For cheap and reliable an older Subaru is tough to beat. My wife's friend has a
Legacy wagon thats got 300,000+ miles without the engine being opened. They
know they're living on borrowed time and are shopping for a boneyard engine now.
I'd stay away from AWD, I mean all the hype would make you think its absolutely
totally vital, but I've commuted for 2 years in a RWD 240D and FWD cars are so
much better in the snow. AWD is just something else to break and from all
accounts is a serious PITA to fix.
Also hard to go wrong with a Toyota, a friend has a '93 Camry that he's driven
the stink out of, 400,000 miles last I knew but he's on his second engine.
Frankly for being plastic cars the Legacy and Camry are the first two cars I've
ever seen where the body outlasted an excellent engine. Neither of them are
throwaway cars in the way the Breeze is.
Too bad she won't drive a W123 diesel, $5k would buy you a real nice one.
-Curt
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 22:39:35 -0400
From: Rob S. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [MBZ] preferred $5000 car? (kinda OT)
To: Mercedes mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
What will $5K get ya nowadays?
Redhead's Plymouth Breeze is in need of more work than it's worth, and
she commutes 70 miles a day. We're not going to take out a loan to
buy a car so the cap is about $5K. less would be much better.
Safety, Fuel economy, reliability without much maintenance, and
drivability are the key shopping points.
Early C classes are starting to fall into this price range, although I
doubt they're reliable at that price.
late 80's, early 90's E classes are right about there.
Subaru Legacy / Outback are great AWD contenders.
90's Accord / Camry are boring as anything but easy to find.
She wants an airbag, AC, automatic, and ABS. That's really all she
requires as features.
She doesn't mind riding in my 123, but has no interest in driving a
diesel, or any car requiring a "ritual" to start it or turn it off.
any opinions?
-Rob
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