Anyone care to suggest a car for me?

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might as well avoid sunroofs if possible as they take away precious headroom and leak after a while as well.

f**k. He just replied and said he sold it to someone else tonight.

Ah well, I guess that one wasn't meant to be.

I'll just keep making offers on really cheap honda/toyota hatchbacks until I get one that works out.

How do they take away headroom??

I know they have a reputation for leaking, but the 3 I've had between two cars (subaru had 2) never leaked. I'd be wary of an aftermarket one.. but stock?

It's the one feature I REALLY liked in those 2 cars I had. A fully opening sun roof. Nothing better on a nice bright sunny day!

for at least this tall person, I have measured on average [car with versus same car without] 2 inches subtracted due to the bulk of the sunroof mechanism, that is a LOT of missing headroom! also I can't count the number of times I've ridden in a car with such and my hair got caught in it. not for me.

I'm a bit over 6'2 and never had that problem. I really like sunroofs, but as with the car that got away above.. if something really decent comes up for cheap cheap I don't really care if it doesn't have one.

I emailed a few other ads tonight. There's a pontiac vibe advertised quite cheap.. could be long since sold, or could be totally destroyed and that's why it's so cheap. Guess I'll wait and find out.. eventually I'll find something. Who knows, maybe tomorrow?

Going to look at a little tin can this evening at 7pm! Another "cheapest of its kind" advertised. Apparently all it needs is rear brakes, which isn't a big deal as I can either watch a couple youtube vids and do it entirely solo or get my retired mechanic uncle to supervise/advise me on the process and do it myself for cheap cheap. Obviously I'll tell the seller I'll have to take it to a shop and pay a few hundred dollars for repairs and thus I need to make a bit lower offer than his asking price.

It's a 2004 chevy aveo 4 door hatchback w/ power windows, power sunroof, and a 5spd transmission. Not sure of any other options, but if it has those power options it may also have all of the other options except an automatic transmission & possibly a/c - neither of which I care about. If it's a go I could have plates on it tonight! It's kind of dorky looking but that's about it's only real drawback. Otherwise it's pretty much everything I Need in a car and most of the things I want - especially the sunroof. T-5h 22mins until I get to check it out.

Nooooope, no go. Too many small problems that add up to a big repair bill that would double the cost of the car. If I wanted to spend that much, I'd just buy a better car. Besides that, I expected the cargo space to be larger when I flipped the seats up. The interior is taller, but the cargo space is actually smaller than in the 1990 civic hatchback I had last. Sooooo.. I just emailed an offer on a 1990 civic hatchback. At least I know how cheap they are to maintain and they don't have interference motors to worry about if the timing belt goes. I could go another year or two or three with a civic hatch while I continue to stack cash towards much bigger better things than cars. Hmmm..

please edumacate me as to the small problems you encountered?

Brakes need to be done all around, even doing them myself parts could cost $400+ if it needs new drums/callipers etc - and with uneven brake wear on the front pads, it definitely needs more than pads.

The current owner has driven it 35k kms and has no idea when the timing belt was last changed. GM lowered the replacement interval to 40k miles, so it would need to be done. Parts w/ water pump would be $200 even if I do it myself. It would have to be done as if the belt brakes or water pump seizes then the engine is a paperweight - well, the head would be anyways.

There was a CEL and he said its intermittent and his mechanic told him it was for some sort of emissions sensor. We didn't take a code reader with us so couldn't confirm what the CEL was for. He said his mechanic said the sensor was $200.

And a previous owner backed it up with the passenger door open and ripped it off and had to have the door replaced, apparently.

The engine ran fine and it looked to be in OK shape all around, but it wasn't a deal with an asking price of $1300 even though it's the cheapest one advertised because it would cost $800ish in parts plus a bunch of time OR expensive shop labour to bring it up to par. For that kind of money I could just buy a lot better car that needs nothing.


Old school civics cost next to nothing to repair/maintain and are actually bigger inside for sporting goods/tools etc so if the guy I emailed accepts my offer I might just have another one of them soon. Or maybe I'll buy a different one for sale. Not sure there's a better value for $ out there that fits my needs.

Boom! Bought one. Possibly the best car available for it's price right now.

Exact same car I had last.. white 1990 civic hatchback automatic.. only w/ half the mileage and way better maintained. It's been repainted and the paint isn't perfect.. some worn foam on the drivers seat, tiny water leak in the hatch, hatch struts are blown, has some ugly tint on the rear 3 windows, couple side marker lights out but probably just bulbs or a fuse, and burns a little oil like all of them.. but otherwise everything else about it is pretty minty. It's very very clean, only has 230something K kms on it, alignment is good, brakes are good, tranny fluid was flushed and changed, newer jvc deck and alpine speakers (that sound great for a 2 speaker stereo system), tight suspension, 80% left on tires, free pair of front brake pads and a jug of oil.. this car literally drives like it's only a few years old. Paid $1K & it's worth every penny compared to the sub $1000 examples for sale. lol insurance for a year cost me more than that.. ha. Tank was near empty and had 572kms on the trip before I filled it to the brim for $40cdn. This car is going to be a fantastic commuter & beach/kiteboard taxi. It feels like it has another 10 years left in 'er! With a little luck it'll last long enough for me to pass down to someone else in the family when I'm ready to shell out for something bigger and better.

glad ya found something serviceable but I thought you had "pay at the pump" insurance up there.

What is "pay at the pump" insurance?

aka "no-fault universal" - maybe it is not in your province but I'd read long ago that other provinces in Canada had a system of universal liability car insurance which was paid for by a tax at the pump.

Never heard of such a thing.

We have one government monopoly on basic auto insurance. We have to buy our overpriced insurance from ICBC (the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) & then we can buy optional coverages from them or other 3rd party companies. Usually optional coverages are cheaper from other providers. I have bare bones basic insurance on my car.

The real reason car insurance is expensive here is because the government uses ICBC as a tax revenue centre and skims approximately $500M/year off the top into their general revenue slush fund and then raises insurance rates because "claims payouts are higher." *cough* bs *cough*

You can pay in one lump sum up front for the year as I did, or make monthly payments + interest like most people do.

Then we pay at the pump.. oh do we ever. We have the most expensive gas in Canada & likely the continent. We have high taxes at the pump, but none of that goes towards insurance.

^^^wow and I thought I was being punished at the rate of $500 a year for my liability-only insurance. on this side of the border as one ages one's rates tend to go down, is it like that on your side?

Rates go down with each year of claims free driving to a max discount of 43% on basic insurance, which I had.. but a couple minor claims caught up to me, so my discount is 35% right now. Tax on the car purchase price, plus plate fee, plus a year's basic insurance w/ the only slight increase being due to work being over 15km from home, came to $1349 after discount.

Most people also have high liability insurance + optional coverages.. and w/o big discunts it gets pricey. My friend has an 80% surcharge because his brother crashed his car last year.. making his rates on his 2014 Toyota Rav4 $527/month. Just one more reason to drive a beater that's not worth over-insuring.