I'm trying to pre-emptively replace a 2009 Nissan Sentra with 225K miles on it, because I feel I'm driving a CVT timebomb around. I put on less than 6K miles last year, as I work from home. It's a second car and I really don't want to spend a lot of money; definitely as south of 10K as I can possibly get. I'm seeing newer models with 40K+ more miles on them, and provided this thing checks out with a mechanic and doesn't have any rust issues, I think the model year is scaring people off and it's a price that I think is about as low as I could expect these days. Would this be a relatively safe buy or should I look for a newer model?
$6000 for a 22-year-old Honda Element sounds kind of crazy.
You did not state whether that is being sold by a dealer or a private sale. Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com), which tends to have inflated values, pegs the dealer "fair purchase price" at about $4800, private party sale at $3500.
@chucktobias It's through a dealer, it seems like everything is inflated in my immediate area, as I expand out the search radius on different sites the price did come down. I had heard the used car market had gotten crazy so I really didn't know what to expect. I thought the Kelly site only provided the value for your own car, but I got the part of the site where you could check any car, thanks for providing those price ranges.
If you wanted a reliable SUV that was as much under 10K as possible, which would you go after?
If you wanted a reliable SUV that was as much under 10K as possible, which would you go after?
I really don't know, I'm not familiar with modern SUVs, have never considered that kind of vehicle, and have never paid anywhere near $10K for a car. (My current ride was purchased in 2011 for $1500.) The short, automatic answer of course would be to look for a Toyota or Honda, avoiding models with known problems.
