My cousin is about to get her license and i've been asked to hunt down a clean, cheap, automatic, & reliable car. Preferably in the $3-7k range.
Anyone know of any local deals out there? If the forums come up with nothing my best guess is to check up on CarMax.

Cars i'd be looking for to give you an idea:
Toyota Corolla
Honda Civic
etc

:wave Anthony

2.0 VW Mk3/4 (95-03) Golf or jetta, just make sure it's a stick. Civic is a good choice too though. IMO.

My first car is this 328, and it's perfect for me in every way. Get her to give her name to dealerships with the car of her choice and they will call her if they get a good tradein.

2.0 VW Mk3/4 (95-03) Golf or jetta, just make sure it's a stick. Civic is a good choice too though. IMO.

Yeah my 2.0 golf is a great car! Practical, good on gas, and very reliable. It is a 5 speed also, for the 2.0 motor it is an 8v single cam so I would say dont go auto.

i say '02 m5

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=782836

the car is around you too i believe

Damn...forgot to mention that it's gotta be an automatic :az
So that pretty much makes all those posts useless ahhaha.
I was actually hoping for an older [late 80's-early 90's] VW though. Thanks for reaffirming that one.

Looking to spend $3-7k hopefully

check out vw vortex classifieds, there are always one for sale somewhere in the mid atlantic.

check out vw vortex classifieds, there are always one for sale somewhere in the mid atlantic.

+1

VW Autos are like BMW auto's though .... although some are blessed and others cursed they are basically a 'replace' item at ~100k+

No better time to learn a stick!

Mk2 Golf's/jettas are awesome cars but they have their querks and nice ones and parts are getting harder to find.

Mk3's are still fairly good as are the newer one's.

My sister has a 99 Jetta Wolfsburg and it is a POS. There's always something different wrong with it each month.

For a first car, a Corolla/Prizm, Sentra, Civic, etc. is perfect. Japanese econocars are cheap and plentiful. Parts for them are 1/4 the price of Jettas/golfs. However, insurance rates on Civics are higher.

i'd look for a civic, camry, celica, accord, corolla, Chevy Prizm (note the Z, it's a rebadged corolla, even has the toyota badged engine in it). You can find them with reasonable miles in your price range, and most will last into the 200k + mile range. Those would all be good first/college year cars, with good milage, fairly indestructable engine/drivetrain.

The only thing bad about picking up a really old car, most likely things are gonna start breaking one after another, pick up an old honda, those are easy to repair your self, and not too expensive by a shop either.

Get a Toyota. Cheap insurance and last forever. Only major problem with any of the engines is that the timing belt needs changed. They run forever.