Looking for a beater.....ideas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Heldenzeit
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Heldenzeit

Heldenzeit

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Houston, TX
Been a long time since I've posted on here.....as some of you may remember I own a 93 Corvette. After 40,000 miles of ownership I'm getting a little tired of this car. It rattles, and just isn't very solid.

So my idea, with the forum's help, is to sell the Vette and with that money, buy a beater car to drive to work and a project car to have some fun with.

Ideas? The Vette is worth about 10k, so that would be my maximum budget.

Thanks.:)
 
My first instinct was to get a Civic as a beater and try and find an older 'Vette that's looking for restoration, but in all honesty I'm not too clued up on the value of old 'Vettes, even basket cases. So if you're still looking for a nice V8, how about sticking with Chevys and getting yourself a Camaro to work on, and still a Civic as something you can use and abuse.
 
Unfortunately the cheapest Vettes are early C4's from 84-on. Anything older is above 10k. Smog laws here make it tough too.....:crazy:
 
I've been drawn to old Volvo 240s lately. Their longevity is universally recognized. I want one.
 
Keef
I've been drawn to old Volvo 240s lately. Their longevity is universally recognized. I want one.
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240s are the perfect beater car, they're cheap, parts are plentiful and they can be moderately quick when turbocharged.

If that isn't your thing maybe a late 80s sentra, civic or maybe a 1st gen DSM
 
TS
If that isn't your thing maybe a late 80s sentra
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This is what I'd be looking for too. B13 Sentras are decent cars, cheap to maintain & pretty balanced cars that can be fun without having to be driving 10/10. Hell, you can even pick up a pair, one for the road, one to tinker with. They make good autocross cars.
 
For a beater I'd prefer a 4 door car for cheapest insurance. I'll put the Volvo 240 on my shortlist. The Sentra doesn't interest me in the slightest.

Jaguar XJ-S as a fun car to tinker with? I do have some experience with these cars.
 
exigeracer
This is what I'd be looking for too. B13 Sentras are decent cars, cheap to maintain & pretty balanced cars that can be fun without having to be driving 10/10. Hell, you can even pick up a pair, one for the road, one to tinker with. They make good autocross cars.
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If you're looking at that, look at this, too...

1990-92-Geo-Prizm-92125021990116.jpg


First-Gen Prizm. Corolla good. Cheap badge.

Edit: NO! a Jaguar will give you many, many headaches getting it to move when you want it to. ESPECIALLY if you get the V12.
 
Regarding an XJ-S to tinker with...

Don't. :p It's a Jaaaaaaaag, you'll be doing more "tinkering" than you plan to.

As for a beater... P71 Crown Vic? Not exactly a "beater" but a good daily that won't die.
 
Hmm...I like the idea of the Crown Vic.

The "fun" car will be just a weekend car, and I don't mind working on it. As I said, I do have experience on 80's and 90's Jags having worked at a Jag service shop.

BMW 740s seem to be going for good prices....
 
exigeracer
This is what I'd be looking for too. B13 Sentras are decent cars, cheap to maintain & pretty balanced cars that can be fun without having to be driving 10/10. Hell, you can even pick up a pair, one for the road, one to tinker with. They make good autocross cars.
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For $10,000, you can buy four SE-Rs.. or more if you don't mind driving around a rust-pile. Only issue is, I don't think the SE-Rs were ever Cali-legal.
 
B13 SE-R. Solid car, lots of options, relatively cheap. The Geo Prism GSi or what not had a 4A-GE but I am a bit irritated with the 4A series engine.

For 10 grand you could easily pick up an E36 M3. Fairly easy to work on, relatively large availability of parts (just think about how many E36s you see on the road), solid interior, good looking, performing, and refined.
 
Good luck finding an SE-R without rust. Absolutely fantastic little cars, though, if you can get one. Engine goes on forever. Lots of tuning options for the suspension. Make great toys if you're into track work or autocrossing (though later cars will be faster, despite being slower in a straight-line and having that cruddy rear torsion beam instead of the B13's multi-link)

Besides the rust, check out the gearbox carefully. Older SR20s are notorious for chewing up third gear. The engine is relatively bulletproof, and decently cared-for 100-200k mile engines still make stock or near stock power on the dyno.
 
NissanSkylineN1
A Hyundai Accent 2002+. Awesome car.my parents have one...nice speakers :).
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I've been in one of those. Please don't take offense to this, but I'd hardly call it a car. My 94 Tercel felt more solid and was faster and smoother. And rattled less despite being in two accidents at that point.

As for speakers... those are rather trivial and easy to upgrade.

Unless your whole post was sarcasm.

On the 7 series, they do tend to have more lose ends and naggles to go wrong, plus the V8s had the Nikasil issues if I recall correctly.
 
