NapaS2K

If you want a sportier car then a family sedan then you could always go with a 03-04 Hyundai Tiburon and find youself spending around $8500+ from a private seller. The big hit when it comes to depreciation has already happened and you get pick them up cheap now. 10year warraty should still be in effect unless the owner modded the hell out of it engine wise.

If you want to spend next to nothing and get like 40 MPG and not care about what car you get then get a Ford Festiva. I saw a review for the Festiva once and the person said "It keeps up with traffic, but thats about it." haha thats an awesome review.

rockville

For those recommending old Honda's and Toyotas, while I agree that say a '93 Civic is likely as reliable as any 14 year old daily driver, it is still a 14 year old car. I've had several old Japanese cars. Not one was as reliable as my newer domestic car. My friend's Del Sol was again very reliable for a '92 but not reliable compared to most remotely new cars. $4k buys a old Civic or an '02 Focus. Which is going to be more reliable? Assuming neither were beat up it's not likely to be the Civic.

Again, the Focus is a great car and with the SVT suspension upgrade it will out handle most of the cars that have been mentioned.

BTW, there are other good cars such as the Prot

IheartS2ks

I would not recommend a Focus. My GF has an 04 AUTO and it has/had tons of problems. Locked ignition, continuous bad brakes/rotors, faulty electronics and a bad transmission. It should be worth around 7K which is horrendous, but with all of its problems we'd be apt to get a lot less.

Granted, I LIKE the car, it drives well. Gas mileage is bad, but it's sporty and handles OK. Its just every Ford I've owned including this one I've had problems with.

Now I'm pretty sure we got a lemon, but I'm willing to bet that Ford has a higher percentage of lemons than say Honda or Toyota.

With that being said, the new focus looks good and chances are, you'd probably do OK with an new or old Focus. However, I wouldn't personally take that chance.

Older civics are over priced, except for the EP3, which I have and you could find for around 10K. It's a black sheep, but a decent car.

If you didn't care about looks or performance, a corolla would probably be the best bet.

DouglaS2000

I'm partial to my <$5k daily driver..



Had it around 8 months now and put on 11,000 miles in that time with nary a problem from its 183,000 mile motor. Granted I did upgrade the wheels, control arms, springs and shocks. But with all the upgrades and maintenance items, I've spent no more than $2200 total on top of the $3700 purchase price.. so I should correct that. It's a <$6k DD.

DouglaS2000

And if you opt for it, find a clean 98+ SC300/400 with relatively low miles for around $10k as it has the updated wheels/bumpers/interior

Dr. WOT

Integra? Do they still exist, or were they all stolen...

DouglaS2000

No, that was just the Type R's..

jah

[QUOTE=rockville,Dec 17 2007, 05:53 AM] while I agree that say a '93 Civic is likely as reliable as any 14 year old daily driver, it is still a 14 year old car.

rockville

I don't recall, was '00 or '01 the first year. I recall that the first year had a lot of recalls. The second year cars were OK. The third year cars were good. Even the second year cars should be good now as the recalls have basically been done. Heck, even Consumer Reports likes them...

wills2k106

I had a 2000 Focus, could be wrong on the year, a very solid car. Never had a single problem. The chassis worked well for autocross but it wasn't fast by any stretch, it could be with the right parts. I would have it again over a similarly priced Civic or Corolla.