cars.com is pretty cool.

Since you're in New York, if possible, and if you're considering buying privately, you should consider shopping in a more southern, winter salt free State for a used car. But if you intend to buy from a dealer who will provide some sort of used car mechanical warranty, you'd obviously want them to be nearby.

Hatchback!

Don't be too afraid with insurance on Civics. My precious '02 is pretty darned good on the premium, and it's probably thanks to the immobilizer.

Accord or Civic for good mpg and low maintenance. Accord has more power, Civic gets better gas mileage.

$2.20 a gallon

wish i was paying that much

in cali for 87 its 257 qq now 30 cents. but do the math and thats some bank

-Civic
-Corolla
-Accord
The reliability and dependability of these cars are unmatched by any other cars in the world. When it comes to assembly and cost engineering, even the Benz and BMW are behind these two.

My vote would be for a CHEAP, BIG, American car - here's why:

First cars nearly always get trashed its a fact...

Big=farther from the accident...

big=takes a licking, keeps on trucking

Four door = not so expensive to insure, and easier to get into and out of, easier to load with stuff...

american = you can get parts at manny moe and jacks, western auto, walmart, any auto parts store, and they are cheaper...look at a distributor cap, for example - they are all the same, just a little cover of plastic, with a few bits of metal cast within...at a (fill in your foreign flavor) dealer, they are $60, at western auto, for a shivolay, they are $6...yadda yadda

The difference in insurance, initial cost, parts, repairs after minor shemozzles, etc., will make up for the difference in gasoline costs over and over again...

forget the looks thing...after a few weeks in the slush, in mid winter, they all look uhhh, cruddy...and in the summertime, no one will want to steal yours!

Get a beater with a good engine and heat and invest in new tires. Id say an Accord somewhere in the late 90's. I know you want to mack the ladies but an ugly car wont get stolen and the insurance should be lower.

I bought a 90 Honda Accord for $400 and put about $500 worth of parts into it (new tires, wipers, stereo, and ac). It lasted a year but it got me through 2 snowstorms with no problems. The transmission died so I donated it to charity and got back 2k from the IRS. They changed the law to cap the tax write off. But figure a nice $4,000 Honda Accord to last you 4 years and then dump it.
Good Luck

Honda Civic. Great on gas, safe in a crash, plus you get the Honda panache.

I will second the reccomendations for a nice Corolla/Civic for smaller cars, or Accord/Camry for midsize. Hyundai has taken huge steps in terms of quality lately, topping many in the latest Consumer Reports, but if you're looking use and below $10k, you're probably looking at pre-golden days at Hyundai.

Unfortunately, as a general rule of thumb, do not buy American, and you probably can't afford it, but don't buy European for that matter either. You want a car that is reliable and that you will not have to take to the shop over and over again. There are a few American cars that have good reliability, but in general they and European cars have questionable reliability.

Avoid the Ford Focus and VW Jetta/Golf/Bug. I'm not a fan of the Dodge neon either. Very questionable safety.

Buy a copy of Consumer Reports auto issue.

If safety is a concern, check out the IIHS site, http://www.iihs.org/
The newer japanese cars tend to have excellent engineering and safety.

If you ever think about buying a performance car, you can ask me about that too

One that was given to you, free, from Grandpa.

honda civic or accord only because there good little cars that get good mileage.

get a bicycle...

Save on car insurance, registration, taxes, gasoline prices, maintenance...

and get a workout

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The quality gap between American and Japanese cars is very small to non-existent these days, and depending on market segment the Americans are actually ahead. The Japanese still have the edge in entry level cars such as the Civic or Corolla, but once you move to mid-size cars there is no real difference. In fact, JD Power and Consumer Reports surveys rank the mid-size Buick Regal as the most reliable car over the last 3 years in its segment, ahead of the Toyota Camry among others. The most reliable car overall BTW was the Chevy Monte Carlo. A Chevy. Who woulda thought?

As for European cars, I agree the quality is no good, in fact they're worse than the Americans. Even luxury Bimmers & Benz's need to be "tightened up" and "adjusted" after assembly. They have to pay people to hand-tweak every single car as it comes off the line because their QC and assembly procedures are crap. It's a recipe for making lemons if there ever was one.

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Second that. The Neon is well, a ****box. It oozes cheapness and crumples like an accordion.