Can you recommend Good used 4-door sedans?

[Darrell999]

Hello again, gentlemen!

I'm looking for a used car. I'm 41, with a wife and 10-year old son, and we need a second family car. Our other car is a 2000 Ford Taurus, which we're really happy with. I'm pretty conservative (hence the "4-door Sedan" ), so I really don't care what the style is, as long as it's Reliable and has fairly low (40k or so) mileage. I've been to some sites like cars.com and Kelly Blue Book, but I'd like to hear what you good people have to say.

I'm looking to spend anywhere from 6k to 10k, but 10k would be tippy-top. 8k would be much better.

I'd like it to be no older than a 2000 (a 2002 would be nice) with no more than 50,000 miles. Cars I'm considering are the Ford Taurus, Ford Focus, Dodge Intrepid, Dodge Stratus, Chevy Malibu, Chevy Impala, Saturn L1, Toyota Camry, Mazda 626, Buick Century, Buick LeSabre, Crysler Concorde, Oldsmobile Intrigue, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Altima, and Honda Accord, among others. The last two are probably too expensive, I don't know. I also joked to my wife about getting a VW New Beetle (Slug Bug!), but I think that's a bit too tiny.

I'd love to get a mini-SUV like the Ford Escape or Chevy Tracker, but I think those are out of my $ range.

Do any of you have good/bad experiences with any of these cars, or any advice about them?

I'm also open to advice on how to deal with used car salesmen.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

[Austin]

Instead of a dealer you may be able to find someone with a used 2001 or so Hyundai Sonata in your price range. Seeing as they were selling new with 10year/100000mile warranties there is a good chance you will find one with plenty of warranty left on it. (I think the bumper - bumper was 60000 and the power train was 100000 miles)

You will get a better deal from a private seller and if there is enough existing warranty than you have the added security of that. I'll think some more on it and I am sure much plenty more good advice will pass through here.

Edit to add link. http://www.autotrader.com

[Ranulf]

Those Sonatas aren't too shabby for a standard sedan. I had a rental for a week recently and while not uber powerful they ride nice.

[em2nought]

First generation Intrepid rack and pinion bushings all go bad and expensive to get replaced(the originals are pressed into the rack), not sure about second generation. The steering becomes awful and tires wear quickly if you don't fix it right away. Concorde might be the same way. The inner tie rod bushings aren't that great either.

If you're handy and a contortionist then its relatively cheap to fix. http://www.dodgeintrepid.net The 3.3 Liter is supposedly pretty reliable.

I'd rather buy a Dodge Caravan, but I'd wait to get the new model year used with seats that don't have to get stored in the garage.

[Kschang77]

Got a budget for a Ford Contour SVT? 4-door sedan, except this has been called "poor man's BMW M3"... Only available with 5-speed manual... and 2.5L V6 giving 200+ HP

[Chesspieceface]

Those Sonatas aren't too shabby for a standard sedan. I had a rental for a week recently and while not uber powerful they ride nice.

I would love to see the look on a car salesman's face when you decline to purchse because the vehicle is not 'uber powerful'.

[Austin]

Yeah, reliability is not Chrysler/Dodge's strong point. Especially in that date range. I heard it said that Chryslers are as good as any car out there for the first 60,000 miles.

I had an Intrepid before my Hyundai XG300. I guess it must have been a '99 as I had it 2 years. At about 30,000 miles it stranded me on I-95 North, exit 2 in CT... just a about 1/2 way between home and NYC. They couldn't really figure it out as the problem just kinda' went away.

Did the same thing to my boss and I on the Merret a month later.

Finally they called it vapor lock (:?: on a '99 ) and fixed something.

Than of course at 82,000 miles the tranny went poof and stranded me out on Long Island.

You can tell I am soured on Dodges.

[Freezer-TPF-]

I hear the Hyundais overclock pretty well, so YMMV.

For basic 4-door transport, I would stick with Honda or Toyota. Hard to go wrong there.

[Austin]

I hear the Hyundais overclock pretty well, so YMMV.

For basic 4-door transport, I would stick with Honda or Toyota. Hard to go wrong there.

They are pretty close though.