Question about buying/leasing a car!

OK, this is probably not the right place to put this, but I'll go ahead and ask anyways.

So, I'm going to get a car (fuck yeah) - but I'm dumb when it comes to cars.... Now if I was buying a plane, I'd know what to look for, but see, I've never owned a car before, just, uh... "rented" them :P (Long story).

So, here's my position - We are probably in the market for a used car, something that is reliable, and has cargo space, is economical, and just sips gas, definatly something like a toyota matrix/corolla/camry or a civic or something like that.

Right now we live in Toronto, but hopefully within the next week or two we will be moving outside of the city, and most likely, outside of the province. We will probably be staying in Canada (unless I get that job in the maldives, but I doubt it). That's it background wise... We also have about 12,000 to spend.

I have a few questions though - should we buy used (something not too old, not too many km for about 10-12k), or should we lease? Can we even lease? And do you have any advice for checking out used/leased cars?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

One of the questions I had about leasing is that if we lease the car in ontario, is it still OK to move to alberta?

Most amazing jew boots

My major concern is that soon after we get the car, we will probably be making the 3600km journey from Ontario to Alberta... Perhaps stopping along the way in the US to check out ol' faithful, and some of the silo's in montana.... Mmmm, nuclear weapons.

Asides from the travel plans, I was thinking that a used car - although you can get a warrenty from the dealer, it's only at that dealer, but if you lease the car/buy it (on financing) from the manufacturer, you can get it warrenty repaired at any approved facility.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

OK - So it looks like we're going to get a used car now, something that is certified, hopefully something like a 2003-2004 corolla or civic, with lowish KMs.

What I was wondering, is that I'm going to be going to the dealership to test drive the car - what in the way of negotiation should I do? My main concern, is that if the sticker price is 13,000 - how much more am I actually looking at paying? I know taxes will be added on, but are there any other fees?

How ya doing, buddy?

Ok, so i've got a test drive booked tomorrow - the only problem is that I probably won't have the cash in my account until fri or mon to actually buy anything. is that a big deal? or does holding on to the car for a few days not make a difference.

Additional Spam:
And an ammendium.. Probably not the best thing to do - but I havn't driven a manual in a couple years - no biggie if I stall it once or twice?

I was speaking idiomatically.

And any worries about getting the rust out of my old stick and clutch driving skills? The salesperson isn't going to kill me for a stall or two?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

cool cool :P Thanks for the helpful posts everybody, I'll let you know how the dealy goes tomorrow!

Additional Spam:
Oh - I had another question!

It now looks like we're going to get one of these "Certified Used" Toyota Corollas, they're pretty good, shitloads cheaper then a new car, etc... I was wondering though - should we still get it checked out by a third party mechanic? They do a 127 point inspection on the car they say, and warrenty it for 12mo/24,000km (with extensions available).

FELIPE NO

Sooo, after test driving a few cars, we purchased a 2004 Corolla LE!! Woo!!!! We're just waiting for Toyota to complete the inspection to make the deal final, and then we have to decide a date of delivery - we're going to be getting temp plates, which are only good for 10 days, so we have to time it right to pickup the car, and then pretty much begin our drive across Canada! Will post pics when we can.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Here are some pics of the car! Woo! (not pics I took, just from their website)











































Jam it back in, in the dark.