You Can Still Buy a $500 Car: Will I Make It Home? 

I found a Oldsmobile delta 88 at a garage sale it was a grandma car she had passed away. Clear coat was peeling paint had faded but it only had 40,000 miles. I paid $500 and drove it all summer everything worked. You can find them just avoid the car lots.

I bought a $1200 1996 4 Runner from a used car lot in New Jersey It literally overheated and set on fire at the Turkey Hill just across the NJ to PA border in Easton PA. The damn thing never even made it back to my driveway in central PA. Insurance still set value at $4000 bucks so I unintentionally made $3000. Scary but no tears bc I was not burned alive and I had some extra cash.

Brilliant! I bought one (admittedly in better shape) for $500 like 8 years ago. It was running in limp mode and they had replaced all kinds of stuff. Ended up the signal wire for the throttle cable had a bent terminal at the harness connector. Straightened the terminal and flipped the car for a 500% ROI.

I have a soft spot in my heart for beaters. It's so refreshing to have a car that you can park anywhere and not worry about it getting scratched, door dinged, or stolen. It's also like you can travel incognito. Can you do a few more videos on this?

Alex and Brenden have that everyman relatable vibe. Great duo! Keep it up guys! Love the used-car content and stuff on the realistic end of affordability. I hope your Suzuki holds up!

I've gotten 3 running driving cars in the past year for under 500 bucks, and one non running 1987 volvo 244 dl in great condition for ONE DOLLAR! All it needed was a fuel pump relay and new gas.

I bought my brother in law's 1954 Ford for $25. It was in 1965 and I was a high school senior. Even in 1965, $25 was dirt cheap for a decent running car. The only problem with it was a bad reverse gear. It cleaned up very nicely, was a beautiful royal blue color, V8 powered, and no body blemishes.

I was in highschool back in the late 80’s and I use to drive a $500 beater on the regular. Can’t count how many sub $500 dollar cars I had throughout High School and College…always managed to sell them for more than what I had into them and NEVER had any mechanical break downs. I think the new $500 dollar car is $2500…looking forward to seeing the new Lincoln…you have a great eye! Hope the little Suzuki ends up being a winner for you.

I got a 93 sonoma about 2 years ago for about $700. Its been my daily. Love that little truck.

Several years ago, i found on a lawn, a sign on a 1999 Honda CRV. 240,000 miles for $250.00. Put new tires, general maintenance. My kid drove it for 2 years, until literally all the exhaust rusted away. Always started. Then i sold it for $850.00.

Expensive cars are NOT the problem. The problem IS money WORTH LESS now. BTW, I'm sure that Pininfarina designed car is a Korean one, maybe a Daewoo

In 2018, I bought a 01 Jeep Grand Cherokee for $500 from a coworker . Spent an extra $100 for a new battery

Rust free, runs and stops, and $500. Awesome find!

This car was also produced (or still being made) in Central Asia by Daewoo/GM Uzbekistan as Daewoo (and Chevrolet) Lacetti (and guess later as Gentra). The most funny thing about it is that local tuners install the Mercedes Benz interior in it, like with seats, instrument cluster, door panels etc. and also there are MB style grills and front and rear lights, too.

Great "Beater with a Heater"! Nice score! Nice Baja!

Top Gear used one of those for the Reasonably priced car for some years well

Several years ago, I bought a clean, stripper, 96 Tacoma with only 73K on the clock, for $400. Of course, there was this little problem. It wouldn't shift into first or third gear! Turned out to be a cheap, easy fix, and I'm still driving it. With only 82K on it now, it might outlast me! Then there was a '96 Camry I got 12 years ago for $1. But I had to spend over $600 to pass inspection! Still have that too.

Thank you, Brendon and Alex. Even in my day (early 80s) finding something under $1k that ran for more than a few months was lucky

A friend of mine had a 1984 Dodge 100 pickup with a camper top on it I loved it and every time I went to his house I would admire it I asked him how much he wanted for it a couple of times and he would never give me a price one day I was at his place and I was admiring the truck like I always do and I asked him again how much do you want for it and he said okay for today friend price I'll give it to you for a hundred bucks I thought he was messing with me but he took $100 for that truck and all I had to do was rebuild the carburetor and do some exhaust work and the truck was amazing four-wheel drive everything that you can ask for in a big truck I used to call it Mastodon wasn't anything to look at but it got the job done in the snow and if I needed to haul anything there it was

I got a $600 dollar Saturn Vue at Copart. It only has 57K for mileage and only needed minor exhaust repairs. I replaced the hatch struts & restored the faded headlights myself. But getting the title is WAY too long of a time frame, 5 months! After paying $99 bucks I can buy whatever I want at Copart through a broker. Avoid AAA Auto Sales from New Jersey at all cost, horrible customer service!

