So I need to buy a car - clueless

[DandyDon]

My old F-150 has over 350,000 miles on it and it's still all I need for by 500 miles/month, but all good things must end. I don't take it more than 100 miles away even tho AAA will tow me up to 200 miles for free, but it's just not dependable at all now. I think I will fix a few things so I can use it if needed, but it's time to be parked in the long term area of my garage - the side with the manual door.

I've been a pickup driver for decades, but I just don't often need to haul anything these days. A little used car just seems to make more sense for me, and I suppose I can adjust ok. Buying one seems like such a chore; my home dive bud's nephew wants to make it easy for me but I have this natural suspicion of any car salesman.

For the lack of better ideas, I am looking at a nearby 4 door 2006 Toyota Camry, less than 100,000 miles, seems good enough, for around $10 K. For 50% more I guess I could get something newer, lower mileage, or a small pickup - but I just don't see any point. A car is not a symbol to me, just better than walking is all, so I guess it'd do.

Question for any interested in commenting: Any reason not to go with this choice...? ​

Important request: Please do not tell me what you think I should get, unless you want to check availabilities in the Lubbock-Plainview area first, as that would just clutter this needlessly.

thanks​

 

[tbone1004]

When I saw it the first thing that came to mind was a used camry. It's not a great dive vehicle but i dive out of one with my buddy on a fairly regular basis and it's not bad so long as you have a picnic table or something to set doubles on. Don't know why you'd need anything else, and a 4door sedan is probably going to be a lot better than a small pickup anyway if you're not going to use it

 

[Ayisha]

Yep, a Toyota Camry is a good, reliable car and they tend to last a long time with little maintenance. My sister has a Camry Hybrid (Hybrid has a lot less trunk space) and I have a Corolla XRS and we both love our cars and have no problems with them. One or two friends and I get all our gear in plus us and weekend bags into mine without any trouble.

 

[redacted]

Considering your usage rate and your age, maybe you just don't need anything newer.

 

[DandyDon]

Considering your usage rate and your age, maybe you just don't need anything newer.

Well, I hope to still be fit to drive in 10 years when I have to do this again. I may be too old for a bicycle by then. A golf cart would work well in my farm town, but I'll still need to get 20 miles over to Plainview at least once a week and 70 miles to Lubbock at least once a month, so I certainly hope I'm still up to it.

The Camry is not my favorite color but I guess I can live with that. I am a little concerned about that little 2.4L engine, but I suppose it gets the car down the road ok - and I'll know how it feels soon enough. I do prefer buying from a dealer who also services and repairs what it sells if possible and there is one other in P-ville (wow how times have changed), but his site lists only a handful of used cars and no asking prices listed? He does have a low mileage 2006 Buick Lucerne with a V8 - and it's red! They didn't answer today so I'll see what they're trying to get for it tomorrow, but I have a hunch it's more than I want to spend. Surely he has others that he just hasn't listed, which strikes me as dumb in this age but - this is rural west Texas.

He's asking $10,888 on the Camry. I'll probly offer him $9,000 and go from there.

 

[Ayisha]

Going down to the 2.4 L engine was an adjustment for me too, but I've gotten used to it. It will probably be way tougher for you coming from an F-150. I had a 6 cylinder 3.4 L engine before (Grand Am SE V6), which was smooth and had more than enough power for me, but it wasn't reliable for a long time.

Is there any possibility of waiting for your car and colour to become available or be ordered from another used dealership elsewhere?

 

[ramasule]

I would get suv then. Just thinking about old bones getting into a car. Look Nissan xterra, Mitsubishi somethin, Subaru outback or forester

Sent from my HTC Hero using Tapatalk

 

[DandyDon]

Going down to the 2.4 L engine was an adjustment for me too, but I've gotten used to it. It will probably be way tougher for you coming from an F-150. I had a 6 cylinder 3.4 L engine before (Grand Am SE V6), which was smooth and had more than enough power for me, but it wasn't reliable for a long time.

Is there any possibility of waiting for your car and colour to become available or be ordered from another used dealership elsewhere?

I might look harder and find it, but not for $10K. It'd probly be best for me to adjust as it really is all I need these days.

The last few vehicles I've purchased were quick decisions after some kid would pull out in front of me, totaling both vehicles. It's been a long time since I wore one out.

 

[DandyDon]

Well, that was Monday. Tuesday, my designated car buying assistant the salesman tells me that the car was sold two weeks ago. :shocked2: "WTH?! Why is it on the list? What on the list do you really have and what do you have not listed?" He didn't know but said he'd look harder for me. Grrr. I'm really trying to push myself into getting this going.

And I made a try at getting my old pickup roadworthy again. Fuel filters are $8 for self install in Plainview, $13 in this hick farm town but neither of the local mechanics could get to it - so I take a $13 filter home and get my optimistic neighbor to crawl under the pickup with me. Yay for remembering the tarp to lay on the hot cement as I knew we were going to spill some gas and didn't want it inside my garage, and I did get a fire extinguisher out which may have looked pessimistic. We looked at it for 10 minutes under there before deciding we were clueless on how to get the lines off? It's good that they are so secure, but damn. Punt to Wednesday...

