Good morning! Well, here we are at the end of another week, which means it’s time to throw off the shackles of our $2500 price cap and spend some more theoretical money. But first, let’s see how you decided to blow five hundred imaginary bucks:
As expected. That Spitfire is a hell of a deal –Â if it’s on the up-and-up. I think we need to enlist S.W.Gossin to go check it out for us and report back.
Now then: We spend a lot of time trying to make silk purses out of sow’s ears on this column, stressing the good parts of $2500 cars and glossing over the bad. But the fact is that $2500 ain’t what it used to be; not too many years ago you could get quite a decent car for that money. But since the used car market has gone completely insane, you have to spend about twice that much for the same level of cars.
So today, I decided to find two good everyday cars for around five grand or so. I stuck to four-door sedans with manual transmissions, because I like them. So let’s take a look and see what double our normal price can get you.
2001 Toyota Camry LE – $4,900
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter DOHC inline 4, 5 speed manual, FWD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 143,000 miles
Runs/drives? Great, the ad says
The Toyota Camry has been the “default midsize sedan” for decades. It’s easy to dismiss them as boring appliances, and to a large extent that’s true, but they are boring appliances because they are so competent. There’s nothing cool or sexy about a washing machine or a refrigerator either, but if they get your clothes clean and keep your food cold without any fuss or trouble, then they are good appliances. A Camry gets you where you need to go without any fuss or trouble.
Up until a few years ago, the Camry’s option list held a secret: an available manual transmission. The addition of a clutch pedal doesn’t magically transform it into a sports sedan, but it does at least keep you engaged in the driving process. And as with all manuals, it improves the Camry’s already stellar reliability and durability.
This Camry, sadly, is the same color as most appliances. But at least it isn’t that hideous gold-beige that so many of them are. It’s a basic LE model, with a 2.2 liter four cylinder, as well as all the typical power stuff, air conditioning – everything you would want for everday use. It’s nothing fancy, but honestly, for day-to-day use, fancy is overrated. You want nice, but not flashy; comfortable, but not complicated.
With only 143,000 miles on the clock, this car is halfway through its useful life or less. It’s clean and well-kept, and has been owned by the same person since new, so they should be able to tell you the whole history of it. That’s worth a lot with a used car; too often used cars get passed around like a bottle of Jaegermeister at a high-school party, and you have no idea how they got where they are. Knowing a car’s history gives you a good baseline to start from.
2011 Ford Fusion SE – $5,700
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5 liter DOHC inline 4, 6 speed manual, FWD
Location: Olympia, WA
Odometer reading: 158,000 miles
Runs/drives? Also great
Ford’s Fusion mid-size sedan, sadly, was killed off after the 2020 model year. Which is a shame, because it’s a really nice car, and has a generally good reputation. Most of the complaints I read about it involved the automatic transmission, and that’s an easy enough problem to solve.
Four-cylinder Fusions were available with a manual transmission, and in this 2011 model, that means six forward speeds. This plurality of gears are spun by Ford’s 2.5 liter Duratec engine, which is actually a Mazda engine with a Ford oval on the valve cover. This engine has a good reputation for reliability. It’s not massively powerful, but it does just fine in a car this size with a stick.
This Fusion is in nice shape, showing 157,000 miles on the clock. The seller raves about its driving experience, using the word “superb” more than once in a paragraph-long listing. It has eighteen-inch aftermarket wheels with good tires, and the maintenance has been kept up (they say). It looks like a pretty good deal to me, and I bet you could talk them down a bit from the $5,700 asking price, even.
And about that whole discontinuing-sedans-in-favor-of-crossovers thing? Look at this trunk. It’s huge, even before you fold the seats down, which allows for longer items to fit.
So it looks to me like $5,000 is a good range in which to find a pretty nice car, especially if you’re willing to (or prefer to) drive a manual. We’ll stick to half that amount for our daily choices for now, but it is nice to see what spending a bit more can get you: a nice Toyota, or a Ford half its age, both with about the same miles. Either one would make a good daily driver; which one is for you?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
I would go for the Fusion, but it is forever a office car in my mind because that is what my office has for us to use. It’s a fine car, but don’t want to drive the same car on the weekend that I use for work trips.
Camry for sure…Ford sucks
My fiance has a 2011, although with an auto. Has 168k on it and still runs well. Definitely feeling a little tired but really happy with it over the 8 years she has had it.
Fusion all the way. The Camry is just an old shitbox right now, no matter what the Toyota fanbois are saying. Even as a new car in 2001 it was well behind the times, and that asking price today is just a sad symptom of the current car market.
Fusion for me- work gave me a V6 Fusion that was a screamer (I made the argument that I needed the V6 for getting onto the Beltway safely). Still one of my favorites.
I hafta vote Camry ’cause I drive, and enjoy one every day. Also, finding a manual trans is not an easy trick.
I’ll pay the Toyota tax.
Username and comment checks out.
Fusion for sure. 10 years newer, almost-as-reliable, and more fun to drive.
Minor correction, doesn’t change things much, the Camry is not an LE, but a CE – no seat height adjuster, the covers were CE-spec, and 4cyl/manual combo was CE-only. There was an LE manual but with the V6 – definitely a rare one.
Both seem like good choices, but going Fusion. The wheels give me a bit of pause, but it’s also better equipped – some just creature comforts like power seat, moonroof, and maybe Bluetooth (I think I see a Sync badge), but also more airbags, and Camry probably doesn’t have ABS.
