Change the damn coolant.

As somebody that exclusively buys high-mileage BMW’s with zero service records (because I’m cheap and can’t afford nice enthusiast-owned cars), here’s what I do immediately after buying a car:

Mine? Take the car to a quality alignment shop. Even if the car feels fine behind the wheel.

Looks good, put the big power motor in it and AWD as an option.

Good god Ford. Just slap some cladding on and give us this.

They are nice cars.

I’ll take this with the 2.7l V6 and somehow shoehorn the rear diff from the Focus RS in there. AWD 350hp Fusion wagon!

Just bring this over from across the pond. 

For a variety of reasons,* gasoline is quite cheap here these days.

Actually, the motor wasn’t that thirsty, with Andrew and me scoring 14.5 MPG on our first tank of gas—way better than either of us could possibly have expected from this 173,000 mile clunker

Yeah, they should get a reader who has a muffler shop to look at it. Welding in a passable replacement (we won’t talk delete, as that’s illegal - nudge, nudge) would be a 30 minute job.

Hey David, Are you aware that there is an adjustment on the steering box to help manage the play in that box? Depending on how worn it is, you can dramatically improve the steering play situation by working with that adjustment.

Once these things are running they’re tough to kill. I hope you replaced the fuel pump or at least packed a backup.