Need advice for used car

[BenchBrawl]

I want to buy my cousin a used car, price range 6000$ give or take.Priority is durability and as little repairs as possible now and in the future.He is a student, in Quebec city, but will often go to Montreal the week-end.

Am not very knowledgable about cars, nevermind used cars in that range.Any suggestions on what I should look for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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[rynryn]

hmmm older honda CRV is the first thing that pops into my head. i've known a few people who've had 200k on the odometer with only cheap repairs needed. AWD, great heaters. not sexy.

 

[Baby Punisher]

I think Subaru or Mazda will give you the best bang for your buck. Very underrated brands.

 

[coupe89]

If they are tall I would not go Subaru.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Honda or Acura. You can't go wrong if the car's been decently taken care of.

 

[Bjorn Le]

At $6000 you have no idea if a car has been taken care of or not. You could buy the most reliable make and model and still get a lemon. So don't assume on of the Japanese brands is necessarily going to be super reliable.

Buying a car for someone else is really tricky. One, you have to assume you know what they want and you could be wildly wrong. They say beggar's can't be choosers but you want to make sure you don't give them a car they're uncomfortable with. I bought a car for my ex-fiancée a while ago and I knew exactly the type of car she wanted because she had said. My advice would be not be to surprise them but tell them you want to buy them a car and work with them. Two, if you do surprise them, you're going to feel really bad if the car has issues.

Also remember that all personal vehicles in Quebec need snow tires so don't get something with really big tire sizes that is going to kill their bank account.

 

[member 157595]

I think Subaru or Mazda will give you the best bang for your buck. Very underrated brands.

Around here (MA), you have to pay up for even a used Subaru since they're in such high demand.

Like @Nullus Reverentia said, I also recommend snow tires in QC even if you get an AWD vehicle. Quebec gets around ten feet of snow per year.

 

[New Jersey]

If they are tall I would not go Subaru.

eh, false.

source: i own an impreza and am just shy of 6 feet. lots of headroom to spare and i don't need to put the seat all the way back.

 

[coupe89]

eh, false.

source: i own an impreza and am just shy of 6 feet. lots of headroom to spare and i don't need to put the seat all the way back.

I have the seat all the way back in my impreza and it is still small. Any driving over half a hour makes it hard for me to walk when I first step out of it. So not false.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

If they are tall I would not go Subaru.

I'm six foot two, and have a Forester and Outback. Lots of headroom which includes sunroofs. Admitting they are more boxy than the cars Subaru makes.

 

[The Nuge]

eh, false.

source: i own an impreza and am just shy of 6 feet. lots of headroom to spare and i don't need to put the seat all the way back.

Ya the Impreza has plenty of room. I’m 6’4, and had no issue in the 2nd and 3rd Gen STIs I’ve driven . Oddly enough, I found the Impreza had more headroom than the Legacy.

I know most people dislike GM, but I had a good luck with my cobalt. It was cheap to drive and cheap to fix. They look pretty bland in stock form, but they’re easy to mod, and have a good following, if they’re into that.

For the most part, it’s just down to the individual car. As others have said, you’re probably going to have good luck with Subaru or Honda, but you also pay more for them. Toyota’s can be a bit of a mixed bag in my experience because gearheads don’t really ever drive them, so they tend not to be driven as hard, but that also means they might not have been looked after as well.

 

[coupe89]

I'm six foot two, and have a Forester and Outback. Lots of headroom which includes sunroofs. Admitting they are more boxy than the cars Subaru makes.

But they have no leg room that is my biggest problem with mine. I did a ten hour drive with my Edge no problem with my Subaru half hour drive when I get out my back and legs are killing me.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

But they have no leg room that is my biggest problem with mine. I did a ten hour drive with my Edge no problem with my Subaru half hour drive when I get out my back and legs are killing me.

I'm surprised. I thought the legroom would be find. What I find in the Subaru seats is they are "short" which means they don't give as much thigh support some taller folks might like.

 

[Winger98]

Do you have a mechanic you've done a lot of work with? If so, ask them what cars they'd avoid and what would be the cheapest to fix. Personally, my outback is a beast and I've always had great luck with GM products. Buying used, you're really hoping to just get something that was taken care of and not beaten up. If you get a little lucky on that front and keep up the basic maintenance once you have it, I think a lot of cars are likely to avoid just going all to hell on you. There are always going to be parts that just wear out, and the older the car you get the more likely you are to encounter that.

Ya the Impreza has plenty of room. I’m 6’4, and had no issue in the 2nd and 3rd Gen STIs I’ve driven . Oddly enough, I found the Impreza had more headroom than the Legacy.

I know most people dislike GM, but I had a good luck with my cobalt. It was cheap to drive and cheap to fix. They look pretty bland in stock form, but they’re easy to mod, and have a good following, if they’re into that.

For the most part, it’s just down to the individual car. As others have said, you’re probably going to have good luck with Subaru or Honda, but you also pay more for them. Toyota’s can be a bit of a mixed bag in my experience because gearheads don’t really ever drive them, so they tend not to be driven as hard, but that also means they might not have been looked after as well.

I had an Impreza as a loaner while my Outback was getting its timing belt changed. I have to echo the sentiments that it can mess with your back/hips/legs. It's funny, because the Outback doesn't bother me at all.

