My vote would be for a used 60-80k miles Subaru...the Saab of the Japanese brands. Can I say that or is that too similar to one of the dumbest slogans of all time when Miller called itself the champagne of beer? Miller...The Champagne of Beer, jeez.

Anyway, I owned two Subaru wagons while going to school. Both were manuals, one 2wd and the other 4wd ('89 and '91)--old school SUV's. The 2wd would get close to 40 mpg. Both were bullet proof and easy/cheap to fix when something did go wrong. With those cars you got the reliability, economy, and utility of a Japanese car without paying the premium for a more refined Honda or Toyota.

Don't know if they still have it but mine had a nice "Hill Hold" feature (that I disconnected), but while connected it would keep the brakes on until the clutch was fully released, which would be good for a beginning driver learning to drive a manual transmission. One downside is that it was tough finding junk yard parts after I hit a curb and scraped a tree one winter doing reverse donuts in a snowy parking lot, my theory at the time was that people just drove the wheels off of them and they mostly went straight from the road to the crusher at the end of their lives.

I say look for some low mileage Subarus. Subaru, the Swedish of Japanese.



posted by 67.10.240...

• ca for niece ~$ 5k, johnf, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 15:08:32
  • Subaru, Drew in Houston, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:24:06 <-- Viewing This Message
    • Subaru I agree - my daughter's 1st choice, JohnA , Sat, 11 Feb 2006 08:32:53
    • I agree, but..., No Snaab, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:32:34
    • Second that...., 91Aero.jr, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:31:36
  • Re: ca for niece ~$ 5k, FCAero, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 07:39:22
  • older Integra, Dan in NY, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:45:03
    • Re: older Integra, Glenn, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:14:40
  • Since you can't do a Saab, make sure it's, Noel, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:29:57
  • Basic Saturn might work, Nevin, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 04:31:28
  • Best bang for $ 5k, No Snaab, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 17:04:27
    • it's a Chevy Prizm in later years (nm), steve, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 18:35:05
      • Geo/Chevy Prizm...best of both...., Mike Lynch , Sat, 11 Feb 2006 13:11:01
  • Domestics are better values....., Mike Lynch , Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:38:47
  • Toyota Corolla is practically bulletproof........., Gebster, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:09:22
    • Re: Toyota Corolla is practically bulletproof........., jp, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:33:50
      • Yeah you're right but..., Gebster, Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:43:59
  • Get a Diesel Jetta..., Chaz, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 15:50:02
    • Did I mention great mileage too.....n/m, Chaz, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 15:50:49
  • make it $4k, 2garfields, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 15:44:26
    • Re: make it $4k, Tom Young, Thu, 9 Feb 2006 18:11:33

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