they tend to cost more for repairs.

The nice things with the Civic is that a lot of kids like to swap out their engine. That means if you go down to your local Honda speed shop you can buy used engines for about $100, or most of the times they'll give it to you for free. Plus Civics are the easiest cars to swap engines on.

That means that you don't have to maintain your engine as much. If it dies, go get a used one for almost free, and either install it yourself or pay someone $500-800 to install it.

I know of no other car that has cheap engines available and are easy to swap engines like that year Civic.