It occurred to me, when I started looking for cars for today, that all the cheap cars I’ve shown you this week have been automatics. That just doesn’t seem right, especially since I’m a big fan of manual transmissions for beaters, for durability and reliability. So today, I went looking for some stickshift options and found a couple of homely choices that should get the job done.
Remember how I said yesterday that at least one of the cars was going to be sold before anyone could read the ad? Well, I was right – the Crown Vic was gone early in the morning. The ad for the Matrix disappeared for a while, but it’s back up now. But there are a lot of things that don’t add up about that car, and now that you all point them out, I realize I should have noticed them earlier. It’s got more red flags than the grandstands at Spa.
And who cares anyway? That thing is toast. A Crown Vic is a blunt instrument, but it will keep doing its thing for a long time to come. I saw multiple Crown Vic taxis at the garage with nearly half a mil on their odometers, and while no one could call them nice anymore, they still did their job. That’s where the smart money was yesterday, and I hope the Vic’s new owner gets many happy miles out of it.
The Crown Vic would work fine as a cheap beater, but personally, I’d rather have something small and manual. You’ll use less gas, and you won’t have to worry about a complicated automatic transmission shitting the bed and rendering your cheap car useless. A clutch can be replaced for $150 and a twelve-pack of beer to get your buddy to give up a Saturday to help you, and there’s not much else that’s likely to go wrong with a manual. I tried to find two cars for under a grand each, but one of these is just a little over. It’s still a bargain, though. Let’s take a look.
1986 Volkswagen Golf – $850
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Port Orchard, WA
Odometer reading: ad lists 100,000
Operational status: Runs and drives well, but needs ignition lock/switch
The most colorful – and one of the most well-known – variant of the VW Golf was the “Harlequin” edition, made by taking standard four-door Golfs of four different colors and mixing up their body panels. Harlequin Golfs are cool, especially to those of us who like bright colors, but there’s a fact about them that is relevant here: they were built ten years after this Golf was. Someone liked the look and decided to replicate it on this old MkII Golf.
This is a car I know pretty well; I drove a two-door 1985 Golf in college, and it treated me well, even when I didn’t return the favor. Forget what you think you know about the MkIII and later Volkswagens; this has more in common with the old MkI and Rabbit. It’s a simple machine, devoid of any later VW craziness. The engine is the old EA827 four-cylinder, with nice simple Bosch fuel injection. It only puts out 85 horsepower, but trust me, it’s sufficient. The seller says this one runs and drives well, but the ignition switch is broken, and the steering column sometimes locks when it’s not supposed to, so they suggest towing it. They also mention that the ignition is wired to a toggle switch; I wonder if maybe they don’t know you still need the key to unlock the mechanical steering column lock? Or maybe the key is lost? In any event, check the VIN and name on the title carefully and make sure they’re authorized to sell it.
The ad claims that this car has 100,000 miles on it, but I suspect that’s just a placeholder the seller put in because you have to put something. I suspect it actually has a lot more than that, and that the odometer is probably broken, because they all break eventually. The interior sure looks like it has more than 100,000 on it. And I see that the mirror has fallen off the windshield; I think I glued mine back up about five times. I have no idea why they don’t stay put, but no glue seems to work.
The funny thing is that the fake Harlequin job almost works, but they didn’t follow through on it. Maybe if the next owner committed to the bit and used the correct colors in the correct pattern, it would look better. Bust out the Rust-Oleum and the foam brushes, and do it up right.
2002 Honda Civic EX – $1,100
Engine/drivetrain: 1.7-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: San Diego, CA
Odometer reading: 175,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Honda Civics have been a staple of the cheap used car market for decades, and probably will be for decades more. They’re tough, reliable, and more fun to drive than you’d guess, especially when equipped with a manual transmission like this one is. Unfortunately, they’re also the darlings of the street-racer crowd, and too many of them end up modified beyond any semblance of usefulness. This one appears to have escaped a lot of that, but it does have an absurdly large aftermarket wing on the trunk lid.
It’s an EX model, so it has a little more power and a few more toys than lesser Civics. The engine is a single overhead cam D-series, displacing 1.7 liters and putting out 127 horsepower thanks to Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing setup. The seller doesn’t give us a lot of detail about its condition, saying only that it’s “good on gas” and that the clutch is “excellent.” That’s enough to get you started; as long as it’s largely stock under the hood, it should purr happily along for many more miles.
It’s surprisingly not bad inside. So many old Civics get absolutely trashed, but this one just shows a little wear. There’s some kind of weird seat cover on the driver’s seat back, and something stuck to the dash on the passenger’s side, but that’s it.
Outside, the paint is dull, and it looks like parts of it have been touched up with spray paint. It’s all blotchy and uneven. And then there’s that wing. I don’t understand it myself, but I guess some people go for that sort of thing. Take it off if you hate it as much as I do, and plug up the holes in the trunk lid with something. You might even be able to sell it to bring the purchase price down under a grand.
Neither of these cars has led an easy life, by the looks of it, but they’re both tough customers, and they should still have some life to give. They’re both cheap, and they’re both ugly. It’s just a matter of which one you’re willing to park in your driveway.
The deal about the key… The key for my ’71 Peugeot 504 broke off in the cylinder. I was 22 years old and making minimum wage. The steering wheel didn’t seem to encounter any resistance going lock to lock. I wired up a toggle switch for the ignition and a push-to-start button for the starter motor. (That car was virtually unstealable.) And I drove it that way for at least 40K miles. Along with a C-clamp on the brake line to the left rear disc brake caliper.
Good Lord, I was a personal liability lawsuit just waiting to happen.
Take off or sell the wing, go to a wrecking yard and get an unpunctured trunk lid and Bob’s your uncle.