I was reminded this weekend that there actually is a point to evaluating inexpensive cars. I tend to dismiss a lot of the low end of the market as “boring,” and therefore not worth my time, but sometimes someone just needs a cheap way to get around, and excitement is the last thing on their mind. So this week, we’re sticking with a strict $2,500 price cap, and searching for some legitimately good deals.
You all certainly had some opinions about Friday’s budget-busters; I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many comments and votes. And a lot of you seemed to be not only disturbed, but actually offended at the price tag on that Jeep. All I can say is, don’t shoot the messenger. I don’t price ’em; I just present ’em.
Needless to say, the Bentley won in a landslide. I’m of two minds about this one. If someone handed me $40,000 and I had to choose one of these, I’d take the Bentley, and enjoy it until something catastrophic went wrong. But if I had eff-you money, I’d buy the Jeep, take it straight to the nearest off-road trail, and text the seller photos of it getting dirty and scratched-up. I would then continue sending such photos, as it accumulated wear and tear, until they blocked my number. This is similar to the fantasy I’ve had about buying some Baby Boomer’s prized, never-driven Corvette and ripping a giant burnout on the street in front of their house as I leave. (It’s probably a good thing I’m not wealthy.)
If you’ve never been in a position where you just needed a cheap car to get yourself around, count yourself lucky. Goodness knows I have, and I have had reasonable success with choosing reliable beaters for myself. But for someone without some familiarity and knowledge of cars, the idea of placing your faith in a cheap old car bought for a couple grand can be terrifying. So this week, we, as car folks, are going to look at eight sub-$2,500 cars, all of which present well and are operational, and decide which one we would recommend to a non-gearhead friend who just needs to get to work. Here is our first pairing, both from just on the other side of the Bay Bridge from me.
2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser – $2,250
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Baltimore, MD
Odometer reading: 128,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Chrysler PT Cruiser started out as a sensation, then became a punchline. But now that we’ve all heard the jokes a hundred times and gotten used to the weird styling, it’s easier to see it for what it has always been: a pretty decent and useful little wagon. It’s tougher than you think – I have friends who own PT Cruisers with some serious miles on them – and while its gas mileage isn’t what it ought to be, it isn’t bad either. If you need something small on the outside but big on the inside, and don’t have a lot to spend, you could do a lot worse.
The PT Cruiser was available with two engines, a 2.4 liter four-cylinder and a turbocharged version of the same, and two transmissions, a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. This one has the most common and least inspiring combination: the non-turbo engine and the automatic. But the good news is that Chrysler had been building this engine and transmission combo for quite a while by this point, and had ironed out most of the kinks. It’s a fairly reliable setup, and common enough that just about any shop can fix it if something does go wrong. This one runs just fine, and has only 128,000 miles on it.
The PT Cruiser is just as overstyled on the inside as it is on the outside, but it’s reasonably comfortable and offers that nice tall seating position that made small wagons like this so popular. This one is in decent shape, though there’s what looks like a cigarette burn on the driver’s seat. And I’m not sure why the glovebox is open in the photos. Is the latch broken? Or were they cleaning it out and just forgot to close it?
It looks pretty good outside, but I do see a tiny rust spot starting to show on the passenger’s side rocker panel, and a couple of body panels look like they’ve been repainted. And I could have sworn that even the base model PT Cruisers had body-colored bumpers, not black. They don’t look bad painted black, but I’d like to know the story. Still, for the price, you don’t expect perfection, and none of the blemishes outside detract from its usefulness.
2011 Nissan Sentra SR – $1,950
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter DOHC inline 4, CVT automatic, FWD
Location: Glen Burnie, MD
Odometer reading: 200,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Nissan Sentra has been around for forty-three years now, through eight generations and counting, and through all that time, it has been a perfectly acceptable, if forgettable, little car. It’s often overlooked in favor of the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, but it’s a good alternative that’s often cheaper. Witness this sixth-generation Sentra, being sold for less than half what you’ll pay for a Civic or Corolla the same age.
This generation of Sentra marked the introduction of the transmission everyone loves to hate: the Jatco CVT. Yeah, I’d prefer a manual too, but I have newfound respect for the CVT after hearing the exploits of our indestructible NV200 taxicab. And having rented both a Versa and a newer Sentra equipped with this transmission, I have to say, it’s not terrible to drive. The engine that drives it is a 2.0 liter four-cylinder shared with Nissan’s French partner Renault. It runs great, and has had a bunch of recent work done to keep it that way. Yes, it has 200,000 miles on it, but think of it this way: that’s only a little over half what that cab had.