A good cheap beater? First gen Dodge Neon, it's a beater after all it's just to get you around until you can get your fun car up and running. A Ford Ranger or Chevy S-10 wouldn't be bad either, especially with a project car because you'll be able to throw parts in the bed with ease.

I'm not good with project cars so I'd listen to the other guys here with more experience.
 
Sorry, Sentra's and Geo's don't appeal to me at all.:lol:

An E36 would be cool, but how's insurance?

I've been looking at 944's, and that's what I'm interested in as far as project cars go. Smaller, rear drive sports cars. I am coming from a Corvette after all.

As for a beater I don't want anything too small. Having 4 doors is a plus.

90's Lexus LS's seem to be a good deal as do SC300's (with a 5 speed of course).
 
Get a Lincoln Mark VIII.



Mod motor, near 300 hp... big, rear wheel drive... nice and safe... terrible tire longevity...
 
Heldenzeit
Sorry, Sentra's and Geo's don't appeal to me at all.:lol:

An E36 would be cool, but how's insurance?

I've been looking at 944's, and that's what I'm interested in as far as project cars go. Smaller, rear drive sports cars. I am coming from a Corvette after all.

As for a beater I don't want anything too small. Having 4 doors is a plus.

90's Lexus LS's seem to be a good deal as do SC300's (with a 5 speed of course).
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The Sentra would surprise you I'd think, at least the SE-R.

The LS400's are like tanks, that V8 is insanely reliable. SC300's have potential since they use the 2JZ-GE, which means you are a motor swap or turbo away from having Supra power levels.

My E36 M3 for liability only is pretty much the exact same as my Integra. I'd imagine over all, cheaper than the Vette since they have a back seat and a 4 door option, etc.
 
niky
Get a Lincoln Mark VIII.



Mod motor, near 300 hp... big, rear wheel drive... nice and safe... terrible tire longevity...
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Those are awesome cars! Mark VII's are nice too.

The Mark VIII has the motor as the Mustang Cobra. Meaning every aftermarket motor part for a mustang, works on there
 
KE70. Best car in the ****ing world :cool:
Especially if you're after a beater that'll never let you down (the low oil pressure light came and stayed on for seconds at a time, several times today, car keeps running..) that can turn into a project coming out as a fun sunday driver.
 
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Heldenzeit
I've been looking at 944's, and that's what I'm interested in as far as project cars go. Smaller, rear drive sports cars. I am coming from a Corvette after all.
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The 924/944/968 all suffer from the same problem: Low entry price, rather high maintenance costs. I actually found a rather cheap 944 for sale around here a few weeks back, just over $4000 with just shy of 100K miles on the clock. A seemingly great value until you look into how much simple, commonly-replaced parts cost. You probably could toss a 928 in there, just for the hell of it, and seeing as how they made so many for so long, late-model cars are pretty reliable. Buuut, just like the others, when things go wrong, you're going to have to mortgage the house.


The older Mazdaspeed Protoge should be pretty cheap these days. I understand that they were a hell of a lot of fun to drive, and presumably, were fairly bulletproof. I still see a few unmolested cars around here, so you would be getting something both unique and rather rare.
 
This whole idea of a budget of 10 grand for a "beater" still makes me laugh a bit though. My beater is a $900 Integra that disintegrates around me when I drive it.

Beater in my mind = car you could light on fire in a ditch and not really care about it.
 
eiriksmil
KE70. Best car in the ****ing world :cool:
Especially if you're after a beater that'll never let you down (the low oil pressure light came and stayed on for seconds at a time, several times today, car keeps running..) that can turn into a project coming out as a fun sunday driver.
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Gods, man, put some oil in it!
 
Well, not quite a beater i guess haha. With the 10k I am buying 2 cars, not just a beater. More like a daily driver i guess.

The Lincoln was on my short list.:trouble:

Excuse my ignorance, but whats a KE70?
 
A Toyota Starlet. Rear wheel drive, ultra-short wheelbase. Easiest car to do 720 degree turns in... whether you're trying to or not... :lol: ...but seriously, if you like autocrossing, it's a fun little car, and a whole bunch of later Toyota engines fit in the engine bay.

I think you just might find an MSP at that budget. Good spec as stock, turbocharger, limited slip differential (which, if you don't like FWD, will go some way to changing your mind), uprated suspension. Only downsides are the stock LSD can go if you're brutal with it... but since it's only about $600 for a replacement LSD that's been strengthened (I have one in my non-turbo car), that's not a big deal. Simple mods get you about 220-250 hp.

But if you're after mad turbocharged fun, a Dodge Neon SRT4 is a better bet. (already 250-ish, stock... they were under-rated) Just don't ask about reliability...

...because I don't have a clue. :lol:
 

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