After scrolling through this thread I have to agree with what pretty much everyone says: tires make your vehicle safer, so don’t skimp on those. I’m a fan of getting a second set of rims with winter tires (if you’re super lucky you can find a complete set on CL/FB for cheap).

If you’re going to buy an older car I’d say…do it anywhere other than Vermont. Our roads are terrible, the salt is thick, the maintenance is expensive. Find someone’s high mileage commuter car down in southern PA/MD/VA, bring it up here, undercoat it, add the good tires, and drive it for cheap. I’ve done this with 3 different vehicles and NEVER had rust or ball joint issues. I bought a Honda Accord with 260k miles on it in MD for $3k and drove it for 5 more years and 40k miles. Hard to beat!