Car advice?

[paintballman333]

Ok guys I have just about 4500$ saved up and I am looking for a new car. I want a car that is decent in the snow and has real good acceleration. It doesnt matter to much to me about top speed. Let me know about your opinions and please give me some statistics like, 0-60, front wheel or all wheel drive or rear wheel drive, also what kind of brakes does it have. Thanks guys

[CasingBill]

Well..I am pretty much against anything front wheel drive. Go rear or 4wd. Go for a pick up truck or something.

[Python14]

Cars that do good in the snow do not exsist. It's just as likely as finding a car that does good in piping hot liquid Lava. Your just not gonna find one.

Regardless, for $4500 your gonna be delt with three cars.

Dodge Neon
Honda Civic and it's variations
Stuff older than you

My recommendation?

Keep saving until you can buy a used Suburu wagon that is less than 10 years old.

[Lohman446]

Chevy Malibu, you should be able to hit 99 or even 00 for that funds, or just a touch more - Ford Taurus is also a decent buy. I think, in the price range, it (the Malibu) is the best buy out there now. Understand it has the GM 3.1 engine which has had some intake issued in the past, but these have been negligible. Do not get the 4 cylinder variant. I personally think foreign cars are overpriced for what they are, and I work on cars all day.

Front wheel drive will do well in snow, in minor amounts. Their becomes a problem iwth ground clearance, if you are talking routine times wtih ten or mor inches of hard snow on teh road, push to 4WD. Otherwise, avoid it, there are problems you do not need in most 4WD systems.

If you must have 4WD - look towards the Chevy full size pickups with the 4.3L, while underpowered you can normally steal them as their desirability is low. The 4.3L has proven to be a much better engine than the 4.9 Ford. This is assuming you will not be towing heavily with it. Normally the full size 4.3L will go cheaper than the S10 with the same variant.

Do not get RWD for snow, there is a reason you do not see may Corvettes in the snow. Fun cars, suck in snow as do most RWD cars.

[ASDadam]

Agreed with Lohman, avoid RW with snow, My 3.8 Bonneville did great in snow. So if you can find a cheap Grand Prix with the 3.8 you'd be doing good. Accelleration with the 3.8 is great.

About the 4.3 being underpowered i'd have to disagree wholeheartedly. I drive a 97 Bravada with the 4.3 and all wheel drive and it is fassssst.

[FalconGuy016]

Originally posted by ASDadam
Agreed with Lohman, avoid RW with snow, My 3.8 Bonneville did great in snow. So if you can find a cheap Grand Prix with the 3.8 you'd be doing good. Accelleration with the 3.8 is great.

About the 4.3 being underpowered i'd have to disagree wholeheartedly. I drive a 97 Bravada with the 4.3 and all wheel drive and it is fassssst.

Props for fast 3.8 Grand Prix !! (right here baby!!)

And the handling... well, their slogan for the car sums it up

<b>Wider is Better</b>

[Lohman446]

Originally posted by ASDadam

About the 4.3 being underpowered i'd have to disagree wholeheartedly. I drive a 97 Bravada with the 4.3 and all wheel drive and it is fassssst.

Let me rephrase that, compared to the 5.7 in a full size truck they are underpowered. But you bring up my point to some degree - this engine is plenty for the S10 Blazer, the Bravada, the S10 pickup. The 4.3L V6 Chevy full size is just undervalued, I doubt yuo will miss the power, unless your doing serious towing. You will miss some of the acceleration, but it is a decent engine and normally a great bargain should you find it.

Blazers, Bravadas - nice vehicles, I personally think the Explorer to ride better if you are going the SUV route, though there are some transmission issues in all three of the above mentioned vehicles, more so the Ford. Given the choice of small SUVs I would look at Explorers (drive them, they feel more stable than a Blazer - but are statistically less so) or Jeep Cherokees (the small one, not grand) as ideal. The Blazers and Bravadas are nice, but generally the Explorers are undervalued. I still expect all of these to be out of your price range though, and I would advise you against a 4WD do to inflated repair costs - watch GMs for front end components - Ball joints, idler arm, pitman arms, and front drive axles are common as well as transfer case issues in certain ones. Watch Fords for ball joints and transmission issues. Watch the Jeeps for rear end noise, as well as front end noise and axle joints. Chrysler transmissions are not the most long lived as well. Personally I think getting into SUVs under 5K is dangerous if your not mechanically adept, I have seen a lot of SUV repair bills tip the scales at about $1500 for "normal" stuff.

