I’ve bought a pair of ‘93-’97 Rangers two years in a row, both XLT 5spd/4cyl RWD trucks, both very low miles (126k for $1700, 106k for $2000).  Awesome little rigs, very durable and simple, and honestly a hoot to bomb around town in.

Yeah sadly US market Subarus have missed out on that very handy option.  A real shame.

Very well put. I can hustle a 110hp ‘97 Ranger with 1000lb of gardening soil up to safe merging speeds on an uphill on ramp. If you feel unsafe due to having “only” 182hp in a modern car.... I have bad news: you don’t know how to drive.

Agreed on the gearing dilemma as well. Overseas manual Subarus used to get (still…

Big difference between buying Mastercraft, which is a budget tire no doubt, but from an established manufactuerer, and the Senturys, Ling Longs, Delintes, etc of the world.

Transmission fluid change 60$ (?) every 30k: 800$
On a long highway type driven car? Do it every 100k at most.

“but it is so much better than physical buttons”

Definitely not. 

If that’s your mug in your avi, looks like you could stand to go on a bit of a meth bender yourself

Your propensity to call children bastards, how they should be thankful for you to be driving them anywhere at all, etc, etc whenever talk of family related automotive manners come up is all the evidence I need that you’re a genetic dead end.

Sounds like you never will though, and it’s not particularly surprising.

Test drove a number of ex-fleet Grand Caravans/Town&Countrys, have rented them plenty of times as well.  Have never noticed them to be any more dirty/sullied than any other type of rental car.  Filthiest van I test drove was a privately owned Sedona.

You really don’t think that the “empty space” doesn’t add to the overall feeling of roominess and comfort on long trips? The Sienna has a full 5 inches more shoulder room in the second row, for example. 5 inches more third row hip room.  That is a big difference.  The Ascent might be “fine,” but a minivan will be…

“It’s maybe ever so slightly less space efficient than an Odyssey, but really not by much.”

Sienna length; 200 inches

Apparently literal hundreds of thousands of people are wrong, midwestern roads are packed with these things. On the service side of things, I see them have little things go wrong, but at this point the 3.6+6A is a well sorted drivetrain. I have a friend in the mobiel diagnostics field with over 200k Staten Island city…

Yeah this is a glaring omission in the review, how can you review Chrysler minivans and not mention Stow&Go?  It’s like their crown jewel feature.  Super handy.  We’ve got a ‘16 Town&Country and use it all the time.

Yup, they’re a bastard engine, although I will say back when it came out it was a strong performer. Word is Ford underrated it at 205hp so it wouldn’t step on the 5.0Ls toes. Used a ‘98 XL Explorer as a USDA field truck years back, it was a peppy truck, until it started to flare up on upshifts at 58k (I think that was…

You should work in a shop that deals with some older VAG 3.2Ls and 4.2L V8s (timing chain facing firewall), Ford 4.0 SOHCs (chains on both sides of motor, cassettes go bad), or now GM 2.4 and 3.6s. Those guys WISH they were belt motors that were designed to be replaced.  My brother has seen 2.4s getting their SECOND…

Toyotas rot the frame out, the bodies generally stay immaculate.

No I’m saying a lot of “interesting” modernish cars are a bigger hassle than a Camry.  I had a B5 A4 for a while, and while it never stranded me and I trusted it to get to work and back every day and even long trips, there was always something going on.  My previous ‘96 ES300 with 209k miles was entirely drama free,…

I’ve had a few rentals and I’m not sure I agree. The new car’s ride/handling balance is awesome no doubt, but the 8spd trans feels busy around town and the new DI 2.5L, although it’s got great power for the class, is notably noisier than the previous port injected 2.5L. Interior is better in some ways, worse in…

By your same logic someone that loves old land yachts that have zero road feel can’t “like cars” either? Head-ass take my dude.

If you don’t wrench on cars you can’t appreciate just how well these old Toyotas were engineered and built. I get to see them in arguably the most extreme driving environment on Earth: rural…