This Is What $995 Could Get You On eBay – Does This Used Car Beat Walking?

There was a time when you could get a vehicle in running condition for as little as two or three hundred bucks. And it wasn't that long ago, as you likely remember. But the inflation has taken its toll on the used car market to the point where it is almost impossible to get one for a three-digit sum. In fact, we dedicated an entire story to this subject last month, and it's a sad topic for those less fortunate than us.

Curious to see what the cheapest car for sale on eBay is, albeit one that only needs gas in the tank, hypothetically, I surfed the virtual market and came across something that fits the bill – and stays within the three-digit budget. It is a Mitsubishi Galant, in case you haven't figured it out, made nearly two decades ago. The 2025 mid-size sedan is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is in the possession of a used car dealer that has numerous other rides in its portfolio.

Only one image of it was uploaded to the ad, if you don't count the one that advertises the dealer, and it shows that it is in decent shape. There are some dents and scratches, and the headlamps need polishing, but overall, this should be a car that still runs and drives. It has a black finish on top of a black interior, 191,204 miles (307,713 km) on the clock, and a clean title. The vendor doesn't have great feedback, which is why we recommend checking it out in person if you're near Fort Lauderdale.

Power comes from a four-cylinder 2.4-liter gasoline engine, which was the base offering, with the Mitsubishi Galant also having two V6s available for it in the ninth generation. The mill was good for 160 horsepower (162 ps/120 kW) and 157 lb-ft (213 Nm) of torque, though we reckon not many of those horses are still alive today, given the overall state of the car and the high mileage. An automatic transmission delivers the output and thrust to the front wheels, as there was no all-wheel-drive version of this car.

Based on the Japanese company's PS platform, shared with the Eclipse and Endeavor from the same era, the ninth-gen Galant, which was also known as the Grunder in Taiwan and the 380 in Australia and New Zealand, entered production in 2003. It was a continuation of its predecessors that stayed on the assembly lines at the factories in the United States, Australia, and Taiwan until 2012 when Mitsubishi pulled the plug on it and left this moniker behind.

Now, back to the one listed for sale, you can check out the ad here, and hopefully, it will still be around by the time you click on that link. After all, it's not like cheap cars that still drive (allegedly) pop up for grabs every day. You might just be able to drop the asking price a bit, too, if you're negotiating skills are high, and if you decide to go for it, drop a line below and tell us how much you ended up paying. While you're at it, feel free to drop additional images and let us know what its overall condition is.

Since we mentioned the cheapest used car that we found for grabs on eBay, we might as well remind you what the most affordable new vehicle on sale in America is: the Nissan Versa. The subcompact sedan recently entered the 2024 model year, and it carries a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $16,130, bar the destination charge. The base grade comes with a five-speed manual transmission, whereas the SV and SR feature a CVT.

All three use the same 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 122 hp (124 ps/91 kW) at 6,300 rpm and 114 lb-ft (155 Nm) of torque at 4,000 rpm. Cruise control is standard, and so are the automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, high-beam assist, lane departure warning, rearview monitor, rear automatic braking, hill-start assist, and the vehicle dynamic control with traction control system.

The entry-level Versa S comes with 15-inch steel wheels, the mid-spec brings 16-inch alloys, and the range-topper rides on 17-inch alloys. Aid conditioning, power windows, power door locks, sun visors with vanity mirrors, a 7-inch infotainment system, voice recognition, a four-speaker audio system, Bluetooth, USB ports, and a few other things are also offered at no extra cost on the base version of the 2024 Nissan Versa.