I need a CHEAP new car for commuting only [Smart Car?]

If you are looking for a cheap, dependable, brand new car with a warranty, the Nissan Versa 1.6 Base is the cheapest car currently sold in the US.
 
[quote name='lilboo']These are cute, but I am terrified!

There's no reasons why these cars and Hummers should be on the same road together ..:cold:[/quote]


maybe this car would be a little better for ya

it.JPG
 
[quote name='von551']Pff. Hybrids are a joke. Your Prius only averages in real world driving high 30mpg-low 40mpg, not the 50-60mpg claimed by sticker. with EPA's new mpg formula, hybrids lost about 30% of their original claimed MPG. You know what my paid-off 2003 corolla gets? 35-39mpg every tank and I drive stupidly fast (manual of course) and live in downtown san diego. Hybrids are overrated, under-performing gimmicks to make people feel "green" about themselves. My car's way more efficient than any $25,000 hybrid and harms the environment less by using less energy to be made and less energy to use. Not to turn this into a Hybrid-hate-fest or anything.

Sorry Javeryh, let me step off my soap box. In all honestly, you're smart for not wanting to buy new. save the depreciation loss, let some other poor sap pay it and get used. The top of your list for reliability, safety, and MPG should be either a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. They're always the top rated compact cars. The Fit, Smart, Yaris, and Versa are all jokes in that they give you less space, worse MPG, and even worse styling than a used civic/corolla, and are way over priced. You can't go wrong, I've had my '03 corolla since august '02 and have only replaced a couple belts and a battery, oh yeah and brakes. Great cars. Do your research, go to a Borders and read an Edmund's Used Car Guide, look at each year of car you're interested in, some have flaws others didn't. Buy something with close to 100K miles and it's barely broken in (Honda or Toyota speaking). Right now you can get my car for less than $7000 according to Kelly Blue Book, that's a cheap monthly payment...[/QUOTE]

I agree with buying a used car, but you're taking a chance with anything close to 100000 miles. You have no idea how the previous owner treated the car. Another thing is that if you plan to drive the car for at least seven to ten years, buying a new car isn't a bad idea.
 
Yeah, you can't look at cars as financial investments as they suck from that standpoint.

My last two gars have been new. The subaru made it 8 years, and I hope to get that much or more out of my Mazda 3 (would still be driving the Subaru if it hadn't started having issues with the transmission and some other crap). I just prefer to buy an affordable new car vs. a used car since I like to keep them as long as I can.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']Wow... only 8 yrs? My wannabe Hachi Roku is on it's 20th year and it's doing fineish. Gets about 25-27mpg too.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, was only around 85,000 miles too. Subaru's are usually damn reliable--my parents had a couple that they put around 200,000 on. One my great uncle is still driving.

But the transmission was going in mine, the knock censor was on for some other reason and it had some unrepaired body damaged from a fender bender from a few years back so I just said fuck it and traded it in.

I was getting a bit tired of the Subaru anyway, but wanted to get another couple of years out of it, as I don't like having a car payment, but I can afford it easily and I love my Mazda 3 so I can't complain too much.
 
3 is good. I actually like Mazda alot. I'd get a Mazda 5 next if I could, it's a good compromise in everything I want out of a vehicle.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh all...
 
[quote name='yamas']Check out the New Nissan Versa, 4 door and less than 10 Grand and pretty good MPG. The thing I think is stupid about smartcars is the fact that they run on premium fuel. Also they're probably practically useless in the snow.[/quote]

versa is the way to go for cheap car that runs well and decent mpg. (noticed from comments about the honda fit, its a great car also test drive either of these 2 imo)

there is nothing smart about a smart car.

diesel is the way to go imo. jetta clean diesel gets great mpg but costs a bit...if u can wait whenever we get the golf diesel hybrid is definitely the way to go @ 69.9 mpg
 
I don't think you should even consider the $9,990 Versa you see in those ads. No anti-lock brakes or air conditioning at that price. You'd have to pay $1,250 more to get both of those.
 
[quote name='rickonker']I don't think you should even consider the $9,990 Versa you see in those ads. No anti-lock brakes or air conditioning at that price. You'd have to pay $1,250 more to get both of those.[/quote]


Who gives 2 shits about anti-lock brakes? My car (which I have owned for the last 6 years) does not have anti-lock brakes and It has never been an issue. A/C isn't a big deal either if you live somewhere with mild sumemrs and don't mind driving around with the windows down.
 