AIR BAG LIGHT FIX I’ve owned one, and had the light as well. It comes on when the car sits with a low battery for a period of time, I’m sure this happened at the auction. If the battery is good now, once fully charged up just clear the light and it won’t come back! Low voltage just trips the system

The Firenza screamed "low-quality car" even when they were new. Anything made by Daewoo in the 2000s was junk. They basically had the quality of early '90s Hyundais. The only sub-$1,000 cars I ever bought were a 1990 Chevy Celebrity and a 1989 Chrysler Lebaron Coupe, both of which I paid about $300 for each. The Celebrity had the Iron Duke with 120k miles. The white paint had no clearcoat left, but the body was straight, the burgundy interior was very clean, and it ran so smoothly. The Lebaron had the 2.5L 4cyl and an odometer that was stuck at 177k miles, so there's no telling how many miles it actually had. It had very faded gray paint, a straight body, a clean interior, and ran pretty well. I'd take either one of those cars again over this Firenza. Granted, these were cars purchased nearly 20yrs ago and I know values have gone up a lot.

Man, seeing that Beemer really brought back some fond memories. When I got out of the service in '79 my very first purchase was a R90/6. I rode the hell outta that thing. My favorite thing to do was put a nickel (on its edge) onto the gas tank while the engine was running. It idled so smoothly that the nickel just stood there straight as an arrow. Enjoyed the video.

For $500.00 you did really well!

Bought my 2004 Passat 1.8T 4motion 5speed manual with 110K miles on it for $750 as a non runner because the previous owner got the ECU wet after doing work on it then washing it with the ECU cover off and couldn't start it. He bought a new ECU but it wouldn't work. I bought the car, put an ECU in it with immobilizer delete and it started right up. I've put lots of money in it mechanically, new head gasket, cv axles, engine mounts, tires, timing belt, water pump, did all the required maintenance on it for the mileage and it now has 117K miles on it with about $4k total invested. I bought the car because of its drivetrain set up. The turbo stick AWD combo is really rare and fun to drive. I'm not getting rid of my car for anything. I love it. Owned it since 2019.

My first car was a ‘76 Buick and my second car was a ‘88 Chevy. Both ran great!

As soon as he started driving all I saw was the steering shaking like crazy as he says "it drives good" no it doesn't 😂

You can also find okay deals at non-dealer auctions. I’ve purchased from Roller Auctions and Dickensheet here in Denver. You don’t get to inspect the vehicles as much so it’s a little bit of a gamble, but as long as you research the cars VIN you’re good.

Love it... The fleet update was an unexpected treat... Bummer on the Baja Bug, I love those things... The Mini is an interesting update for a Baja...

I had a 06 Suzuki Forenza, the second head gasket was the death to the car at 300K miles. There was a recall for the headlight problem something to do with the daytime running lights. I still have a NOS head gasket kit, LOL. It was basically a Chevy Colbat must parts was stamped with GM part numbers. Not having cruise control was the only thing I didn't like about it.

I had the Chevy version of this car called the Optra. D.O.H.C 4 cylinder had the get up and go through the city but they were a slug on the highway at 70mph. Good on fuel for the most part. 65 miles on $20 in fuel at $5 per gallon CDN.

Damn, had a Firenza wagon for my daughter to drive in high school. Firenza is Japanese for “Absolute POS.”

Been driving a $1500 ‘01 f150 ford about 3 yrs now. It isn’t much to look at but it has been super reliable. Also got a 94 f150 for tow cost that wasn’t running. Put a little money in it to get it going but runs fine now.

Bought my 2002 gmc Sierra z71 extracab June of 2023 for $500. 98k original miles with no check engine lights of any kind. Auto 4x4, lsd, heated seats, short bed. Best deal I’ve ever gotten.

