said by jsbaker :

Had a 96 lumina for about a month before as a loaner, was a nice car but seen a lot of them with issues. It's a GM so it never would ahve been an option on my plate anyways. My sister has a 2003 Taurus and it has had some issues but she has 5 kids who don't care and a husband who is an idiot so I can imagine they had a lot to do with the problems but yes those two are known to be problematic.

I personally would never buy a Lumina or a Taurus just becuase of the reliability factor. I don't know what your price range or space reuqirements are but there has got to be something better

said by MJimLay :

I also read on carcomplaints that this model seems to have a lot of issues, especially with the spring coming out and blowing the tire out.

said by dirtyjeffer :

not many issues, and the spring issue you mentioned was recalled anyway, so they would have been replaced for free already (or should have been as it is covered)...of course, this may depend on where you are...the only ones affected were the ones sold in states that use salt on the roads, as the recall installs "covers" to prevent too much salt damaging the spring brackets...if the springs failed, they were replaced free of charge (i had mine replaced a couple of years ago).

you can search for recalls here: »www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/re···arch.cfm

said by DrD :

The gas to power that beast would kill him!

said by nokiatech :

I would also strike a word of caution over the lumina engine. They were built with an aluminum head on an iron block. The engine was EXTREMELY prone to intake manifold gasket failures. In fact I believe GM was hit with a class action suit which forced them to repay repair costs associated with the failure even on out of warranty repairs.

See if there is a local police/sheriff auction near you. They often have Crown Vics in great shape with extensive maintenance records. Those cars are built to be abused and hold up very well over the long term. It also means repair parts are plentiful and cheap.

said by MJimLay :

Thanks. I have read some horror stories about the intake manifold gasket failures. I'm still pretty torn between the two of them but was told they should have some more car's on the lot by now.

Auction's aren't really an option for me as I am not able to pay cash for a car. I'm trying to stick with a small family owned car lot that my mom had really good luck with and aren't a completely rip off. Most of the "buy here pay here" places we have in town are complete and total rip off's. My mom got a 2001 Ford Focus from this car lot back in 2003 or 2004 which had 130,000+ miles on it. She kept this car for 2 years, when it was paid off, and never had a single problem with it. She still wishes to this day she didn't get rid of that car.

said by dirtyjeffer :

in order to get a honda civic in that price range, it will be a 15 year old beater, in probably worse shape, as the resale value on a car like this is inflated...your best bet, for cost savings, is to get the newest, lowest mileage car you can afford that is still decent quality...in most cases, due to their low resale, the domestic will win every time (although, some of the Korean brands might be worth looking at, but i still think the domestic will be less expensive should it need a repair).

said by sailor :

I know of a guy who ran a sleaze buy here - pay here operation in S. Florida. He would pick up cars from auction and then sell them. The down payment he would ask for is what he paid for the car at auction but he would price the car at 3x's what he paid....He would then require weekly payments and that way each weekly payment made would be pure profit to him and he would sit back and wait until someone would miss or be late on a weekly payment and then he would send his gorilla to repo the car. Many times he would re-sell the same car over and over due to people being late eventually on a weekly payment.

This same character also got into the loan for car title scheme and he got cars that way when those who borrowed only a couple of hundred dollars on their cars worth say $1k defaulted on the weekly payment.

said by sailor :

I'd say being in the position you are that sticking to that lot your mom had good experience is the way to go but if you are going to get into the near $5k range I would pass on that Taurus and look at the new stock they will be getting in. You are going to pay top dollar to get into a ride there but that is unfortunately the position your in but I would for that kind of money on payments look for something same size or even smaller and try to get under 100k miles and something with a as solid as possible carfax history. Does that lot provide you with a free car fax report on the cars you've looked at? If not, ask them for one.

said by dirtyjeffer :

said by MJimLay :

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The place I am looking into is a very small family own lot which does their financing on lot. They usually don't sell for much more than the KBB value and have 0% interest. Like I said, my mom got a car there several years ago and didn't have any problems and they always treated her awesome. It's also just regular monthly payments like any car loan. They take regular checks

Attaching pictures of the Ford Taurus.

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they do have "interest" charges, they are just built into the cost of the car or payment...$5k for that car is high, and i like my Taurus...that is the most basic model available (SE, cloth interior, Vulcan V6, etc)...it may have even been a fleet vehicle at one point...i know you don't have much in the way of options, and i am not familiar with what goes for what where you live, but to be honest with you, i would bet that guy paid $2000 for that car...not because Taurus' are crappy cars, but there are tons of them, and being a domestic, the resale value is low on them...have you checked out a basic model Hyundai Accent, new from the dealership??...up here, they are $9995, plus you can get 0% financing for 3 years...and they have a 5 year warranty...i know you said your credit isn't great, but it might be worth a shot...car companies want to sell new cars, so they might be able to help out a bit.

your options may be limited, but if you have had good experiences from this dealer before, it may be the best choice, even if those types of places aren't the best places to buy from (in terms of pricing).

said by sailor :

I know of a guy who ran a sleaze buy here - pay here operation in S. Florida. He would pick up cars from auction and then sell them. The down payment he would ask for is what he paid for the car at auction but he would price the car at 3x's what he paid....He would then require weekly payments and that way each weekly payment made would be pure profit to him and he would sit back and wait until someone would miss or be late on a weekly payment and then he would send his gorilla to repo the car. Many times he would re-sell the same car over and over due to people being late eventually on a weekly payment.

said by wilbilt :

If you can come up with a $950 down payment, you should be able to buy a decent car outright from a PP for about the same amount.

$1,000-$1200 will buy a decent driver on craigslist around here. One price, no payments. You are not going to get any kind of warranty from that dealer anyway.

said by dirtyjeffer :

blechh...those cars look horrible...and $3700 for an almost 20 year old caddie with that atrocious red interior??...that car should be $500 at most...there are tons of places around here where you can get "beaters" for under $1000...it looks like the places down there use those beaters as "bait" for people with bad credit and try and unload them for $950 down and $300/month for 2 years...that should be a crime.

said by MJimLay :

I also looked at a 1985 suburban today which had a disel engine for $1000, but it was complete trash inside and the dude never signed the title over to himself so it just seemed a little odd. Plus that would be a really bad gas hog.

said by MJimLay :

found a 1997 Nissan Altima with worn shocks/struts for $900.

said by 3SGTE :

One thing seems a little suspicious. A police car that only has 84 k miles after 10 years? Can that possibly be correct?

Did you run Carfax?

Also, are those vinyl seats?

said by dirtyjeffer :

that is exactly what i was thinking you should get...while the car isn't your dream car, or perhaps in "pristine" condition, it will be cheap to insure, reasonable on gas, and affordable...there are lots of these types of cars up here too, and buying something like this is generally 100x times better than the overpriced cars you see on most of those buy here/pay here lots.