Just to give more background, our finances are moving towards comingling, planning on getting engaged in a couple months. I'm contributing towards the new vehicle, and she drives it mostly and has asked my help in buying the car from private party on craigslist as I've done it several times before and she trusts me to get a good deal for her. She obviously doesn't need my permission but she wanted me to weigh cost / benefit of getting something newer versus keeping what we have.
I guess I wanted to seek advice on here to get people's thoughts on if the honda could be improved enough for her to feel safe just from buying new tires. We live in St. Louis, and cars get broken into so often and there are so many horrible cars on the road (without windshields, front bumpers, etc.) that it makes me feel safe to drive something like the 04 civic. Nobody wants to carjack that.
I think I'm heavily leaning towards just getting something newer in that 8-10k private party transaction range. I like the suggestions, probably partial to a honda civic , accord, sonata, or altima.
What are folks' thoughts on going with a '11-'13 sonata or altima? I can get a car with lower miles (50-80k) for the same price I can get a honda in the same model year for. Also if anyone lived or lives in the st louis area feedback on weather conditions is appreciated since we just moved there a couple months ago