which car to buy?

[SVOboy]

MA, right?

I would go for the insight, mehbe a first gen prius, then look at the vx.

[wombosi]

yeah, i'm in western MA, probably the worst place in the world to own a car and not have it completely ransacked by the salt on the roads during the winters.

my girlfriend recently bought a '96 civic dx sedan, 100,000 miles, for $2500.
not a speck of rust because the owners had just moved from maryland. awesome deal, right? didn't need anything except for brake shoes.

thanks for the ideas, SVOboy.

with regards to the hybrids. how much concern should the battery life be?

say, if i look at a 2000 insight with 120K miles, would it need a new $5,000 battery?

i'd much prefer an insight over the prius, but the first gen could be cool as well.

thanks,
ben