I would look into a used LEAF.

You can buy an electric smart fortwo for like $7,000.

Honestly, this would be all of the car I need for 95% of what I do. My wife needs a car that can go on the freeway for work a couple of days a week (pre COVID). My commute was 10 miles on roads with a maximum speed limit of 50. Now the only regular drive of that length that I do is every other week to the Red Cross. 

I get HF stuff all the time. Doesnt help that they are within walking distance of my house. My rule of thumb is if I think I’m going to use something once or very rarely, I get it from HF. If I use it enough that it breaks then a nice version. 90% of the time I come out ahead. Just use some common sense - nothing that…

For example? What manual SUV with real 4wd from 04 can be had for $3500? I use the same criteria you do. “Can I buy a newer one for the same price”. I’m just drawing a blank on what 04 you could get instead of this. Subarus aren’t as off roady. Honda doesn’t have anything that could match this for example.

Piffle. My daughter had a classmate in highschool who rolled her Smart ForTwo on a windy bit of suburaban street. You can roll damn-near anything if you’re trying or an inexperienced driver.

I’m all for emissions, but aside from fuel tank protection (as it can kill other people), I like to think there should be a class of non compliance vehicles for safety. One can still drive old cars, after all, so as long as the consumer is aware it only meets US standards for 1996 or whatever and they’re OK with it,…

This would be the viewpoint of someone who chooses not to look past their own nose to see what’s in front of them. 165K Americans are dead, and millions more are infected by COVID-19. If it takes a tad longer to buy a freaking Corvette because of a pandemic, so be it. 

God that comment from the prospective Corvette person just drips with privilege and arrogance. Ignoring the fact that 2020 is a shitshow- your super special car is a few months late? Boo. Fucking. Hoo.

The fact that these Corvette people are whining about their Corvettes being delayed either live in a bulletproof bubble or are seriously lacking situational awareness. Look around you! 2020 is a hellpit of sadness and uncertainty. Millions are in serious danger of getting evicted. This is not the time to throw a fit…

I second that. Olds seemed to have some Pontiac excitement and some Buick lux. Towards the end though, they somehow screwed up on delivering either one. Having Olds seems to make more sense in the GM lineup.

Buick is a zombie that refuses to die.

honestly Buick is living on borrowed time. I am actually surprised GM has not made it the Asia only brand considering China saved it from near certain demise.

Also Kia and Hyundai give 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warrantees.  So  some level of assurance that you will have functional transport for as long as you are paying off the car.

What’s a “shop”, and why would someone short on money go to one? 😁 (Source: me, being poor.) Parts + tools still cheaper than parts + markup + labor.

I agree with you most of the way... the car insurance payments can be a little rougher on financed cars. On that craigslist beater you can get that liability only ins.

Having been poor for a good long while in my younger years i feel qualified to answer: I had been driving used POS since the day i graduated high school and never having grown up around anyone who knew anything about wrenching and always working tons of hours just to have a place to live i never had any opportunity to…

New cars are often easier to get than used cars... when my old Hyundai was dying I desperately needed a car so my girlfriend and I could get to our jobs (we carpooled at the time). Used car dealers didn’t want to deal with us due to our nonexistent credit and lack of down payment money, but Hyundai happily put us in a…

Because they can get affordable financing with very little down on these new cars. Hard to get an 8 year loan on an used car, and buy here pay here charge an arm and a leg on financing.

Because if you miss a day of work, you probably don’t have a job anymore.