Best small car

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

We bought a 94 Toyota Camry for $1,000 last year. It now has 156k miles on the clock and runs like a dream. 30mpg, we've put 2 new tyres on it, oil changes and that's it.

Once we run it into the ground, we're definately going for another one. They just go forever it seems.

My husband was a "must buy American" kinda guy, the Camry has changed his mind.

Happy hunting!

[eric&gen 0]

Stay away from American cars they leak oil.

[Reba 2]

yes, generally speaking manual transmission cars will get you better gas mileage, and they're cheaper for the manufacturer to make, so smaller sticker price.

I bought a standard Subaru (years and years and years ago!) and learned how to drive it on the way home. Its not all that difficult, and with the new clutch mechanisms, the likelihood that you'd ever strip it are next to nil.

I'd get myself another Subaru if I could afford them. I drove my GLX into the ground, and it just kept going. My Dad had one s well, which he later sold to a neighbour, and I swear its still going! It's probably 3o years old now. Mileage was good too.

And my old Civic I could get 600km per tank of straight highway driving. About 500+km per tank and change in stop n go Toronto commuting.

Best I can get out of my gas guzzling Ford Escape (hubby insists on American engineered and built cars ...for now ) is about 200m per tank. Even the Hybrid Escape doesn't get any better than 30 m/g.

[Dr_LHA 3]

I once drove over 500 miles on a tank of gas in my Civic. I was driving from California to Pennsylvania, and got stuck driving through southern Utah where there were no gas stations. I drove for about 100 miles with the damn gas light on before hitting a gas station finally. When I finally filled up it turns out that I still had a gallon of gas left in my tank (the tank is 13.5 gallons and my fill up was 12.5), so I was getting over 40mpg, I think I calculated at the time 42mpg.

I regularly used to get between 35-37 mpg driving a 1989 Honda Accord that had >150,000 miles on the clock up and down the 101 between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz every weekend. Fuel efficiency isn't a recent concept to Honda, unlike some American manufacturers I could speak about.

[Nancy2015 2]

Well, maybe I shouldn't get my hopes too high after all.

I applied for a loan and got denied. I don't know why yet. Maybe because I submitted a joint application with my husband, who's unemployed and has 11 delinquent accounts on his credit report, maybe because my credit score is not as high as they want it to be. We already sold our truck for parts, so now we absolutely have to buy a second car. I will be applying for individual loans now, and since my APR will be very high, I guess I need to shop for the cheapest car around. I told my dad today, and he was very upset - he knows I wanted to buy a brand new car this year Well, duh... Now I just hope I will be able to get something that can move and get me to work

[Dr_LHA 3]

I applied for a loan and got denied. I don't know why yet. Maybe because I submitted a joint application with my husband, who's unemployed and has 11 delinquent accounts on his credit report, maybe because my credit score is not as high as they want it to be.

I've highlighted the clue as to why you got denied!

Out of interest, who did you apply for the loan with? Also - do you know your credit score?

Edited April 26, 2007 by Dr_LHA

[Saddle Bronc 124]

We bought a 94 Toyota Camry for $1,000 last year. It now has 156k miles on the clock and runs like a dream. 30mpg, we've put 2 new tyres on it, oil changes and that's it.

Once we run it into the ground, we're definately going for another one. They just go forever it seems.

My husband was a "must buy American" kinda guy, the Camry has changed his mind.

Happy hunting!

There is actually a reasonable-quality vehicle engineered, built and marketed cent-percent in North America--a Tundra (Toyota pickup).

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I once drove over 500 miles on a tank of gas in my Civic. I was driving from California to Pennsylvania, and got stuck driving through southern Utah where there were no gas stations. I drove for about 100 miles with the damn gas light on before hitting a gas station finally. When I finally filled up it turns out that I still had a gallon of gas left in my tank (the tank is 13.5 gallons and my fill up was 12.5), so I was getting over 40mpg, I think I calculated at the time 42mpg.

I regularly used to get between 35-37 mpg driving a 1989 Honda Accord that had >150,000 miles on the clock up and down the 101 between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz every weekend. Fuel efficiency isn't a recent concept to Honda, unlike some American manufacturers I could speak about.

I could swear to having got 40 mpg in my 1995 Jetta (manual).

Yeah, Honda was also the first to meet the then-new US pollution control standards (WITHOUT putting in catalytic converter) in 1973.

[Nancy2015 2]

I applied for a loan and got denied. I don't know why yet. Maybe because I submitted a joint application with my husband, who's unemployed and has 11 delinquent accounts on his credit report, maybe because my credit score is not as high as they want it to be.

I've highlighted the clue as to why you got denied!

Out of interest, who did you apply for the loan with? Also - do you know your credit score?

CapitalOne - they sent me a pre-approved letter a while ago, so I assumed I would be fine. I know my score - it's in the lower 600. It was supposed to be enough.

[Dr_LHA 3]

CapitalOne are arseholes. Try HSBC, you can apply through their website. I would personally not put your husband's name on the loan application, no offense intended.

http://www.hsbcusa-autoloans.com/

Alternatively you could try E-loan if you get desperate.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Dr_LHA

[Nancy2015 2]

CapitalOne are arseholes. Try HSBC, you can apply through their website. I would personally not put your husband's name on the loan application, no offense intended.

http://www.hsbcusa-autoloans.com/

Alternatively you could try E-loan if you get desperate.

Thanks a lot, Dr_LHA. I'm an HSBC customer, so they should be good to me I didn't want to put my husband's name on the application, but he was very paranoid about his name being on the title. So, I agreed... Well, now he knows he should sit back and let me do it myself

I'll try HSBC for sure!

[akdiver 3]

He can have his name on the title without being on the loan. That's what we did with my wife's car. The loan is only in her name, so that it will help her build some individual credit, but the car is titled and registered to both of us. If the bank will not let you do this, then try a different bank.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Followup: I checked the (print edition) of Baltimore Sun this weekend (in apartment leasing office, when I was there to arrange lease-transfer) and found the following.

A 2007 Hyundai Accent was available at one dealership for $6,995 (didn't call the dealer, and probably NO options, but...).

[homesick_american 1]

Well, maybe I shouldn't get my hopes too high after all.

I applied for a loan and got denied. I don't know why yet. Maybe because I submitted a joint application with my husband, who's unemployed and has 11 delinquent accounts on his credit report, maybe because my credit score is not as high as they want it to be. We already sold our truck for parts, so now we absolutely have to buy a second car. I will be applying for individual loans now, and since my APR will be very high, I guess I need to shop for the cheapest car around. I told my dad today, and he was very upset - he knows I wanted to buy a brand new car this year Well, duh... Now I just hope I will be able to get something that can move and get me to work

Er...that's probably why you got denied.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

CapitalOne are arseholes. ...

************* Partial Hijack **********

That describes CaptialOne alright--also for IT contracting, where they're known to be really stingy.

I was asked at least twice whether I could be submitted to CapitalOne in Merrifield and Richmond. I quoted $50 (nlt $45) for Merrifield and $35 (nlt $30) for Richmond.

Best rates CapitalOne would allow are $28 for Richmond (livable for local who really tightens belt) and $37 (nowhere close to livable in NOVA) for Merrifield.

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