I have to purchase a car soon and have been checking Criaglist for the last month. When I see one I like it is sold when I inquire, so I have to act fast. I narrowed the search down to 3 cars and need advice on the best one to purchase. I need a good quality long lasting car with no problems. Of course I plan to have these scanned before purchase. They are as follows.
2001 Honda Accord EX, 195,631 Miles, for $3,500, automatic, clean title, good condition.
2005 Ford Crown Victoria 125,000 Miles, for $2,800, automatic, clean title, good condition.
2009 Hyundai Accent, 59,000 miles, clean title, great condition, checked out by a mechanic who fixes salvaged cars and sells them. He says this car is private owned and runs great. The Hyundai is not a good car according to Scotty, but it was taken care of by one owner, with the title and has low miles. Please advise.
1. Crown vic
2. Honda Accord
3. Hyundai
I would nix the Accent. Both the Accord and the Crown Victoria are excellent cars and they both also have the same weak link, automatic transmissions. If the Accord is a standard then I would buy that. If not then have both checked out and have both transmissions checked out. If they both pass then just get whichever one you like better.
I’m with @yaser on this one.
The crown vic still has plenty of life in it, if a mechanic says it’s in good shape. The Accord is too high mileage for a daily driver.
The Accent is a non starter because of its low mileage, there no telling what all needs replacing in the immediate future to make it a good daily.
If you plan to drive 20,000 miles a year, I’d go with the Crown Vic, provided it passes a pre-purchase inspection by a professional mechanic.
I would get the Crown Vic, if it was well maintained previously and a mechanic checks it out and says it is OK, there can be lots of life still left. I would pass on the other two - some of the Honda Accords from 1998-2002 had automatic transmission failures, driver side door latch failure, and no start due to ignition switch failures. Crown Vics are also easy to work on, parts are readily available, and parts fairly cheap.
the only thing i know of that is wrong with the crown vic's of that era is having a plastic intake manifold that is prone to cracking and leaking coolant into the engine. a metal aftermarket one is available though.
I would have the Crown Vic and Accord inspected by a mechanic and get whichever one is in better shape.
Watch out for automatic transmission problems on the Accord, they have a high rate of failure.
