After many long hard weeks of searching we found me a used car! It's a small 4 cylinder 98 Mercury (Ford) Tracer, it has 75k on it and we managed to get it for a very reasonable price (less than $3,000)! The car itself is in near perfect condition, a few minor scratches where you'd expect them for a 9 year old car. Apart from needing some minor repairs (shock/strut) it's ready to go. Very smooth driving an automatic, changes gears easily and smoothly and it's very quiet inside even with the air on!

The single biggest asset we had while searching for a used car was brining someone who knew what they where doing, knew what to look for and what to listen for! We looked at a lot of cars/trucks that appeared decent and turned out to be junk, leaking fluids, bald tires, rust, broken into, even collision damage!

Am glad the hunt is over!

Congrats, hope it does good for you

Congratulations!!!

Thanks!.. I hope so too!

Now all that's left is to name the beast...

I have a question that I'm sure I'll get laughed at for asking but as I've never driven an automatic before I have to ask...

The gear stick (if I should call it that) is quite easy to read. P for Park, D for Drive, R for Reverse, N for Neutral.. but there are some I've no idea what they are for? I have two D's one with a circle around it and one without whats the difference? I also have an L which I've no idea what it's for?

D no circle is Drive. You can use it around town
D with circle is Overdrive. Use it always. It will get you the best MPG around town and definantly on the highway. If your car has a Tachometer (RPM gauge) you can see how low the RPMs stay when you are just cruisen around.
L is low. Use this when going up hills where you need more power to climb. This will burn gas and result in poor MPG so only use it when needed.

If you want to see the differance feel free to drive a little bit from a stop in L, then put it to D, and then to OD and you will feel (or see if you have a tach) the differance in the engine. Do not bother doing this on a regular basis, there is no point and it is just extra work for your older transmission. No need to overwork something that is expensive to fix!

Typically when i drive an auto car i will just leave it in OD (overdrive, D with a circle around it). I do not live near any hills so i've never used L in an Auto. I have used L in my manual shift jeep, but thats for a completly differant reason .

Now that explains it... it also explains why the car sounded kind of louder when I drove in D to work today!

Thanks for your help

Congrats

Thanks for all the responses!!

I thought I'd post an update as I took the car in today so we could get it a once over and identify anything that might need fixed. As this is a used car bought on a tight budget I expected I'd need to get it serviced, new brakes or tires or something to be fixed due to wear and tear.

The mechanic said the car is immaculate underneath , the engine compartment and inside. He even went as far as to say the suspension/shocks/struts are in near new condition no problems. The only repair needed are two motor mounts! He asked as to how much was paid for the car ($2,200 or $2,300 to be exact before taxes) he said it was a steal. I think we got really lucky yet again...

Oh we did name the "beast".. we decided it would be only fitting to name the car after it's previous owner. We're 99% sure the last owner was an older person we decided to call him wilbert . I don't know if it's a back home thing or just my area thing but we used to call old men wilbert back home

Congrats! Looking for a good used car is tough.

shiny

Haha - for old men I would stick with Bob, Fred etc The back end looks a lot like the Mondeo here - looks tidy too! Although my OH tells me horror stories about buying used cars - how you can't trust anyone selling them (well isn't that the same everywhere?!) but also because there is no MOT like we have in the UK how do you *know* the car is roadworthy if you don't know anything about cars?! I am dreading buying one eventually... saying that I am dreading driving in SoCal as well so it's all good

hi,

I have had done research in here about buying small car in america.... wohoo.. becos i want the one which fits just me and my wife... those small cars we get in Japan.... i hope they get here too.. dont neeed the SUVs as they drink lot of gasoline.... just want the one which gives me high mileage and is maintainence freeee.... I hope i get one... when i am in USA

Jigi

Haha, I can totally relate to the joy of finding your car after long weeks of hard search. Good deal for a used car too and the car looked "neat" on the outside.

I thought about buying a used car too but I decided a brand new one will serve the purpose better for me. I used to wait for the bus and take the train to commute to work. Now I have this baby to help me get through the winter days. My first car in the US.



Good luck to those still in the search for a reliable car!

NICE!! congrats btw

Is that a Corolla? I've had many Corollas over my lifetime - very reliable and great gas mileage!

I just bought an old 93 Civic as a commuter car. It has 156K on it, but I'm sure it's got at least another 50k in it.

I Toyotas and Hondas. Yes, it's Corolla 2008. Not much luxury inside like American cars but very reliable indeed. I have had Toyotas even back in PI (our first family car was a Toyota Starlet, 70 series..).
Can you believe that that same Starlet still runs smoothly without major fix? The engine is still good, navigated lots of uphill climbs and rocky roads. And so as our other Toyotas (Camry, Vios and Fortuner).

How much did you get the 93 Civic for? I hope you got a great deal! 50k isn't bad, btw what is your depicted annual mileage? Hondas are as equally great, if not better. I almost chose an Accord over the Corolla, but when I road-tested one, the noise barrier is thin. The noise on a freeway is louder (or it is just me being ridiculously meticulous) than the Corolla. My co-worker also commented the same thing with her car. She swears she can hear the "body mechanics" rattling & vibrating in her car, haha.

