Having to replace the engine on a car with under 100,000 miles on it is rediculous. That was what I had to do, so I think I was well in my right to complain :)

My suggestion would be to buy a cheap banger and drive that for a few years until you have a bit of experience under your belt. The amount of young blokes that prang their first cars is very high. If you've just paid for something that is expensive, your asking for grief.

Just my opinion though.

Cheers, Skip.

I had a very bad experiance with a Dodge/Chrysler product once. I bought one.

Leaving the exploding headgasket and the fights with the warranty company that screwed me over aside, I have to say it was still a below average experiance.

OK, carping aside, the TV News the other night said prices on second hand cars were at a historical all-time low. Given that, I'd say get yourelf a nice Used Car.

My suggestion would be to buy a cheap banger and drive that for a few years until you have a bit of experience under your belt. The amount of young blokes that prang their first cars is very high. If you've just paid for something that is expensive, your asking for grief.

Just my opinion though.

Cheers, Skip. </font>[/QUOTE]yeah I'm deffinatly considering that
how much would you pay for something like that?

My suggestion would be to buy a cheap banger and drive that for a few years until you have a bit of experience under your belt. The amount of young blokes that prang their first cars is very high. If you've just paid for something that is expensive, your asking for grief.

Just my opinion though.

Cheers, Skip. </font>[/QUOTE]yeah I'm deffinatly considering that
how much would you pay for something like that? </font>[/QUOTE]Giday Intrepid,

Been living in the UK for the last 10+ years, so haven't a clue what the price of second-hand cars are now. I'd have thought $1000 would be plenty to pick up a good condition old Holden or Ford. If you like your wheels hot, you can't go far wrong buying a HR or even EJ/EH Holden for peanuts and spend a bit doing her up. You mentioned mechanics in the family. Spare parts are dirt cheap and the engine is a block with a carbie on top, and an exhaust out the bottom. Basic! Even a monkey can work on them, unlike modern cars which you need a degree to understand, and even then, when you adjust one thing it puts everything else out of whack! The money you have left, (you mentioned something like 5-6000 I seem to remember) invest it in land. You can't lose.

Cheers, Skip.

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00"> Today, I bought my first vehicle, A 2003 grand caravan. Sweet deals right now as they have dropped prices on last year models by $10,000. Minivans are great especially when you compare them to SUV's.
They have just as much room, far better on gas, and about twice as cheep for purchasing, and insurance is lower.</font>

[ 01-13-2004, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

Yeah, I also here they used to (at least older models did) have major problems with rust.

Hey skippy
Yeah an old holden or ford is a deffinate possibility, i hadn't really thought of that before, and doing it up would be fun :D .
Although i think i'll use the rest of the money for other things, like University or something, deffinatly land later on.
Anyway thanks for your suggestions, I'll seriously consider the old Ford or Holden and as you say replacment parts are really cheap, so that is anothe bonus.

I got my first car about 2 months ago, Its a 1985 La Baron (i think thats spelled right) Its yellow and convertable, only cost me 500$ and it has low miles for its age only 46k miles on it :D

what ever you get please , for the sake of all that is good and decent get windows tinted colored rims ect!
there are too many about of these place
in my opinion it is simply declaring to the world that you have to compensate for something

Well, now I have to get a new car myself (my entire engine went out). I will be probably be getting another Japanese car, but I will shop around a little more this time (the bus system gets me to work very reliably, and my savings aren't that great right now, so I'll take my time and shop around).

However, I will say this: never buy a Mazda, Buick, or Mercury. I owned all three at one point, and all of them were nothing but trouble. This most recent car was a Mazda, and it didn't even make it to 90 thousand miles, even with regular maintenance.