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Best Rated Used Cars Around $10,000 to $15,000

When it comes to the best used cars for bad credit customers, one trick is
to look at award winners from a few years back and see which ones have dropped
into our $10K-$15K price range.

When it comes to old Editors Most Wanted lists at Edmunds.com, for instance,
look at the 03 Dodge Dakota, or an 05 Scion XB. When it comes to the Motor Trend
Car of the Year, consider a turn of the century PT Cruiser. Remember, time is
your friend -- the Escalade is the pre-eminent bling mobile, but you have to
go back to the first year (99) to find one under $15,000.

Most auto sites routinely run features on best used cars, and the top selling
cars of today -- the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry -- show up on all of them.
Thing is, those cars generally need to be five years old to drop into our $10,000
to $12,000 range.

A recent feature on AOL Autos included the 97-02 Lexus as a top used value.
Consumer Reports noted in this year's car issue that a 98 Lexus will have fewer
problems than an 06 Mercedes. That's pretty impressive.

When it comes to more sensibly priced vehicles, experts have suggested the
99-02 Nissan Pathfinder, the 97-02 Mazda Miata and the 97-02 Ford Crown Victoria.
Among trucks, the Ford F-150 remains the U.S. standard; models from 97-02 are
quite affordable.

Platform Cars Explained

Car companies often produce different models from the same engine, chassis,
frame, etc. If the only differences are in sheet metal and styling, you can
compare models and save money.

Take, for instance, the Saturn Aura, named the North American Car of the Year
at the 07 Detroit Auto Show. It's essentially the same car as the Pontiac G6
or the Chevrolet Malibu. True, the Aura has some differences in the suspension
that designers say create better road handling performance -- but does that
matter much to the average driver, and does it really matter to the tune of
an extra $3,000 for it?

The mother of all platform bargains? Find a Chrysler Crossfire. It's essentially
the discontinued Mercedes SLK -- for $15,000 or so less.