You judge how much of a man someone is by how good their beater is????? It is called a beater for a reason. Beaters are cheap cars that are require little maintanance or were bought so cheap that if something broke you could just toss it or have fun beating the shit out of it. Yes I am biased. I Like my SVT contour, but would have never bought a non-svt contour unless it were a cheap beater. My vote for the contour was mainly because it is so cheap. Why spend more money on a car that is supposed to be shitty. I could understand paying more for the truck, because of its added utility

Beater rule #1

Buy the cheapest comfortably reliable car that will take you from point A to point B

Beater rule #2

when possible get a beater with better gas mileage.

I would look into a ford festiva or fiesta. you could probably get one for $200 or so. It should last you long enough till you get a good car, and when you are done you can chop it up, tray slide it till it dies, or blow it up for fun.

If I bought the mustang I would be tempted to mod it, and therefore defeat its beater status.