I’d be happy with being at freeway speed by the end of the onramp. Yeah, the turbo probably fixes the problem....but I’m not going to pay $12K to get confirmation.

When I took my EJ25 in for a preemptive head gasket replacement at 190K, they installed the gaskets from the turbo version. They have metal rings lining the cylinder openings, and that seems to alleviate the issues.

I had a 2000 Outback Limited. Car could barely get out of its own way. My roommate who thinks his 1998 Corolla is plenty adequate for power thought it was underpowered. The turbo and manual probably fix that issue, but what you have is still a 2005 Subaru. FWIW, mine had very little rust on it, and I don’t think this…

I was towing around the Twin Cities and then down I-35 and I-90 to my home. There were enough overpasses to keep it honest. It would have been a complete non-event had I known what I was doing setting up the hitch...

I towed my 1987 560SL plus trailer - about 5700 pounds, all told - with a 2008 ML320 CDI (tow rating 7200). Fuel mileage on the Interstate was down from the usual 28 to about 22, but other than that, it towed like it basically wasn’t there.

For his budget, you can get a 2013 or 2014 ML350 Bluetec, which has even more…

Yeah. The Ranger might be one to keep, but it’s also probably worth the most of any of them. The Camry is unkillable. The Rodeo needs to go to the junkyard, and so does the F150...and I’ve never seen a Cavalier in Minnesota that didn’t look like that one. All three of those need to go.

That Camry will outlive me. It will outlive you. It will outlive OP. There’s no killing one of these. It also doesn’t need much to run for another 200K miles.

Exactly right. If I wanted to drop 17 large on a vehicle that was going to cost that much in repairs in the first year of its life, I’d go get an S65 AMG.

It’s a very nice truck, well maintained and well presented, The seller gets lots of credit for doing it right.

There is no car as expensive as a cheap Mercedes.

The 210-based CLK (I don’t remember the chassis type for the CLK variant itself) doesn’t require the same computer power to fix that the 211s and later do. On a 211, you have to have STAR Diagnostics to do damned near anything. Much less so on the 210.

This looks like a car in great condition. It wears its 18 years lightly, and everything looks well sorted. It’s based on the same W210 platform that makes up the E-class sedan of the era, with just some CLK-specific bits. Easy to deal with, without the service computer requirements of later versions.

This. Getting it roadworthy is not difficult, with no obscure problems to reach up and bite you in the ass on the maiden voyage. It’s a prime candidate to be restored to original. No, it’s not a GN/GNX. Who cares? It’s a great car in its own right, and for 10 large and a bit of sweat equity, will be one to own and…

Unlike the car, the plane in the background, I believe, is not a 2+2: it’s a Grumman AA-1 of one version or another, with just two seats.

Me too. For a German convertible sports car with a manual and an engine that has already been updated, in the condition this one is in, $16K is a NP.

Exactly. Great car. Not 20 large worth of great. Too many miles to interest a collector, too.

Perfect take. It’s not an Allante, much less a 560SL, but it’s a competent little car that will get you there in style and keep doing so for years to come. $2500 is not just NP for one in this condition, but bordering on highway robbery.

Much less often than I once thought. My 560SL does me just fine for pretty much everything I do unless my roommate’s family is in town for a visit.

Which raises the question: Where and how did she buy it? I mean, there can’t have been much in the way of Japanese car sales in Idaho in 1960...

Not only easily, but in a way that furthers what you were planning to do anyway. This is just added impetus.