Hey Scotty, I've been searching the market and watching your videos to try and find myself a nice travel car. Something with space, but not something too big to where I can host a fiesta in it. I am down to two cars I've found. An 04' Nissan Xterra with 75k miles on it, and a 06' and an 04' Honda CRV both at about 150k miles. Both are being sold from small dealerships, and both around the same price of 6500$ (the 04' CRV is for 5k). I'm not sure which way is better for me. I'm a broke college kid and I just want a good vehicle that can handle daily use, and also take a trip to Utah from Wisconsin as I tend to travel to national parks every once and a while. I'm willing to go a little bit higher than 6500, those are just some of the ones I have found so far. Or if there's another car you'd recommend, I'm all ears! Appreciate what you do for the community!
I would have the two CRVs inspected and then buy the one that you like better.
Thank you Billybob! So you think that either of those Hondas would be fine to take on a road trip every now and then? (Assuming inspection goes well)
Sure, if they pass inspection then they should do a road trip no problem.
Those old Xterra's were pretty well made and that car should have some pretty good life left in it. The Honda is also a great vehicle as well and can last a long time. Any Toyota product would also serve you well, but before you buy anything have a mechanic thoroughly check it out.
I would get the Honda CR-V, and pick between the 04 and 06 depending on which one a mechanic says is in better shape.
Back in 2004, the Xterra was better made. Back then it was still part of the Nissan sourced generation and didn't have the problems of the next one.
Either way, make sure to have a mechanic check it out. The prices are a bit high typical for a dealership so you would want to haggle. Take a look at private party sales as well. If you could find a Toyota 4Runner/Highlander/RAV4 in your price range (and avoid the bad years) then you might want to consider that as well.
@Kerem what are those bad years to avoid? But thanks all, I'll probably go that CRV route after I find a good mechanic in my area to check it out!
Check out the "Common Problems with Toyota and Honda models, is it worth buying this model? " page linked above
2006-2008 RAV4 is the biggest one to avoid
you can also check out carcomplaints.com for more info
2:12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax-7hYZOcss
http://carcomplaints.com/honda/cr-v/2004/
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/CR-V/2006/
The price is OK, but still high. If I were you I would go on craigslist<by owner<and find good ones for your city
Many for sale on there:
https://sacramento.craigslist.org/search/cto?purveyor-input=owner&min_price=2500&max_price=7000&auto_make_model=toyota&min_auto_miles=1000&max_auto_miles=250000&auto_title_status=1&auto_bodytype=10
https://sacramento.craigslist.org/search/cto?purveyor-input=owner&min_price=2500&max_price=7000&auto_make_model=honda&min_auto_miles=1000&max_auto_miles=250000&auto_title_status=1&auto_bodytype=10
Forget the Xterra. Get whichever CRV checks out as best.
I think the crv, but try to get it used if you can and you will save thousands from all of the dealership fees and stuff like that. They are pretty nice cars with lots of room and utility, they are my favorite crv's and I don't even like honda's myself.
