I’m not sure how I’m going to do transportation there, though. I need someone to go with me and drive it to my spot, and that adds to the problem. I can probably afford a Lyft there.
I can't really help you there since I'm in a different state, but my dad and I look for cars online all the time for fun so if this doesn't work out let me know and I'll keep looking.
I already called my dad and told him to look for reliable cars around Portland for at max $2k. Can you give me more info on what exactly you're looking for?
Idk how good of an idea this is but maybe you could reach out to Food Not Bombs in Portland and see if there's anyone who would be willing to help you out with this?
Unless they can magically come up with a few extra thousand dollars, I can't really think of something more reliable than a mid 90's Jimmy. I have one friend with a similar Jimmy and another with a blazer both with 200k+ rough miles on them.
That sounds like dumb luck, to be honest. Maybe I'm the outlier but I would never buy that if I didn't have a full shop to back me. That is not what I or anybody I know would call a good buy.
I mean, I'd never buy a used car older than 10 years without a full shop but I'm in a much better financial position than OP. A used gmc SUV has parts readily available and last forever. There's a reason you see so many of them when you're driving around in the middle of nowhere.
The reason is that their owners have tools, space, knowledge, or a relative who does. The OP isn't a mechanic, doesn't have a mechanic's tool chest, and doesn't have experience as a DIY mechanic. Please don't blow smoke up people's asses about big purchases.