OK, I'm definitely buying an new car this weekend and I have to start looking... Here's my list:

- Nissan Versa
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic
- Chevy Cobalt
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius

Anything else I should be looking at? My wife has been indicating that she wants to get something along the lines of an Accord or Camry but that's about a $10,000 jump in what I want to spend.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']Who gives 2 shits about anti-lock brakes? My car (which I have owned for the last 6 years) does not have anti-lock brakes and It has never been an issue. A/C isn't a big deal either if you live somewhere with mild sumemrs and don't mind driving around with the windows down.[/QUOTE]

I definitely couldn't do no A/C. I hate hot weather with a passion, and hate driving with the windows down--especially since I do a lot of highway/interstate driving.

I'm not sure there's anywhere in the US with mild enough summers that I could go without AC as I start to sweat with the temperature anywhere around 80 and up.

Antilock brakes aren't a huge deal, my last car didn't have them but my new one does and it definitely does stop better. Anti-lock breaks also knocks a bit off my car insurance, but not near enough to pay for them.

But I'd definitely go with ALB and AC for $1,250 personally. But moot for me as I don't buy cars in that low of a price range anyway, and at least go for the $17-20,000 cars thus far. Maybe move up more to an Accord or something for my next car since I'll be making a lot more money down the road when I need a new car since I plan on keeping my Mazda 3 for a long time.
 
[quote name='javeryh']OK, I'm definitely buying an new car this weekend and I have to start looking... Here's my list:

- Nissan Versa
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic
- Chevy Cobalt
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius

Anything else I should be looking at? My wife has been indicating that she wants to get something along the lines of an Accord or Camry but that's about a $10,000 jump in what I want to spend.[/quote]
Accord and Camry used may be a good option, if you'd like to save the money. But, if you buy new, they do hold the value quite well. Better than most other cars.

That's not a bad starting list for seeking a daily driver, you won't impress anyone with the cars on that list, but you will reliably and cheaply get from point A to B. If you do decide to look into Accord and Prius, look at Chevy Malibu as well, the redesign a couple years ago improved them a great deal. Though, expect them to not hold value nearly as well. (Not an issue if this is a drive-till-the-wheels-fall-off proposition for you.)
 
[quote name='javeryh']OK, I'm definitely buying an new car this weekend and I have to start looking... Here's my list:

- Nissan Versa
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic
- Chevy Cobalt
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius

Anything else I should be looking at? My wife has been indicating that she wants to get something along the lines of an Accord or Camry but that's about a $10,000 jump in what I want to spend.[/QUOTE]

Mazda 3. Cost about the same as the Focus, but are much nicer cars (at least the 2008 models of each, I wasn't shopping this year so haven't looked at the 2009s).
 
[quote name='Quillion']Accord and Camry used may be a good option, if you'd like to save the money. But, if you buy new, they do hold the value quite well. Better than most other cars.

That's not a bad starting list for seeking a daily driver, you won't impress anyone with the cars on that list, but you will reliably and cheaply get from point A to B. If you do decide to look into Accord and Prius, look at Chevy Malibu as well, the redesign a couple years ago improved them a great deal. Though, expect them to not hold value nearly as well. (Not an issue if this is a drive-till-the-wheels-fall-off proposition for you.)[/quote]

This is definitely a drive-till-the-wheels-fall-off car for me. I don't think I'm going to buy used either - I just have a weird thing about not knowing the complete history of the cars I buy. I'll check out the Malibu - safety, reliability and price are the three most important things to me in whatever I end up with.

[quote name='dmaul1114']Mazda 3. Cost about the same as the Focus, but are much nicer cars (at least the 2008 models of each, I wasn't shopping this year so haven't looked at the 2009s).[/quote]

I'll add it to the list! I had a Mazda Protege about 10 years ago that was pretty good (this is what got renamed the Mazda 3, right?).
 
If you're looking at the Versa, might as well throw the Sentra on that list, I think they have some pretty good incentives going on it right now.
 
