So, my son (late 20's, recently home from college - not quite done) lives with me and has a job nearby. He hasn't owned a car because he did not need one at his college. He's been biking to work and catching rides with me but now is on nite shift and has to have a car. (Me driving him in at 3 am is not gonna work for long).
Besides, we've been meaning to get him a used car for a while (our area is lousy for public transportation and very spread out).
So, with his budget of 3-4,000 in mind, we went on craigslist looking for a good used Honda or Toyota. In our area, for that price, most had about 150k miles or more. (Some with salvage titles had a little less).
But what we found, and ended up buying, was a beautiful 2002 Jaguar X-type sedan with only 104k miles on it, for $3800.
Now, everyone's first reaction has been "omg, do you know how expensive they are to fix?". And granted, I'm sure a transmission repair or new starter motor is going to cost more than it would on a Honda Civic.
On the other hand, this car is in great mechanical condition and has almost 50k fewer miles than most of the other vehicles we were looking at. Son will be putting very few miles on it (his job is only 2 miles away). I figure he can drive it for a year or two, and then if it becomes a money pit, can probably sell it for close to what he paid for it. If not, he can keep and enjoy this cool ride for several years.
(Btw, we bought it from a very nice retired dentist who races Porsches - it was his daughter's ride for a while but she now has a company car - he priced it to sell quickly, has service records etc. Definitely not a car that has had the odometer rolled back or anything. )
So - seems weird to say, but I think the Jaguar may actually turn out to be a reasonably mustachian purchase!