It's for my wife since she recently got her driver license. Here are the specs we are looking for in a car:

- Has to be small to medium-sized sedan, 4-door.
- Automatic transmission.
- Does not have to have leather seats.
- Has to be comfortable, reliable and easy to maintain.
- Number of miles is not an issue since she will use it for a 5-mile commute to work daily
- Model year b/w late 90s and 2001.
- Budget = $4,000 max.

Any ideas?

 

The $4000 takes a lot of potential candidates out of the mix. I would start by looking at the Honda Civic or Accord.

 

Easy - Corolla.

Any year, any model - they are all very reliable, even high mileage ones are fine, and should be easy to find a great one within your $4000 budget.

 

No. Accords, with their low depreciation as used cars, would cost too much for his stated $4000 budget. They probably could not find a decent one in that price range in the late 90's-2001 vintage they want.
Civics?.....maybe, but even then $4000 would be stretching it to find a good specimen. And he also mentioned comfort....the Civic is not particularly comfortable-riding compared to some of its rivals, and does not have much in the way of suspension travel, even the newer ones with McPherson struts....it is generally set up for steering response. Hondas are almost bulletproof if well-cared for and serviced, but are unforgiving of service negligence...their service history needs to be documented.

The Corolla would be a better choice...especially the lower-priced entry-level CE version ( or the almost identical Chevy / Geo Prizm, which is the same car with different trim ) It rides a little more comfortably than the Civic, though its handling is more sluggish.....probably not a big factor with your wife.You stand a better chance of finding a Prizm in the price range you want, as it was never as popular as the Corolla and generally depreciated more.....but Prizms are not as plentiful on the used car market as Corollas, either.

If rock-bottom price is the main objective ( as you seem to indicate ) you may also want to try and find a used Suzuki Esteem ( no longer sold in the American market ). This small 4-door sedan is roughly the size of the Civic / Corolla, has been fairly reliable, is OK as a daily driver but is not engineered quite as well as those two, and has had very high depreciation due to unpopularity and the fact that the general public was never really aware of this car's existance.

The Hyundai Accent, of course, is the prennenial value-leader in this segment, is inexpensive both new and used, has a 10-year drivetrain warranty so many of them would still be covered, and would probably meet you and your wife's minimum requirements for a daily driver or commuter car. Hyundai's quality has skyrocketed in the last several years.....but I would avoid the pre-2000 ones or so.

Good luck.

 

Infiniti G20

 

Great small car, but for $4000? No, I don't think so....at least not in the late 90's-2001 vintage they want.

 

same here, with low budget, going toyota is the way to go

 

Look for a subaru

 

Corolla doug

We have/had 5 (from a 1990 model to the 99 model) in the family and those thing won't break

$4000 can get you a 95-99 I'm guessing. I love the 95-? years. Comfortable and good size.
I don't like the '99 version-seemed like it got smaller

 

Damn, we just sold our Maxima for 3800, it was a 96 and met all the requirements.... o well GL with a find.

 

You can scoop up a 1994-1997 es for around 4,000. It might not be showroom floor material, but would be something fun to work on to clean up.

 

the problem is the condition of the es would be rather beat up in most cases, and usually with very high mileage

 

Almost ANY Lexus for $4000 in my opinon would be suspect.

 

been there, done that. you look at close to 200k miles easy

 

Thanks for the tips and advice everyone I think we may be looking into a mid-to-late 90s Corolla. One of my family friends who works in the dealer auction business gave me some good feedback on those particular Corolla models. Plus, the fact that it is a Toyota is a key selling point IMO I was thinking about a used '92-'94 Lexus ES300, but the age and amount of wear and tear bothered me a bit, and like Henry said, it may be extremely difficult to find one in our budget.

In the meantime, it's time for us to hit the local classified ads in the papers..