“anything over 3600 lbs and under ~200hp is not safe”

That mpg figure is hardly remarkable tbh, most of my midsize rental cars (Optima, Altima, Passat) have gotten that on the highway no sweat.  But I agree, I see one in the parking lot, it really does look like an 80s econobox hatchback, and I say that in the most endearing way possible.

The few times I’ve rented them, I find the combination of short wheelbase and tall slab sided shape to give them a) a choppy highway ride, b) prone to crosswinds, and c) mediocre highway mpg considering the low power 4cyl engine they have. But if you can live with the downsides you have a practical little…

Always nice to scroll through the comments and read experiences of a real owner.  That’s a useful tidbit about the more durable transmission, that would be enough to make me want to seek out an Aviator over a Merc/Ford version.  the AWD T-cases hold up decent?  Did these use air shocks/load leveling?

“Personally I’d just LS/T56 swap the thing and call it a day.”

Wow just like that huh, you’d snap your fingers and have a manual LS swap done in a W220 Merc? Lmao

I was gonna say, as crappy as the Aviator might be mechanically (trans would be my #1 worry), it’s leagues apart from the German yard art this guy is proposing lmao

It’s no more egregious (less, actually) of a badge job than literally any other “luxed up” 90s-2000s SUV. With its 32V variant of the 4.6L, this is more differentiated than say a LX470 is from a Land Cruiser. And yeah as mediocre and dated as that interior looks, take a look at a 02-05 Explorer’s interior and tell me…

Yeah it’s suspiciously cheap for how clean it presents and the miles.  Transmission or t-case on its way out?  Crapped out Air suspension?

Well summarized

Yeah this happens in every hobby like this, same phenomenon with “adventure” motorcycling: $30k BMW R1200GS with the foglights and aluminum panniers, to do some gravel roads and tent camp just like I do on a stock 45 year old barn rescue air cooled Yamaha that I bungie cord a duffel bag to. I’ve also been car camping…

They haven’t ever handled “poorly,” IMO, and the newer (2012+ gen) handle downright WELL with the stiffer SE/XSE setup and more aggressive wheel and tire packages.

In more ways than one, the new ones have gotten (subjectively) worse, while yes getting objectively better all the time.

100% The 4th gen cars are “cost cut” but still very well put together with the same good guts. Besides an oil pump seal, timing belt, occasional oxygen sensor, some struts and strut mounts, there’s precious little that goes wrong with them.  A neighbor was selling a 100k mile ‘01 for $3800 recently for an older…

An interesting, and probably correct take. I married into a 2012 Camry SE 2.5 that my wife has owned from new. At 103k miles now, nothing beyond basic maintenance and wear items, still drives like a brand new car. It even handles pretty damn competently, what with being the SE on the wider 215/55R17 tires. It’s…

Yes it was me.  How are people missing the obvious patches of rust that have been spraybombed with some kind of grey/black (rust converter)?  Doesn’t mean its a worthless car, but IMO It’s nowhere close to $2000.  The body rot itself is not so concerning for a cheap old car, but the implication that the underbody…

I suspect yours didn’t have prodigious rust like this one though

“Anything of this age always needs something, if you define “need” as anything worn out, needing maintenance, needing calibration/alignment, or needing replacement. If you put all the lifespans of all the components of any 1994 car into a Gantt chart, by 2021 there is always something needing work.”

You have the…

“90's Buicks rolling around today compared to 90's Honda’s.”

Could be a geography specific thing, but I’m in hardcore GM country in the midwest and there’s plenty of both 90s Hondas and 90s GMs on the roads. That is, they both last pretty darn well. I brought a ‘91 Park Ave from the dead with a junkyard ignition…

That’s true, but with just a bit of looking around you can still find cherry estate cars with even lower mileage and absolutely perfect exteriors for about the same price.  Again, I would hardly call this “ridiculously clean.”  On the spectrum of roached out beaters to immaculate estate cars, this falls somewhere in…

“ridiculously clean”

Look closer, it’s got all kinds of rust that’s been quickly spray painted over