A Good First Car
Pros:
Roomy and Dependable
Cons:
None
The Bottom Line:
I think that anyone looking for a good used car buy should take a look at a car like this. It is well worth the effort.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
This was the first car I ever owned, and being an agreeable person, I trusted my Dad's judgement when he said that it was a nice looking car in good shape, for a good price. Although it wasn't the teenage dream car, I loved it. I have the Turbo ES model, and it was definitely one of the top cars when it rolled off the line. It has power windows, power locks, drivers side power seat, cruise control, rear defroster, mirror defrosters, radio/tape deck with 5 band equalizer, tinting on the windows, and an after factory sunroof. I bought this car (with all of these features on it) in 1998 for $3500 when it had 88,000 miles on it. In the past three and a half years, I have put over 50,000 miles on it (well over 138,000 miles on it now), yet it is still running smoothly.
At it's age, it has definitely had a few problems and repairs (some as the result of accidents), yet we have not had to do anything major or incredibly expensive to maintain this car. I get good gas mileage despite this being a Turbo charged engine, usually about 24 or 25 mpg with mixed city and highway driving, and one of the only downfalls is the recommendation that a higher octane gas should be used for the car. Other than that, this car has been fairly cheap to run and maintain.
I also have to say that this car is quite roomy. When this car is parked next to other automobiles it seems as though it would be quite small, however I have received many comments from friends who have ridden in the back seat and expressed their surprise and how much room there is back there. Also, since I use this car to take my belongings back and forth from college now, I have to say that there is a great deal of room to pack things in it, and the fold-down rear seats are a great help when it is necessary to transport large objects (I once moved a futon for a friend of mine).
All in all, I love my car, and I would recommend this car to anyone looking for a dependable, safe, sensible, and roomy vehicle. It made a great first car for me, and I plan to keep it for quite a while longer.
