Thoughts on possible car purchase?

[Knucklehead97]

Alrighty fellas. My '00 Contour is still running like a top. Got some new speakers put in and it's a great little daily driver. But I have been dying to drive a stickshift so I have been looking for a cheap stickshift junker to get. here's the one I'm checking out.

 

It is a '91 Ford Escort LX. With a 1.9L 4cyl and a stickshift. It looks pretty junky. The interior isn't to bad, though. New parts include a radiator, alternator, battery, thermostat, and the exhaust has been straight piped (sounds pretty good but I will get it fixed). Oh and the clutch is less than a year old. I went and looked at it and I have to say this thing runs beautifully. Better than my contour. The idle is smooth, no jiggles or anything, no ticks or sounds and it runs down the road and shifts no problem. The only issue was we parked the car running while we talked for about 15 minutes and it started to boil coolant. I'm thinking because the fan didn't cut on so there was no airflow. I could easily bypass it and use a switch to turn it on when needed. Odometer shows 85K but I'm positive its 185k because the odometer has to be turned back every 100k. The worst part about the car is this

The middle of the bumper just ain't there. The guy said that the absolute lowest he would go is 800$. I'm a sucker for hatchbacks, so I would like to get a second opinion. It also does not leak oil at all. The engine shows that it used to have a valve cover leak but I could not see it drip anywhere and the owner said he's never had to put oil in it.

 

And....

 

GO!

[gogmorgo]

That's not a hatchback. It's a fastback. Just being nitpicky.

[Wiggilez]

if it was just a bumper it wouldn't be too bad, but the part the holds the hood latched looks @#$%ed beyond repair. And I feel like spot welds would need to be drilled to fix that.

[Megadan]

Fix that damage for cheap and you would have a good cheap daily driver. My father had one of those for YEARS and it never let him down for any reason besides the alt going bad once and killing the battery.  Had the same 1.9 engine and was a manual.  As long as they get taken care of they run for a long time.  All he ever did with his was do fluid changes when it was supposed to get them and put fuel in it.

[johnj92131]

Wife had an 89 Escort for years.  Cheap transportation.Purchased it new.  Remember taking a trip to Vegas and getting 37 mpg.  Our son wrecked the car when he was in high school.  Rolled it while he was screwing around with it.  Both he and his friend crawled out of the upside down car with just some glass cuts on their hands.  Car had automatic lap belts that held them both in place.  Think there was one panel on the car not damaged.  Took my son back to look at the car a few days later.  There was another car in the tow yard with less damage.  Female driver had been killed in that car.

 

So I have nothing bad to say about that old Escort.  Car did its job and took care of my stupid son and his friend.  Can not ask for more.

[Minuit]

Seems like a good candidate for a "fix with junkyard parts and as cheaply as possible" beater project.

[Knucklehead97]

Hmm, it's listed as a hatchback everywhere. Eh, still looks good to me haha. And yeah that hood latch support is pretty jacked up. But, the hood stays closed and opens no problem. Just gotta adjust the cable due to it being moved from whatever hit it. If I even care that much, though, honestly. It's been 3 months since the Contours trunk latch broke and I still haven't gotten around to fixing it haha. This is exactly the responses I was hoping to get from you guys :D I'm thinking I can give 800$ and set a total budget of 12-1500$ and have a really nice little car afterwards. With 3 driving siblings and a 4th which will be driving soon, I just would like to have and auto car free for them to use if theirs ever broke down (the contour is auto and they could use it if I drove this) :D

[Zebvance]

Alrighty fellas. My '00 Contour is still running like a top. Got some new speakers put in and it's a great little daily driver. But I have been dying to drive a stickshift so I have been looking for a cheap stickshift junker to get. here's the one I'm checking out.

 

It is a '91 Ford Escort LX. With a 1.9L 4cyl and a stickshift. It looks pretty junky. The interior isn't to bad, though. New parts include a radiator, alternator, battery, thermostat, and the exhaust has been straight piped (sounds pretty good but I will get it fixed). Oh and the clutch is less than a year old. I went and looked at it and I have to say this thing runs beautifully. Better than my contour. The idle is smooth, no jiggles or anything, no ticks or sounds and it runs down the road and shifts no problem. The only issue was we parked the car running while we talked for about 15 minutes and it started to boil coolant. I'm thinking because the fan didn't cut on so there was no airflow. I could easily bypass it and use a switch to turn it on when needed. Odometer shows 85K but I'm positive its 185k because the odometer has to be turned back every 100k. The worst part about the car is this

The middle of the bumper just ain't there. The guy said that the absolute lowest he would go is 800$. I'm a sucker for hatchbacks, so I would like to get a second opinion. It also does not leak oil at all. The engine shows that it used to have a valve cover leak but I could not see it drip anywhere and the owner said he's never had to put oil in it.

