Yep, the front shock towers can rot through, and rear trailing arms can detach IIRC. But yeah, these days any older SUV in the salt belt will likely have structural rust issues. Fly and drive is hands-down the way to go.

I’m curious, what about the R50 platform makes them better in deep snow in your opinion?  Lighter weight?

As a 4Runner owner, I think the R50s are really neat in that they have notably better on-road dynamics than a 4Runner, while being capable enough offroad for anything a sane person in a stock-ish vehicle might attempt. The Nissans’ biggest failing is hands down their poor rust-proofing. Of course the 4Runners aren’t…

Awesome.  I’ve looked long and hard at ex-rental SVs.  I like the smaller 18 inch wheels with lots of side wall and that sweet-sweet velour that is right out of 1980s Japan.

Yes and no. Nissan was gunning primarily at Jeep’s XJ Cherokee and in general the “X-games mountain biker/snow boarder bro” set, and the first Xterra had to hit a certain price point, with less emphasis on refinement. As such, it has a pretty spartan interior (no leather option until later IIRC), and crude leaf…

Find one with the 2.5T, keep the exterior plane-jane stock and some serious highway-pulling power is just some tuning and exhaust away.  Like a Saab but even more odd-duck.

I think in the hands of a DIYer with garage space they can be a good choice: crazy-high depreciation, super comfy and safe, and not bad to wrench on (they don’t rust like American/Japanese cars including on various fasteners). But there were some problematic years with expensive issues with throttle bodies and…

I was less than impressed with the durability of the front end suspension of my wife’s hand-me-down ‘04 S60 to be honest, 124k miles and it had needed tie rod ends replaced and had a nasty rattle from (I think) the spring perches. And that was just from (admittedly rough) Central Indiana roads. Can’t imagine the havoc…

Worth noting too: the Passat weighs about the same as a 2018 Sonata or Camry, 200lb less than a Fusion, 200 more than a Malibu on average. Not sure how that makes it deserving of singling out for “weighing as much as a truck”

I think the Passat has some of the nicest materials and the handsomest interior/exterior in the class. The Japanese stuff looks “angry” and ugly, the Koreans just kind of generic and Korean, and the Malibu, that looks now Korean too. That leaves the Fusion and Passat and Mazda6. The Passat’s 1.8TSI is both more…

I’ve had a few 1.5T Malibu LT rentals and have come away with a solid “meh.” The interior design is kind of interesting I guess, but there is nothing to recommend it over anything else in the class, and it was down on power compared to something like the 2018 Camry or the 2.4L Korean twins. If I were midsize sedan…

Have you driven both much? I’ve gotten to rent several Malibus of this current generation with the 1.5T and a single Passat SE 1.8TSI, quite frankly the Passat is the easy winner in just about metric, objective or subjective.  I hadn’t through much of the Americanized Passat when it came out in 2012 with the 2.5L I5,…

Cape Point in the Outer Banks. I had a blast cruising around in my old 4Runner (aired down). The sand was particularly deep and soft that day, a lot of folks were having trouble.  That Crosstrek driver had aired all the way down to 18 PSI and everything, he just didn’t have enough torque from that little 2.0L+stick,…

FWIW the headgasket thing has gone by the wayside with the FB series motors (2011+ Foresters, 2013+ Legacy/Outback).  I’ll be the first to talk specifics of head gasket failure mode on the older EJ25 Subies, but c’mon I’m ready to give them a break.

He said he didn’t understand the appeal, and I prompted him to try driving one to its strengths (to demonstrate why that long travel suspension has its advantages).  They also have fantastically airy cabins with much better visibility (especially rearwards) than just about anything else in their respective classes. …

Before this comment goes to too many Subaru owners’ heads, don’t get too carried away guys :P

In clean condition (non-trivial on a minivan) with a maintenance record (t-belt at 90 or 105k) and without rust with 134k, that’s a $3500 van. The $2k Odysseys are used up heaps with whining auto transmissions. To be able to really let that J30 motor sing like it can is worth the extra $2500 to me.

“The engines are weak though.”

Agreed. I prefer the Outback’s interior to a lot of stuff well into the next price category. Subaru is the only automaker to still have that nice soft velour-like cloth that Japan-Inc used to use. Now it’s that scratchy fire-retardant feeling crap or neo-prene feeling stuff like a $40 set of amazon seat covers everywhe…

I wouldn’t call something with such pathetic cargo capacity at “true wagon.”  Large hatchback maybe?