re: Help, I need a used car for a student

Mitsubishi Mirage. No resell Value - may find a brand new one for less than $17K. 43 MPG, best safety rating in its class and one of the most reliable cars in the world according to most ratings. Not overly popular in the US because of a small dealer network and cheap finishes like seat mounts being visible and not covered by carpet and SLOW accelerating but for basic, reliable and cheap transportation they are hard to beat. You can get a 1 year old Mirage G4 with 20k on it around me for around $12k. The hatchback model (Mirage) is basically the same car but is slightly smaller.

The Mirage has a 3 cylinder engine so it is not a speed demon...it is fast enough to drive (merging etc) but will not run 120 mph. It will run 80 for days and get 43 MPG while doing so....and will do it safely and reliably. I bought a 2022 Mirage 11 months ago with 5400 miles on it for $8400. It now has 27419 miles on it and other than changing the oil it has done what I bought it to do...commute to work 46 miles one way. I spend less than $30 a week getting to work and home in it. The only knock I have is it has a 9 gallon tank so I usually have to fill up during the week. Other than that great little car with a great reliability record worldwide.