 

And....

 

GO!

 

 

 

 

I had a 1993 ford escort station wagon hatch back. When i was done with it, it looked to be in about the same shape that one is in.  My dad bought it brand new off the lot for 9k in 93. When It was handed down to me it had 220,000 miles on it and leaked oil like Niagara falls. it was the same four banger and 5 speed as that one. I drove it for a several years in college driving back and forth on trips well over 2-4 hours every other weekend visiting friends. On quite a few occasions I tired to blow the damn thing up and even got it to overheat one night and shut off,also had no response from the clutch besides the smoke that was coming from it. I thought for sure It was finally toast. Well.... the next morning it started up and never missed a beat. Needless to say I got another 90k out of it when I finally lost 2nd and 3rd gear. I ended up selling it with a blown transmission for $250 and 310,000 all original miles on it. Of course it read to have 10,000 miles on it though. About a month later i saw it driving around town. I would see it every once in a while for the following couple years then never saw it since. So who knows if its still alive and how many miles it ended up lasting. But if I had to say one thing, no questions asked most built proof car I have ever owned, If I was in the market I wouldn't skip a beat to buy another one and have a lot of faith in it. But, I will say, in the condition it is in I wouldn't pay more than $600 for it. 

[Knucklehead97]

 

 

Alrighty fellas. My '00 Contour is still running like a top. Got some new speakers put in and it's a great little daily driver. But I have been dying to drive a stickshift so I have been looking for a cheap stickshift junker to get. here's the one I'm checking out.

 

It is a '91 Ford Escort LX. With a 1.9L 4cyl and a stickshift. It looks pretty junky. The interior isn't to bad, though. New parts include a radiator, alternator, battery, thermostat, and the exhaust has been straight piped (sounds pretty good but I will get it fixed). Oh and the clutch is less than a year old. I went and looked at it and I have to say this thing runs beautifully. Better than my contour. The idle is smooth, no jiggles or anything, no ticks or sounds and it runs down the road and shifts no problem. The only issue was we parked the car running while we talked for about 15 minutes and it started to boil coolant. I'm thinking because the fan didn't cut on so there was no airflow. I could easily bypass it and use a switch to turn it on when needed. Odometer shows 85K but I'm positive its 185k because the odometer has to be turned back every 100k. The worst part about the car is this

The middle of the bumper just ain't there. The guy said that the absolute lowest he would go is 800$. I'm a sucker for hatchbacks, so I would like to get a second opinion. It also does not leak oil at all. The engine shows that it used to have a valve cover leak but I could not see it drip anywhere and the owner said he's never had to put oil in it.

 

And....

 

GO!

 

 

 

I had a 1993 ford escort station wagon hatch back. When i was done with it, it looked to be in about the same shape that one is in. My dad bought it brand new off the lot for 9k in 93. When It was handed down to me it had 220,000 miles on it and leaked oil like Niagara falls. it was the same four banger and 5 speed as that one. I drove it for a several years in college driving back and forth on trips well over 2-4 hours every other weekend visiting friends. On quite a few occasions I tired to blow the damn thing up and even got it to overheat one night and shut off,also had no response from the clutch besides the smoke that was coming from it. I thought for sure It was finally toast. Well.... the next morning it started up and never missed a beat. Needless to say I got another 90k out of it when I finally lost 2nd and 3rd gear. I ended up selling it with a blown transmission for $250 and 310,000 all original miles on it. Of course it read to have 10,000 miles on it though. About a month later i saw it driving around town. I would see it every once in a while for the following couple years then never saw it since. So who knows if its still alive and how many miles it ended up lasting. But if I had to say one thing, no questions asked most built proof car I have ever owned, If I was in the market I wouldn't skip a beat to buy another one and have a lot of faith in it. But, I will say, in the condition it is in I wouldn't pay more than $600 for it.

that's what I wanted to pay for it, it's what I offered. If it didn't have all the new parts then I wouldn't pay more than that. But with the new parts, especially the clutch, I probably couldn't find another stickshift in as good condition for less. Not much around here for cheap.

[Knucklehead97]

I went and looked at a Nissan Sentra last month. The people would NOT budge from 600$ even though the timing chain could be heard over the ricer exhaust that was on it. Body was in horrid condition as well.