Want a list of my recommendations of that price range and what you shoudl be able to find with some searching and would stick to 98 up with reasonable mileage: Malibu V6; Taurus 3.0 (not DOHC Ford has a bad habit of buildign junk engines in the Taurus, this is the old reliable); Regal (doubtful find in the range); Grand Am (overpriced); Alero (though I am not fond of the 3.4 engine); 99 Bonnevilles are a great deal as 00 was a body style change, plan on doing intake gaskets at some point on these though, nto a big deal as long as you catch it and dont roast an engine. I cannot recommend a Chrysler car in this range, or an import (though some are rated high)

[paintbattler]

get an explorer or jeep cherokee or something..maybe like a 95 model..i think they are tight

[CasingBill]

I disagree with the front wheel drive recommendation. The problem is that although fwd has good initial traction, once you lose traction you cannot regain control. For instance, if going around a turn and you lose traction with a fwd car you will just continue sliding straight into whatever stops you. You don't lose traction in the rear, you lose it in the front, therefore losing traction and steering. In a rwd if you lose traction you may still be able to regain control. Generally you will lose traction in the rear and not the front. So you will still be able to have some control. You can also use the accelerator to completely spin the car around. You and also correct by countersteering. So for me in my personal experience...go rwd or 4wd. My .02.

[ASDadam]

Definately have to disagree with the no control after a spin in a FWD. That is most definately not true. With my old bonneville i was able to PULL myself out of many turns in which i should've gone off the road. Why? Because usually the front wheels stay on the road, and the rear wheels are what fly off. In this case the front wheels can pull the vehical back onto the road and maintain control.

And he's right about the 3.8 engine. Except its the Entire upper intake Plenium. They are made or plastic and tend to warp horribly considering the EGR routes through it as well as the heat from the engine itself. Thats how my bonneville died, didn't catch it soon enough and roasted the camshaft bearings.

One thing to also look after with the 4.3 is the Fuel Pressure regulator. Just replaced mine. Its a $40 part going to 60 with gaskets, but that was me doing it myself. A shop would've charged quite a bit more. But after replacing the regulator the engine is still strong as new with 95k miles.

[paintballman333]

I am not really interested in a truck or an SUV mainly just a car. I am not to fond of American made cars (I know I might get flamed for that), I am looking towards mainly the import side. Thanks for the advice so far though.

[Mateo]

Used truck or SUV, best first car anybody could have. Built like rocks. Especially 4 wheel drive. Yukon Z71, Tahoe, Explorer, Jeep, etc. Then there are your trucks. Really why do you want a car when you could have a SUV? Its just more versatile and rugged. What you expect to be all hot shot racer with your import? HAHAHAHAHA! Right, my first vehicle(mind Im 17) was a Dodge Caravan. I could haul all sorts of stuff and chicks dig it. Its different. But now I got my moms old Camry since she sold the Caravan for a CRV. Yes its a car, but I sure miss the cargo space of that van. And then I had a Dodge Dakota with 187,000 as a in between car, and that was even better than a Camry. I just don't get all these people with their Neons, Civics, etc. I dont see anything special with them. Now if you want to go fast and import and have $4500, I got my '72 Datsun 240z for 2k. Oh man eats rice for breakfast.

[JuggaloDave]

i would highy sugguest a nice, used neon. should be able to pick a nice 98 or 99 first gen r/t if your lucky for real cheap. the second gens are really nice imo. i got a 2000 neon and i love it to death, only problem i have with mine is the atx. 132 hp, and torque is more than what most imports have at that price range generaly(civics*cough*slow*cough* err excuse me), and the handling is superb imo. and throw a 20-30 dollar strut tower brace on there and you will be taking sharper turns alot faster than you would think. we have had a lot of snow around here latly, and the neon did great, got sideways a few times but that was me having fun and yanking the ebrake lol. but even with balding tires in the front, i had no trouble getting up hills where i saw many rwd trucks and cars have alot of trouble. it has a good aftermarket fallowing, and it is getting better and better if you are into that sorta thing. but stock it is a really nice car, engine makes a bit of noise, and they have a low resale value, but i think that the 2k is about as low as it will get. also, check out www.neons.org and www.neons.org/forum to look and get a lil more info on them. i love my car, and when i start to think about selling, something just reminds me of how great she is. next car i plan on getting will be a neon r/t or srt-4 depending on my budget in 2 or so years. also, why would someone want a big honkin suv? low to no gas milage, like to hit 20mpg on the highway in most, where i average around 28-30 romping it and racing with only a cold air intake and dynoflow muffler(no rice sounding poo on my baby!!). save some money on low gas milage so you can afford more paint or what ever.

[impostal22]

i'll sell you my 2.5liter 89 dodge dynasty for only $4000...it's got 110,000 miles on it, gets 13 miles per gallon, burns oil, has non-working power windows (in the winter), a dent along the rear right door from an unfortunate collision, but the frame is in perfect shape! oh and the paint is shiny .

[Ironmag]

In my exprience, I've had better luck with Imports. Can't really go wrong with a Nissan, which is what I have. Honda and Toyota are also pretty good. I'm pretty sure you can find a used one at that price range if you really look hard. For $4,500, you could probably get a 97-99 Sentra, Civic, Corolla or Protege

As far as the FWD/RWD debate, each has it's pros and cons. It's pretty much preference and use at this point.