What to get for reliable cheap commuter

B00mb00m

B00mb00m

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Anyone have good advice for what to get for a daily commuter ~30 miles round trip with traffic. Looking for something around $8000 or less. I’d like to be as close to an appliance on wheels as possible. I can drive the Jeep or truck when it snows just need something to rack up cheap miles and not care if it gets stolen.
 
Honda Fit was my last commuter car and I surprisingly loved it. It handled and stopped fantastic. That little vtec 1.5 would wind up to 7k surprisingly quick. Mine was a manual trans, I haven't driven an auto one.

The one negative was if it was more than just the driver it would really bog it down. If you had 4 adults and the AC on it really killed performance.
 
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Find a low mileage for the year manual transmission Honda Civic, or Accord. Shop off FB Marketplace and closest to major cities for largest option pool. Do a VIN search with CarFax to be sure ofometers accurate

One thing to be aware of with any used 100K plus Toyota esp is to be sure its had the belt done with Toyota parts. Fastest way to kill a quality Japanese car is using el cheap parts
 
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I’m looking for model year and mileage recommendations, like a 2010 accord auto wirh 120k with timing belt already changed.

I agree Honda and Toyota are good brands. A LOT of them for 8k are rebuilt titles and a lot are clapped out. I’m not sure Honda and Toyota are great values for 8k. I’ve been looking at Mazdas since they don’t attract the beater ricer crowd.

Hondas are also like the #1-#4 top stolen vehicles in every major city in US.
 
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you may be looking for a unicorn with those parameters in this post-Trump expulsion Bideonomics universe we find ourselves in

I've been trying to help my girlfriend's daughter look for the same thing for a couple months now, everything in the sub-10k range is a pile of shit

It's a brave new world
 
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zackcj7 said:
Honda Fit was my last commuter car and I surprisingly loved it. It handled and stopped fantastic. That little vtec 1.3 would wind up to 7k surprisingly quick. Mine was a manual trans, I haven't driven an auto one.

The one negative was if it was more than just the driver it would really bog it down. If you had 4 adults and the AC on it really killed performance.
Click to expand...

I’ve been searching for exactly that actually, but they are hard to find and command a premium for the manual. I’ll keep an eye out. How many miles you got on it? Any major maintenance milestones to be aware of?
 
Are you okay with a rebuilt title?

That way you get a better condition car for cheaper, and not care about it as much.
 
Westtown Willy said:
you may be looking for a unicorn with those parameters in this post-Trump expulsion Bideonomics universe we find ourselves in

I've been trying to help my girlfriend's daughter look for the same thing for a couple months now, everything in the sub-10k range is a pile of shit

It's a brave new world
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I’m finding, everything sub 10k is haggard
 
PNW_LJ said:
Are you okay with a rebuilt title?

That way you get a better condition car for cheaper, and not care about it as much.
Click to expand...

The problem is I don’t trust how people do rebuilds. My LJ is a rebuilt so I have no issue with the idea but I trust very few people to buy their wrecks.
 
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