Bought an 08 envoy for 500 from my old work, it was a trade in with 250k but only needed the 4wd actuator replaced.

Town Cars are wonderful runners. Sure it has issues but it is still running.

We payed 1000$ for a Suzuki Forenza with 50k miles in 2019, Sold it in 2023 for 3500$ with 130k. It was the best car ever, so many road trips, great gas mileage, ultra reliable. It was really great, if I found a wagon, I would buy another! Wish Suzuki was still in the states.

Oh wow, since I was in high school in the 1970's I'm sure I have bought dozens of $500 or less cars ! Cheapest one I bought was a '72 Chevy Vega I bought for $50 and drove it to death in about a year ! As a mechanic and vehicle flipper for the last 45 years it is possible to find a usable, running car for cheap. I often go to big dealerships and check out the back lots and have found many hidden gems .

Sweet! I should have bought a Suzuki Forenza when I was searching for a cheap beater last Spring. I hit a deer with my trusty pickup truck, and it forced me to think about how much I was spending on gas per week, which led me to the search for a decent car to drive around. That's when I found my 1998 Ford Escort sedan, and I bought it purely for nostalgic reasons. I had a '99 when it was brand new, and it got repossessed 2 years into my "ownership." My sister had a '98 which she had donated after buying a 2001 Ford Escape. The deal I had for the current Escort was well below $5K, and it's been really good. It's nothing exciting, but I do have fond memories of belting up and down I-95 with my '99, which is the main reason for buying this one. It runs like a top, and is so stinking simple to wrench on. In all, I've had to add coolant sealant, get the brakes redone (dealership's mechanic installed them incorrectly), new battery, and replaced some vacuum tubing on the PCV valve (will have to replace the ENTIRE thing soon). Funnily enough, I keep driving my pickup because I feel safer in it even with the damage incurred with Bambi's untimely "Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?" reenactment. So, for $4K (with 104,000 miles on the clock), the Escort's been a good deal when everyone wanted nearly $5-$7K for similar cars with higher mileage.

My first car was a 2005 Forenza wagon. It was great for 60k miles lol

The cheapest vehicle I have gotten was a 1986 Subaru DL wagon for $400. I got that for the 2022 Oregon Gambler 500 and it made it no problem! I put around $200 into it afterwards for maintenance costs but besides that it has been solid. Unfortunately though I have to sell it since I have to free up some space at home. The next vehicle I bought was a 1995 Isuzu Rodeo for $550. Mainly got it for the 2023 Oregon Gambler 500 and has currently became my main offroading vehicle. I had to do a little bit of work to it but the total cost was around $800. Even before the repairs I did, it still ran with no issues! (They were mainly cosmetic problems anyways.) I didn't think that was a bad deal considering it is a 4x4 vehicle with the 3.2 v6, 5 speed manual, and a limited slip rear end. These older Rodeos are great!

I bought a A$500 (US$330) Ford Falcon last year. Drives great and I am planning on driving it almost 8000km (5000mi) mainly on dirt roads in the Australian outback in a charity rally called the Sh!tbox Rally.

Great video

My favorite car in your fleet? The red/white groaner v6 mutt-dang. I love that good looking boring mustang. The perfect around town and slow cruiser car. 😊

My first car was a 1974 Ford Pinto station wagon. I bought it for $100 from my friends father.I bought it in 1982. That car almost lasted three years. Thats good for $100 bucks.

You walked right by the Volvo 240 wagon? I'm shocked.

Shows my age, but I have purchased many a car for under $500, a string of Toyotas (mostly Corollas, 1 Corona, 1 Celica) for $250 or less on a disposable car theory. Got 10,000 miles or more on each one. That was back in the late 80's, early 90's. My first 2 cars were VW Beetles (58, 62) bought the first for $75, the second for $200. (before I was even 16 years old!)

glad ya got a daewoo!

I wanna see this cleaned up and the work you do to it!

Love the motorrad!

Where I live. The scrap yard pays $500 dollars for any car. And even sends a wrecker to pick it up. Abandoned cars and cars without titles can't ever be registered without going through the impound. And then sold at a private auction for licensed car dealers. There is also a personal risk when you sell a car. Because the person might not transfer the title and commit crimes in the vehicle. So, no one is selling a car privately for $500 dollars.