This is a pretty fancy Sentra, with leather seats, alloy wheels, and a rear spoiler, as well as a bunch of buttons on the steering wheel that are probably cruise control and/or audio controls. It appears to be one of those cars that was used expressly for commuting; the only seat that shows any wear at all is the driver’s seat. I’d be surprised if the back seat has ever been sat in at all.
Outside, it looks really good, especially for having battled Baltimore-area traffic for 200,000 miles. Those folks don’t mess around. Maryland does salt the roads in the winter, but it doesn’t snow often, so exposure to road salt should be minimal. Still, it’s worth taking a look underneath to make sure there’s no rust hiding under those plastic skirts.
Any car in this price range is a gamble, but there is a lot you can do to minimize your risks. A common car, that’s easy to find parts for and has a good reputation, is generally a good bet. And looking outside the typical Toyota/Honda realm and its associated high prices can net you some really good deals. These two seem like reasonably safe bets to me. But what about you? Which one would you recommend to a friend who just needs cheap wheels?
Hell no Jatco. You ain’t doing me dirty again. PT snoozer for me today.
You could get either of these for the price of an oil change on yesterday’s Bentley. If I buy the Bentley can I opt out today?
I got a few PTs as rentals back in the day and they were equipped like this one. Really boring cars and anything smoked in is a hard no.
OTOH, a belt CVT is also a hard no from me.
Neither, try again.
The Sentra wins by default. Fuck the PT Loser
Best of the worst here.
PT solely because it’s a hatch, but, still, a 20yo Chrysler does not inspire too much confidence of everything else failing around what doesn’t.
Hard no on any Nissan with a CVT, especially a high mile version. though it does beg the question did the cvt somehow make it that far? or is it the 2nd or 3rd one for the car.
That would be the 7th actually ( probably )
During the short time I lived in DC and commuted to Baltimore, I felt like the PT Cruiser was the official car of the region, like Subarus in Portland or whatever. And they’re not bad cars.
BTW: the head unit is a Wal-Mart exclusive, and is actually the only reasonable single-DIN option for CarPlay and Android Auto.
Growing up, my family relied on a 2003 PT Cruiser as our primary car for trips and most around town errands. We were the second owners and it came from family, so I do acknowledge it was well cared for and we knew everything about it. That said: this car never did us wrong.
If I need a cheap runabout, I am going to go for the vehicle with the most versatility. That car could carry family (we were a family of 5 with all three kids being over six feet tall using this), you could fill it with Amazon orders, you could carry animals, Ikea wouldn’t be too big a problem, and it was pretty comfy. It carried my whole family for years and then was a loyal friend for my sister for a while longer (she traded it for the WORST Cobalt I have ever seen when it finally started wearing out with over 200K on the clock).
Having rented a Sentra of this vintage with virtually no miles on it, I feel comfortable saying it was a hateful place to be. I drove one for about a week taking it from LaGrange, GA to Statesboro, GA to Valdosta, GA and then did the whole thing in reverse. There was no place that car felt comfortable. Highways it was buzzy and felt small/lightweight in a bad way. Rough backroads between Statesboro and Waycross it was the loudest thing in the world. Seats were flat and uncomfortable, sound system was lacking, and the CVT turned power into noise and alarmingly bad gas mileage, but not speed of any kind.
Take the PT Cruiser and a good sense of self-deprecating humor.
This is tough. This is the best version of the Sentra from the last 15+ years, but at that mileage the transmission is on borrowed time, especially since those are notorious for going from infinite gears to zero gears without warning. I guess the PT Cruiser gets my vote, but begrudgingly.
The aftermarket head unit and resprayed bumpers lead me to believe that the PT Cruiser looks like it’s on at least its second owner, who probably didn’t treat it as well as the first owner probably did. Since the Sentra has been driven a lot but looks otherwise well cared-for, I’d tell my down-on-their-luck friend to go for the Sentra instead and help pay for a pre-purchase inspection on it.
Ugh. Both of these are butt-ugly cars, if you ask me. After due consideration, I’ll take the non-CVT butt-ugly one, with the caveat that I can reverse that decision if the PT Cruiser smells like cigarette smoke.
