Best 4 Cyl Used car ?

I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..

What is a techs opinion?

What should be my choices?

American parts are cheaper?

Any help on the best choices would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Joe

What sort of price level/year model do you want to consider?

There are some year/models of most cars that seem to hold up better
than others, even from the same manufacturer.

There was a thread not long ago that seemed to indicate that none of
the Big 3 makes a really decent 4 cylinder.

On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:32:04 -0500, "hls" > wrote:

>What sort of price level/year model do you want to consider?
>
>There are some year/models of most cars that seem to hold up better
>than others, even from the same manufacturer.
>
>There was a thread not long ago that seemed to indicate that none of
>the Big 3 makes a really decent 4 cylinder.

The 2.2 Ecotec seemed good to me when I had a rental Malibu equipped
with it. Been around a while and I've seen nothing bad about it.
Lots of them out there.
This is a tech group. Seems some here would have some opinions.
But without a GM mech posting, it's all hearsay.

--Vic

On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:25:57 +0000, Roger Blake wrote:

> On 2009-10-19, Joe's Newsgroup > wrote:
>> I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard =
>> mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..
>
> Chevy II 4-cylinder. Reliable and simple as an anvil.

Sure! But affordable examples are rotting to the ground, and good ones are...

Get a *NEW* Honda instead! ;p

We had a six, and I lost track of it around 225,000 miles...

On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:55:40 -0400, Joe's Newsgroup wrote:

> I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard
> mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..
>
> What is a techs opinion?
>
> What should be my choices?
>
> American parts are cheaper?
>
> Any help on the best choices would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
I like my 2000 Escort ZX2, which has given me little problems (well,
except for that damn bolt, which I think was a maintenance problem with
the previous dealer). When I had it in recently the tech who was working
on it mentioned that it's got a very reliable engine, which apparently
went into the Ford Focus as well.

Don't buy a Focus from the first year they were out, though -- Ford moved
the design from Europe and suffered some teething pains. The next year's
model onward are nice, I'm told.

--
www.wescottdesign.com

"Vic Smith" > wrote in message
>
> The 2.2 Ecotec seemed good to me when I had a rental Malibu equipped
> with it. Been around a while and I've seen nothing bad about it.
> Lots of them out there.
> This is a tech group. Seems some here would have some opinions.
> But without a GM mech posting, it's all hearsay.
>
> --Vic

A GM tech posted on this a couple of years ago.. He thought they were
good engines, basically.

FIL has a little GM pickup with this engine, and it has stayed together
okay, but is a piece of **** WRT economy. Gets less than 20 mpg.
The pickup is a major POS.

Joe's Newsgroup wrote:
> I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard
> mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..
>
> What is a techs opinion?
>
> What should be my choices?
>
> American parts are cheaper?
>
> Any help on the best choices would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Joe
Hard to go wrong with a Honda Civic, if you can find one in your price
range in your area that isn't rusty already, and that hasn't been turned
into a rice rocket. Judging by the few Korean compacts over 2-3 years
old I see driving around, I'd stay away from them. But I see 7-10 year
old Civics all the time, still looking nice. Sorry to say I can't think
of any American models to recommend in the kid-car price range- any I
see over five years old are smoking rust buckets. (escorts, older GM
J-cars like Cavelier, etc.) But having said all that, upkeep and how
carefully it was driven are more important than brand. Basically, you
want a 'little old lady' car- one that had oil and other fluids changed
regularly, and was not driven by a young male. If it spent nights in a
garage, that is also a plus.

--
aem sends...

Look on the web for,
How to buy a used car

As far as the best name brand used car is concerned, there are so many
variables it is hard to say.
cuhulin

On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:50:48 -0400, aemeijers wrote:

>
> Joe's Newsgroup wrote:
>> I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard
>> mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..
>>
>> What is a techs opinion?
>>
>> What should be my choices?
>>
>> American parts are cheaper?
>>
>> Any help on the best choices would be appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Joe
> Hard to go wrong with a Honda Civic, if you can find one in your price
> range in your area that isn't rusty already, and that hasn't been turned
> into a rice rocket. Judging by the few Korean compacts over 2-3 years old
> I see driving around, I'd stay away from them. But I see 7-10 year old
> Civics all the time, still looking nice. Sorry to say I can't think of any
> American models to recommend in the kid-car price range

Like Tim said, the ZX2 was a decent little car, based on time tested
Escort components. Most kids want 4 doors, but this was a decent little 2
door coupe and was still being made in the US when the Focus was being
made in (UGH) Mexico.

I used to work for a guy selling used cars, and he was a Ford guy, so we
had a lot of Escorts and Tauruses (er, Tauri...?) and if I couldn't get my
hands on a Toyota or a Honda, one of these would do.

And I am beginning to see a lot of the ZX2s coming up on the market, some
with low miles for low $$$.

"Roger Blake" > wrote in message
. org...
> On 2009-10-19, Joe's Newsgroup > wrote:
>> I have to buy a used car for my daughter, I am an acomplished backyard =
>> mechanic, but I do not want to do a lot of repairs besides brakes etc..
>
> Chevy II 4-cylinder. Reliable and simple as an anvil.

The Chevy II in later years used what came to be known as the Iron Duke.
Some runs of that engine were a disaster, most of them cracking at the
water jacket above the lifter floor. This was in the 80's.

A 60's era engine was similar in size but a different engine. (Stovebolt.)

Back to the OP, I would find a good Toyota or Honda, but research the
year model. Some of these had problems, some were bulletproof. That
is why I asked what his limits were on year models.