i see lots of opinions in this thread, and this is mine....one can go overboard on checking things and its easy to tell if a dealer made it pretty just for a sale. if one is really cautious they will take it to a shop for a used car check that costs about 50 bucks and they will check everything in just a few minutes...check carfax and it will tell you what has been done to the car. look at the tires, uneven wear tells alot. look underneath for new parts or leaks, look under the hood especially where engine cleaners dont reach for splattered water or oil, make sure everything works like all the lights and ***** and switches.as far as rebuilt engines go, i wouldnt worry, take it for a good drive and be hard on it. if it doesnt smoke, the steering doesnt pull to one side or the other when running or breaking,runs well, feels tight without rattles and shakesand feels good, then id be happy with that.

 

Just go buy a Smart Fourtwo and get it over with. They are really small and wimpy as hell but they get 80mpg!

 

i dont got that much money

 

No, they're really wimpy and only get 32 MPG. And cost over 15 large too. One of the biggest modern blunders of the automotive industry, in my humble opinion.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...oupe_road_test

 

Just out of curiosity...what college exactly are you going to? Might want to brush up on your grammar before you take your first Lit course...

You're getting good advice you're not buying into...swapping engines, junkyard parts...Cavaliers with headers...you are headed for a bonafide MONEY PIT. I don't know if you're afraid of looking lame or what, but the Fast and the Furious fad has long since burned out. Just buy something you won't have to worry about...just try to get good grades and chase chicks instead.

 

milford nebraska theres an automotive school there


and for your information i didnt meen to put an s on the end of hearder it just sliped my bad

 

Good advice

Even when the fast and the furious look was "the thing" people still were lame. Where I'm at after that movie came out I started noticing things like "car clubs" pop up where they would just sit around with their stupid ricers and try to act cool. The sad thing is, NONE of them had anything worth a **** on their cars. All they had were wings and body kits and of course, a fart can muffler.

Also, where I live there is a very well known dragstrip (Norwalk Raceway Park, now summit motorsports park) and the ricers basically took over everything and ruined it. What used to be a fun competition where you could see alot of really nice, really fast cars... turned into a hangout for local douchebags with cars running in the 16-17+ range. They basically ruined it for people who used to compete there regularly because things like vandalism and break ins started happening.

I'm not saying my truck is fast being in the 16 second range. But when I can outrun some 18 year old kid in a honda civic his mommy bought him, it really makes me feel good inside to know that my truck is faster and more capable than any econo-****box out there. I rarely ever go out to the track, usually only to test out my times after I do a major mod... its still fun though.

 

"and for your information i didnt meen to put an s on the end of hearder it just sliped my bad"


Hahaha...I mean...dude. I'm not trying to be a jerkoff, but believe me...good writing, even in an automotive or tech school, is worth as much as anything.

It's ultimately personal preference, but a clean, well maintained, cared for car that you'd trust for a 1000 mile trip gets alot more respect from me than some noisy, flashy, cobbed together quasi-racer. Look at all the cars out there with bad tires, pouring blue smoke, with spintered ground effect kits, dragging their exhausts on the ground. Go to school and do well, you'll have plenty of time, and eventually the skills and cash, to put something together that will really turn heads and smoke fools at the track. Buy a nice reliable car, get a Haynes manual, and learn it in and out, every circuit, hose and linkage, and you'll be able to apply that to the real beast you'll have in your garage some day. Worse comes to worst, you'll get more of your investment back when you sell it.

 

Actually I have read the Smart is supposed to get 41mpg on the highway I had it mixed up with a rumor I had read that they were going to put a diesel in a smart and it would get approximately 70-80 miles per gallon. I was being sarcastic anyways, 14k for a car you can't do anything but go from point a to point b with? Yeah right, maybe in London where the streets are narrow and something like a smart would be sensible. No way are you catching this C/O going to work on the interstate in tiny *** car like that!

You might consider something like a civic which is relatively cheap, theres a million of them around, a huge aftermarket of parts for them.

 

i like tghe idea of tha grand am that i used to own...i found an engine for 600 and the kid im buying the car from is goin to sell it to me for 600 and i can rebuild the trans for under 200 and that car is reliable and easy to work on