Agree about GM, too. My parents-in-law drive a lot of GM products and they take a beating. The couple of GM cars I've had also took a lot of abuse and were cheap to work on. Ford's the one I'm not a fan of.

 

[rynryn]

look for evidence you need gaskets done if you're looking at Subies.

Most of the reason i said Honda is they're unlikely to be expensive if they need a repair. At $6k you really don't know what's going to be wrong but there's little chance you'll be looking at much over $500 in necessary repairs with a Honda.

Alternately you could go for cheap craigslist beater after beater and hope to get a season out of a $500 car then move on to the next while you save money for more of a sure thing. My sister sold their old high-mileage Forester, full disclosure about the leaking head gasket, for $500 to a neighbor for his kid and he drove it like that for two years before he got a new car--thing still ran when he traded it in without repairing it.

 

[WeWantTacos]

Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, GM, Subaru tend to be more reliable and less expensive to repair.

I'd favor naturally aspirated over forced induction since you're on a budget and will be looking at older, higher mileage cars.

Whatever you're interested in, run a check with an OBD II scanner to see if there are any trouble codes or if the system was recently reset. If it passes and you're serious about the car, you may want to have it inspected by a reputable mechanic.

Don't forget to check things like tires, brakes/rotors, belts/pulleys, etc because they'll inevitably need replacing, so you should factor in that cost if they're near the end of their lifespan.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Thanks for your comments guys.I will respond later this week as I need to verify some things first.

 

[coupe89]

Best thing to do is get them to try some out and get the one they like. You have a 50-50 chance it will end up being good or will end up being a lemon.

 

[Roboturner913]

9th gen Toyota Corolla, absolutely indestructible.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Nissan are the cockroaches of the auto industry ,can not kill them.

 

[Plural]

I want to buy my cousin a used car, price range 6000$ give or take.Priority is durability and as little repairs as possible now and in the future.He is a student, in Quebec city, but will often go to Montreal the week-end.

Am not very knowledgable about cars, nevermind used cars in that range.Any suggestions on what I should look for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

That's very nice of you. My suggestion is that you look for models that are small and on the cheap end. The newer the car, the better chance you'll have that it won't need a lot of maintenance or that it won't break. There's still a possibility, but I wouldn't be fixated on any brand. If you can get a less than 5 year old and 60k car your chances increase.

I would look for Seat Ibiza. Good mileage per gallon and cheap enough to get a relatively new with 6k. It also uses mainly Polo parts.

 

[HansonBro]

Ill admit im a truck guy (see my thread), but if my needs were fuel economy/size, id look at the Jeep Liberty or Patriot. Granted, i know nothing of their performance or reliabilty. Bit of size with a smaller motor is all i know but it might fit the bill. Im not even sure how cars are still relevant these days when you can get roughly the same mileage with more passenger space and cargo area out of a mid size SUV. Even 4x4.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Hye guys, thanks for all the comments.Still looking at some things before calling the shot.Been reading all your messages and searching online.Your suggestions are all appreciated.

Not saying I've decided yet, but I'm increasingly looking at Toyota Corolla, something around 2011-2013 with 60k-100k give or take, range 6000-7000$ maybe up to 8500$.Maybe that's unrealistic, most are more expensive but I've seen a couple in those price range with that mileage (though it might be a fraud).

Something like that (7000$ 84km 2012): Toyota Corolla 2012 | Cars & Trucks | Gatineau | Kijiji

This one from 2013 looks too good to be true? (8000$ 32km 2013) : Toyota Corolla | Cars & Trucks | Québec City | Kijiji

^Even though it's a bit above my price range for only 32 km I'd be willing to pay 8000$.Must say I find it suspicious that a 2013 car has only 32 km mileage on it, a red car too.Prejudice lol.But again I'm a noob with cars.

How does that sound to you? (I mean in general, those above are just examples among many)

There's so many possibilities that it's just confusing at that point.I remember a friend of mine had a Toyota Corolla and the thing was a tank, so I have a bias in favor of Corolla that is anecdotal but that's all Ive got.Never broke.Of course that was an older model.

 

[Roboturner913]

I bought a 2013 top-of-the-line Corolla early last year with 30K miles (which comes out to 48K km) so it's not impossible. I paid around $11,000 US dollars. The one you linked appears to be the base model so the price isn't so low that I'd be suspicious of anything.

Having said that, if I had to do it all over again, I would go back and buy a 9th generation model, which I believe ended with the 2008. They seem a little better put together.

I am far from a Toyota fanboy but if you're needing a car you can just drive and drive forever and never have to worry about anything going wrong, Corolla/Camry is definitely the way to go. They are not "fun" and you'll be like every other clone on the road but they're cheap, they never break down and resale is really good.

 

[Bjorn Le]

That's very nice of you. My suggestion is that you look for models that are small and on the cheap end. The newer the car, the better chance you'll have that it won't need a lot of maintenance or that it won't break. There's still a possibility, but I wouldn't be fixated on any brand. If you can get a less than 5 year old and 60k car your chances increase.

I would look for Seat Ibiza. Good mileage per gallon and cheap enough to get a relatively new with 6k. It also uses mainly Polo parts.

Volkswagen doesn't offer SEAT (or Skoda for that matter) in Canada/USA, and it also doesn't offer the Polo.