edit- I have a question at the bottom, if anyone can help

I've decided that I need a beater.

What started this is that I was going to take my step sisters '95 neon (purple), for $300. All it needed was a new battery and in my opinion, a trip to maaco for a cheap paint job.

Then that fell through as she sold it on me (bitch! ), so my search turned to the general public.

I have been searching for the past week or so, and I came across a few cars that piqued my interest. Most notably a 1994 Mazda MX-6 mystere v6 5 spd. I thought "cool, my dad used to own one of these when it was new." Called up the seller, asked them quite a few questions. They assured me the car was in excellent condition, so off I went to edmonton last night to buy it.

I get there and the car is no where near excellent condition. unless of course you consider every body panel and bumper being scraped all over the place, no radio, door and window seals rotting away, and an engine that is hurting to rev past 4,000 rpm to be "excellent condition"

basically at this point I'm just pretty frustrated about the whole deal. I can't justify the insurance I'd be paying on two new vehicles (or I'd have a ridgeline right now).. (ama explained to me that being 21, I'd pay the full premium on each vehicle, IE: $400~ per car). At least on a car like that Mazda, liability was only $100 a month, so I could live with that.

I want to spend a maximum of $6,000... if I crash it with out collision, I'm willing to be out that much, but no more

IF anyone knows of any cars for sale that are really reliable mechanically (some body dings are alright), let me know!!

thanks for listening to my rant.

 

When I think of older cars, Camry's and Accord's come up instantly. Low maintenance and very reliable.

 

Yeah, love my 4th gen accord. Parents bought it new in 92 and i took it over when i was 17 as my main car and now is my winter beater. Has 410,000 km's on it and shes still running strong. Replaced the whole drivetrain at 360,000km's just because I got a sweet deal on a little less k engine that had just had the clutch replaced and syncros were good ($150) where as the original engine needed a new clutch and some syncros were getting worn. Cost me $250 to do the swap where as was gonna cost like close to a grand to replace clutch on my engine

 

I found a good condition 91 accord actually. the only problem is that its a base model, no power options and no a/c. really in clean shape, though.

I might wait for an auction and see what I can find there

 

My 89' Corolla with 249,000 KM's cost me $300 in May, gave me 700 KM's on a tank of gas ($32 to fill) a few weeks back while on my way to Vancouver. I love my beater but eventually want to replace it with an STi.

 

There is still hope for me. A few 94-96 Accord's are coming in the $5500 to $6500 area right now. A bit of a stretch for a car that wont have anything aside from PL&PD, but it's about all I'm liking right now

 

There is a number of 90-93 accords in the manitoba area that are selling anywhere from $2500-$5500 fully saftied. These are all EX-R's.

 

I want to find an alberta car for sure. my brother had a nightmare of a time with an out-of-province inspection on a 91 celica gt-s a few years ago

 

Should I be concerned about a car being from quebec? carfax showed this 94 accord i'm interested in as being in quebec up until 2001.

Do they have a lot of issues with rust out there?

 

Quebec is one of the worst provinces for rust. Sorry man.