What Car Can You Get For $2,500

Now that the Tata Nano was announced with so much fanfare, I decided to look around and see how much car can a person get for $2,500 (RM 8,750 in Malaysian Ringgit; US$1 = RM 3.5). Off course, if you are living in the US or even UK, where there laws to junk a car after a certain number of years, then $2,500 can get you quite a car.

In countries where they are such laws, as the time comes for the owner to “recycle” their cars, there would not be much value left. That means nobody wants your car. At around this same time, because your car ain’t gonna be worth much, there isn’t any financial reason to keep the car in good condition.

Here, where I live, there is no such laws. You can keep the car until every part drops off, at still be able to keep in on the road. So what happens is, you’ll probably can still see 20 year old cars on the road. So here in is the quest to find out how much car you can get for $2,500.

Initially I wanted to buy a used car magazine, those with lot’s of tiny pictures of used cars for sale. But then, I was feeling cheap. Instead, I surfed straight over to MotorTrader and zoomed in to the Bargain Section of cars. (Aah, the wonders of the internet!) Surprisingly, there are quite a lot of cars for sale that is below $2,500. Ranges from continental cars like Audi, Volvo, Mercedes (yes even a Merc) plus plenty of Japanese, Korean and local makes.

I asked myself, “If Mike TheMekanic were to buy a car for himself, which car would he buy”? Being a Mekanic, he’ll avoid a lemon, off course and being a bit of a cheap skate, he’ll probably go for a Proton or another Japanese offering.

Here is what’s available

You can get a Nissan Sunny (older brother of the current Nissan Sentra) for between RM 4,500 and RM 8,888 ($1,285 and $2,540). The 1995 Sunny looks good and with some bargaining, I’m pretty sure you can drive it home for $2,500.

Next we have a range of Protons

Again, all within US$2,500. Not bad but then these are 13 to 16 year old cars. Wonder how much longer can they last. Cars in the 90’s are still ok. Looks ok in the pictures but remembers pictures don’t tell a thousand words. Not these days with graphic editing. You’ll need to check for rust and accident damage. Also don’t forget to see if it is a stolen vehicle!

Finally, if you want something than becoming a classic, and who knows, it might last another 10 years, the W123 Mercedes, that’s built like a tank. Parts are plenty and cheap. Look out for rust though and with fuel prices at the moment, you’ll really need to think more than twice to buy it. Though the diesel looks good, it could have been a taxi in its prime.

Since I didn’t have the time or the inclination to research other makes and models, I used Nissan as sort of like a benchmark. From cars.com, I manage to locate 1993 to 1996 Nissan Serena, Maxima (Cefiro) for less than $2,000. Assuming you spend a bit to repair and make the total purchase price to $2,500. By the way, I don’t know about insurance cost in the US.

There are plenty more choices since the US is so big a market.

In the UK with US$1 = 0.502 GBP, I found these.

So there you have it. With $2,400, you can either buy a new Tata Nano, or a slew of cars at least 10 years old. But I’m sure, if you look hard enough, you can get smaller, newer used cars for that amount of money.

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