And yeah, that serpentine belt looks basically new judging from the photo.  WTF are they on about there.

Best comment here.

This is simply the natural state of an XJ. This isn’t some fancy European car that will explode of the coolant is a slightly off color.  Keep an eye on fluid levels, as budget allows catch up on things.  And for goodness sake find a cheaper shop.  I know it’s CA and all, but I guarantee you there’s a…

Up the funk factor by going for a yellow one:

Better hope those three dogs of his are tiny lmao

Hell no lmao.  R32 to a LR, talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire

Can confirm that dogs love the rolldown window. I had a mint ‘96 Limited (see username). Was perfect for camping trips when it was just me and my wife and two larger dogs. It’s frankly way overkill on typical gravel roads/two track, to the point where it was kind of boring. It was also kind of lackluster as a highway…

Tires that big on a Forester lmao, that poor transmission.  I will never understand why people do this.  Just buy a 4Runner/Xterra/Jeep and be done with it.

Rather low clearance and large overhangs, even compared to something like a CRV, to say nothing of an Outback

I dunno I thought the VQ40 felt really strong, like small V8 strong, especially with the stick shift.  Aggressive throttle mapping helps

My one bone to pick with David is specifying Oreilly’s 5qt of Dex for $22, Wally World has excellent Valvoline MaxLife for $18 a jug.

And if we’re playing the game of buying parts online (amazon), man rockauto has some firesale prices on stuff for common older domestics (just watch the shipping cost).

Simple solution: get your kids into wrenching.  I’ve got my 20 month old spinning valve stem caps off and using a pressure gauge, he thinks it’s the coolest thing ever.

Worth noting:

“ Most vehicles these days larger than a Geo Metro have 8 lugs”

Say what? LMAO

As to the Nissan CVTs.  I sure hope they beefed them up for CUV/van+V6 duty, but early indicators from 2013-2014 Pathfinders and JX35s have been less than encouraging.  I have more faith in a Chrysler van’s transmission... and that’s saying something lol

We ended up buying a town&country with stow-and-go and I will say we’ve used it a fair bit for furniture and home depot runs for 4x8 profile stuff. Not only that, but that removable front center console has proven to be key in a few situations when its been people+ long cargo (skis).  It’s been the perfect do-it-all…

I’m curious, what was the fix for stop start? I heard of issues with it with the 2017s and it ultimately scared us into a more “tried and true” 2016 Town&Country two years ago, but man I love how Pacificas look and drive.

Sedonas are well built and a great value, but the fixed center console+shifter and even moreso the non-removable second row killed it for us.  Quest?  Really nice JDM interior fit and finish but significantly less max cargo volume and 4500lb curb weight+VQ+CVT = transmission with the lifetime of a mayfly

Yup. I used to be a bit of a dyed in the wool Toyota guy (and to a lesser degree a Honda guy), so the Sienna/Odyssey were the “obvious” choices when we started used-van shopping 2 years ago (trying to stay to $20-25kish). Ended up with a lightly used ‘16 Town&Country (heated leather seats and steering wheel, DVD,…

Yeah it’s stupid to see that, so what.  Just means there’s more nice road-driven Wranglers to buy and offroad as heavily depreciated used vehicles.

>2 years