The Lincoln Mark VII 1986-1992 (originally called the Continental Mark VII from 1984-1985) rode on the Fox platform shared with the Mustang, Thunderbird, and Cougar. It was powered by Ford's legendary 5.0 V8...but saddled with a basic 4-speed slushbox but this next owner has fixed that with a few parts from a used Mustang. Find this 1988 Lincoln Mark VII LSC with 5-speed offered for $3800 in Douglas, PA.
The Passat has been Volkswagen's large family sedan option for many years and it is typically been based on a platform shared with the Golf and built in Mexico, but the B5 generation Volkswagen Passat was built on a Germany built platform shared with the Audi A4/A6 from 1997 through 2005. This means that it used a longitudinal front-drive (and optional 4motion all-wheel-drive) setup and could be had with a number of engines, including a 1.8 liter 4-cylinder turbo, a 2.8 liter V6 and a 4 liter W8. In an odd twist of things, the 1.8T 4-cylinder engine (chipped to 200 hp) and mated to a 5-speed with front-drive is actually the most fun to drive out of the powertrain options...and today's example comes slightly lowered and fitted with wheels from an C4 generation Audi UrS6. Just make sure the seller has used synthetic oil and drive it for another 100k miles. Find this 2004 Volkswagen Passat 1.8T offered for $2300 in Fremont, CA via craigslist.
The biggest complaint I have about this next car is the name. Say it out loud: I drive a Contour. An SVT Contour. Yuck. Contour. Blech. SVT Contour sounds like something you'd lookup in a medical encyclopedia and recoil in horror at the associated illustration. Ford should have kept the global name and called it the Mondeo...but at least we were able to get one in the USA with a 5-speed manual gearbox and some tuning from Ford's Special Vehicle Team. Find this 1999 Ford Contour SVT offered for $3950 in Altadena, CA via craigslist.
Few cars elicit the same degree of guffawed snickers as a French built car sold in AMC dealers with the Spanish name for fire. Yeah. The one car that is more Rodney Dangerfield than even Pontiac's Fiero...the Renault Fuego. It is a car that was loved by a few, misunderstood by many, and is all but extinct today...so forget the whales, we need to band together and save the Fuegos. Find this 1984 Renault Fuego offered for $3975 in New Albany, OH via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
Mitsubishi is an oddity among the major Japanese automakers. It doesn't have the "reliability" stamp of Honda/Toyota, but it doesn't make many "fun" cars like Subaru (except for the Evo and maybe the VR4 things...but that is a story for another time)...but you shouldn't overlook some of the 90s Bishis because they offer a surprising bang per your buck. Find this 1992 Mitsubishi Montero 4X4 offered for $5999 in Orlando, FL via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
This next car is offered by the seller as a "project" but it is much nicer than 99% of the projects offered for sale...it passes smog and has a manual gearbox swapped behind the 3.8 liter V8. Sure, it needs some cosmetic work on the interior and needs new rear glass, but the real kicker is that these R107 Mercedes-Benz coupes are so under-priced in the market compared to anything else with two seats and German build quality. Buy one. Buy another. Get a barn. Make the news in 30 years. Find this 1981 Mercedes-Benz 380SL offered for $5500 in Concord, CA via craigslist.
Roush Performance was launched in 1995 as a way for NASCAR legend Jack "Panama Hat" Roush to provide power to the people. Roush Performance got a reputation for making fast 'n' loud Mustangs, but they also dabbled in other Fords like the Focus and F-150...but for two years in the early millennium, they built about 100 examples of something called the Mercury Cougar Roush Edition. It appears to have been strictly a cosmetic appearance upgrade package, but if you are going to drive a Cougar, this is the one to get. Find this 2000 Mercury Cougar Roush Edition here on eBay bidding for $1000 reserve-not-met located in La Vergne, TN with 1 day to go.
The last few years has been an interesting time for cheap car lovers (like me, the other DT writers...and you) -- and mostly unfavorable. Classics have jumped up across the board, late model interesting things have gotten serious interest and overhyped prices and the last decade of cars have not depreciated in the manner you would expect (I plan a full diatribe post on that later...) but it always makes me happy when I stumble on a car that is interesting, fun, well preserved, and cheap. It doesn't happen as often as it should, but they are still out there. Find this 1995 Jeep Wrangler Sahara offered for $6,400 in Alameda, CA via craigslist.
