ATTENTION! Opportunity to convert import family to American!

[Intrepidation]

This is very important indeed.

My friend (who has a Toyota Corolla I've mentioned before), his sister got a job I guess and she needs a car now. His family has always bought Japanese cars (they're Asian). Well I've talked with him before about some of the hot new American cars (he wants a Saturn Sky someday), and he was very impressed with my Intrepid, so both him and his sister want to give American cars a chance. The problem is that their dad is very bias and refuses to allow anything besides Japanese cars into the family. I find it screwy because it's her money that she's using to buy a car, but whatever.

So here's the challenge:

I need to come up with a list of good, used American cars, mainly 1999 and up. I'm not sure what their exact budget is, but the `00 Grand AM they looked at for 6k seemed like a "good deal" to him. I want to make sure that their first American cars is a good one that will leave a lasting, postive impression.

The next part of the challenge is to convince their dad that American cars are just as good, if not better than Japanese cars, especially newer ones.

So my the first part of my plan is to take his sister, and if possible her dad, for a ride in the Intrepid. I also suggested that I accompany them when they go car shopping, since he knows I know a good deal about cars.

Finally, I need some help listing off some good cars for around 6k (or less). I have to research reliability and prices, but my first thoughts were Cobalt, 2nd Gen Neon, Aurora, Intrepid, maybe Taurus. How do those sound so far, and any other suggestions? This is a big opportunity guys!

[Satty]

Dont ask 68 for advice, he'll point you towards a 20 year old Datsun whilst bitching about how imports suck. Anyways, for $6k you're not going to get anything good with low miles, and miles are the enemy of reliability, import or domestic.

Tauruses are awful vehicles in many ways, I'd avoid that. You can probably find a few Impalas and Aleros for that price and get far greater reliability than a Taurus or Intrepid. Just because yours is somehow still moving doesn't mean that the transmission problems aren't real. They've also got sludge issues. You can probably also find a few Jeeps (both Cherokees and GCs) for under $6k.

In the end, I'd just let them be, let them buy what they see fit, after all it isn't your money.

[regfootball]

you can't expect a 6,000 used car to not have issues, import or American.

So really, what brand they get is moot.

Its completely unreasonable for people to judge a brand's reliability rating on a 6,000 dollar used car because by that point the car has been used up already. This is what bothers me, people form their opinions of new product based on something that is used up already.

Any 6k car you buy, be prepared to put about 4 grand into it in the next 3-4 years.

A Taurus at 6 grand is a solid buy, if has low miles on it. For 6 grand you'll get a 97 Accord if you want japanese.

When you are shopping the bargain bin on used cars, its less about brand and more about finding a model with decent reliability data and one that's been well taken care of and maintained.

i.e. no sludgy camrys

Edited February 21, 2007 by regfootball

[Drew Dowdell]

no neons....

Go for an Impala with the 3800

Regal <resale suckage there for an otherwise good car>

Alero <skip the GrandAm>

Personally, I can't recommend any Chryslers. Even if you could get a 2008 300c for $6,000, I'd tell ya to skip it.

[NOS2006]

I'd say last generation Grand Prix or Impala..

[Cory Wolfe]

Oh, just tell them to get a Millenia.

Or don't. Make them buy American and not what they like. Doesn't Matter. For that, heres my thoughts. I would suggest an Intrigue with the 3.5L. It's about as good as a W-body gets and it looks nice, too. There's also the smaller Alero. Even smaller, there's the Saturn S-series.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Alero.

I found one in today's paper for $3500 or so.

[NOS2006]

Oh yeah, why not an Alero, Aurora, Century..?

[FAPTurbo]

Perhaps a V6 Camaro or Firebird?

[z28luvr01]

Alero

Intrigue

Impala

Monte Carlo

Grand Prix

Regal

Century

GA

Malibu

Focus

Cavalier (interior is junk, but they'll run forever)

Cobalt (probably pushing it a bit here, but you might find actually find a high-mileage stripper '05 Cobalt in your price range)

[Flybrian]

Any late-90s W-body is a good choice. Try to avoid a supercharged one for maintenance issues. These are not unreliable cars unto themselves, but for that price, you're probably looking at higher mileage without knowing a real maintenance history regarding the superchargers. Did you know you check and sometimes change the supercharger oil? How many GTP/GS owners do?

I'd recommend an Intrigue or Regal LS. Aleros are good buys as are Grand Ams. Cobalts is also a good choice. Auroras can be scattershot for that price, especially depending on overall mileage and how much maintenance the previous owner(s) have done. Again, not a fault of the car itself (which is very reliable), but the owners' neglect. If you go that route, look for a '98 or '99 and ensure the fuel rail recall (nylon tubes to stainless steel) was completed.

Another thought is simply a good GM Certified 2002-06 vehicle. Remember, these carry the 10yr/100k warranty.

[Drew Dowdell]

You can get a LOT of Alero with low mileage for that amount of money.

