We are still dealing with this car saga in the Highwire household. To recap: my BIL was borrowing one of our two cars and accidentally wrecked it. The insurance company totalled it out and cut us a check for $5,500. We have one other car, a "mom" style crossover SUV and we make ($$$) payments on it every month. That car will be paid off in 4 years, at maximum.

We've been sort of in limbo about what to do about this other car. We have the check in hand, but have been worried about finding something reliable and worthy for $5,500 since we do not want to add another car payment at this time, and do not want to dip into our savings to buy a car that costs more than this. I am about to leave work on maternity leave in a few weeks and our finances are going to be stretched thin as it is. Once I go back to work, we'll have the huge expense of childcare every month, so there just isn't room for another car payment. But, that also doesn't leave much room for any major repairs that a cheap, used car might force us into without warning.

We haven't wanted to make any rash decisions so we've just been sitting tight for a few weeks and thinking about our various options. I was looking around at cars again today and came across the Honda Civic. It seems like we could get a used one (but not too old) with low mileage in our price range.

We have a long commute (DH and I ride together) and desperately need something with good gas mileage. Any thoughts on this car? We'd get a 4 door so that it could handle any car seat situation if needed. Just wanted to see if anyone has some first hand experience with this particular car.

We've been functioning with only one car for what feels like forever (BIL was borrowing the car for like 6 months before he wrecked it) and I'm ready to have the flexibility of having two cars again, especially when I'm about to be out of work. Neither of us want me stranded at the house daily with a new baby and no car, while DH is at work.

For the tl:dr crowd, ever had any experiences with a (used) Honda Civic?