00 what is your car you dislike so much? I'm looking @ either a Taurus or a Focus. Work car I'm really looking for cheap and dependable.
It's a 2005 Focus, but I don't actually hate it. It's like a guy calling his wife 'the old ball and chain' despite loving her dearly.
We have a long and complicated relationship...I'm a car guy, of sorts, but I haven't really had the budget (well, or priority...I probably have the budget) to really do much with cars, but I do like to have something with a little more flair than just basic transportation.
In early 2005, we bought a new car for me, thinking mrs00's car would last for quite a while...but a few months later she plugged a deer and totalled it. So, we needed something cheap, but kind of reliable (since it would be her car, and she's not going to be able to be futzing with something that has issues). We really only intended on it being a 'to get us thru until we can replace it' car, but the damn thing depreciated so fast it wasn't worth anything of use to trade or sell, but it didn't ever give us any issues to justify dumping it for little or nothing, so for basically 8 years, it's been in a holding pattern. With the kids, my more 'car guy' vehicle got traded off for the minivan and I inherited the Focus.
My desire for a more 'car guy' car with a little more personality wishes I could justify getting rid of it, but my practicality prevents me from doing it if it doesn't make sense.
So, honestly, if you're looking for a work beater, I would recommend a Focus. We've had it for 10 years now, and other than maintenance items (tires, brakes, etc), literally, the only thing we've spent on it was a throttle sensor about 6 years ago. Not too long after we got it, we blew a tire and the others weren't great, so I put some 80K warranty tires on it thinking it'd be the last set of tires I'd ever need to put on it. Just put another set on it this summer(didn't pay up for the 80K tires this time, though).
Pick up a used one for cheap, run 'er until she dies. Mine refuses to do so. So as much as I snipe about it being a piece of crap, it's really been a pretty good little car, just not what my 'car guy' ego might like.