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94Corolla5Speed wrote:Awesome, that is what I was referring to, in a way. Juniper Monkeys (really whacky poster on TCL) made that poster because everyone recommends an E30 BMW, 4.0 Jeep, or NA Miata when someone makes a "What car should I buy?" thread.

Sounds like a breath of fresh air. On any other forum, no matter what car the forum is for, no matter what the poster asks, the answer to every "what car should I buy" question is always "Civic". It could be a diesel pickup truck forum and someone asks what car they should buy to haul dirt and tow a 12,000 pound trailer, everyone will post up "Civic".

According to the chart, apparently I'm in Boxter lease territory. I'm not quite into 240D or Alfa Milano land.

Here we always say Subaru, Mazda, and I annoyingly over-promote Saabs

Volvo 240, can't go wrong with a early to mid eighties Volvo. Either the 242 Coupe, 244 Sedan or 245 Wagon.

If you need a pickup truck, you can just hack the top off the cargo space of a 245 and make it a truck.

A Volvo 240 is good as a rally car too, even the police used them!

If there's one car I can't over promote it's a Volvo 240


Also, sad to see you ditch the VW, but if it's not working out better to sell it than live with a car that displease you.


Buy a Volvo 240!

Except for the cost, the VW pleases me very much, greatly exceeding my expectations (even in spite of unexpected annoyances like rev hang).

A car from the '80s is too old. I'd really prefer something from the late '90s, but would go as old as maybe '92 for a particularly cost-effective looking specimen.

The Volvo 850 should be perfect for me; it's like my VW, with its 2.5L I5 (making the same power, plus the car weighs the same) and a manual transmission, probably with better gearing for me. However, they aren't plentiful, and most of them for sale are at the end of their engine's life. Around here, the Volvo I5 almost always seems to die around the 150,000-175,000 range, and most for sale are in that range (many with the engine already blown).

I'll just add that the reason Watkins and I are such shameless fanboys of the Saab, is because of the actual objective truth of all those claims. They are accessible and incredibly affordable enthusiasts' cars; not hard to work on, faster than they have any business being, well appointed and shockingly comfortable.

THC, I also have a tutorial that I'm writing up about dropping the gas tank to replace the fuel pump... in case you aren't keen on cutting the rear seat floor.

I'm totally not afraid to cut the floor in a $250 beater. I'd rather do that than drop the tank, especially in the winter.

The tank straps break most of the time anyway

Ugh, I'm lucky not to have suffered from that... I had to drop my tank twice in a month after developing a rather horrible fuel leak. First DIY repair didn't last long, proper replacement had to follow shortly after.

theholycow wrote:Actually, what I need is these qualities:
- Ridiculously cheap purchase price
- Ridiculously high supply
- Cheap parts prices
- Easy to repair
- Depending on the vehicle, maybe cheap modifications
- Manual transmission
- 20mpg or better (I'll squeeze 150% of EPA out of it)

I'm not so picky about seats, but arm and leg positions are important. However, in the price range I'm looking at, there's no selling it after I'm done with it; when I'm done it becomes scrap metal. Therefore, I can sawzall out interior parts that are in the wrong place, or else just tolerate them.

I have the perfect car. 240D 4-speed
2.4L n/a 4-cylinder diesel engine, between 24-29hw and even 40+ if treated right
4-speed
4 doors
can be picked up for cheap on eBay
replacement parts? It's a mercedes diesel, it will go forever.
Not so sure about the supply of 4-speeds, but there are quite a few around.
Easy to repair?
Comfortable? It's a mercedes, it'll be pretty damn good.
Modifications? Well, you can put a turbo from a TD onto it.

That's an interesting idea. I'm not very image conscious but I'm not sure if I'd look right showing up in that. However, I said that about the Rabbit and I got used to it. OTOH, that Benz is even uglier than the Rabbit (though it's ridiculously clean). Besides being comfortable, it's potentially a WVO conversion. Cool!

1974Alfa5spd wrote:It's a mercedes diesel, it will go forever.

Everybody says that about almost every car. In my observation, it's rarely any more true of one car than another.

{edit: removed off-topic rant}

I don't buy it. I look at ads for cars for sale and see how many miles are on them, what has been repaired, and what's original. That's how I determine if a car will last long. If every one of a model has a blown or replaced engine at 170,000 miles, I assume that that model's engine doesn't last beyond 170,000 miles. If I can't find one with 230,000 miles on it, I assume none will last to 230,000 miles.

I haven't studied those Benzes so I can't say if their owners invest in preventative maintenance, if they just last long with normal care, or if they don't really last that long after all.

Mom forced son to kill pet, cops say

A Georgia woman was in jail Friday after police said she forced her son to kill his rabbit with a hammer as punishment for bad grades.

The sheriff of Meriwether County said that the 12-year-old boy told his teacher about the killing. The teacher reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.

Sheriff Steve Whitlock said 38-year-old Lynn Middlebrooks Geter of Warm Springs faces one charge each of child cruelty, dead battery and automobile cruelty.

i think your biggest problem now, is that your going to try and get a car that somewhat matches your rabbit (which you like) but in an older, less expensive format. also your going to have a problem getting a car as torquey as the 5 cylinder but still get good gas mileage. i would say your best bet would be anything with a 4 cylinder but maybe turboed to give you that torque you want...how about a civic!!!

but really, i would say go for a saab or maybe an older VW like a GTI 1.8t?

If was going to replace it in kind, I think the Volvo 850 would be very similar (and the sedan would look nicer, by my measure). 2.5L I5 making the same power, car is the same weight, better gear ratios, ride should be almost as good, handling would suffer a bit, practicality would be better. However, those have inflated market value and short engine life.

Instead, I'm probably going to tolerate something that doesn't match me half as well. Sometimes when you're poor you gotta suffer.

There is a reason why people say "Civic" when someone asks for a cheap beater car. Honda, Toyota and perhaps Mazda and Nissan of the 90's are best options.

Personally - see if you can find a mid 90's Corolla. They are known for taking lots of abuse and neglect and still give a good service life. They may be a bit more than an Escort of similar vintage, but I think it's worth it. The higher price is generally driven by the market and I think that in this case the market is right.

AHTOXA wrote:Personally - see if you can find a mid 90's Corolla.

Cosmin seems quite happy with his.