Posted on 06/20/2011 6:52:21 PM PDT by Chickensoup
Need a new vehicle.
Have a quarter mile private road.
Have snowy winters, muddy springs, hot summers and wet autumns.
Have a Nissen Xterra four wheel drive, four years old with tow rack and a little trailer (my wagon) so that is my truck.
Need a second car to share both vehicles with teen son.
Need something relatively efficient, safe, durable, and as a bonus, with less instead of more. I was hankering back to my 84 Saab 900. No fluff, no computer just motor and body.
Other options appreciated. Jeep?
Planning to spend 7 to 9000.
Son is not particularly mechanical.
I am mostly decorative.
Have a quarter mile private road.
Have snowy winters, muddy springs, hot summers and wet autumns.
Have a Nissen Xterra four wheel drive, four years old with tow rack and a little trailer so that is my truck.
Need a second car to share both vechiles with teen son. Need something relatively efficient, safe, durable, and as a bonus, with less instead of more. I was hankering back to my 84 Saab 900. No fluff, no computer just motor and body.
Other options appreciated. Jeep?
Planning to spend 7 to 9000.
Son is not particularly mechanical.
I am mostly decorative.
Check the April issue of Consumer Reports ofr reliable good cars in every price range—it is a separate article.
Best bets are Toyotas, Hondas, later model Nissans, and later model Hyundais.
Stay away from GM and Chrysler unless you are a glutton for punishment.
Ford is a mixed bag. German and British cars are trouble prone and expensive to fix.
Japanese and Korean(not Kias) are pretty reliable and cost effective, even in your price range.
You pose an interesting question since you imply you need 4WD. I would try an old Honda Civic with Goodyear Ultragrip snow tires. They are a pretty good snow car.
Chevy Volt...it will light up your life.
Buy something five to seven years old, if you can find it with less than 75,000 mileage, preferrably front-wheel drive like a Taurus. Keep good tires on it and change the oil every 5K. You can get a six years old Taurus in fine shape for around six grand and put the rest in insurance and fuel.
I bet I can get that at the library.
Oh my goodness, now I will have that song stuck in my head the rest of my sleepless night. The obama/Volt theme song.
My choice for plain vanilla transportation was a Ford F-150. Bought it used, it was a trade-in from a large construction company that trades in all its supervisor's trucks every 2-3 years. The fleet division of our Ford dealer got 10 or so of them at once and was happy to deal. It was MUCH cheaper than any SUV I could have bought (like 1/3 the price!) and a sedan wouldn't have done the job for me since I'm hauling hunting dogs around.
My only requirements were 4WD and limited slip since I spend a lot of time actually driving off road. Since it was a company work truck it had very few of the creature comfort options -- electric windows, the big V8, and the tow package was about it. I did spring for a camper cap to put on the bed, so my dogs could ride in crates instead of an aluminum dog box.
I have put about 50K on it (had 50K when I bought it) and it has been an extremely reliable -- if plain-Jane -- ride so far.
Teen son? You need something slow and indestructible. I have a '88 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Full frame 360cid, 2 barrel that has real 4 wheel drive. Might be heavy on gas but he won't get any speeding tickets. And when he rolls it over texting some chick, he will walk away from the wreck.
All the drive train parts are still available and sometimes cheap.
How old an honda civic. I dont necessarily need 4 WD because we can trade off the Xterra and there are only certain days and times that I have to be someplace.
otherwise we can trade.
How old an honda civic. I dont necessarily need 4 WD because we can trade off the Xterra and there are only certain days and times that I have to be someplace.
otherwise we can trade.
Ford F series pickups last forever.
The conservative choice is buy whatever you like, and find to be a good value. Reward the busines (and it’s customer) who made good decisions.
Or, punish someone who made a bad decision and lost a lot of depreciation.
A good car with studded snow tires could easily meet my needs.
For a durable used car that can handle winter weather, why not a retired police cruiser.
A Crown Vic weighs more than 2 tons, is durable and can easily make it through heavy snow. Enough room under the hood for less capable mechanics to work on without special skills.
Plenty of safety there for a teenager, and not as much chance of it rolling it over as there would be with a truck or SUV.
Honda Civic
Toyota Corolla
Subaru is a good choice.
Pick up ANOTHER Xterra
I could never buy a Volt. I would be in political pain for weeks on end. Then I would have to take it out and shoot it.
j/k on the last post. Good to know to you didn;t get rid of the Xterra as that is my current truck in canada. It got me out of a deep hole during the great snow storm of 08 in BC. Consider an Audi, used. Drove an A4 before moving up to MB and it’s a sweet ride.
the miliage of an A4 I found was better than the A6, based on other drivers i spoke with.
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