WTB: cheap beater with AC

[goofygrin]

My sister in law needs a cheap beater. Must have AC. She prefers auto, but I prefer her to have a stick so I'll teacher her, but I don't care either way.

$2000 max

Miata, Civic, small truck, etc.

Whatchagot?

[CosmosMpower]

www.craigslist.org

[goofygrin]

Thanks, I never would have thought to look there.

I'd prefer something that might not leave her stranded while she's going back and forth to her clinicals in BFE Oklahoma. Off CL I'm playing a bit more russian roulette than on here where someone might be able to vouch for the maintenance on the vehicle.

[CosmosMpower]

True, they might as well rename CL to www.buyash*tboxcar.org

[2zzmr2]

This one looks fun
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2526885066.html
No idea how reliable it is.

[miata_racer]

well it's a BP mazda 1.8L so the engine will be great :) get it!!!!

[goofygrin]

Seriously are those any good? I can't ever remember hearing a statement with "escort" and "good car" in a sentence without some negative (ie. "an escort is not a good car")

[Rob®]

I had a '92 Escort 1.9l 4-door for a few years as my beater/daily driver. I bought it from my uncle with 170k miles, sold it to a friend with 250k miles. Original motor, I only had to put a clutch in it once about a month after I got it. Last I heard it was still kicking (about 3 years ago, which is about 5 years after I sold it). I put NO money into the thing, besides a set of Toyos that were still going strong when I sold it. When the exhaust rusted out, I used parts of exhaust piping from our scrap pile at the shop I worked at to weld something up. It went from the stock piping to 2.5" piping, to 3" piping, back to stock pipe...anything that needed to be fixed was done as ghetto as possible, which soon became it's claim to fame. But it never left me stranded - even when the rear wheel cylinders went out at the same time, the car was "drivable" enough for me to drive in stop and go traffic for a few hours to get back home.

I used to go full speed into snow banks so we could climb on the roof and use it as a roll-in for doing handrails with our snowboards. I would routinely bounce off the rev limiter. Just about every time I would make the trip from NJ to Syracuse, NY I would pin the speedo (not like that's fast at all). Oil change about every 10k using the cheap bulk oil in the tank at the shop (Quaker State piss oil). Anything that you should not do to a car, let alone an ecnobox, I did, and it never once waved a white flag.

BUT...I've also had to put motors in other Escorts with only 77k miles. They are also known for the rear springs breaking fairly soon. But buy replacements from Napa and never deal with it again. Luckily you don't even need a spring compressor to change them - the shocks are easy enough to push down by hand when putting everything together. Makes it a nice 20 minute job.

[jeepinbanditrider]

Grew up in an Escort as a kiddo. Family put 300k miles on that car my dad doing it 100 miles a day at a time when going back and forth to work. Never failed us :) They are solid little cars. My mom has my grandpa's late model Escort right now. He has no idea how to do maintenance no telling what his oil change intervals were if any, had to replace the radiator because it was full of mud basically because it was never changed or maintained properly the cars been overheated severly by him and it still runs just fine.

Had a Focus ZX-5 and other than it not being the SVT model I loved it :)

IMO the Escort gets a bad rap becuase of the type of folks who buy them not becuase they are bad cars. The 2-valve SPI engines were known for dropping valve seats if you ran them hard but there's not a whole lot of them out there. And the Escort that was my Grandpa's is a SPI it's been abused and still runs pretty good also.

The GT Escort is a pretty neat little car.

1991–1996 1.8 L (1,839 cc) Mazda BP I4, 127 hp (95 kW) 114 ft·lbf (155 N·m) LX-E and GT 3-Door Hatchback – 2355 lbs (1068 kg)the GT was the North American equivalent of the European XR3i version. Like its European counterpart, it was a three-door hatchback only, but whereas the European car had a 1.8 L Ford engine, the North American market got a 1.8 L Mazda engine.

[Rob®]

The GT Escort is a pretty neat little car.

Yeah, a few of my friends back when I had mine had the GTs and some boosted them. Quick little bastards. But I could never take mine seriously enough to not completely rag on it. It became a goal, if you will, to see how long it would take to kill mine. It just never happened.

If I needed a dirt-cheap beater right now, I would sooner get another Escort than a Civic. Mainly because the Fords are cheaper and nobody wants to steal them. They are probably one of the ugliest cars out there, but that's the point of a true beater.

[CosmosMpower]

B13 Sentra SE-R.

[goofygrin]

Too bad the one in question is a slushbox. Sounds like an Escort might work.

Cosmos, I'm guessing an SE-R isn't going to be in the "dirt cheap" price range...

[jrj512]

I think that Escort is actually a pretty good idea, assuming a test drive does not turn up anything.

[cone-cerned]

I agree with Josh about the bad rap the Escorts get. I have owned several and have two ZX2's right now. They are solid basic transportation, inexpensive, easy to work on. I think they are a great bang for the buck, if maintained properly.

[jeepinbanditrider]

I almost bought a Red ZX2 as my first car. It was a fun little car :)

[CosmosMpower]

Too bad the one in question is a slushbox. Sounds like an Escort might work.

Cosmos, I'm guessing an SE-R isn't going to be in the "dirt cheap" price range...

Not sure what your definition of dirt cheap is but I bought one in college for $1,300 and sold it a year later for the same. It was a 92 with peeling red paint but it ran great and the a/c was cold. 5spd manual, LSD, 140 hp SR20DE motor, great fun.

http://www.sr20forum.com/cars-sale/

Here is a slightly rusty but running 99 SE-L but not local for $900 bucks.

http://www.sr20forum.com/cars-sale/2...24900-obo.html

[Rob®]

Man..that brings back memories. A '96 Sentra GXE was my first (and only) brand new car I ever bought...if that one you linked was remotely close, I'd be very tempted. I completely forgot about Sentras. Even the non-SR20 versions would be a good choice. Not really fun, but I don't see that as a requirement.

I had a '9x G20 with the SR20DE at one point too, and I can say that the motor will take a beating as well. No clue why I can't remember the year I had though...

[OZMDD]

I can vouch for the ZX2 Escort, at least as far as a friend's that I've done the maintenance on for the past 5 years. Solid - if boring- little car. Worth $2k if clean. Keep an eye on the cv boots.

[miata_racer]

the 91-94 escort GT is the same as the 91-94 LX protege. James wilson won an overal pro solo like 2 years back in wendover in one.

they are cool little cars. I've been looking for the right LX protege for years...but no luck...I may get a early escort GT instead someday...that one looks good....too bad i blew all my extra $$$ recently

[2zzmr2]

Dang, all these reviews make me want to find one to beat on in the future, lol. Sorry I didn't catch the auto part, just saw the Escort GT and thought it looked like a fun car to drive in dirt.