“more than once I got challenges to street race and I turned them down”
Maybe because you were in an automatic Focus and thought better lol
4Runner96
4runner96
Hell yes. Bought a rust-free (Colorado sourced) single owner ‘06 Suburban 4WD 5.3L with 289k last summer for $3100 before all the crazy pricing hit. It needed a lot of small stuff fixed but it drove fine, doesn’t use a drop of oil now that I fixed the oil pan gasket leak, and most importantly is that it’s rot-free.…
100% this. I don’t get the focus on P71 Interceptors in particular, the extra durability stuff (stiffer suspension, power steering cooler, etc) doesn’t outweigh the idle hours and other abuse/wear and tear and random holes inside and out from all the different equipment that was mounted in the car. Give me a…
The one caveat is in the rust belt you need to check the rear subframe. It rots away even on cars that don’t LOOK too bad in terms of rot. Just about the only thing that will take these off the road, well that and timing chain issues on the Ecotec cars, and waterpump/overheating issues on the Quad Fours (2.4L)
I need to load up truckloads of rust free running FL-sourced GM 3800 fodder to haul up to the Midwest it sounds like where these things sell like hotcakes
“A 200,000 mile domestic car will be falling apart whereas a 200,000 mile Odyssey will still drive well and be reliable”
Very loaded statement. Many (most?) 99-04 Odysseys didn’t make it past 100k on their original transmissions. Some of the later cars can have serious oil consumption issues stemming from the VCM…
Bought a ‘91 Park Ave in need of some mechanical/cosmetic work for $400, fixed it up (parts are insanely cheap, junkyards full of spares), sold it for $1800 in two days (my asking price). Guy who bought it from me promptly relisted it for $2800, but I don’t think he got quite that much. Up north you just need to keep…
4.0 SOHC is a terrible engine with its Rube Goldberg valvetrain design. And up north a lot of these have frame rust issues (then again what older truck doesn’t). Stick with the 2.3 Lima and Duratec or 3.0L Vulcan or 4.0 OHV and a stick shift and they are rock solid
Great pick. 1st and 2nd gen (96-99, 00-04) Avalons are tanks, much like the Camrys and ES300s they share underpinnings with, but there is a statistically higher chance of finding an Avalon that spent more of its life with an elderly original owner who took good care of it.
I’d honestly put more faith into fleet maintenance at a rental agency than many private owners
Spot on post.
“It’s up to the consumers to buy what they want”
Spot on. I always thought the jacked up new Subies on ATs were ridiculous, by the time you do all that crap your MPG is about the same as a newer stock 4Runner which will still walk all over you offroad (with less chance of breaking something). I owned a fairly stock e-locked 3rd gen 4runner that never really saw more…
I can’t imagine owning a Ducati without that sweet 90-degree V-twin sound and feel. What exactly is the point?
A 3 year old used Avalon is the ultimate “Millionaire Next Door” car. A more calculated buy than you or I will ever appreciate
Boone county? Plenty of Big Money out in Zionsville and the horse ranches beyond
“The Focus and Fiesta were pretty good cars, even in the pedestrian trims if you configured them correctly”
The Fiesta and Focus were and are rolling dumpster fires if configured as 99% of the buying public does (ie with an automatic transmission).
“175K might not be a lot for a 2015, but it is a lot for a 2001"
IMO your logic is precisely inverted on this, but I do agree even in this market $3k is steep for a 175k mile Saturn (which have a notorious reputation for burning oil at higher mileage)
“ I for one miss actual fabric seats, vs. the scratchy woven plastic canvas offered today”
AMEN! Why isn’t this talked about more? I like the nice soft grey cloth in my ‘06 Suburban (looks like new with 300k miles) more than just about any other seating material including most new car “leather.”
Oh it was plenty driveable (and still is). The thing is, who’s gonna pony up to rebuild/replace a motor on a 300k mile Saturn? At the same time, it still ran and drove reliably so you wouldn’t just junk it either.