Used hatchbacks for sale near Windsor Heights, IA under $40,000

This was by far the best car buying experience I've had in 30 years! Each person I interacted with was informative, courteous, and non-pressure. It started with a contact with the online sales person, whom I met in person at the time of pick-up. Adolfo was a true gentleman and took the time to investigate every question for me before making the nearly 4 hour drive. He provided pictures and a summary of their standard inspection report details to back it up. Though the Sienna van was higher mileage, it was a recent trade-in and impeccably maintained. By supplementing the CarFax details, I was convinced this van should be safe and reliable for many more miles. Ultimately, we got a great pricing, too -- probably in part because many folks avoid higher mileage vehicles. Signing the paperwork with Adolfo was straigtforward, clear, and efficient, and then I finished up with a few more signatures with the finance office, which was also quick particularly because we didn't need financing. Honda of Ames provides the buyer a flash drive with all completed paperwork so I don't need to scan these for recordkeeping later. Such a nice touch! Not to mention, they have a comfortable waiting area and a nice indoor kids play area so my little ones were constructively occupied. In all, we were at the dealership probably about 90 minutes including test drive. I've been at dealerships for literally a half a day before! So, even though it's 4 hours from us, I'll be tempted to make Honda of Ames my go to source for car buying. Keep up the great work, and thank you!

Back in 2010, my father traded his 2009 Hemi Orange R/T challenger in on a brand new 2011 Yellow Blaze Fiesta 5 door hatch with every option on it except for the automatic transmission. Sunroof, leather seats, upgraded sound system, you name it. It was truly one of a kind and to this day I’ve still never seen one like it. I’ve seen a few other yellow blazes but never one with the options ours had. In 2017, he gave it to me as my first car. It had 50,000 miles at the time. I learned how to drive stick on it! The car isn’t the fastest thing in the world, but it sure is a blast to drive. They handle wonderfully. I quickly fell in love with this car and called her the Highlighter. My dad helped me install Rockford fosgate speakers in her, a 12” Rockford fosgate punch p3 subwoofer and a kicker 800w amp. She bumped! I loved her even more after this. I had countless first dates in her until I met the woman I thought I was going to marry and was with her for two short years before that fell apart. I drove her hard, very hard. My foot was on the floor practically everywhere I went, sliding her around any and every corner. She took it all. I did this for 80,000 more miles. She reached 130,000 miles and needed a timing belt change, so we decided we would do that ourselves. Mind you, this car never needed work, it never failed to start on me, never threw codes, always got me where I needed to go safe and sound and I never worried about it not starting. So doing this timing belt change was honestly some of the first work we had to do to this car other than brakes, oil changes, and a serpentine belt at 80,000 miles. In the process of us locking the flywheel, the special tool to do so broke and made its way inside the transmission somewhere. We couldn’t get it out; but we were able to get her back together running just fine once again. However, while under the car trying to get that part out, we noticed something. On the manual transmission fiestas, there tends to be a problem with a transmission oil leak when your clutch starts to go out. This was a stock clutch with 130,000 miles on it, driven by me, a teenager at the time. There’s no way it should’ve made it as long as it did with the abuse it took, but it did. It’s almost $3,000 to have a new clutch installed in one of these cars, which essentially totals the car out. I had to make the decision to either keep the fiesta and dump its value into it to fix it when it was already up there in miles, or trade it in on an ecoboost mustang. I decided to trade her because ford wouldn’t be able to fix her for a couple of months and I was moving for college so I needed a car. I stand by my word, that fiesta will forever be the most reliable car I will have ever owned. It took so much more than any other car should’ve or would’ve. Truly one of the best cars in the world in my eyes. The mpg is just a plus on top of the reliability of these things. I’ll forever miss my fiesta, I had such a sentimental attachment to this car that I don’t think anyone will ever understand. But I hope the right person is reading this and if you’re debating getting one, get it. You wont regret it. I miss mine more and more everyday. That ecoboost mustang is cool and all, but it’ll never be my fiesta. My fiesta made so many memories with me from whether it was being the clown car trying to cram all my friends into her even though her carry capacity is 800lbs, or from those first dates previously mentioned. She was known around town because I was involved in the car scene and took her everywhere. I was proud of my fiesta. You would be too. I really hope I see mine out there on day again. If you happen to have a debadged 2011 yellow blaze 5-speed manual fiesta hatch with 127,000+ miles, you may have my baby and I hope she treats you well.

The dealership was very responsive to my request and provided a variety of options that fit my needs.

This car feels very neutral and smooth in corners at any speed. Sometimes, it feels like it's too easy to go too fast in this because the grip is so confidence-inspiring. I have the non-turbocharged model, which has plenty of giddy up to it. I'm not sure if I regret choosing it over a turbocharged variant but there's plenty of power for my needs. The gearing is pretty tall and you need to plant your foot to let it rev out and find the right gear, but doing so is rewarded with a very responsive and surprisingly smooth engine for being a 4 cylinder. I was feathery on the gas at first, so it was underwhelming but I adjusted to the inputs. The car feels plenty sporty and the grip makes cornering feel amazing. The rear suspension is torsion beam and you will notice it on very poor roads, but everyday driving on decent roads feels super refined, quiet and grip is not affected by this suspension arrangement. I'm very happy with my purchase. I'm 6'3" and fit pretty comfortably in the car even with the sunroof right above me. I've been in cars with more front legroom and have been less comfortable than I am in this car. Seat bolstering could be an issue for those with wider shoulders. I'm someone who loves a low driving position, so this car is a godsend in a world of soulless, blobby SUVs. I think this is the best all-around compact car you can get.