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diesel, 4 door, vw, safe

The Right Car for Me | TrueDelta

Sforsyth

must be german or japanese

Need minimum of 2 seats

Will consider both new and used cars
Maximum mileage: 100000
Maximum age: 5 years

Maximum price: C $ 5000

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Response from LectroFuel

1:40 pm August 6, 2018

Get the lowest mileage Corolla or Camry you can afford. They are all reliable. 1999 and older Civics are also good. 2000-2005 Civics had a lot of transmission failures. Every year of the Honda Fit was good, too. Get a CarFax. We need a detailed description to get a feel of what you are looking for in a car. If your budget is $5000, definitely don't get a German car.

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Response from AcuraT

6:34 pm August 9, 2018

Wow, only $5000 and you are considering a german car that is a diesel? Don't do it, you are asking for a lot of trouble. I agree with Lectrofuel wholeheartedly. The best you can do is a used Toyota Corolla, followed by a Honda Civic, then a Camry (I put the Camry last because being bigger it is more expensive, not because it is less reliable than a civic because it probably will be slightly more reliable). I don't think you will find a Honda Fit with low enough mileage to be worth it.

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Response from gmctrucks2006

11:17 pm August 9, 2018

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT even LOOK at a sub-$5000 German diesel, as both other posters have stated. ESPECIALLY a VW product, as the failure rates for many early 2000s Volkswagens are very high. Your best bets would definitely be a Toyota/Honda product with reasonable mileage, as they will most likely give you at least a few years of trouble-free motoring.

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Toyota Corolla
Toyota Prius
Honda Civic

Response from Sea-Dan

12:46 am August 10, 2018

The good news is that there are actually some pretty good little cars out there for under 5K! But you have to be careful & do your do your due diligence. Best bet is to buy from someone who has owned the car for at least 3 years and has maintence records.

You have gotten some very sound advice already. I would only add these comments.
1. Don't even look at any sub $5K German kar!

2. As a former owner & affectionato of Hondas, including a Fit I can confidently say (& am backed up by most stats) that Fits are amoung the most versatile, reliable small cars out there. Often reliable beyond 200K. While they command a pretty high resale value, here are a couple good examples available for < $5K.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/d/2009-honda-fit/6655128353.html
https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/ctd/d/2008-honda-fit-4d/6649982378.html

For under $5K also consider a late model, low milege Ford Focus. Pretty good, underappreciated little cars. With good maintenance can also go 200K without major issues. Parts when needed are relatively inexpensive.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/d/2005-ford-focus-wagon-low/6654502547.html

Happy hunting for the elusive but desirable sub $5K ghetto cruiser. Love to hear what you bag!

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Honda Fit
Ford Focus

Response from AcuraT

7:59 am August 15, 2018

I checked to see if there are any Fits in my area under $5000 and there is one with 201,000. As I mentioned, depending on your geography, it may be very difficult to get one with reasonable mileage. If you can, snatch it up as Danlisahall suggests. It can be a very good car - but I am afraid you may find none in your area in your price range with reasonable mileage.

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