Yeah, the Sentra is pretty nice. The 3 cars I test drove last year were 2008 models of the Mazda 3, Nissan Centra and Honda Civic. The order listed it how I'd rank the 2008 models based on my test drives and my opinion on the look and interior.

I didn't look at Versa, Fit etc. as I didn't want anything that small.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']Who gives 2 shits about anti-lock brakes? My car (which I have owned for the last 6 years) does not have anti-lock brakes and It has never been an issue. A/C isn't a big deal either if you live somewhere with mild sumemrs and don't mind driving around with the windows down.[/quote]

Do you even understand what anti-lock brakes do and what the difference is? Because it doesn't sound like you do.
 
[quote name='javeryh']OK, I'm definitely buying an new car this weekend and I have to start looking... Here's my list:

- Nissan Versa
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic
- Chevy Cobalt
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius

Anything else I should be looking at? My wife has been indicating that she wants to get something along the lines of an Accord or Camry but that's about a $10,000 jump in what I want to spend.[/quote]

These days you can get a new midsize sedan, which is what it sounds like your wife wants, for the same price as some of those compact cars. But not an Accord or Camry.
 
[quote name='javeryh']OK, I'm definitely buying an new car this weekend and I have to start looking... Here's my list:

- Nissan Versa
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic
- Chevy Cobalt
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius

Anything else I should be looking at? My wife has been indicating that she wants to get something along the lines of an Accord or Camry but that's about a $10,000 jump in what I want to spend.[/quote]

I honestly can't recommend anything besides honda or toyota, especially because you seem to be concerned with reliability. Honda, in general, gives you more features for your money than toyota, and the new civic is ridiculously safe. I read the Ford Fusion has really good reliability for a Ford. Nissan is sketchy reliability, especially for being Japanese and chevy/ford are just problems waiting to be bought. My dad owned a newer malibu and nothing but problems, problems the dealership didn't know how to fix (fuel sensor, etc.). my buddy had a ford truck bought back by the dealership under the Lemon Law, I'd just stay away from american brands, you get what you pay for in a honda/toyota...:D
 
[quote name='von551']you get what you pay for in a honda/toyota...:D[/QUOTE]

As someone who's worked for Honda and has other family members working for Toyota/Lexus...your statement there isn't quite as true as you may think or hope.

Oddly enough, the technicians at the dealerships I worked for and have been around all drive American cars and the majority won't touch foreign outside of work. Take that for what it's worth.
 
[quote name='captainfrizo']As someone who's worked for Honda and has other family members working for Toyota/Lexus...your statement there isn't quite as true as you may think or hope.

Oddly enough, the technicians at the dealerships I worked for and have been around all drive American cars and the majority won't touch foreign outside of work. Take that for what it's worth.[/QUOTE]

My boyfriend worked for a major supplier for Honda, and he quit his job because management were assholes... but his new car was still a Honda Fit. He was an electrical engineer who actually MADE components of the cars and thus knows a lot about the production of them... did you just work as a dealer or did you actually handle the cars?

Also, since you wanted to make your case with an anecdote about technicians... my uncle has been a car mechanic his entire working life, it's what he does (he even rebuilds antique cars-- as a hobby), and guess what he has for his everyday car in his driveway? Also a Honda.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']Mine is better. :p
[/QUOTE]

you know there is a sports version of the peel P50? If no one watches Top Gear in here thats Jeremy Clarkson. a tall,fat,and obnoxious presenter...but he is one of my favorites. anyway here it is.

250px-PeelTrident.jpg



[quote name='von551']Pff. Hybrids are a joke. Your Prius only averages in real world driving high 30mpg-low 40mpg, not the 50-60mpg claimed by sticker. with EPA's new mpg formula, hybrids lost about 30% of their original claimed MPG. You know what my paid-off 2003 corolla gets? 35-39mpg every tank and I drive stupidly fast (manual of course) and live in downtown san diego. Hybrids are overrated, under-performing gimmicks to make people feel "green" about themselves. My car's way more efficient than any $25,000 hybrid and harms the environment less by using less energy to be made and less energy to use. Not to turn this into a Hybrid-hate-fest or anything.

