Shopping For a Cheap Used Car Under $9,000 - Beggars Can't Be Choosers

On a fairly regular basis I enjoy shopping for cheap used cars on cars.com. It's the way I've found all of my current cars and have shopped for cars for more than ten years now. Cars.com is a great tool and it's amazing what you can find out there if you're flexible and not too choosey. This morning I set the dollar amount at $9,000 and 50 miles from my zip code, I vary the $$$ amount and mileage a bit every time I do this, and I came up with these three beauties.

First up is this 2002 Ford Taurus wagon with only 21,000 miles on it and with an asking price of just $3,900. What a value this car is. We had a 2002 Taurus that never gave us any trouble until the heat stopped working. Why I ditched that car for that reason is beyond me and I wish I had it back. These vintage of Ford Taurus weren't the sexiest of automobiles but they were rock solid. And who doesn't love the practicality of a station wagon? This is a good looking car too. 

If you can stomach the age of the car and a less than perfect interior, our 2002 Taurus' leather interior wore just like this interior here, this is a really terrific car. It has the less powerful of the two engines Ford offered that year so it won't have much zip but it will be quite frugal at the pump. I just hope it's not a smoker. Not much you can do about cigarette stink in any car. 

Next up is this fetching 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue. The Intrigue replaced the Cutlass in the late, great Oldsmobile lineup and shared a lot underneath with other "W-body" cars from GM like the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, Buick Regal and Pontiac Grand Prix. I'm a huge fan of W-body cars from GM. Big difference with this car is it has the Oldsmobile exclusive, 3.5 liter DOHC, 24 valve V-6. This engine is based on the 4.6 liter Northstar V-8 and is not to be confused with other 3.5 liter engines from General Motors. That fact makes me a little nervous since the vast majority of GM W-bodies of this vintage had the more commonplace 3.1 or 3.8 liter V-6 engines. No doubt the engine in this car would be expensive to repair since it's so rare. Consider yourself warned. 

That said, this car is still a terrific value albeit, like the Taurus, quite old. Only 35,000 miles on it, though and the asking price is a very decent $4,995. No leather and no sunroof but it looks to be clean as a whistle. You'll love how that DOHC V-6 runs too. I'd call on this car.

Our last gem for today is another 2002 car, this time a nicely equipped Toyota Camry SE with 45,000 miles on it and a relatively steep asking price of $8,500. It also has 4 cylinder engine compared to the V-6 engines in the Taurus and Intrigue but that's not an issue seeing this is a Toyota - their 4's rivaled domestic V-6's back then for power and smoothness. They also beat them at the pump too. Score. 

The SE package comes with this lovely leather trimmed interior and a sunroof. This is a swell car that while more than twice the price of the Taurus, is arguably ten times the car. It's got more in common with the somewhat tonier Oldsmobile but again, it's a better car. The SE package also comes with, most importantly, a firmer suspension setup than what was standard. Firmer but certainly not harsh. This is a family car after all. A dash of sport to any car is never a bad thing and the fact this car is so stealthy makes it very appealing to me.

This car certainly won't get your blood pressure just looking at but if you're looking for a inexpensive car that will be rock solid reliable, here's your ride. And remember, when shopping for a good, cheap used car, us beggars can't be choosers. 

Good luck in your search!