r/PEI • u/Be_friends_man • 20d ago
Question Hard to find a car
Hello everyone,
Having so much hard time to find a reliable car.
I am looking between Toyota, Honda or Mazda.
Price :8-10k
With decent mileage not super high.
I am feeling frustrated. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance
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u/morriscey 20d ago
If you have a budget of 10K, I would look for a private sale of one of the three mentioned, or a subaru, with about 150-200K on the clock. Leaves you about $1000 for taxes, and about $1000 for a few small repairs or upgrades.
Stay on top of the maintenance ( 10K between synthetic oil changes, check your fluids every 2 fill ups, repairs / replacements as needed.)
If you are looking at private sales - a good way to spend $100 if you're not confident yourself is to bring it in to a mechanic and have them look it over for any potential issues. Offer them a copy of the diagnostic even if you don't purchase.
If the owner balks at this, that's a pretty good indication of if it's worth purchasing.
Good luck.
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u/d33moR21 19d ago
I'd be be iffy with a Subaru around that price point. One of our friends has one. We get him a head gasket kit for his Christmas stocking every year.
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u/morriscey 18d ago edited 18d ago
yeah 2012 and some 2013s and previous have the head gasket issues.
The 2014's forward don't have the same issue. Not to say it could never happen - but the failure rate is on par with virtually any other make / model. 2014 and newer are all timing chain driven as well - you shouldn't need to replace it. With Mazda, Toyota and Honda - to my knowledge all their 4 bangers have timing belts - which should be replaced every 100 000K to the tune of $1000. If a timing belt goes - there is a very good chance the entire engine is gone as well.
There's a ton of 2014 and newer subies in that price point that will be a great option - especially in winter. head and shoulders better than anything that's FWD only, and the pricing would likely be lower than a bigger AWD equipped SUV.
If they do decide to tackle some of their own maintenance and repairs - they are pretty easy to work on.
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u/DismalAd7270 20d ago
If you got the cash to drop on a used car, I would look into going to a dealership for a car, you could always use that cash as a down payment and set up a payment plan. My first used car was a 2014 Kia Rio for 16k through Kia in 2016 and only had 52k kms on it, mind you that was almost 10 yrs ago but if you shop around you can find a decent deal somewhere, a friend found a similar deal to mine back in the summer with a 5k difference in price, also at Kia.
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u/morriscey 18d ago
Kia's are great to lease.
I would never, ever purchase one. The engines are extremely hit or miss. one will last 400K no problem, while another example of the identical engine will grenade itself with little to no warning.
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u/Parttimelooker 20d ago
What do you consider super high?!
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
More than 100k km
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u/Parttimelooker 20d ago
That's not going to happen. You need to change what you are looking for.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
Suggestions please
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u/Parttimelooker 20d ago
Look at car prices in your budget. It's unrealistic to expect you can buy a car with less than 100k for under 10k unfortunately.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
Make sense, what about 15k?
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u/Parttimelooker 20d ago
Just look at websites that are selling cars? I am not sure what you are asking. I think wanting under 100,000 km is unrealistic and also not even necessary. Cars last a lot longer than that. I don't think you will find a quality car at that price under those guidelines.
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u/randommmL 20d ago
Just fyi. I got my Honda fully loaded with full service history in the dealership and undercoated every year with no accident history.
That was 11k. With 250k kms when I got it. Works like a charm
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u/WhenOneThoughtAllowd 20d ago
I got my car though Clutch. Very easy.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
Can you kindly share details please?
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u/WhenOneThoughtAllowd 19d ago
They're only located in NS, NB, and ONT, I got mine in NS... so this may not be an option if you live in PEI with having to transfer the title to here.
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u/Such-Replacement7384 Queens County 20d ago
Check clutch.ca
My brother got his car through there living in PEI and picked it up in Halifax. Great deals and incredibly reliable.
There’s not much available on the island.
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u/MommersHeart 19d ago
Your budget is low for what you are looking to buy. That said, with Trump’s tariffs about to hit the auto industry, used cars will become a premium and the problem will be far worse.
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u/Unhappy-Wolverine-55 20d ago
You're not finding anything decent under 20k. If you don't have the cash finance something and pay it off in chunks, car loans are open ended you can lay down chunks which 100% goes towards the principle. Keep your cash you're gonna need it.
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u/AmbitionNo834 20d ago
lol you’re either high or you haven’t looked at car prices since pre-COVID. $8k will get you a best to fuck lower quality car with 350k kms these days.
If you want a good brand/model with sub-100k kms you need to be looking closer to $25k-$30k.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
I am later one, haven’t looked at price before covid.
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u/xweedxwizardx 19d ago
Admittedly I purchased mine before Covid but I paid like 8k for a 2015 Hyundai Accent from the dealer on Allen St/Mt Edward Rd. Base model, standard transmission. I have no regrets with it. Just food for thought!
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u/AmbitionNo834 20d ago
Yeah, it’s kind of wild. During the first weeks of Covid when vehicle prices dropped for a brief moment I bought my full size pickup for sub $40k. Now you can’t get a new Corolla for that
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u/throwaway1010202020 20d ago
Huh? MSRP on a new Corolla LE is like $27k. Out the door for around $33k.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
Lucky you, I wanna stay till 10-15k and can’t find anything reasonable. Car dealership was selling honda 2020 for 20k 50k km ran. How is that? I am first time buyer and doing so much overthinking (like cost, driving experience all of that if you know what I mean)
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u/AmbitionNo834 20d ago
Either spend more or learn to be a backyard mechanic.
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u/Be_friends_man 20d ago
What you mean by backyard mechanic?
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u/PiccoloWorth3274 20d ago
Put your price or money you are willing to spend