Sorry Javeryh, let me step off my soap box. In all honestly, you're smart for not wanting to buy new. save the depreciation loss, let some other poor sap pay it and get used. The top of your list for reliability, safety, and MPG should be either a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. They're always the top rated compact cars. The Fit, Smart, Yaris, and Versa are all jokes in that they give you less space, worse MPG, and even worse styling than a used civic/corolla, and are way over priced. You can't go wrong, I've had my '03 corolla since august '02 and have only replaced a couple belts and a battery, oh yeah and brakes. Great cars. Do your research, go to a Borders and read an Edmund's Used Car Guide, look at each year of car you're interested in, some have flaws others didn't. Buy something with close to 100K miles and it's barely broken in (Honda or Toyota speaking). Right now you can get my car for less than $7000 according to Kelly Blue Book, that's a cheap monthly payment...[/QUOTE]

This is the best post out of all the 5 pages in this thread. I whole heartedly agree that Hybrids suck. They are actually more harmful to the environment in the long run with their batteries dying out and all that nickel that gets transported to Asia to make the batteries. HATE ON with the hybrid hate fest. Im sick of all these stupid celebs showing off that they bought hybrids. Cameron Diaz to Leonardo De Caprio all boasted how much the feel they just saved the earth. fuck THAT.Hell even the VW Polo Blue Motion gets 80mpg and thats not a hybrid...although it is european. but Honda just did with the first mass produciont hydogen car in the Honda FCX Clarity.


anyway, Javery, how far is work from your home. I think once thats considered, than that should determine on which car to buy. if its only going to be used for work and quick trips to the grocery store than Von551 is right. get a used cheap compact. civics or corollas would fit your need. They give you enough space to ship the family around while you get reliability and good mpg at your finger tips.
 
sorry for the double but it cut off most of my post when i tried to post the video but here is James May's Review of the Honda FCX Clarity with an appearance by Jay Leno.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52L-nQ-LTew[/media]
 
Yeah, hybrids won't be relevant until they have affordable plug in hybrids. And even those have their drawbacks--i.e. those of us that live in condos, apartments, park on the street in a city etc. don't have anyway to plug them in currently.

But if I had a house with a gargage and could buy a decent plug in hybrid for a reasonable price I'd be all for it. It would be great to run totally on electric on a daily commute but still have the unlimited driving range of a gas car for longer trips, getting stuck in traffic etc.

But as it stands, hybrids are a rip off as you have to drive a shit ton of miles to ever save enough on gas to make up for the added cost of buying a hybrid since they just don't get that much better fuel efficiency currently.
 
[quote name='rickonker']Do you even understand what anti-lock brakes do and what the difference is? Because it doesn't sound like you do.[/quote]


Yeah I know what they are. Since I have owned my car I have never locked my brakes up in any type of emergency stop so that means if I had anti-lock brakes they would still be unused. So PISS on anti-lock brakes.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']Yeah I know what they are. Since I have owned my car I have never locked my brakes up in any type of emergency stop so that means if I had anti-lock brakes they would still be unused. So PISS on anti-lock brakes.[/QUOTE]

Wait till you get a new car that has them. I was fine with the non-anti-lock brakes in my '99 Impreza, but my 2008 Mazda 3 sure as hell stops a lot faster and smoother.

It's not just the anti-lock feature preventing lock ups that's nice. The way they work just makes cars stop faster and smoother in general.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Wait till you get a new car that has them. I was fine with the non-anti-lock brakes in my '99 Impreza, but my 2008 Mazda 3 sure as hell stops a lot faster and smoother.

It's not just the anti-lock feature preventing lock ups that's nice. The way they work just makes cars stop faster and smoother in general.[/quote]



You don't obviously understand how anti-lock brakes work. They do not work during normal driving conditions and thus don't make the car stop faster or smoother in general. My wife's car is a 2008 and has anti-lock brakes and under normal driving conditions it makes zero difference.

