Well my 94 accord decided to off itself on the highway with 231k miles on the odo. So the new car search begins. Unfortunately, being a college student with a part time job, my budget is only around $3,000. Any help would be much appreciated.
I am looking at a couple of cars. any opinions on these cars.
2000 Grand Prix
99 Malibu
Thanks!!!!!
For inexpensive to buy, insure, and keep fixed, the GM W-cars are good bets, that means the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Impala, or the Buick Regal or Century in that time frame.You can often find well cared for models as they were often owned by older people with the resources for and inclination for good maintenance.
Thanks zeep that Altima looks great! might call that guy up. He's alittle far west from me but thats a good car at a pretty good price.
I've owned cars with both motors and I'd have to go with the Grand Prix as the sentimental favorite, however the 'bu would be cheaper to run - better on gas and doesn't need premium. Probably cheaper to insure too.
With both of them, see if you can find out if the intake manifold gasket has been done. If not, avoid them unless you know someone in the trade who can do this kind of work for you - it's an expensive fix if it fails.
I had to do the gasket on both cars.
Wow it did look good from what I saw... somehow the listing on the Altima was taken down a few hours ago, did you have something to do with it?
That BMW is a nice car btw, E34s are the most reliable BMWs EVER made. Parts would be the only issue from my knowledge but it's got low mileage and it was maintained perfectly, but it may not be that bad. Oh and insurance as well but if you have a good record then you should be fine. It might be cheaper than your old car since this car is loaded.
zeep;189117 Wrote:Wow it did look good from what I saw... somehow the listing on the Altima was taken down a few hours ago, did you have something to do with it?
That BMW is a nice car btw, E34s are the most reliable BMWs EVER made. Parts would be the only issue from my knowledge but it's got low mileage and it was maintained perfectly, but it may not be that bad. Oh and insurance as well but if you have a good record then you should be fine. It might be cheaper than your old car since this car is loaded.
One thing to look out for is that the 530 is a small-displacement V8 that suffered from BMW's "nikasil" problem. The only fix is a replacement of the short block, so find out if that repair was made. If not... you pays your money, you takes your chances.
Read this, take notes
If the car's block was replaced or it was not affected by the problem, then it sounds like a steal. Keep in mind that the driving characteristics of the 530 are somewhat different from other BMW's. It doesn't have a ton of power (218hp) and it's not a particularly torquey engine either. Peak hp is at 5800 rpm, peak torque (214 lb/ft) is at 4500 rpm. It is incredibly smooth, however.
Th E34 530i is a V8?!
I swear this is a Inline-6 or something.
zeep;189126 Wrote:Th E34 530i is a V8?!
I swear this is a Inline-6 or something.
Nope... it's an 8. They made it for 2 years, '94 & '95. The 'Burg knows old BMW's.
Yeah I just saw that the 530i was a V8, I'd have to check it out first, I'm also looking at a forester tomorrow no ad for that but saw it park outside of a house near me.
So the 3.8 is the engine to look for in GM's cause my cousin had a 99 Impala that blew its head gaskets at like 70k miles. Im pretty sure it was the 3.1 though.
While your at i wouldd check out some of those older hondas too, everyone of those will consistently get 30 mpgs, are cheap to fix and maintain, and are still fun, id look hard for a 92-95 eg hatch, or 96 to 99 coupe, most will be d series engines which are extremely reliable.
Hey Megas, check out this Olds Intrigue. If it has the 3.8 (and not the 3.1) and the mileage is accurate it may be a steal for you:
Could be interesting...
Obviously I'm skeptical of a 17-year old car having only 31K miles on it but it's worth finding out the truth, right?