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look into a toyota matrix. I have a 2004 with 170k miles on it. It is starting to rust out underneath, but winters are terrible to cars where we live. It would definitely sell for less than 5k, and I think in the past 3 years I've put less than a grand into it (new starter this winter, brakes were done 3 years ago I think). Every year I take it in for inspection with my fingers and toes crossed, and every year it is fine. They have basically told me that rust is what will end my car, but with patch jobs it has a lot of life left in it.

Also, its a great car- there is a lot of storage space.

I love my Nissan Versa. We bought ours for $15k, but it was only a year old. In two years, all we've had to replace is the battery. It was a rental in its previous life.

Aw I totally had an '06 matrix that I sold a couple years ago for 6K with 100,000 miles on it! It was good to us

I don't think you can go wrong with the family of corolla or Camry or accord or civic! They seem to hit that price point and are reliable

I would look for an older Corolla! IMO, used Toyotas are usually a little cheaper than Hondas, and those are the 2 brands I'd most trust if I were buying an older car. Might also look at Camrys, Civics, Accords, Rav4s or CR-Vs.

Have you thought about Hyundai? We have an '02 Sonata that DH bought for $6000 seven years years ago. It had 100,000 on it at the time, but we have since put another 100,000 on it, and it is still going strong! Good gas mileage, easy to drive, not expensive to fix. We love our car and will be sad when it finally does go.