Lorie&Paul

My wife needs to buy a new car & as Im still awaiting my visa clearance back in the UK, Im trying to advise her best I can by using this website.....

http://www.carsurvey.org/

However, she has two cars in mind, one is a Plymouth Breeze (from what I can make out is a Chrysler Neon) & the other is a Pontiac Sunfire.
Both have considerable mileage & my view is that she may end up paying out a great deal more on repairs if she goes ahead & buys.
So, is there anyone out there with any advice on these models & for that matter any decent advice on what might be a decent reliable family car for her to buy?
Thanks for all your comments in advance!
Paul (UK).

Englishmum

Try this site:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com

frrussre

Personally, I think both cars are junk. If they have high milage, run for your life. American cars are only worth buying if they have all or at least a major part of the original warranty left. After market warranties are "Bad News", usually.

If your buying a high milage used car, your better off with Honda, Toyota, Nissan or VW. Lots of other makes, but more expensive.
Reg. Frank R.

This may help, in checking for crashes & major damage etc.


http://www.carfax.com/

Florida_03

The Plymouth Breeze is the low cost version of a trio of cars from the Chrysler group. The next up is the Dodge Stratus, and the up market version was the Chrysler Cirrus. It is not the Neon which is smeeler than this model. All share the same platform and engines. There have been reports of head gasket problems with the 2.4 liter 4 but that was with the first models and I think it has been fixed with a new design head gasket. Most would have been fixed by now.

You may find the choice greater if you include all models from this range. The Breeze however appears to a decent car.

Gripper

Remember to haggle on the price too. The car i bought started out at $6500 for the car, 1yr warranty, tax and tags. I finally got the same deal for $5400 after haggling the price down in the showroom by saying it wasnt worth the money, waiting a day and offering $5000. The dealer said "next time you buy a car from me, let me make some profit" .
I'm now driving a low mileage lovely condition Dogde Avenger. Its fine for my first car here.. after all they do drive on the wrong side of the road teehee

Wol

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lorie&Paul
My wife needs to buy a new car & as Im still awaiting my visa clearance back in the UK, Im trying to advise her best I can by using this website.....

Try a Saturn or Honda - both are cars for the individualist. I have Hondas in the UK, which run for ever - and a Saturn in the US which has done 10 years and looks like almost new.

Lorie&Paul

Thanks for all the comments folks, I do keep checking in to see what advice has been offered, much appreciated!

Taffyles

I agree about the Hondas...they run for ever if you keep up with the oil changes and maintenance. We just bought one for our daughter as she has to drive a long way to work...I know people who have 150,000 plus mileage on theirs and still running well. Most American cars are shot after you get up over the 80,000 mark. Also haggling prices...never just pay the asking price, always try and knock them down.

Lorie&Paul

Thanks again for comments.
Hopefully,our I-129F K3 is about ready & I should be returning to the US soon.
Will heed all the comments so far & any more that may be passed on.
I will then be looking for buying something for myself a bit more rough & tough as we are living out in the boon-docks.
I would love to get my hands on an old SWB military Land Rover if anyone knows anything .

lairdside

Landrover Defenders are expensive here as they are not a standard import into North America. I know someone who collects the older predecessors of this vehicle and they also seem to be disproportiately expensive, don't know about parts availability and cost either. I could ask them if you're set on one though. They service the vehicles themselves as a hobby.
Perhaps you'd consider a Toyota FJ40 as an alternative ? More reasonable here and in a similar gendre.

Here's what they look like :-

http://www.motorcities.com/contents/00GUD083882384.html

Lorie&Paul

>>>>> heard that Land Rovers are expensive out there,I really only want an old ex-forces jeep, I used to be in the RAF & have driven Land Rovers so know they just go on & on forever & being as I'll be living out in the woods on a dirt track, I thought it would be ideal!
Something along that genre for me though....cheap & reliable that I dont mind getting dirty!
The wife will have the car & I will bear in mindwhat everyone has said now, especially about the Honda's.......keep those comments coming though, every little helps! Much appreciated too!

On another note, whats import/export costs like if I found an old jeep here & wanted to import to the US???
I have a friend who is exporting a VW classic from Washington State to UK & the cost of that seems favourable!

lairdside

The Discovery and Freelander are priced reasonably as they are imported by dealerships. It's just the Defender that's disproportiately expensive... I wanted one until I found out how expensive they were.... ended up with an ML320 instead. Will probably buy an FJ40 or something similar to go off road and have fun

Taffyles

How do the Freelanders hold up here, anyone know? I'm coming up to changing my Jimmy soon and have been thinking about a Freelander. So far, I haven't heard any reports about them. I've heard plenty of bad reports about the BMW's here (Break My Wallets). Anyone got a Landrover?

lairdside

I thought BMW stood for 'Bought My Wife"..lol

Taffyles

LoL that's a good one- never heard that one. There's probably lots of variations on the theme BMW. Major complaints here in FL are they don't run like the BMWs in Europe, lost all their oomph with the US regulations, and they spend half the time in for repairs- at a huge cost for foreign parts.