[Intrepidation]

Oh, just tell them to get a Millenia.

Or don't. Make them buy American and not what they like. Doesn't Matter. For that, heres my thoughts. I would suggest an Intrigue with the 3.5L. It's about as good as a W-body gets and it looks nice, too. There's also the smaller Alero. Even smaller, there's the Saturn S-series.

They want to try n American car, it's their dad that doesn't. But it's her money. I'm just giving them a hand picking out a good one.

Any late-90s W-body is a good choice. Try to avoid a supercharged one for maintenance issues. These are not unreliable cars unto themselves, but for that price, you're probably looking at higher mileage without knowing a real maintenance history regarding the superchargers. Did you know you check and sometimes change the supercharger oil? How many GTP/GS owners do?

I'd recommend an Intrigue or Regal LS. Aleros are good buys as are Grand Ams. Cobalts is also a good choice. Auroras can be scattershot for that price, especially depending on overall mileage and how much maintenance the previous owner(s) have done. Again, not a fault of the car itself (which is very reliable), but the owners' neglect. If you go that route, look for a '98 or '99 and ensure the fuel rail recall (nylon tubes to stainless steel) was completed.

Another thought is simply a good GM Certified 2002-06 vehicle. Remember, these carry the 10yr/100k warranty.

I thought about the Alera and Aurora, I think they would suite her better than a Buick, and the Implala's interior is just not pretty. i'll have to ask him what they thought of the Grand Am's interior, that'll give me an idea on their standards.

I might suggest a late previous gen Grand Prix. I here the Focus has some shoddy reliablity so I'll pass. Most Intrepids seem to have good reliablity save for 2.7L issues, which seem to come from changing the oil less often than 3k miles. Simple solution is go sythetic (what I'm doing).

So the list includes:

Intrepid

Concorde/LHS

300M

Possibly Cobalt

Alero

Grand Prix

Possibly Grand Am

Aurora

2ng Gen neon (friend's mother has had her's since 2000 with not one problem).

How decent are the Stratus generations?

[Sixty8panther]

I'll bet anyone on this Forum $20 that before I ever need to do a major

repair to Datsun Zwei Satty's Fusion will be either rolled at highway

speeds or otherwise totalled in a violent way. :wink:

All joking aside 3.1V6 Malibu, Sebring, (that hidden battery sux though)

Even Contorus are not the most horrible cars compared to many imports

if you're into FWD econobricks. These days there should be a million

W-bodys out there in good shape, under 100K mi for less than $6,000.

[Flybrian]

Did you just call the Contour a brick? Have you seen one?

[AxelTheRed]

How about a Bonneville? My dad's got a 2002 and the thing is flawless.

[NOS2006]

Intrepid

Concorde/LHS

300M

Bonneville

You guys listed these and I had forgotten about them. Good choices.

I wouldn't recommend a Neon unless it was a temporary car for just the winter or something.

[regfootball]

contour SVT!

[pow]

A used Ford Focus would probably be the most import-like of them all... it has a fancy rear suspension, good packaging, good fuel economy, etc.

[daves87rs]

Alero

02-05 Cavalier

Cobalt

Regal

[Ravenfreak13]

How decent are the Stratus generations?

Well, The first gens are great...at 85k miles, the breeze with the gutless 2 liter is still running stong. You could probably find a Stratus/Cirrus with the V6 for cheap

[Ravenfreak13]

99 Cirrus

00 Cirrus

Great Cars!

[NOS2006]

And you can't go wrong with a car that has dent-resistant body panels!

[Ravenfreak13]

And you can't go wrong with a car that has dent-resistant body panels!

Only problem is finding a saturn with low miles...O WAIT! that's right! I'm selling one with 33,000 miles!

[Cory Wolfe]

I don't trust the cloud cars. A friend of mine has a Breeze. It's junk.

[PONTIAC06]

I'd definitely say a Regal, Century, or maybe an Alero...

[Ravenfreak13]

I don't trust the cloud cars. A friend of mine has a Breeze. It's junk.

What year??? because 98-00 were great...well my experiences anyway. and dodgefan...if you want to impress the dad...take a cloud car around tight turn...it handles extremely well.

[Cory Wolfe]

It's a 96 with with the 4cyl. Has about 90k miles.

[Ravenfreak13]

It's a 96 with with the 4cyl. Has about 90k miles.

well of course its junk....1st year model....old engine. Later model years with auto transmissions recieved the 150 hp 2.4 liter engine rather then the 2.0 liter 130 hp thats in your friends car. For the orignal price(around 15k), in 99 you could get all power features, cassette, 6 speakers, and a midsized interior and trunk.

My dad payed $12k in 99...it was a repo with 15k miles.

[ToniCipriani]

Ditto for Alero. Among one of the best cars GM made in the 2000s.

Avoid Cavaliers though. They really aren't there, and almost everyone I knew who've been in a J-Body end up in an import.