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2006 Pontiac Pursuit/Cheverolet Cobalt

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Ankhanu
I find my self in need of a new car within a month and have started looking around for something new (to me). I'm on a budget so I'm basically looking at $10k and less. Many of the cars that I've come across in my price range are 2006 Pontiac Pursuits (a Canadian Pontiac version of the Chevy Cobalt). I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this car, and what your thoughts are?

I'm currently driving a 1999 VW Jetta TDI that's not going to pass it's safety inspection and will be pretty expensive to get up to code :/
ocalhoun
Ankhanu wrote:

I'm currently driving a 1999 VW Jetta TDI that's not going to pass it's safety inspection and will be pretty expensive to get up to code :/

Sell it in a place that does not have inspections, that should help you recover more of the money from it.

As for the cobalt/pursuit, GM has traditionally made very good large trucks, but their smaller cars are usually mediocre at best.
Ankhanu
ocalhoun wrote:
Ankhanu wrote:

I'm currently driving a 1999 VW Jetta TDI that's not going to pass it's safety inspection and will be pretty expensive to get up to code :/

Sell it in a place that does not have inspections, that should help you recover more of the money from it.


Unfortunately, MVIs are required all across Canada. I'd have to spend more in export fees than I could possibly sell it for to get it into the States for sale Razz I may just have to sell it for parts if I can't get a trade (which I'll probably have to do)

ocalhoun wrote:
As for the cobalt/pursuit, GM has traditionally made very good large trucks, but their smaller cars are usually mediocre at best.


This has been my feeling as well. Thing is, they're cheap, and I'm poor Razz I did find a 2004 VW Golf TDI that has my attention for $10k, but it's a 5 year old car with 160k km( just shy of 100k mi.) on it. I know I'll be happier with its build quality and performance, but I'm concerned about it's longevity, being pretty old already, and it's about $2000-4000 more expensive than the Pursuits I found.
ocalhoun
Ankhanu wrote:

Unfortunately, MVIs are required all across Canada. I'd have to spend more in export fees than I could possibly sell it for to get it into the States for sale Razz

Look into that before you just assume it's true.

I'm not sure if import/export fees apply to just a single car being sold by a private individual.
And if they do, they might still be low enough to make it worthwhile.

I talked with a couple from the UK once, who spend 6 months in the US out of every year. Every time they go back to the UK, they bring a huge heavy-duty pickup with them, and sell it for a nice profit. Every time the go from the UK to the US, they bring a tiny, fuel-efficient car, and sell it for a nice profit. Apparently, if these fees do apply to them, the fees are not so large that they make the practice unprofitable. (And they have to ship the cars overseas, which must cost a fortune, and yet they still profit from it!)



(Personally, with US or CN $10,000 to spend, I would buy a semi-restored classic car.
Examples:
example-68 dodge
example-65 mercedes-benz
example-50 oldsmobile
example-69 VW
example-64 mustang
These are just examples that a very cursory look-over makes seem suitable. There are LOTS of nice classic cars you could have for $10k. Most will burn more gas (not the VW!) and have fewer modern options, but they'll have lots of head-turning going on, and if you are careful, you can find a very reliable one; one with a proven track record of decades of reliability behind it. The best thing? If you take care of it, it'll go up in value, not down. Your car won't depreciate!)
Ankhanu
I'll clarify, I can afford financing monthly payments up to a total cost of about $10k... I don't HAVE $10k Razz It's a fairly important distinction Smile Though I've got decent credit, my balance owing is too high between credit cards and student loans for my bank to approve a loan. The classic idea is a nice one though.

As for the import fees, it's a percentage of the vehicle's book value (my wife is from the States, we had to import her car when she moved here to Canada), which is about $3500 I think. It would probably be about $200 or so at least for import, plus another couple hundred to get it to the (nearest) border and get back home; between the trip, time off work, paper work and everything else required it just wouldn't be worth the effort, even if I could bank a little bit over the costs. I'm better off selling it for parts or just junking it if a dealer won't take it from us.
ocalhoun
Ankhanu wrote:
I'll clarify, I can afford financing monthly payments up to a total cost of about $10k... I don't HAVE $10k Razz It's a fairly important distinction Smile Though I've got decent credit, my balance owing is too high between credit cards and student loans for my bank to approve a loan. The classic idea is a nice one though.

You can finance classic cars! The only problem is that the bank can't use established book values to determine what the car is worth. You just have to get the car's value appraised; the bank should be able to refer you to a classic-car-appraiser they trust. Once they've gotten the appraised value, you can get a loan for it just like any used car of about the same value.
(If your bank won't cooperate with that, you should be able to find one that will.)

I see you did your homework on the import/export fees! I guess parting it out would be the best option then. (Or, for the less scrupulous, just neglect to mention that it would have issues passing inspection...)
Ankhanu
Update - Ended up getting a 2006 Golf, gasoline w/ auto transmission. The gas and auto were a bit of a sacrifice (and it's red, blech), but all in all I think we got a good car for a decent price, and a discount on 4 new winter tires (started snowing Friday)... brought the total up to just under $11,400, with monthly payments of about $234/mo. and it still has about a year or 20k kM of warranty left.
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