The best beater???

Benji

Benji

Web Wheeler
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Location
Clinton, SC
Ok, im looking for a beater car to drive every other weekend on approximately a 200 mile round trip.. what do you guys drive for beaters and what do you trust? I'm not in the market to spend more than about $1200... What seems to be the most reliable. Oh, and it will be 5 speed at least....
 
I drive a geo tracker for my beater/DD and you could probly find one in that dollar range, i love my cracker tracker or gslut(everybody has been in her) mine is 4wd, 5 speed and gets 26-28 mpg depending on how hard i beat on it. I am a fan of the toyotas and hondas also but you will be hard pressed to find a driver in those brands for that cash
 
I drove my girlfriend's 97 Honda Civic 4 banger/5spd for a while in college, wasn't going to win any races, but when we sold it, it had over 170k on the odo and still got 34mpg's. We actually sold it to a member on here for $750.
 
Unles
Black Bear said:
not a saturn.
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Unless you bought stock in oil. 40 mpg is common but boesn't count for a quart a week and the pain in the ass of keeping it filled. I hear they burn oil from the factory.

Can't go wrong with an old Honda Civic if you can find one with less than 300K on the odometer.
 
I think I found a worse choice than a Saturn.

http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/cto/3765140908.html

Honestly, we had a 96 Saturn SW2. I had a love-hate relationship with that car. It burned and leaked oil off and on. It would fix itself sometimes. My wife drove it mostly, but occasionally I'd get in and the lifters would tick when I'd fire it up. I'd immediately stop it, get out, add two or three quarts, and go on down the road getting 36mpg. 200k on the factory clutch. I don't remember ever changing the front rotors, but when we sold it, they looked nearly new. Rarely had problems, and was pretty simple to fix when it did. It was typically annoying things. I chased a gremlin for three days. Cooling fan wouldn't come on. Turned out to be a loose relay socket. I tweaked the legs on the relay and never had another problem. Grounds in the trunk got corroded. It was a big flat connector where they all came together. Plastic body, remember? Well, they sat in a well that collected water. With the key out, if you stepped on the brake, the fuel pump would run. If you were driving with the lights on and turned on the wipers, it would stall. Redid the grounds, problem solved. It was dead-reliable, but never my favorite car. I'd drive another one if the right deal came along, though, and they can be had cheap!
 
catfishblues said:
With the key out, if you stepped on the brake, the fuel pump would run. If you were driving with the lights on and turned on the wipers, it would stall.
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Thats awesome!
 
6BangBronk said:
Unless you bought stock in oil. 40 mpg is common but boesn't count for a quart a week and the pain in the ass of keeping it filled. I hear they burn oil from the factory.
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my current motor takes a quart every fillup ~300 miles. My old motor at its peak consumed 7.5 qts in 600 miles.
 
I dd a 91 civic...180k auto
26.4 has been the worst mpg with 34.5 at the best..
a/c always on full blast.
There are options out there in that price range. as long as your not in a hurry.
 
Seems like there are alot of us that have more $$ in the front axle of our rigs than in our DDs.


I DD my wife's old 02 Mitsubishi Galant. No complaints except for the paint is $h!+.
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Seems like there are alot of us that have more $$ in the front axle of our rigs than in our DDs.


I DD my wife's old 02 Mitsubishi Galant. No complaints except for the paint is $h!+.
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we put our monies where it matters!! getting up/over/through that obstacle is a must, work meh......
 
6BangBronk said:
Unles


Unless you bought stock in oil. 40 mpg is common but boesn't count for a quart a week and the pain in the ass of keeping it filled. I hear they burn oil from the factory.

Can't go wrong with an old Honda Civic if you can find one with less than 300K on the odometer.
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We loved our Saturn. I think it actually ran on oil. Kept a qt in the trunk at all times. But the thing ran and ran and ran.
I think the mid-later 90s models are better, they were all the same, that was before GM started to admit they were losing money and starting changing the model around and they got crappier.
 
I just sold a 93 Escort Wagon that I DD for a few years, 5spd, 30-35mpg. I paid 200 for it, sold it for 1000. It had 300k on it when I bought it, sold it with 340k. still ran like a champ. There is kid delivering pizza in it now.
 
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