Civicnoobie

Im looking for a beater car to use out in really dirty, gravel road environments and tired of cleaning my 2011 Accord every day. I'm out there everyday so in summers its a major PITA when I have to wipe down the entire front end of the car of dead bugs. So I want to get a cheap car that i can just drive out there, keep the dead bugs on the front end and not have to wipe down every day.

I found a couple civics online for sale.

One is a 96 and has 237km but the owner said he doesnt think the timing belt has been done on it.

Another is a 98 and has 353km on it but the owner said the timing belt is still original.

My question is, would you buy a 6th gen with this high milage? And the original timing belt?

They say that the belt has no cracks and runs good. But its for piece of mind from my standpoint. I dont want to have the belt go then im stranded.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Yes, but I would replace it immediately. Unless someone can show you a service record with a parts list I would just replace it to be sure. This can be negotiated into the price.

Civicnoobie

Thanks i think im going to go with a 2002 Ford taurus wagon with a timing chain on it. 223k km and $700.

I found a chevy trailblazer with 1.7M kms on it lol. Original engine.

ezone

It needs a transmission.
Holy. Cow.

Civicnoobie

Thats what im thinking. I went to see the car tonight and a brief drive around the block (we couldnt take it on the highway cause no plate). It seemed okay but im guessing there is a huge repair under that hood that the seller wasnt disclosing to me.

It was a bit fishy and didnt add up. He bought the car in Sept 2015, so 7 months ago, ended up having to drop about 3K into it on repairs and is already selling it cause he bought a new car. If the car ran as good as he said, theres no way he would sell it for peanuts ($700). You would think he would want to get some of his money back.

My guess is the tranny is going. The last thing I need is to be stuck with a 1K repair on a car I paid $700 for. So im going to pass on it.

Right now, I have my eye on this civic.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

THoughts? The seller said it is the original timing belt and wont go lower than $950cdn. So factor in the timing belt job and thats easily $600-700cdn, making that car $1600-1700cdn to get on the road. Not sure if a 98 civic with 230k is worth that kind of money. Thats a bit over my budget, im still hoping to find a car for under 1K without any major repairs. Am I being too unrealistic here? Timing belt is something that i find very very few car owners do on their older cars and that could be a big reason why a lot of them dump their cars for cheap. Cause they dont want to be bothered with major repairs like suspension work, timing belt, seals, water pump etc.

Like I said, whatever car im going to get im going to trash. Not as in not maintaining it, but not washing it, leaving dead bugs on the front end of it, not vacuuming the inside at all etc. It will be a grunt car that will get dirty.

Haha ya I couldnt believe it. But would you buy a car with 1.7M km on it? Im not sure i would cause it could go out anytime now.

The engine is original but the tranny was replaced at 130,000km. So that means the current tranny has over 1M km on it.

ezone

Old cars tend to need a lot of regular help.

If you want an older car, you need to be ready to do some fixing.
If you want an older car to be cheap to keep, you need to do an awful lot of DIY.

Civicnoobie

Thanks. But arent these 6th gen civics built like tanks? I know the trannies on them are pretty much bullet proof and the suspension is a double wishbone so theyre better than the 7th gens and the engines should run forever.

As long as their are no leaks, the bushings are still good, struts are still good, I should be ok. Obviously im not expecting the same ride comfort as my 2011 accord, but im not caring for it. As long as it runs for at least a few years and i can for the most part just stick with regular maintenance - oil changes, perhaps a coolant flush once I get the car, ATF change and brake flush (depending on the colour), and ill be happy.

ezone

Right then....Ignore the timing belt.

Civicnoobie

No what I mean was, with good maintenance and oil changes, the engines on the 6th gens should easily last 500,000km.

I have to say this one is tempting.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

EdGasket

The trannies are not bullet proof, they can have input shaft bearing issue; known problem. Listen for bearing noise when the clutch is let up or it is in neutral and idling. Some people reckon the bearings are made of chocolate; might only be ther manual boxes we have in the UK though.

ezone

Over here they are made of Pine.