The Fusion is ten years newer, and not white which is enough for me to vote in its favor.
The auto in the Fusion is a soul sucker that is for sure, I had one as a rental once while my Lincoln was in the bodyshop, that was a bad year for me and getting rearended. However, seeing how this one is a stick, I would give it another go.
The Camry looks to be in amazing condition, and will likely run forever. It’s WILDLY overpriced for a 21 year old car, though, but that’s the market we live in. That said, the Fusion from that generation is a pretty stout car and parts are going to be dirt cheap (relatively speaking). Being ten years newer also goes a LONG way to making a car more comfortable, and the fact that it has a manual transmission avoids one of the biggest weak points that I am aware of in Fords of that era. If a friend were asking me which of those two cars to buy, I’d say both are good, but they would probably be happier with the Fusion.
I think this has the same engine & transmission as similar era Mazdas, probably almost identical to the ones in my 2012 Mazda 5. Its a good powertrain – not terribly powerful but reliable, efficient, and pretty fun to wind out
You can buy a similar condition Lexus for waaaay less than that Camry in the UK. 5 grand is ls400 money.
Fusion without hesitation.
I have a similar era Focus with the smaller Duratec but also with a manual, and it’s a hoot to drive. Makes everyday, around town trips like going to store fun, and what could be better than a fun experience for 80% of your driving time?
It’s totally true that the stick completely changes the driving character of these cars. And it’s a good transmission, Ford of Germany’s MTX75 I think.
Oops, I replied to the wrong comment before! I think this has the same engine & transmission as similar era Mazdas, probably almost identical to the ones in my 2012 Mazda 5. Its a good powertrain – not terribly powerful but reliable, efficient, and pretty fun to wind out
The manual transmission in this era Fusion was the Mazda G5M and G6M. Later Fusions used the Ford/Getrag B6.
After seeing the Camry with its price and mileage, I was certain I’d go with the Fusion. Fusions really aren’t bad little cars and as I recall, they have Mazda bones. With that said, at least they’re both on equal footing as being overpriced. If the Fusion had even 20,000 miles less, I’d have probably edged that out. In my area, I can have my pick and choice of Fusions from that generation with about 100-120K miles for $1,000 less.
So, since we’re overpaying, I guess I’ll talk to my accountant about writing off some Toyota Tax.
Fusion. For the price the age delta is huge here.
Both are good choices. The Fusion won for me due to the fold down seats.
If I needed a quick people mover, I would not turn down either one.
Those wheels on the fusion are terrible. But also, wow, $5000 for a 20 year old Camry.
Not tough. Fusion all the way.
I’ve driven a manual, four-pot Fusion and, while not exactly a BMW M-car, it was comfortable, had better-than-average handling, and seemed to have been screwed together well. If you need transportation and want to shift for yourself, it’s more than decent. Killing it off was one of Ford’s many Worse Ideas.
Camrys (Camries?) are okay, but I found them dull as wet dishrags. That’s maybe the hardest knock you can aim at Toyota — I’d put their avalanche of TV ads a close second — but it’s enough to make this choice easy for me.
Irrelevant point: I remember suggesting to a Ford rep that an “SVT” — as the company’s performance cars were then badged — Fusion, with a hotted-up “four,” manual ‘box and some suspension beefups would suit me very well. I still think so.
You might enjoy the last of the 4-banger Fusions with a manual then. They’re hard to find, but in the beginning of the last generation they slapped a manual on the 1.6 Ecoboost. On paper it wasn’t much different for peak numbers than the 2.5, but the stick and fat torque curve was a noticeable improvement in actual driving.
Remember the excitement over and then bitter disappointment with the short-lived Fusion sport edition?
Had so much going for it, but Ford refused to offer it with a manual. Sigh.
Because the Ford is as much Mazda as it is anything else, I would expect both of these to have very few mechanical issues.
I have a soft spot for the look of the Fusion, but the truth is, they’re rusting prematurely around here.
I’d take the older Camry for a little less money and a better ownership history. Even though the Fusion is a lot newer, I would expect it to rust away sooner than the Toyota.
You can’t dismiss Toyota when you’re fishing in a $5,000 pond.
I could swing either way on these cars. So for $1000 less Toyota.
The Toyota Tax is strong with that Camry. You can easily find newer examples with comparable mileage for $4,900. The Fusion is a better deal for what you get.
Tough one. The first generation Fusion was a rebadged Mazda6 and those always had a good reputation of a nice driving car. A manual makes it better, and it’s a facelifted model late in the production run.
The Camry won’t give you any problems, ever. But it is 10 years older.
We had a 2017 hybrid Fusion that we traded for a 21 Sienna. I kinda wished we didn’t, but the Sienna can fit so much inside (for $50k though… basically triple what the Fusion cost us). Never any issues with the Ford, even the AT was fine.
Fusion 100%. My FIL has a ‘12 and my wife also had a ‘12 when we first got married. Good, if a bit boring, cars. They are far better-built than the ‘17 Escape we traded her Fusion in for.
the 17 and newer escapes basically have the equivalent of the 5.4 triton in turbo 4 cylinder guise. whomever thought it smart to not support the cylinders in the water jacket needs to be required to replace all of those engines by himself without a lift.
They are both fine cars, i’m sure. The Fusion has less boring looks, so i’d go with that one. Plus I’ve had good experiences with Mazda engines.
It’s the Fusion for me.
All the components being a full decade younger really would make a difference to me, even if the Camry is “more reliable”.