# can't choose which car to buy



## j fairlie (Nov 22, 2004)

New to the forum and was just wondering if anyone has any advise. I'm looking for a family car (have always owned a truck), i'm undecided about a

98 corrola -110,000km-ac-4dr-4cyl-no accidents-$8000.00. 

97 accord-120,000km-ac-all power options- 4dr-no accidents-ugly color-$10,500

00 saturn sl1-45,000 km-ac-4cyl-one accident fixed by the autobody shop that is selling it because provincial insurance company no longer pays for courtesy cars-$9500.00

all three are in excellent shape. if anyone has any opinions let me know, also i live in BC canada.


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2004)

Hi,

With the listed mileage, my good sense tells me the Saturn would be the best buy..........BUT...........I have owned an Accord and that is where my heart is. They just keep running and running and running. They are a wonderful machine. But, with an ugly color, I would spell for the Saturn. I just can't stand some of those ugly cars you see.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

it's a toss up in my opinion, either the corolla, or the accord.

both have very good life expectancy, and both should give you very little trouble for quite the while.

check under the hood, you want to see an engine that didn't need to be washed.

if it was washed, then you should take it for as long of a test drive as possible, and check under the hood again after the test drive.

it shouldn't look oily, there should be no smoke, and it should not stink.

also, after the really long test drive wait 20 minutes talking to the salesguy and check under it for drips.

if there is drips, see if they are water or oil and ask the salesman if he can do something about the drip.

if he says no, then you might look for a different car.


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## fearless (Nov 24, 2004)

play in on how much insurance will be... id do a 4 door for insurance... but i would also weigh heavily on what gas milege it gets

Matt


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## g.w. (Sep 22, 2004)

*Gotta love a honda*

Have owned 5 past Hondas, and 3 current ones. Have never had trouble with any of em. Decent price, great resale, ya buy them, drive them, not always in the shop, actually very little maintainace required, 3,000 miles for oil, about it. Not sure if it still is, but in 99 was most American made car in America, gets the true patriotic vote, probably doesn`t count for much in BC though, even if it is a wonderful place, lol.

Wife was a Toyota lover, until she started having trouble with them. "Camry`s" made joint venture with GM. GM can wreck even the best of cars. Other Toyotas probaly still a good bet, but wouldn`t suggest a Camry. Last one she had was a 95, started burning oil at 56,000 miles, it rode like a wreck, and had a few spots of rust starting, was only 3 years old, and falling apart.

Bother, and Sister have both had Saturns, loved them, they scare me, another joint venturn with GM.

g.w.


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## bry623 (Apr 8, 2002)

My Saturn has almost 200k miles on it!


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

and you will probably get almost 50k more.


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## Gearjammer (Dec 24, 2004)

The Corolla[Prizm] is the best car in its class without exception . The Honda is te most overrated car of all time. Saturn is just another car....

Money wise Corolla seems too expensive compared to the miles..

Go price out a NEW Chevy Prizm..payment wise it might look REAL good compared to the ...oh shoot...Those a KILOmeters aren't they 110K = 70M ..oh that's not so bad....then the exchange rate....Cn/US

Still the Corolla is the better car

BTW, I'm a used car dealer....


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

any time you are buying a used car that is less than 10 years old, it's a good idea to cruise over to www.kbb.com and compare the price to what the "blue book" says the price should be.

it's sort of a beckett manual for pricing of cars.

the kbb will also tell you something about how much you will be able to sell the car for when you are done.

it's such a good resource, that everyone should at least know about it.

(and they also have a kbb for older classic cars, but i have no idea where to get it, or what exactly it is called. i just know it exists.)


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## Gearjammer (Dec 24, 2004)

KBB.com is a good site but the retail values skew high...ANY dealer should be able to beat those rices on ANY make or model.

a site where the values are more realistic to what you should actually pay would be National Auto Dealers Association....
I believe the site is NADA.com or NADAguides.com....


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

I'd go with the Honda just based purely on the simplicity of maintenance and the fact that you can beat the crap out of them and they keep running. I'm a pure Volkswagen/Audi guy myself but with VW's unless you're willing to spend the money on more then likely maintenance issues its not worth it... Its never anything *big* but its just more frustrating then anything :grin: I like the challenge of keeping my check engine light off tho heh.


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