In the world of fast German luxury sedans, there is an interesting rivalry between the BMW M3, Mercedes-Benz C-AMG, and Audi's S4. These three compact executive cars have been brawling since the beginning of time..and while you might think that BMW landed the first punch in the German street car brawl with its barn-storming E30 M3...but the truth is Mercedes-Benz launched the 190E 2.3-16V Cosworth in the same year -- and the 190E hasn't appreciated into stupid price territory, yet. Find this 1986 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16V Cosworth offered for $8000 in Hillsborough, NJ via hemmings. Tip from BP.
This next car comes as tip from Jeff who writes: Nice long roof for the money! It does need a bit of work, but doesn't seem huge for the right person. I like it because I like Subie wagons, but I think this one is too grounded to the ground for me...and the color is odd..but it is a wrap that could probably be removed exposing the original blue paint..which probably has flaking clearcoat and lots of scratches. Maybe leave the wrap. Find this 2005 Subaru Legacy GT offered for $5400 in Ft Collins, CO via craigslist.
The 300ZX was a 2 door sports car from Nissan during the great Japanese sports car boom of the 1990s and featured a host of technology in a Isao Sono & Toshio Yamashita designed body. In recent years the 300ZX's competitors (Supra, NSX, 993 etc) have gone through their depreciation curves and the good original ones are commanding prices well above original MSRP, but for some reason the 300ZX (and Mitsu's 3000GT/Dodge Stealth) have cheap for years...but I think that might be changing as cars from the 90s become classics...which is strange and makes me feel old. Find this 1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo offered for $15,000 in Reno, NV via craigslist. Tip from Jeff.
In the classic car market coupes are almost always worth more than sedans...but there are a few notable exceptions, such as the mid 60s Lincoln Continental (the suicide door equipped sedan is way cooler and more expensive than the coupe) and possibly the E36 generation M3. The 2-door M3 coupe was certainly more common, but a 4-door E36 M3 5-Speed (aka the E36 M3/4/5) does seem to command a premium due to its additional usability and rarity. Find this 1997 BMW M3 4-Door offered for $7995 in Brattleboro, VT via craigslist. Tip from TeleArrow.
This next car comes as a tip from Jeff who writes: For a first car or daily beater, this one is hard to beat.... unless you're over 6 ft. tall. I agree on the daily driver or kids first car, and the ad is good...but my only question is -- who would put synthetic oil in a Yaris!?!? That's like feeding duck liver pate to the pet pig. Find this 2009 Toyota Yaris offered for $3495 in Houston, TX via craigslist.
I've had a number of conversations with "in the know" car guys who agree that the market for cheap (sub $4k) cars has changed in the past few years. The days of finding cars that are simply depreciated and not slammed, stanced, bashed, or bro'd for a few thousand dollars is maddeningly behind us. It seems that even the most basic piece of transportation is being offered at a mighty high price...so it is refreshing when something like this next car comes across the DT desk. It has a manual gearbox, a nice clean Honda paint job and interior. Find this 1990 Honda Accord EX offered for $2500 in Chandler, AZ via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
I know what you are thinking. The guys at DT have found the Christmas rum cake storage and eaten at entire box. Ok...that might be true...but you've got to hang on and take a second look at this tippy low budget small SUV crossover thing from a South Korean automaker. I never thought those words would escape these fingers...but I just wrote 'em...so you've got a read 'em...and hopefully not weep. Here is the deal...this car has a 5-speed manual gearbox in the most unlikely of places...right betwix the driver and passenger. Find this 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS offered for $3750 in Phoenix, AZ via craigslist.
Its been a strange recovery from the 2008 automotive crisis. First off, the $1000 drive-able cars that used to litter craigslist/autotrader have all but disappeared, and the bottom of the heap Honda/Toyotas cost $4k. Blame cash for clunkers for a huge number (710,000 by some accounts) reduction in cheap/running/driving cars from the marketplace, followed by slow sales in 2009, 2010, 2011...anyway, cars for $1k are usually total piles of junk in 2019...but you can find an occasional diamond in the rough. Find this 1995 Toyota Celica offered for $1200 in Boulder Creek, CA via craigslist.
This next car comes from tipper Jake who writes: You absolutely can’t go wrong here. Amen, brother...Amen. This is not the preferred 535i "injection" version and is instead the 528e version...e is short for ETA, and is not, contrary to popular belief, named after the Basque separatist group, but is instead named ETA for the Greek letter η....which in enginerd parlance is used for efficiency. The 528e engine was tuned for fuel economy over power, and should be acceptable when paired to the 5-speed manual gearbox. Find this 1987 BMW 528e offered for $4,500 in Smithfield, VA via craigslist.