Here is a link so that you can understand how this safety feature works in you car.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/anti-lock-brake.htm

There are many different variations and control algorithms for ABS systems. We will discuss how one of the simpler systems works.
The controller monitors the speed sensors at all times. It is looking for decelerations in the wheel that are out of the ordinary. Right before a wheel locks up, it will experience a rapid deceleration. If left unchecked, the wheel would stop much more quickly than any car could. It might take a car five seconds to stop from 60 mph (96.6 kph) under ideal conditions, but a wheel that locks up could stop spinning in less than a second.
The ABS controller knows that such a rapid deceleration is impossible, so it reduces the pressure to that brake until it sees an acceleration, then it increases the pressure until it sees the deceleration again. It can do this very quickly, before the tire can actually significantly change speed. The result is that the tire slows down at the same rate as the car, with the brakes keeping the tires very near the point at which they will start to lock up. This gives the system maximum braking power.
When the ABS system is in operation you will feel a pulsing in the brake pedal; this comes from the rapid opening and closing of the valves. Some ABS systems can cycle up to 15 times per second.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='Malik112099']You don't obviously understand how anti-lock brakes work. They do not work during normal driving conditions and thus don't make the car stop faster or smoother in general. My wife's car is a 2008 and has anti-lock brakes and under normal driving conditions it makes zero difference.

Here is a link so that you can understand how this safety feature works in you car.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/anti-lock-brake.htm[/QUOTE]

Whatever it is, my Mazda 3 (and other cars I've driven with ALB) stop faster and smoother than my Impreza and other cars I've driven without it.

Maybe it's not the ABL. Maybe it's just that slumming with cars that lack ALB just has other drawbacks like that since they're more poorly designed overall or something. Or just that I'm one of those people that takes off fast and stops fast, and it's just more noticeable with my driving habits. Beats me.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Whatever it is, my Mazda 3 (and other cars I've driven with ALB) stop faster and smoother than my Impreza and other cars I've driven without it.

Maybe it's not the ABL. Maybe it's just that slumming with cars that lack ALB just has other drawbacks like that since they're more poorly designed overall or something. Or just that I'm one of those people that takes off fast and stops fast, and it's just more noticeable with my driving habits. Beats me.[/quote]


It is all in your head. Lacking anti-lock brakes does not make a car more poorly designed. My car comes with ALB if I wanted them but I opted not to have them.
 
It's not in my head. The brakes in my '99 Impreza sucked, terrible stopping distance, same with some other non-ALB cars I've rented etc. But it may well just be coincidence that the cars I've driven with ALB have been better than the ones I've driven without though. I've never driven the same model with and without ALB.

In any case, I like the safety feature, and doubt I'd buy another car without them. And certainly not without A/C as you (or someone else) said earlier was no big deal before! I haven't spent all this time getting advanced degrees to a be a cheapass when it comes to such basic luxuries! I'm just a cheapass with games as I don't play enough anymore to justify spending much on them. :D
 
Get an 06-08 Focus they get good gas mileage and are reliable I used to hate them until few buddies of mine told me that their 07 with a 100k had very little maintenance to do on them and they were getting 35-40 mpg on the highway.

Or get a used civic/corolla.
 
The thing with reliability is it's hit or miss. A typically "unreliable" car can get well over 100,000 with no major problem, while reliable one has lots of problem. While others will have problems with typically reliable cars like I did with my subaru.

On average it works out, and I'd never shy someone away from a Honda or a Toyota as they're great cars. But don't think it's a shoe in you'll have no problems. Or a shoe in that you'll have problems with some of the less reliable cars from reviews.

In any case, if buying new it's not a bad idea to shell out for the extended warranty even if you're buying a reliable brand. I did for my Mazda 3 after having a good bit of problems with my Impreza (and again Subarus are generally very reliable). The total price for them tends to sound like a lot, but it's not all that much spread over a monthly payment. It was worth it for the peace of mind for me.
 
Sorry to give you information contrary to others, but I personally think extended warranties are a BIG rip off. Especially if you are financing the car with less than stellar interest rates. I did so on my last car purchase (Toyota Prius) only because it has expensive hybrid parts and computers and electronics, but on most cars I'd shy away from them. If you do want an extended warranty you can often get them cheaper from 3rd party sellers and NOT from the dealer. Just a heads up. Good luck OP!
 
FWIW, I've got an unlimited Carfax account paid for through the beginning of February. You're welcome to use it if you're considering buying used.
 
Lets see the list, and the few things I know personally

- Nissan Versa-Nice, I think Nissan is a little pricey on insurance
- Honda Fit
- Honda Civic-good mpg, reliable, great re-sale value
- Chevy Cobalt-cramped, even the 4 dr model I was looking at one of these this summer too much like my old crapalier
- Ford Fusion
- Ford Focus-new design is like a Volvo, reliable
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Prius
 
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