Cheapest Used Cars for 2011

What Are Some Of The Top Auto Makers

Some of the best cheap used cars for sale are made by some of the best automakers. While there are good models available from almost all auto companies, some of the best are listed below.

Dodge

One of the big American auto makers that have a well rounded selection of models. Their flagship performance vehicle sits the Viper™. This is the last year for the Viper™ at least in its current iteration. While only getting 22 miles per gallon on the highway, this is one of the most powerful supercars on the planet. It is designed to compete with the great supercar marquees of the world, including those of Italy such as Lamborghini and Ferrari. They have an excellent track record of performance. On the smaller side, they have two other performance vehicles to choose from. The Charger™ and the Challenger™ are both recreations of muscle cars from the 60’s and 70’s. They are both offered in variations that can get high up to 25 or more miles per gallon on the highway. A smaller Dodge model is the Caliber™, which can achieve over 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

Subaru

Subaru has made a legacy of producing all wheel drive vehicles with opposed cylinder engines. They make the Imprezza™ which is available starting under 20 thousand dollars and topping out with the rally car bred WRX, which combines a great deal of power along with respectable fuel economy. A step up in size is the Legacy™ a mid range sedan that comes with a standard 2.5 liter engine and has an available 3.6 liter engine which is capable of making 256 horse power. The base Legacy™ models have a CVT transmission to help with shifting.

What To Look For?

There are many options that one should consider when searching for a cheap used car for sale.

Options

With each car model that was made, there were a great deal of available options at the time it was sold new. Depending on the climate you are in, air conditioning may be a necessity and not just a convenience. Things like sunroofs and rear seat entertainment systems can be great features to have as well. Even performance options such as upgraded engine performance and larger wheels and tires can be found. On new cars these options can cost thousands of dollars more than a standard car. When purchasing used, the value of most of the options goes down along with the standard price of the car. This makes a used car that is fully loaded easier to purchase cheaply than outfitting a new car with the same options.

Things To Avoid

The options that are available can also work against you. Larger engines can provide more power, however, this comes at the cost of increased fuel consumption. Other features like all wheel drive are excellent if you need them, however, they add weight and decrease fuel economy as well as adding complexity to the car itself. Over time, the added complexity makes for more failure points and can cost more to maintain that a more simply outfitted car. This holds true for the interior as well, where multi speaker sound systems and rear entertainment systems can further add points of failure within the vehicle that are expensive to repair should they fail.

Where To Find More Information Online?

There are many places to find more information about cheap used cars for sale online. Some of the most popular websites are listed below.

AutoTrader.com

One of the largest auto malls on the internet is http://www.autotrader.com. They feature listing of thousands of used cars from all across the country. They have a search engine which allows you to only view vehicles which meet your specific criteria. With so many vehicles to choose from, the ability to search deeply is even more important. When shopping for a used car, you cannot pick and choose the options a car had, so you have to choose from what other people have selected. Having thousands of models available make it more likely that you will find a used car with the features and options that you are looking for. Cars on this site are sold by both individuals and by used car dealers.

Cars.com

One site that you should certainly visit before making any used vehicle purchase is http://www.cars.com. They have information about different makes and models of vehicles listed by the year they were made. They have information about the options that were available in each year to help you decide what options you could look for in the car you are buying. They also have the specifications and features of the vehicles for each year also. They have information about the resale value of the car depending on the year and its condition. A section of their site is devoted to reviews of the cars. They have reviews for each year by both professional auto writers as well as reviews posted by consumers who have purchased these cars in the past.

Edmunds.com

An excellent research site for cheap used cars for sale online is http://www.edmunds.com. They have one of the most highly regarded vehicle value calculators on their site. This can be used to find the approximate value of the vehicle you are looking at to determine if the price a dealer is offering is reasonable or even a good deal. They have information on their site about insurance and maintenance. There is also a portion of their site devoted to reviews of the cars by both professional reviewers and consumers who have posted their experiences with the cars. They give information about selling used cars as well. Having an educated buyer and seller can help ease the process for both parties.