i dunno about the newer caddys, but the early 90s caddys were a big pita, when they break down it takes forever to fix them....

ive heard some bad things about some of the stangs, i dont know if it applys to the one ur looking at..

mitsubishis are the worst cars ever, dont buy one.....

ur best 2 choices are probly the nissan altima, or the honda accord....

Altima.

Altima would be nice...except it'* pretty hard to find one for less than 10g'*...and that is the 2.5. It will be even harder to find a 3.5 for less than 10g'*...unless it has a TON of miles on it. I am going to a dealership down south of me (Rockwell-Simmons, for those CNY guys). They have VERY low mile cars at below blue book prices. I will hope to find a decent car there.

At a dealer today there was a young guy with a 98 Eclipse Spyder convertible with a for sale sign on it. I was looking at the used cars when he walked up and asked me if I wanted to buy it. It has 30,800 miles on it, nice shape....but he was asking 12,000, which is $3500 above bb value. He does have rims and a system in it, but I wouldn't want them....the rims are heavy as heck, he let me test drive it. If it was $8000 I may have taken him up on the offer.

I saw a 3000gt for sale for $6900 too...not sure if I want it though.

If engine reliability is not an issue with the Catera I may go with it if I can talk them down a few hundred. I don't mind if it'* heavy, as long as it is in good shape. It is heavy, but I wont be racing it, it has to last me with little or no major money put into it for maintenance. The interior isn't too bad either. I just wish the 2000 Catera had the back end of the 1999 with the lights going across the back. It'* a decent looking car, but it ain't no STS. It IS RWD though

As for the Aurora, I would love one, but if I have problems they may be VERY expensive to fix...Jim knows this. I was looking at a Buick Riviera on ebay...gorgeous car, but those too like the Roras, are expensive to fix.

I retract my statement on the Catera.....I won't be getting that either..just read a LOT of bad reviews....probably 80% bad vs. good. Same common EXPENSIVE to fix problems. GM sure screws things up sometimes.

Next review: Mazda 626

I read reviews on the Grand Am, Mazda 626, Jetta, Intrigue, Altima, Tiburon...man so many common problems with all these cars. Now I have no idea what to get. Jettas are nice but I guess the transmissions have issues: Maybe I will check out that 155K mile SSEi for $3800.

2000 SLE with many options for $9995 with 63k

95 SSE with most options but roof 65k $5995

I would look at either of these before the 98 SSEi. While it should be fine, that is higher mileage on the supercharger. Plus the mileage is outside what you were looking at.

I will have to third the regal option if you are looking for reliablity.

Truth is a lot if not most regals were bought by old old people, older than would usually by a SSEi usually.

This means the boost levels never exceeded around 4....and the oil WAS CHANGED EVERY time.


REGAL GS are nearly ALWAYS cheaper than a SSEi or GTP with the same year and miles.

example
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4541774849



I also love the Altima 3.5s EVEN IF it is not a 5 speed.

I emailed the dealers, thanks for the links

Wow...I guess all cars suck :?

Thats what troubles me about internet reviews, especially from forums and google searches, people are generally cynical and will only create ridiculous sites about how shitty their cars are.

I have my doubts about an Alero, Grand Am, Strautus, Regal, Catera, VW...on and on in this thread about how everything is crap. I refuse to believe it. I'll agree on one thing, talk to people that you know about the experiences they have had, use sites like Consumers Digest, something a little less biased then web forums and lemon sites.

My Aurora CAN be expensive to fix, its a top of the line premium car and repairs can be expensive, fine, but I wouldnt classify the car as crappy, esp later models, and I refuse to believe EVERY Alero is a lemon...come on, be a bit more subjective.

Repin, we had a 2001 VW Jetta VR6 and it didnt need premium IIRC, the 1.8T does tho, cuz its turboed.

Peter, assess your budget, pick a car that you like and that feels right and jump into it. Buying a car is an exciting, challenging experience, it shouldnt be based on bias and pessimism.

Heh..sorry to derail this thread

2000 regal gs 45k for $7800. I'd hit this if I had the cash. Appears loaded

And check out Regalgs.org for issues.