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Before you think of make and model, think about geography. First, buy a southern car that has never seen salted roads. Southern vehicles can last forever. They just don't rust out unless they get onto a salt water beach.
Now, where will the vehicle be used? Here in the far frozen north you can get by with all those old compact cars mentioned above. However, you will be better off with an all wheel drive vehicle so you can travel on your own schedule. An older Subaru or Rav4 from the South is the perfect $2,000 vehicle for the northern tier of states from Maine to Washington State.
Thank you for the many ideas, the are some i hadn't considered.
Fwiw. I'm not unemployed, just working on a small budget with regards to a car.
I admit I've avoided American cars because I've had terrible experiences with them. .. jeep, Chevy. Chrysler. .. although i should say these were not trucks. Save for the Jeep.
regarding location, this would be strictly a warm weather (as in FL) daily driver solely for commuting to & from work, nothing else.
I've got a family and a demanding job with difficult hours so public transit only isn't a viable option here.
In the least expensive price ranges I suggest you go with a domestic vehicle in the most common and popular models available so the parts and repairs are more likely to be less expensive than on the more exclusive or less common vehicles. For example: A used Taurus or Sable is much less expensive to maintain than an older Volvo 160 in spite of what anyone tells you about the Volvo reliability.
I have gotten good cars for 2k. Look for 10 year old huydais and kias first, 90s Toyota Corollas or Trecels sometimes camrys, potiacs, Saturns, Dodge Neons, Ford Escort/Focus, Mazda Protoge, Suzuki sidekick/geo tracker, Worry about the reliability and dont worry about the look. $2k is a survival mode budget. It's hard to find a good used car unless you are willing to spend between 3-5k. Do not buy anything european or formerly high end, don't even entertain the thought. You may see $2k caddys, $2k RX-7s or BMW 325s, mercedes Es and Cs infinities and acuras mybe even Land Rovers but you are going to be sorry a few month down the road trust me.
I own a 01 SAAB 9-3 I bought for just over 2k. Thus far it has needed only about 1k in work in 2 years. But some have much less luck than I have and have catastropic failures within months. I love the car but its starting to have major issues and I fear It will not pass emissions. Plus im not interested in putting into maintenance what I bought it for. Also, my wife says it is old and musty smelling and hates driving it becuase its a stick and was a former smokers car, it does smell, especially in the damp cold oregon winter. These are all things I knew going in but when you consider even a $10,000 newer car would cost you 170-200 in payments per month and would require full coverage ins. Depending on your age/record that could be almost much as the payment per month. So over the same two years you looking at a minimum of about 4-5k probably closer to 6 actually. So don't go the loan route because not only do you pay 5k over two years but you still have that payment for another 4 years and the value will be just about nil compared to what you still owe.
I'm normally inclined to think of old civics and accords.
Bingo!! My wife just sold her old Civic for $3k and bought a brand new 2014 Civic. Thing had over 200k miles on it without a single problem not to mention it got about 36mpg. 5 speed manual with original clutch. It did need new shocks when we sold it but thats it.
I've seen several people suggest full size pickups and SUV's (F150, Expedition). Bad idea!!!! These gas prices won't last and when they go back up you will be in for a rude awakening when you pay $90 to fill the thing up every week.
As the title suggests, given a max budget of $2k. What are you buying? In a general sense i mean... not one specific, individual car
No constraints on type. .. can be a car, truck, stick/auto, any engine configuration.
The only thing that matters is reliability as it can be the most hideous car around but so long as it doesn't leave me stranded... then no problem.
I'm normally inclined to think of old civics and accords.
Also how many miles are too much? The most mileage I've ever bought a car with has been 144k.
Saturn SL, SW, SC from 1996 to 2003. Cheap, easy to work on, known to go 250,000 miles with proper care, and go as many as 40 miles on one gallon of gas with a manual transmission. You can easily find good ones, with years of life remaining, for under $2,000. Oh, and you don't have to worry about body rust.
Also, the Dodge Caravans and Plymouth Voyager minivans are about in the "dime-a-dozen" category. They have more cargo room than a typical SUV, seat seven, and get around 24 to 26 miles per gallon on the highway. They are known to go over 200,000 miles with proper care. The 3.3L engine is nearly bulletproof, but stay away from the 3.0L; it's an oil burner. Probably the easiest car to do your own oil changes in, but everything else is a pain because of a small engine compartment. For $2,000, you could probably buy one to drive, and another to keep for spare parts.
Then there are the light-duty trucks. Stay away from Toyota, as people expect an arm and a leg for them, even when rusted to pieces with 300,000 miles on them! But Ford Rangers and Chevy S-10s can usually be had on the cheap, especially if you can get by with a two-wheel drive version. Older Nissan Frontiers aren't too bad, either.
I think the car's condition matters a lot more than the mileage. Definitely take a mechanically inclined relative with you, or plan on spending $80 or so to have a professional shop look at it.
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