I never buy cars I can't pay for in cash. I'm not afraid of high mileage, either... if you're looking at vehicles for under a grand you can only be so fussy. Learn to fix the thing yourself. Fixing cars sucks (I hate it, anyway), but it beats the shit out of working enough hours at some meaningless job to pay someone else to do it. Aside from not paying interest if you buy with cash, you also save the ridiculous prices full-coverage insurance costs.
I've heard some completely retarded arguments for having full-coverage. My favorite is my younger brother (who is a full-fledged died-in-the wool all-American consumer-bot) insisting that anyone carrying minimum insurance on a paid-off car is a moron, cus dammit if you wreck it you're gonna need money to replace it. My reply is always that if you're not going to pay stupid amounts for what is not really a vehicle but a status symbol, you don't need insurance to replace your car.