Looking to buy a used vehicle

[SOAPboy]

Any tips or resources (web) you know of to help me pick a vehicle that doesn't seize up 3 months down the road or where the Tranni falls out on the highway?

[missioncontrol]

Which kind was your sister?

What a loaded question, you either have to tell me that your sister is butch or that you think your sister is hot.


-S

She is a hottie and got a nice looking rack too....

Since she is a step sister I have no problem with checking her out 

[Stingray]

Which kind was your sister?

What a loaded question, you either have to tell me that your sister is butch or that you think your sister is hot.


-S

She is a hottie and got a nice looking rack too....

Since she is a step sister I have no problem with checking her out 

You're a dirty, dirty boy.

-S

[SirPoonga]

Any tips or resources (web) you know of to help me pick a vehicle that doesn't seize up 3 months down the road or where the Tranni falls out on the highway? 

I know kinda a loaded question, but what do you typically look for before you bring it to a mechanic to give it a once over?

Thanks!

A lot of stuff is super simple to figur eout yourself.  I get the service manual for whatever car I own.  If I have a problem I go to that first and try and figure it out.  If I can't then it goes to mechanic.  Like my car wasn't cooling very well.  Some sensor went bad and was super simple to replace.

But I also have an ace up my sleave.  One of my friends use to be a mechanic for Ford.  So if something doesn't seem right that a mechanic told me I ask him.

for example, I had a crack in the top of my radiator.  The mechanic wanted to replace the whole thing.  I asked if the core could be saved (since that is the expensive part of a radiator.  I figured he'd say no.  So, talking to my friend and determining my radiator frame is fiberglass, i scratched up the surface around the crack (peaeling off the plastic coating) and applied generous amounts of high temp epoxy.  No leaking radiator now

[missioncontrol]

You're a dirty, dirty boy.

-S

funny thing is she's the hot one but my other step sister is flat chested and has a big can

[duffjr]

so you like the menage a trois for the full action?

[Buddabing]

Since you will be driving limited distances, you could try the theory of the thousand dollar junker.

Buy a thousand dollar junker every six months to a year and put no repairs into it except maybe an oil change at three or four months. Forget all amenities such as air conditioning that you don't need. Then, when it breaks down after a year, sell it for $1000 as non-working or else donate it and write off $1000. So if the tranny falls out you just get a new car instead of repairing.

You would not want to do any kind of long travel with this kind of car or truck.

I'm planning on getting a thousand dollar junker for my daughter who turns 16 (pray for me) in Feb 07. Teenagers always get into at least one wreck, so I'll get a larger $1000 junker for the kids.

[duffjr]

i can't see the number being more than 20% of teens get into accidents.  everyone likes to go crazy when they first learn to drive.  i would think the accident rate would be higher if the driving age were 21.  drunk driver plus bad driver= bad news.  i know studies show that the adolescent brain can't make complex cognitive decisions, but isn't the puberty rate accelerating?  if your kid gives into peer pressure, talks on her cell phone a lot, likes to impress the boys, etc.; a junker would be a good idea.

[JonnyBoy]

A guy I work with told me that Dodge Neons are easy as hell to work on and can be easy to repair with readily available parts. Yeah, they are small and look kind of...queer, but they are cheap and can be pretty reliable.

But he could be talking out his ass, so I don't really know.

[Jabba]

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys!

I had a 93 Civic that I gave my Dad. Its still running with over 200K on it. I did like it a lot, but it was pretty tight working in there.

Everyone is contributing great stuff here...Buddabing: $1000.00 a year sounds good to me, and Kudos to you on getting it back at the end of the year. 

I got a Truck Trader and AutoTrader magazine that I'm going through.

Heh Heh, think I'll stay away from the $150.00 one though