“all of the Cheeto crumbs and fragments of 5-Hour Energy cap wrappers”

Absolutely. If you’re going to dump the AWD, then you might as well be modding a Chevy Cruze.

Merciful $DEITY. Why not a Mustang II front end while he’s redesigning everything under the sheet metal?!

Make it stop, make it go, make it pretty. In that order. The first two have been taken care of. Yeah, the seats are dire, and the thing could use a good scrubbing inside, but assuming the replacement seats are all right, that’s not a deal breaker.

Car’s in good shape (the paint issues are no big deal), no rust, immaculate interior, and a good performer with the correct kind of transmission. NP.

Agreed. That’s a long, long way out of the record of just about every Camry I’ve ever heard of. I think someone pencil-whipped the CPO inspection.

I’ve bought 7 new vehicles in my lifetime. Two GMs were ok, but plagued with weird little problems (like the 1987 S-10 Blazer that broke no fewer than *five* power steering pump brackets, three after being recalled for that problem!), two Fords were utter disasters the company refused to stand behind, and three Toyota…

And Land Rover reliability. Whatever else you can say about it, the FJ gets you a Toyota, with all of the bulletproof reliability that implies.

I could go for this one. I had that same drivetrain in a 2007 Lexus RX350, and it was plenty quick. It looks to be in beautiful shape. 155K is not out of line for an alternator, and it’s an easy swap. NP.

Might be a nice car, but it’s a Ford. Hard pass.

At least the OM642 and OM651 diesels are set up that way, which covers diesels from about 2006 to 2016.

Yup. My 2008 ML320 CDI was like that, and so is my 2015 ML250 Bluetec (though the latter hasn’t needed an oil change in my ownership. Got a Mityvac to suck out the oil, and man, that setup is the cat’s ass. Even if you do need a 1/2" torque wrench to get the filter back on properly.

There are a hell of a lot cheaper ways to kill yourself messily than to spend 50 large on this. CP.

That truck looks to be in nice enough condition to rate the price, even if it is a &*$^&$^%& Ford product. I might be inclined to strip the signs from the doors, if it can be done without screwing up the paint, but on the whole it’s a good-looking classic truck. NP.

I bought a 2008 ML320 CDI in the Twin Cities in 2014 with 133K. It had spent its entire life in Sioux Falls and the Twin Cities. When I got it, it looked like it had just rolled off the line. I traded it off this past April for a 2015 ML250 Bluetec with 192K miles. The car had is issues, but it left me without wheels…

Today I learned that when you’re pushing a manual transmission hard and need a quick downshift, you can clutch with the left foot, brake with the right, and lean the right over to blip the throttle. Neat!

BTDT, except that it was a Lexus RX300 on the flatbed trailer with the flat tire, towed behind a Ryder moving truck. Fortunately, the rental company got to deal with that one.

Meh. Points for uniqueness and very good execution, and I can deal with that interior. I’ve got no problems with FWD, either. Still, the lowered stance just looks goofy on that car, and no A/C is a serious drawback (though I do wonder if they left it off not because it wouldn’t fit but because they just didn’t think a…

You go right on thinking that.

False dichotomy. You’re making the mistake of assuming that, because I argue against environmentalists, that I disapprove of their goals. That’s not true at all. I’m not interested in destroying the planet. I am interested in putting it to work for people. All people, not just a few.