Miata.

$3000 will buy mine. dollar for dollar. more fun than any of the cars you listed.

 

I've bought several cars in the $2500-5500 range. All of them have been great to me, regardless of mileage. Here they are:

1984 Buick Regal Limited - $900 w/ 62,000 original, perfect shape save being owned by a smoker, ran perfect until stolen

1987 Chevy Z24 - $2500 w/ I forget how many miles, looked like crap but ran fine, only issue in 3 years of ownership was a heater core break.

1987 Nissan Maxima SE 5-speed - $2600 w/182+k, wondrous fully-optioned car with rather pathetic power, drove it for 3 years before trading it in, no expensive or serious issues ever, wish I still had it.

I personally have no qualms about buying cars at that price, since the vast majority of them are DD-type rides in the first place, and many of them are known for being reliable anyhow. I would say the bigger the car for $2500-3000, the more expensive the fixes become, so maybe stay small. Old Accords can have a few pricey bits, and the same goes for Toyotas and Nissans. Old Golfs are cheap to fix (they're relatively simple in design), and should be reliable too, though perhaps no Civic in that sense.

 

All manual only...

Honda Civic/Accord
Mazda Miata
Subaru Impreza



Just give the car a once-over either by yourself or take it to a mechanic; best $50 you'll spend on buying used on an older vehicle.

 

get a prepurchase inspection

 

i got a 96 saturn that gets 38-40mpg for 700.... i've put 8k miles on it in the last 3 months and i'm at 125k on the clock..... can't go wrong! h

 

i'd get a s13 240sx for under 3k, it's a solid and on the coasts replacement parts are cheap.

 

got a civic from my sister. awesome for what it is. all i needed to replace were the tires and battery

 

A Miata is a good choice because they are generally cars that were well loved by previous owners and as a result were typically better taken care of and maintained than a more plebian commuter car might have been.

The only major mechnaical issue I know of with Miatas is that the very early 1.6l cars (not sure for certain, but 1990 and earlier rings a bell) have a "short nose" crank issue that can lead to engine failure.

Andrew

 

if you know how to fix car or are at least somewhat mechanically inclined then picking up a cheap DD isn't to risky of a situation. Just look for a clean good running car that has cheap parts so if/when something goes it's not too expensive to fix. I've owner 4 under $3k DD (3 of them were under $1k) and none of them gave me any problems that I couldn't fix myself (brake pads/rotors, fuel pump, fuel tank, injectors, etc.)