Need Advice in buying a 2nd hand Car

**grifter81** · June 29th, 2009 07:24 PM

Hello Guys, I'm new here in this forums. I would like to ask for advice on purchasing a 2nd hand car. My wife and I are looking for our first car. Our budget is around 200K. We only only have basic knowledge on what to look for in a car.

We've looked at some ads and we narrowed our choices to the ff:

96-98 Honda Accord- we particularly like the clean look of this car.
96-98 Toyota Corona- I've read that this is a nice car.
96-98 Nissan Exalta- like the accord, we like the formal look of this.
96-98 Lancer GLXI- is this good?

Or do we need to break the bank and go look for a VTI Honda Civic? This goes around for over 200K.

For city driving lang naman and occasional out of town travel. Our priorities are fuel efficiency, reliability and cheap maintenance.

All comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Wala lang kasi talaga akong alam sa mga kotse eh

. Salamat po ng madami.

**blacksun25** · June 29th, 2009 07:41 PM

kung fuel economy ang priority niyo, then take out the accord and corona, medyo malakas kasi sa gas yan considering the age of the car and the engine displacement.

if budget permits, dagdag ka ng konti to get a car model that's made from year 2000+ up.

from the cars you have mentioned, i'd go for the exalta. be sure to bring a mechanic along when checking the car. good luck.

**1D4LV** · June 29th, 2009 08:05 PM

get the exalta. bagay sa inyo na nag start pa lang....
pros: timing chain....

my second choice would be the lancer... pasok lahat yung criteria mo.

**renzo_d10** · June 29th, 2009 08:15 PM

Upon your choices, personally id pick the honda accord. Why? Because it's just simply elegant, luxurious and incredibly fast. But well, there's always a downside. The honda accord is a gas guzzler it goes around 8km/l i think.

If you could go above 200, then maybe you could get a civic ( SiR for me although it's kinda dangerous buying one, since most of it are being used in drag races. ) if you find the SiR expensive then the Civic VTi is just right.

Here are my rankings upon your given choices.

1. Honda Accord
2. Honda Civic ( SiR or VTi )
3. Toyota Corona
4. Nissan Exalta
5. Lancer

**grifter81** · June 29th, 2009 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by 1D4LV

get the exalta. bagay sa inyo na nag start pa lang....
pros: timing chain....

my second choice would be the lancer... pasok lahat yung criteria mo.

timing chain? Sir, 10-12 km per liter ba ang exalta? Thanks for the advice.

**1D4LV** · June 29th, 2009 08:47 PM

chain, instead of belt.... more durable... but more expensive to maintain...hehehe. perfect for new car owners. exalta MT i think goes for 9-10 kpl at the average. hindi ata kaya yan ng 12 kpl.

to add, the lancer could also be a great fit for you... kaya lang, medyo magkakaissue ka sa suspension. but overall, it is also a nice car.

are you looking at AT or MT?

**grifter81** · June 29th, 2009 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by 1D4LV

chain, instead of belt.... more durable... but more expensive to maintain...hehehe. perfect for new car owners. exalta MT i think goes for 9-10 kpl at the average. hindi ata kaya yan ng 12 kpl.

to add, the lancer could also be a great fit for you... kaya lang, medyo magkakaissue ka sa suspension. but overall, it is also a nice car.

are you looking at AT or MT?

We prefer AT because it's easier to drive. My wife will mostly use it since I work at a home office. She wants something thats easy to drive.

**1D4LV** · June 29th, 2009 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by grifter81

We prefer AT because it's easier to drive. My wife will mostly use it since I work at a home office. She wants something thats easy to drive.

take note that an AT would consume more fuel than the MT counterpart.

my experience: my Lancer MT consumes around 10 kpl, but the Lancer AT of a friend consumes around 8kpl. Same variant.

my current Nissan S3 AT consumes around 8kpl. while the MT counterpart consumes around 9 kpl.

pros AT: really easy to drive.
cons AT: additional maintenance costs (ATF), more expensive to repair. medyo mahina hatak compared to MT specially during overtaking.

pros MT: requires less maintenance. I just change my transmission oil every 2 years. sarap mag drive specially on highway driving.
cons MT: ngawit ang paa mo pag traffic.

**renzo_d10** · June 29th, 2009 09:02 PM

So mostly pala lady driven ito.

Why not a 2nd hand suzuki alto? Meron bang ganun na A/T? hehe. Perfect for a lady driver ang mga sub-compacts diba? Eh...hanap ka na lang. hehe

**1D4LV** · June 29th, 2009 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by renzo_d10

So mostly pala lady driven ito.

Why not a 2nd hand suzuki alto? Meron bang ganun na A/T? hehe. Perfect for a lady driver ang mga sub-compacts diba? Eh...hanap ka na lang. hehe

wala atang AT na alto... what i am thinking is a honda city na 1998-2000 model, but i doubt you can get this at 200k.

another good option is a hyundai getz na at.... pero again, wala atang 200k neto.

another good choice would be the corolla big body na AT. i think you can get something at 160k-180k.