In 1988 I bought my first car. It was in 1974 firebird esprit. 250 bucks It was a rust bucket (new York car) but got it driving nice until at 84-year-old lady ran a stop sign & totaled it

Wow, love the R100S. I had a '77, the same colour. It was a barn find that I bought for $1800 and it had only 18k miles on it. The owner was a Harley "Biker" dude who got married and decided a BMW would suit domestic life better. He put high bars on it, cut off the centre stand (because real motorcycles don't have centre stands) and threw the beautiful bikini fairing away. The tank had a big dent in it from where the mule knocked it over in the barn. His wife told me they were selling it because it went too fast and scared the poor guy. I went through the bike that winter and loaded it up with engine and suspension parts from CC and San Jose in CA, repainted it, added a Hannigan SS fairing and BMW saddlebags. It made the best sport touring motorcycle ever. Classic, comfortable and reliable. I've owned a lot of bikes, but that is my favorite.They are timeless mchines.

My good friend bought 4 speed Volvo under $1000 Canadian. It had VW, Renault, Volvo six cylinder diesel. He had engine rebuilt and drove it over 400K miles. Before transmission gave up.

These were sold as Chevrolet Optras here in Mexico and they sold pretty well here.

Looks and sounds like a deal! I was going to say how close it resembles a Chevy SS, makes sense now. Plus the engine sounded great at start up. Just feed it some premium, seafoam and oil change with full synthetic.

I bought a 2000 Grand Cherokee limited with the 4.7 v8 for $500 and daily drove it for 3yrs and sold it for $700 after. Then I bought a 2014 ford transit connect cargo van for only 700 last year ran and drove with a clean title

A couple years ago I bought a 1975 c-10 suburban with a 454, not pretty but it ran good, sold it the following year after I had my fun for $1750. Really wish I hadn’t sold it

I really enjoyed the video, but please give that Town Car some love. 😢

It's Forenza, not "Firenza" which was an Oldsmobile compact in the 80's, rebadged Cavalier. My mom had a Suzuki Reno, hatchback version, and was slow and not so good mpg for its size, but didn't break down from 2010-20, only needed an ECM, but it still ran, Daewoo became GM Korea.

I bought a Lexus GS430 at public auction for less than $600 including fees. There are drivable $500 cars everywhere.

Hooray Brenden did a fleet update for me!!❤

My first car was a 87 Thunderbird turbo coup. I bought in 2007 in highschool for $500

I picked up a blown trans Chevy Silverado w/t for 2500$, thought that was a good deal. I fixed it and am driving it now!

I bought a 92 accord in rough shape cosmetically for 1k last month

Good job on getting her home

sometimes the quick blinker is from the relay and using LED bulbs. was there a turn signal bulb actually burned out? if not i'd check that. can just get a different blinker relay to fix it (at least that fixed it on my WRX).

If the blower works on the Town Car but no heat try back flushing cooling system. It totally fixed this problem on my Silverado which also needed dash removal to work on the heater which would have cost $900. $100 at the radiator shop for the back flush saved me $800

If you gave that an entry level detail and bought a kit to recondition those headlights covers you could definitely use this for a while and sell it on for a couple hundred bucks more than you paid!

i recently bought a 2008 ford escape hybrid for 700 with 170k . sold it for 4700 this past weekend . cheers

Hoping you checked all the fluids before you started the car and drove it..

This car seems like a good one to go back and forth to work just to put the miles on tell it dies.

I just bought a 2006 Malibu with the V6 for $1500 last week. 220k miles and all it needs is front struts 🤷 runs and drives like a champ!

Last year I bought a running and driving 1999 Mazda Miata NB1 w/ 140k miles for $2650, manual ofc. A few weeks ago I bought a running and driving 2000 Mercedes ML55 AMG w/ 192k miles for $2100. It's currently at the shop getting a coolant leak and intermittent misfire issue diagnosed but I've been driving it almost daily since I got it.

I was born in 1980 so you know my age I used to be able to buy running vehicles for 200-300 dollars up to around 2005 and still many up to 500 till 2010 regularly never owned a vehicle above 1,000 dollars till my kids were born within the last 8 years they came late in life i usually flipped the cars i bought or drove them till they died i had a 89 buick LeSabre i bought in 99 and drove it for 10 years and put over 100,000 miles on it never had any mechanical repairs just maintenance and i sold it in 2009 for 1,000 with over 220,000 miles and ive had others that i put thousands of miles on and just sold them i just loved my buick it was so comfy

Running driving, 2008 p71 vic ex MI state trooper car. 214,000. $1,100. Only needed a water pump. Daily all winter.

