Buying Small Car in America?

[Mags 112]

The Chevy Aveo is $10,000 too (brand new!), good mileage and compact.

Edited October 4, 2007 by Mags

[Jigi 0]

hi

Thanks people.. these are brands i have shortlisted.. Honda, Chevrolet, HYUNDAI and Ford.

Cant trust Kia.....

Small cars in these would be great... the Chevy Aveo , Hyundai are available in India too.. so i guess i will have to choose in them ..... I hope all goes welll waiting for my interview to happen and be with my wife

Jigi

[athena_ny 1]

hi

Thanks people.. these are brands i have shortlisted.. Honda, Chevrolet, HYUNDAI and Ford.

Cant trust Kia.....

Small cars in these would be great... the Chevy Aveo , Hyundai are available in India too.. so i guess i will have to choose in them ..... I hope all goes welll waiting for my interview to happen and be with my wife

Jigi

My mom and I both drive 2004 Hyundai Elantras - I have NO complaints. Seems that some of them have an issue with weak struts, but mine are okay so far, as Christina M said, the timing belts. Usuaully we've had to replace brakes at about 50,000 w/ other cars, but one of the Elantras (mine hasn't needed them replaced yet) went to 75K without needing new brakes...

I imagine the Accent, which is about 4k cheaper, would be a similar sturdy car with better gas mileage.

[pnrmbr975 1]

... why you want to buy a car so urgent if all will take time to get a workpermit and find a job and stuff like that ???

Ramona

Ramona, the OP is filing for an immigrant visa. He will be work-authorised the minute he enters the US.

Can you not afford at least $250-400 monthly payments? If you're sticking with your original budget, don't be surprised if you won't get that far.

pnrmbr975, you made me laugh. You're right that $1000 won't get you very far, but don't you think that you're being a little unrealistic on the car payment? Both my husband and I have white-collar, professional jobs and we would struggle to make a car payment of $400 a month between the two of us! Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of money just sitting around every month waiting to be spent on a nice new car

Okay, maybe I was a bit unclear but Rebeccajo stated it better.

And things might be different for us, my wife and I are not struggling especially now that she got a job that pays about $70K, entry level, plus we both don't have kids to support, basically just the two of us. Our cellphone bill plays between $60-70, so as AT&T bills. We have no cable payments too. Sorry for straying a bit but good luck to the OP.

[Jasman0717 8]

I still have my online access to Consumer Reports so if you give me the year, make and model maybe I can get something off the Internet

[athena_ny 1]

... why you want to buy a car so urgent if all will take time to get a workpermit and find a job and stuff like that ???

Ramona

Ramona, the OP is filing for an immigrant visa. He will be work-authorised the minute he enters the US.

Can you not afford at least $250-400 monthly payments? If you're sticking with your original budget, don't be surprised if you won't get that far.

pnrmbr975, you made me laugh. You're right that $1000 won't get you very far, but don't you think that you're being a little unrealistic on the car payment? Both my husband and I have white-collar, professional jobs and we would struggle to make a car payment of $400 a month between the two of us! Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of money just sitting around every month waiting to be spent on a nice new car

Okay, maybe I was a bit unclear but Rebeccajo stated it better.

And things might be different for us, my wife and I are not struggling especially now that she got a job that pays about $70K, entry level, plus we both don't have kids to support, basically just the two of us. Our cellphone bill plays between $60-70, so as AT&T bills. We have no cable payments too. Sorry for straying a bit but good luck to the OP.

Well obviously everyone is not rolling in dough as you are.

[Jigi 0]

Hi

I guess it will boil down to me for 2 options.... Hyundai OR Honda.... May be Ford .. if ford makes small cars

Jigi

[de_sjiem 0]

We just bought a 91 honda civic hatchback a couple months ago for 700... it runs well, does have some rust but overall is a good car.. I would personally much rather spend money on fixing a car i like than paying hundreds of dollars a month on a car payment (not to mention insurance is way more expensive) It is possible to get a car on a small budget (our first :"second" car was only 200 and we used it for a little more than 2 years) you just have to look harder...

[athena_ny 1]

We just bought a 91 honda civic hatchback a couple months ago for 700... it runs well, does have some rust but overall is a good car.. I would personally much rather spend money on fixing a car i like than paying hundreds of dollars a month on a car payment (not to mention insurance is way more expensive) It is possible to get a car on a small budget (our first :"second" car was only 200 and we used it for a little more than 2 years) you just have to look harder...

It all depends on your situation. If I had problems and had to spend thousands fixing my car and couldn't make it to school or work, I'd be screwed - therefore, to me, it's worth it to spend the 300 dollars w/ insurance (We pay 110 dollars a month for the two of us, full cover on my vehicle) and have the security of a good vehicle that will probably last me another 5 years.

[KarenCee 3]

Another site to look at is http://www.autotrader.com Sometimes you can find pretty good deals on this site, both from private sellers and dealerships. You can find any make and model you want. Good luck on your search.

[ChristinaM 0]

The other downside to having a car payment is having to have fully comprehensive insurance - if you can purchase without financing and get away without having to have that, it's potentially a huge saving.

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Check out Craigslist.com and check the area that you live in. For older cars I would STAY AWAY FROM HUNDAY. too much headache, the newer hunday have made a lot of improvement but I would not encourage anybody I knew to get an older Hunday. check Carfax.com to see if the car has a Salvage title

Salvage title diminish the car prices a lot, I had a Toyota Supra Salvage Title, A toyota Camry Salvage title and NIssan Maxima Salvage, got great deal on them and the cars lasted for Years. Thats when Japanese brand name comes into play.

I don't know where you are in California, check this place call wheels and deals, Check the auctions, the other important factor NO MATTER what car you get, check it carefully, Look under the car to see if you notice any major oil leak, old car will looks oily and dusty but a cheap option after you narrow it down to the car you want.

TAKE IT FOR A SMOG CHECK.

It's basically a cheap way to have a mechanic check the car for you before you make the deal, some garage have it down to about $30 for the test. If the car can not pass the test, Stay away as it can cost you more than $1000 to fix smog problems.

Edited October 8, 2007 by Nikita2Charles

[Jigi 0]

hi

Just checking out the FORD cars ... and i think./..... its probbaly end on a honda for me... or may be a chevrolet aveo

[Lisa and Spence 0]

My husband just had to purchase a car and we had limited finances because he isn't working yet and has no credit history... while he was hoping to pay for the car outright, we didn't have enough money to do that. So we were able to get a small loan from a relative and found a really nice 1990 Honda Civic EX for about $7000. It is in beautiful condition, so we are both happy with it. I know that Honda Civics run forever and have great gas mileage as I have had two... one I drove for 13 yrs and my current one that I bought new in 1999 and have driven the wheels off of it. I have had one maintenance issue with it that was outside of the regular upkeep of a car.

If you are looking for dependable transportation, look for Honda or Toyota. If you are looking for something short term and cheap, Hyundai, Kia, Ford, Chrysler... I don't consider them dependable transportation though.

Good luck with the car shopping... but I would honestly not expect to find anything decent under $6000.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

hi

Just checking out the FORD cars ... and i think./..... its probbaly end on a honda for me... or may be a chevrolet aveo

I own an Aveo (manual).

Hard to compare fuel economy of Indian and American editions of this care due to Indian edition generally having smaller, less powerful engine (1,200 cc SOHC vs 1,600 cc DOHC for American)--but also true that India has very few (if any) Interstate-comparable highways.

I can get about 675 km per tank with my Aveo @ 100-120 km/h.