At least the PT Cruiser has character.
I’ll take it.
“This is similar to the fantasy I’ve had about buying some Baby Boomer’s prized, never-driven Corvette and ripping a giant burnout on the street in front of their house as I leave.”
In my fantasy its a malware ’78 model and I’ve replaced the wheezy, anemic V8 with a much more powerful EV drivetrain and the burnout is to the soundtrack of a period correct BSG viper launch.
Nobody will give a crap about removing a worthless lump from 78.
If anyone does it would be the former owner. Why else would he have kept it that long?
I would for sure be biking and not driving if these were the choices. But the PT Cruiser is a performative piece of garbage. It is garbage mechanically, stylistically, and is offensive as a concept. The Nissan is at least simple, honest garbage. So if forced, give me the Nissan.
Sentra. It was a toss up before looking at the interior photos in the ad for the Chrysler. There are a lot of stains in the seats/carpet and a few gross looking mystery fluids spilled in the center console (I wonder if seller chews tobacco or something?). Ew. Having to drive that PT Cruiser would be great for my health, though – I would suddenly develop a strong interesting in bicycling.
“But if I had eff-you money, I’d buy the Jeep, take it straight to the nearest off-road trail, and text the seller photos of it getting dirty and scratched-up. I would then continue sending such photos, as it accumulated wear and tear, until they blocked my number.”
I just wanted to highlight this line. I really hope a mildly antisocial billionaire is reading this somewhere. This needs to happen.
I was leaning hard towards a NOPE vote, but I’ll go with the Sentra. It’s a disposable car at that price. If it lasts a year before something mechanically totals it you’ve gotten your money’s worth. I can’t do the PT because of the cigarette burns. That smell never really goes away and it would drive me crazy if I had to live with it.
PT Cruiser for me, the Sentra probably isn’t bad, but if I am going to drive it I would rather have a decent cloth interior than a really cheap “leather” interior. Also 70k fewer miles is worth something I think.
I’ve never been in a PT Cruiser. Did they come with a leopard skin steering wheel or is that a cover? Somebody below expects the Cruiser will become ironically cool some day and I don’t doubt them. The Sentra never will. But I’ve rented several and they weren’t bad.
The CVT might drive ok, but it’s the long-term reliability that I’d be worried about. 200k miles on that Sentra probably means that it’s going to be ok, but I just think it’s a bigger risk than the boring 4-speed of the PT Cruiser.
I understand the CVT hate, but can we just take a moment to mourn the distinctive, handsome design of this Sentra generation and, by comparison, the alarming regression to blandness of the later ones?
My vote is for the PT Cruiser. Though I don’t like the slushbox, I like the CVT even less. Plus the PT is more practical and I’m already somewhat familiar with them as I owned one in the past. And it has way less mileage.
Mark, of all the Autopian staff and contributors, you’re the guy I most want to grab a beer and brisket with!
As for the cars, at least the PT has a cultish following, so there are user groups and parts support to keep the thing running for a long time. Plus, the hatchback convenience makes it more useful.
The problem with those CVT transmission, is they go from fine to completely lunched in no time with no warning. You’ll never know if you’re going to make it. That’s no way to live when you’re depending on a shit box to get to work. I’ll the PT Loser with a regular ass transmission every time.
Another day of “gas can and match” from me. Big nope. For 2k, if I needed cheap transportation I’d get a used motorcycle
As someone who enthusiastically spent $40,000 Autopian Funbucks on a twenty year old Bentley last week, neither neither neither of these. Gun to head, I’ll still dither between Sentra and bullet. There’s nothing you want about a barely-four figure Nissan. Or a five figure one, for that matter. There’s even less you want about a similar Chrysler.
So if you had a choice between Sentra, PT Cruiser and Death, you’d pick Death??
I owned a PT in the past… they’re not THAT bad…
The actual calculus to my logic is that I have at least a little familiarity with working on a Nissan of that era, roughly (apart from that I see at work). That and (while acknowledging a year in a car’s life can be wildly different from owner to owner or even just year to year), 2011 Nissan gets you a lot closer to modernity than 2005 Chrysler.
I would absolutely stuff it in the trash as soon as it needs rear brakes, assuming it has drums. I’ve done two drum brake jobs in my life and I never ever want to do another.