But good choice for a commuter car.

ETA:I just remembered your thread about you issuing a check worth a couple of $$ to the seller (?). It's good to know that it got settled then.

Wow my first post here , my SO has been reading for a while and I figured its time to meet some like minded people

So how do people go about getting car loans there? Im looking to move over to the US from the UK and was looking to get a new car as to get a good life out of a car. Unfortunately there isnt a bus service as the place is quite rural. I was looking to pay for half of the car instantly and get payments, but reading other storys it seems people have problems here.

Not like in the UK where anyone can get credit.

Well actually it pretty easy to find credit here in the US, especially for a car. Many car lots will finance you but most will charge a very high interest rate if you don't have credit history here in the US. It is almost always better to find a bank or credit union that will give you a loan than it is to finance the loan at the car lot.

If your circumstances will allow, stay away from car lots that do the financing themselves. These are usually people dealing in low value cars and charging high interest. They typically allow weekly payments. Sounds good up front and for some people this may be their only option. However, these car lots are typically very aggressive about repossessing your car. They sell you a cheap car, get as many on-time payments as they can from you then repossess it the first time you are late. They then sell the car again to somebody else. A bank or credit union will tolerate late payments for a much longer period of time, especially if you talk to them when you are struggling.

And run from any car lot that has a tow-truck but no maintenance facility. Any lot with a tow-truck and no garage is probably buying junk cars that they have to tow to some location where they do minimal repairs and then put on the lot. A tow truck on the lot with no garage may also mean they are very aggressive repossessors.

Having a loan secured before you go car shopping will help you tremendously when bargaining with the dealer, and it will also help keep you from overspending because you get emotionally attached to a car. Also know that car dealers who provide financing actually make a pretty good profit from your financing. All car dealers who provide financing through a third party get a kickback from the lender for making the loan. And what is worse, the higher the finance rate they can push on you, the more kickback they get.

Buying from a local dealer with a good reputation is your best option, but the best deals can be found when buying from an individual. But if you buy from an individual it is important that you take somebody with you who can evaluate the car. Or take it to a garage and ask for a pre-buy inspection. If the seller wont allow this inspection then you don't want the car.

Personally I have bought and sold several cars on eBay, but I am an ASE certified Master Automobile Technician with a degree in Auto Repair so can usually (but not always) spot the clunkers. However, you should not be afraid of late model, low mileage cars on eBay even if you don't know anything about cars.

My final observations:

1. Never buy a car from a dealer who will finance it himself.
2. Never by a car that is leaking fluids, even if they offer to fix the leak(s).
3. Never buy a car if the rubber pad on the brake pedal is excessively worn...big warning sign for several reasons!
4. Never buy a car if it has ever overheated (difficult for you to know this one but look for signs of the green fluid overflow)
5. Never buy a car that has been modified in any way (engine mods, suspension changes, etc)
6. Never buy a car if the outside edge of the driver's seat is excessively worn (means a LOT of stop-and-go driving)
7. Take somebody with you who can keep you from making an emotional decision
8. Pick your budget before you go shopping and stick to it.
9. Don't forget to factor in the insurance costs...it can vary tremendously between vehicle models.
10. Take your time and don't be afraid to "let one get away". There are plenty of great cars out there for sale. Don't be pressured into acting quickly. Don't fall for the "it wont last long" or "three other people are coming to look at this car today" tactics.

Im actually looking at getting directly from Ford, so Im hoping that can help me out some being a big company and all.

Fingers Crossed

Good Luck!!!..

We could have gotten a loan if we wanted the bank eating us alive with high interest. We ended up just saving up the cash to get my car. I live in an urban area and believe it or not there wasn't a bus service running here until recently! So before I had this car I was riding a bike (no motor just two legs and pedals) to work every day. 2 miles don't sound bad but believe me it felt more like 10 when it's feeling like 105 outside...

We're really glad we got "wilbert" when we did.. it's not a new car but.. we don't have big car payments.

It does look a bit like a mondeo... because it's a ford! I didn't know until I did some research (before I bought it) that mercury is another part of ford.. so what I'm driving is the US version of the escort. I too was unsure about things as there isn't an MOT over here but.. taking someone along who knows what to look for was a big benefit. CarFax is also handy to check out as is asking the person/dealer if you can take the car to a mechanic to have it looked over.

I too was dreading driving in this area, which is just outside Orlando. Driving on the highways with so many insane drivers but... you get used to driving defensively very quickly. I'll never get used to the old people drivers who really shouldn't be behind a wheel.

Nice car! I can see the many benefits of buying new... although we couldn't go that route as credit (or lack of a history) was the issue. We did however manage to escape having a car payment every month which is a big help now since the economy seems to be circling the drain.

For those looking for a Cheap car (not in the US.. yet?) I found this on RTE quite interesting... World Cheapest New Car?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0110/car.html

Makes you think.. will they start making cars like this (more powerful of course) available in the US?