Bright and early I head back to where I bought the $13 filter and asked how soon as he had said he could by today sometime. He got a guy right on it and I paid a pro $33 to watch him do it. I really like fixing little things myself, but I guess it was worth it to have it done right and not disabled in my driveway. Boy was it overdue! The gas he poured out was black! Remember, change your fuel filters when you service your transmission, generally anyway - around 30,000 miles. At least the new filter will save you on gas and at $3-4/gallon, that helps.

Okay, so now I can get over to Plainview without worrying if I will need another AAA tow, but first a plug for the auto club. They always thank me for me 24 years of membership, and some years I haven't used them for much other than tour books & maps - not as needed now with the internet, but some years they are a lifesaver! Click that link if you are in the US or Canada and check those rates. I have the Premier 200 mile towing so that my daughter, grandson or I can always count on getting home from that far for free and more! Yeah, anyone should be able to change a flat, but for safety and mess - I'd rather watch someone do it. Out of gas, need a boost, some other dumb problem - not my problem, just my phone call. My daughter recently used AAA to get her car in for repair and a free day of a rental car. We do use them enough to get our money back most years, plus maps, guides, and hotel discounts at times that I can't find on Kayak or anywhere else, like 2 rooms, 2 nights, near Grand Canyon last March in Cameron AZ: 10% off = about $30-40 off there. Here and there it adds up so if you don't enjoy changing flats or paying breakdown tows on the spot, look at joining.

Oh hell, let me tell you about Saturday night that lead to all this: Friday night for my grandson's graduation in Lubbock my old cell phone died, just quit as I was trying to send pics to FB, as it is a very old one. I just don't like the newer ones these days so bought a few of the old model I like on ebay, and they do get better reception in the rural areas here - until they die. I think "Ok, I got spares at home, no problem - I'll change when I get there." I have been known to carry a spare in my computer bag, but not this one night trip. Anyway, Saturday evening after my grandson's graduation cookout I head home, stop in Plainview for milk, and the old truck won't start. Nothing but dry cranking, as it wasn't getting gas. Ok fine, dead phone, dead truck, payphone steals my quarters, convenience store clerk loans me a phone so I can call my home dive bud if needed but - it's blocked from calling 800 numbers?! What's with that? The clerk gets a customer to let me use his phone to call AAA (my dive bud was in a romantic dinner so I hated to ask him to come over) which took longer than expect but in 45 minutes we were loaded and headed to my house. The pickup started after sitting overnight but I knew it's starts were very limited, as well as generally worn out, so I wasn't doing much at all with it until I replaced the filter and still - not much until I get a replacement and/or some other work done. Okay back to shopping...

So now I am in Plainview actually driving into used car lots, hoping my pickup will start when I get ready to leave as that would make bargaining difficult if not - and it did ok. Well, we have 4 used car lots that I would consider dealing with, the others more set up for weekly payment customers, and I hit those - then over to my dive bud's store to search Lubbock inventories on his computer to compare to what I found. Only one lot really had much in the $10-15k range, but the others had some. One car might have been more appealing but dark green - ugg. I guess if one never did time in the military, maybe - but it just looked ugly. How many people like green cars?! A lot of gray/silver/tan cars, couple of black ones - ugg, and one red! Hey, if I have to be seen in a cheap car, give me some color. Oh, and my designated assistant shopper called me again...

I am really hesitant about these 2.0-2.4 Liter engines. My assistant shopper/salesman tells me that Toyota Camrys are much better cars than Impalas or Pontiacs, but then he would. My mechanics tell me that the engines hold up well tho, and I guess they will get me down the hiway as fast as I want to do. I usually drive 55-60 anyway to save gas, and these will save me a lot of gas even at 70. I guess I have it narrowed down to these three...?

2008 Pontiac G6, 48K miles, blue book $14-20K, priced at $12.5K, and they had to drive 50 miles and back to go get it to show to me - but then big surprise! The V6 engine turned out to be a 4 cylinder 2.4. Poor play salesman! :silly:

2007 Impala, 31K miles, blue book $13.5-17.6K, priced at $14.5K but he quickly dropped to $13.1K, nice 3.5L engine and it's red!

2006 Camry, 57K miles, blue book $13-15.6K, priced $12.9K, 2.2L and my original salesman tries to tell me it's worth more than the other two? Oh he is also my home dive bud's nephew, but my bud seems to agree - the Impala.​

I guess whatever I get, I need to change the oil, trans fluid, and fuel filter right away, unless they can convince me that they did. Maybe I can dicker that into the final deal to be thrown in after we play games over prices?

 

[Kiwi303]

2.0L cars are no problem... you yanks are just spoiled by the availability of CHEAP as gas that let you drive 5.7 and 6.2 litre V8's and pay less in monthly gas bills than countries where gas is taxed... It's $8 US a gallon here.

I drive a Nissan Serena van with the 2 litre SR20DE motor, bulletproof motor with a timing chain rather than a timing belt. Whatever you get, get something with a chain rather than a belt. no need to drop the engine and change the timing belt every 100,000 milers then. My van has just gone over the 300,000 Km mark this past month.

The Camry is good, Camrys are available RHD here and they're a popular car in the 2.2 engine option, personally I'd plumb for a Toyota Avalon if they have one in town on a car lot somewhere. Or an Infiniti G35 if one of them is available close by.