206k on v6 Jesus most have manual tensioners in there. I bought an 800 dollar, Ford aerostar at a dealer on black Friday this past year.

I love the look but in NY that VW would be ticketed for the upside down plate.

I absolutely love the older mustangs 🙂

I think you're right looking for cars that people really don't think about anymore and really don't have any kind of passion for anymore is the way to go to find the cheap cars I know back in the day when I was a teenager I actually found a Chevy chevette that I bought off of friend of mine's sister and she only asked for $50 for it it was running and driving I told her she could take the chevette and scrap it for more than that and she told me look I want it out of my yard I know that you'll take good care of it you want it $50 is what I'll take for it and I thought I would drive it for a few months and I ended up driving it for 7 years it really was not a head turner at all and it was just cheap basic transportation but that was fine with me

Drove a Forenza for 5 yrs, it was a "luxury version" that never made to the US (soon roof, automatic climate control and others). It was really roomie, confortable and I keept it in minty condition but after 70k miles started leaking oil everywhere ( changed headgasket like 3 times), and had to visit my mechanic once every 2 months for small issues. Definitely mechanics were poor quality.

I had a pretty good running 1956 Chevy truck I paid $75 for.

Lol. I had one of these Daewoo when I was in college. So glad mine was reliable. Crashed it at 125,000 miles.

Great videos. I actually enjoy this more than the ones about the overpriced unreliable new vehicles

Need to cover the exhaust on the vw bug.

Off topic, my father's family comes from the Firenza region in Italy

I bought a £500 2005 Saab 9-5 with 70K on the clock. Just had to hand it over 4 years on with 170k on the clock because it didn't pass it's MOT. Replaced it with a 2005 Nissan X-Trail (Rogue) for £900 with 75k on the clock.

Back around Thanksgiving of last year (2023). I bought a 2013 Acura ILX Premium with 195k miles for $1,000. Steal of a deal! The previous owner was a family friend who told me that Acura told her “it needed a new ABS system” and quoted her $3k. She wasn’t offered more than $1,200 on trade. I put a few hundred into it replacing the ABS pump and module and doing a brake job on it and a few other little fixes, but I now have a 2013 Acura with under 200k for under $1,700 total. It’s a great little commuter and while it’s no sports car, it’s still fun to drive. Best deal I’ve gotten since I bought a 1989 S10 with no mechanical issues (just peeling paint) for $525 back in 2005.

I got a $700 06 Maxima SL at Copart...came out to around 1200 after fees and its a nice daily driver. Only has to swap out alternator and radiator fan in year ive owned it

I flew out to Denver, train to bus then Springs. Had to walk a ways to meet my son but it was in the 30’s and a couple guys were on motorcycles wearing shorts. A couple Harley riders wearing t shirts. I was like man I’m cold force marching and these guys….ugh.

My first car (in 2005) was a $500 '88 Dodge Daytona. Rusted out and leaked alot of oil, amongst other issues. It ran and drove, so what more does a 16 year old need? Felt good to buy my own car too.

That BMW motorcycle is the BEST! 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪

Clean it up, throw some Walmart hubcaps fix what's needed and it's actually not a bad looking car.

That’s known in a lot of countries as Chevrolet optra and is officially designed by Daewoo. Is cheap to maintain and the 1.8 engine is not that bad. The problem for that one is the transmission. The park/neutral sensor goes bad so is kinda of annoying

i just bought a 2006 Pontiac Montana sv6 from a family member for $300 and it runs great! i posted it on my channel.

That car was sold as the Chevy Optra in México in the late 2000's

I drove a free 86 olds custom cruiser for basically a whole year before deciding I liked the car enough to buy a nicer one

My first car was in 2016 a 2001 Honda civic dx for 250 , I got 2 years out of it before I got rid of it for an upgrade. Sold it for 600.

I got a free 2000 ford explorer 4.0 with 310,000 miles. Runs an drives good

My first car. A $500 K car. Ran great.