Used car buying suggestions?

Yesterday afternoon I was in a wreck that totaled my car. I was on the freeway and the car in the next lane tried to change lanes into me without checking…. Long story short I swerved and ended up in the barrier (thankfully not the other traffic). The other car drove off and I was stuck with a ticket, and my own liability only insurance on my car. (though thankfully someone called in and reported the crash, and their story confirmed I was run off the road so I got out of the ticket in the end).

ANYWAYS…. I’m looking at buying a new car (used). I’m in the process of seeing if I can be approved for a loan UP to 10k (which will be interesting to see if I’m approved given my vast student loans). The cars I’m looking at are all 6k or under. At the moment I’m looking at cars that I think will be reliable cars that could last at least a couple years with minimal maintenance/repairs. Should the loan fall through I’ll probably fall back to just getting a junker and praying it doesn’t break down on me. For the moment though, I’ve made a list of 11 cars available locally that I like. Below I’m going to give a quick summary of the top 5, and I’ll just give the names and stats of the last 6.

#1 – 1999 Audi A4 Quattro. 134,768 miles, 26 overall gas mileage rating, $4,999, and I rated the interior and exterior both a 9. This car is beautiful and I trust the Audi name as being reliable. Its very clean, and I would expect I could drive it at least the next year and a half without any major work needed. It has a 4 cylinder turbo, which is both a plus and a minus. Plus because I like cars with turbos (faster, though here its just used to augment the engine power), minus because it REQUIRES premium gas.

#2 – 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. 124,719 miles, 27 overall gas mileage rating, $4,995, interior-6.5 exterior-7. My current car (the wrecked one) is a 2000 Grand Am. I bought it with ~140k miles and it had ~192 with no major issues had or in sight. In pretty good shape.

#3 – 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. 115,228 miles, 28 overall gas, $5,495. No pictures were available so I couldn’t rate the condition of the car (which is also the biggest current downside to the car, I don’t know what it looks like at all). I trust volkswagen as a reliable brand, but a lot of the reviews I read said this model Jetta had some issues. It is loaded with features (back up cam, dvd player) so that’s nice.

#4 – 2003 Saab 9–3. 125,872, 29 overall gas, $5,507. Interior-7 exterior-10. This car was by far and away my first choice for most of the day. Its incredibly beautiful, a bit of power behind it but not ridiculous, reasonable price, looks to be in good shape, et, etc. But then I read the consumer reviews… and they are awful. Very very bad reviews on most the sites I checked out. Lots of electrical issues apparently?

#5 – 2002 Nissan Altima. 131,792 miles, 27 overall gas, $5,949, interior and exterior are an 8. Solid reliable car from a trusted brand. Doesn’t look half bad either. It was my second choice behind the Saab, but suffered the same problem when I went through consumer reviews. Apparently very prone to engine trouble with the gaskets, which is very problematic and expensive to repair.

The Rest:
-2001 Toyota Corolla. 111,264 miles, 31 overall gas $4,900, Interior/Exterior -7
-2002 Civic EX. 174,250 miles, upper 20’s/low 30’s gas, $3,975, Interior-7.5 Exterior-7
-2000 Ford Focus. 128,734, 27 overall gas, $4,950, interior/exterior-7
-2001 Mazda Protege. 120,000 miles, mid 20’s/low 30s gas, $2,650, exterior-6 no interior shots
-2004 Suzuki Forenza. 86,000 miles, 22 overall gas, $3,990, exterior-7 interior-8
-2004 Saturn Ion. 117,038 miles, 26 overall gas, $4,995, exterior-7 interior-9

Do you have any advice about any of the cars or experiences? Which would you get if given the choice?

(sorry thats so long)