Personal recommendations for a lame commuter car? Bonus points for a manual transmission

Yeah sadly most of these vehicles left are projects which totally goes against the whole purpose of what I'm trying to do. The XJ seems decent since they are actually somewhat comfortable and go down the road just fine especially if the AC works which it can be fixed for not too much if it does. But I definitely would want a clean, good condition one. Don't really care about miles too much but I want to make sure whatever I get is not going to become my second YJ, sucking all my money and me end up spending all the time in the world on it. The whole purpose is to ease my financial situation while driving something that still covers my needs and I don't absolutely hate my life while driving it...XJ seems good for that, if I can ever find a good one.
 
I had a 90 mile a day commute before I retired. Between the wife and I we were burning about $650 a month in fuel. I learned quick a cheapo car would be the way to go and first bought a 98 Camry. Ended up having 2 over the years of commuting, the 98 and a 02 IIRC. Quiet, about 38mpg and roomy for my 6'3 size. Cant beat em for commuters and I paid about $3000 for either. Only suggestion is get a 4 banger and Id tell you which years used the T chain not a belt if I could recall as they changed a couple times.
 
Gilaguy23 said:
I had a 90 mile a day commute before I retired. Between the wife and I we were burning about $650 a month in fuel. I learned quick a cheapo car would be the way to go and first bought a 98 Camry. Ended up having 2 over the years of commuting, the 98 and a 02 IIRC. Quiet, about 38mpg and roomy for my 6'3 size. Cant beat em for commuters and I paid about $3000 for either. Only suggestion is get a 4 banger and Id tell you which years used the T chain not a belt if I could recall as they changed a couple times.
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Good input. Haven’t even seen Camry’s because I’ve had it narrowed down to manual which was probably a mistake. Looks like 4 cyl was belt until 02, then chain forever. V6 was belt until 07, then chain up until now. Probably would go for the 4 cylinder simply for max mpg and cheaper entry price. V6 would be nice but might start to defeat the purpose a bit with its extra cost and I’m sure less mpg.
 
Gilaguy23 said:
I had a 90 mile a day commute before I retired. Between the wife and I we were burning about $650 a month in fuel. I learned quick a cheapo car would be the way to go and first bought a 98 Camry. Ended up having 2 over the years of commuting, the 98 and a 02 IIRC. Quiet, about 38mpg and roomy for my 6'3 size. Cant beat em for commuters and I paid about $3000 for either. Only suggestion is get a 4 banger and Id tell you which years used the T chain not a belt if I could recall as they changed a couple times.
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Hah, what do ya know. I do a search for Camrys and the first nice one I see happens to be a manual and I didn’t even select the filter. $6k, 116k miles, 4 cyl 5-speed manual. It’s right on my way to work too. I just may have to go check that one out. It looks really nice besides some small damage on the left rear bumper, but that’s no big deal…..not buying for beauty

02 Camry
 
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SirDoopYJ said:
It is nice that you can save about $1,000 just by picking the manual option
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Yeah I'll always save money on a manual if I can since I'd rather that to begin with....I don't despise a decent automatic but I just end up bored all the time lol. I am definitely not the average person though, most people want the exact opposite...
 
I would have a manual in my Merc if I could, there is just something about picking your own gears...
A friend got a great deal on used Mercedes C-class that his brother couldn't sell in LA because it was a manual.
Freaking Wimps!
 
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jeepjoe43 said:
I would have a manual in my Merc if I could, there is just something about picking your own gears...
A friend got a great deal on used Mercedes C-class that his brother couldn't sell in LA because it was a manual.
Freaking Wimps!
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Yeah I’m with ya. I will always choose a manual pretty much no matter what. My first frontier was automatic and it was a good truck but it was NEVER in the gear I wanted it to be in so I was always having to bury my foot into the throttle to get it to downshift and move. There’s just something about being in the gear you want to be in naturally. Modern autos immediately dump into OD at like 35-40 mph and then have to downshift to move faster at all. Drives me nuts.
 
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machoheadgames said:
Yeah I’m with ya. I will always choose a manual pretty much no matter what. My first frontier was automatic and it was a good truck but it was NEVER in the gear I wanted it to be in so I was always having to bury my foot into the throttle to get it to downshift and move. There’s just something about being in the gear you want to be in naturally. Modern autos immediately dump into OD at like 35-40 mph and then have to downshift to move faster at all. Drives me nuts.
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The same here, brother, the same here!
Manual is always a plus, no disrespect to our automatic brethren here though!
Just personal preference.
 
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jeepjoe43 said:
Me either!
Though most of the vehicles I've owned have had auto's, I hate them, I just don't trust them.
Auto-Magic, as I call them....Certainly not going to trust one with my life!
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You’re certainly relying on a lot more from them than a spinning box of gears. Solenoids all to act as they should, valve body, etc. keeping it cool. Something I really can’t stand about them is when you have to Austin powers your way out of something back and forth. Autos are often sooooo slow from D to R and back. Meanwhile in a manual you’re just slamming the knob from 1 to R back and forth like nothing.
 
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