Overfed young “journalist” makes fun of affordable transportation for credit-challenged families, news at 11!

Others have already hashed this out: when your credit score narrows down where you can even buy a car, this one is not a horrible choice for how much versatility and features you can get. I loathe Chrysler…

Better motor that any of its effete sub-4.0L peers. Great bang for the buck, available seletable rear locker and 6spd manual. Drive a stick shift frontier and new 3.5L Taco back to back and get back to me.

“But the last cars to be called Continental weren’t good. In fact, they were terrible. Their body-on-frame construction made everything feel all flobbery, as anyone who’s ever ridden in an old taxi cab could attest”

The last Continentals were based on a unibody Taurus, you might be thinking of a Town Car. This reads as…

Not weird at all, it followed a combination common to a lot of SUVs in the early-mid 2000s: BOF+ “real” longitudinal/rwd based 4wd with low range but with an IRS rear suspension for better third row packaging. 3rd gen Explorer (‘02-’05 and ‘06-’10), ‘03+ Expedition, R51 Pathfinder (‘05-’12), ‘04+ Armada, ‘01-’06 Mitsu…

You just wish you could afford to drive one of these fantastic beasts in the land of cheap gas and elbow room, my impoverished European friend.

Your experience closely mirrors my own, except in Siberia. Most of my relatives who could afford to switch from Ladas got right into used RHD Toyotas. Nothing else seems to hold up quite as well, especially in terms of suspension durability. I am very familiar with the technique of just bombing down the road at top…

4.2 is chain only, and they do stretch/tensioners can fail. The other motors are belt driven. The “service position” is not horrible if you’ve done it a few times (as you are likely to do when owning one of these), and it makes the rest of the t-belt change an absolute cake walk. The NA V6 cars aren’t super horrible…

Yep. The older Camrys/ES300 are absolute tanks. Bought my ‘96 for $1600 to keep salt off my other car. The interiors are better put together with nicer materials than most new cars sold today. 203k miles, engine/transmission absolutely butter smooth and flawless. I poked around the untouched original suspension…

Sounds like a tire issue rather than anything to do with the car IMO

If you really want a “set it and forget it” car for cheap, hunt down a non-too-abused Camry or Avalon (or ES300 if you’re feeling fancy). You can get an older one of any one of those for way under your budget, and spend a bit to catch it up on some maintenance and maybe some new brakes/tires/shocks as needed. I loved…

Quit your belly aching for chrissake! The people at that event would likely have no issue with some black folks coming to partake in this awesome shit-show, but I’d imagine they would take issue with a wet-towel like you showing up.

For reference, I’ve been to county fairs in Central PA where there are literally mixed…

Hey bud you’re the one that went zero to sixty over some mild internet jesting/trolling, and immediately started talking about your junk, not me.

Somebody sounds insecure... possibly about their dick.

Someone get this guy some testosterone!

“racism rally”

We must be looking at two different videos. Kindly remove the stick from your ass and move on. Some of us have drunk people getting mildly injured to watch. 

“Personally, when I see the country I prefer my station wagon and motels”

Translation: I can’t afford nicer things so I’ll hate the people that can.

I don’t “get” the large RV thing either but if someone wants to buy and drive one, more power to them. 

Agreed in full. Author has a stick up his butt.

It was the leaf spring mounts now that I remember it. The shock mounts were crusty looking too but still structurally sound. Actually the frame near the mounts was getting thin so we decided to leave well enough alone. That truck was a real rust bucket, despite not looking the part.

He got his setup as a gift from an old farmer neighbor of his. It pays to live out in the sticks and wrench on rural folks’ cars for a living haha. Word of mouth is gold out that way.

My brother replaced rivited rear shock mounts and spring hangers on my old Ranger by just acetylene-torching the rivets off, he said it was a remarkably quick and easy procedure. Of course, you have to be good with a torch.