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That’s not stupid at all. That would be living the dream.
Then again, there’s a reason why two of my cars live in a buddy’s driveway. 🙁
My last editor-in-chief said he’d let me expense a Cayenne if it was $500 or less, and, well…we all know how that ended. (Laid off. Still unemployed. Most hoon plans on hold. Hating life.)
I am still morbidly attracted to the idea of doing something very stupid with an ultra-cheap Cayenne, though. It would probably negate all of the reasons why I want a Cayenne in the first place—namely, to tow the 944 in comfort to track days and such. I can’t imagine a $500 Cayenne would be a replacement for the idea of a nice, gently used Cayenne daily, and I’m not sure such a basket case even exists. It’s probably best if it doesn’t.
But like, $500 puts it into Gambler territory, aaaaaannnndddddd I’m an idiot! I would not care about street parking a $500 Cayenne, either. Heck, my neighbors might even thank me for bringing down property values just a nudge. If someone said to me, “yeah, this Cayenne’s been set on fire and it runs like crap—do you want it?,” I couldn’t touch it for a while, but I still don’t know if I could say no. I’d imagine my reaction would be like that of a little kid who got offered a free puppy.
Why do I keep coming back to the horrific idea of a $500 Cayenne?!
I’m literally half-heartedly looking for an e21 330i, so I’m thanks for that.
I’m here to make the good/bad ideas happen.
I need some good advice and bad advice.
I’m looking for opinions on replacing my wife’s 1999 Corolla. 175K on the odometer. It’s an auto, and she refuses to learn stick (this ties in later). It’s generally reliable, but has a bunch of little issues. AC is shot. Blower motor is on its way out. Needs new tires soon. Brake lines should be replaced soon. Burns/leaks a ton of oil, etc… But the bastard just keeps running.
I have a 60 mile round trip commute, and there’s a good chance that my wife will get hired at my office. We’d be carpooling together. I’d keep her car and just commute in one of my vehicles, but here’s the rub – she hates riding in my daily driver.
I have a 2004 Lancer with some questionable modifications from the prior owner. The Lancer has the firmest aftermarket motor mounts. When the motor is on, you feel like you’re in a massage chair. Intake/exhaust has been replaced. The exhaust is LOUD. And its a 5-speed, so she can’t/won’t drive it. However, this car is so reliable and enjoyable to drive. 150K on the odometer. I feel like I could own this car for another 15 years. It’s just a 2.0 FWD base model, but I like it.
My other case is a 2000 Miata, which is used mostly for autocross. She doesn’t mind the Miata, but I do not want to daily it.
I also have two motorcycles. 2007 Ninja 500 and a 2010 Honda NT700V. Both are great commuters, but I don’t think my wife wants to ride pillion through rush hour traffic.
I have a couple scenarios in my head, ranging from reasonable to asinine:
1. Fix up the Corolla. Wife likes the low beltline (she’s really short). I’d really like to move on from this oil burner, and into something without a bunch of little problems. I don’t want to be commuting with no AC in the Summer.
2. Replace the Corolla with another automatic. The wife would like a Yaris, but getting an auto Yaris that wasn’t treated like a disposable car seems challenging.
3. Sell my Lancer, and get an auto for commuting. I’d hate to sell my Lancer, but she could keep her beater for around-town driving, and I could get something for the daily grind.
4. Restore my Lancer to stock, and hope my wife can stomach riding in it.
5. Sell the Corolla and one/both of my motorcycles, and get an auto AND a new motorcycle. This one seems the most dumb, but I think I could fetch $10k if I sold the Corolla and both my bikes. We could use the funds to get a nicer, new-ish Yaris for her. And then I’d have an excuse to get a new motorcycle!
Looking for your opinions, and happy to be a new member of the website. I love the work you all put into the site, and the comment section is always filled with knowledge and humor.
Is she set on having a Toyota?
If not, maybe consider replacing the Corolla with a Ford Focus? They’re cheap to run, fun to drive, and the facelifted first-gen models from 2005 – 2011 are bulletproof. Ford made a zillion of them, so it’s not too hard to find one that’s in good shape.
BTW I love those Ninjas. Very nearly bought one myself back then!
Also apologies to everyone – I don’t know what happened to my paragraph spacing when I submitted my post.
Mods – I can resubmit if you delete my original post.
I need some good advice and bad advice.
I’m looking for opinions on replacing my wife’s 1999 Corolla. 175K on the odometer. It’s an auto, and she refuses to learn stick (this ties in later). It’s generally reliable, but has a bunch of little issues. AC is shot. Blower motor is on its way out. Needs new tires soon. Brake lines should be replaced soon. Burns/leaks a ton of oil, etc… But the bastard just keeps running.
I have a 60 mile round trip commute, and there’s a good chance that my wife will get hired at my office. We’d be carpooling together.
I’d keep her car and just commute in one of my vehicles, but here’s the rub – she hates riding in my daily driver. I have a 2004 Lancer with some questionable modifications from the prior owner. The Lancer has the firmest aftermarket motor mounts. When the motor is on, you feel like you’re in a massage chair. Intake/exhaust has been replaced. The exhaust is LOUD. And its a 5-speed, so she can’t/won’t drive it. However, this car is so reliable and enjoyable to drive. 150K on the odometer. I feel like I could own this car for another 15 years. It’s just a 2.0 FWD base model, but I like it.
My other case is a 2000 Miata, which is used mostly for autocross. She doesn’t mind the Miata, but I do not want to daily it.
I also have two motorcycles. 2007 Ninja 500 and a 2010 Honda NT700V. Both are great commuters, but I don’t think my wife wants to ride pillion through rush hour traffic.
I have a couple scenarios in my head, ranging from reasonable to asinine:
1. Fix up the Corolla. Wife likes the low beltline (she’s really short). I’d really like to move on from this oil burner, and into something without a bunch of little problems. I don’t want to be commuting with no AC in the Summer.
2. Replace the Corolla with another automatic. The wife would like a Yaris, but getting an auto Yaris that wasn’t treated like a disposable car seems challenging.
3. Sell my Lancer, and get an auto for commuting. I’d hate to sell my Lancer, but she could keep her beater for around-town driving, and I could get something for the daily grind.
4. Sell the Corolla and one/both of my motorcycles, and get an auto AND a new motorcycle. This one seems the most dumb, but I think I could fetch $10k if I sold the Corolla and both my bikes. We could use the funds to get a nicer, new-ish Yaris for her. And then I’d have an excuse to get a new motorcycle!
Looking for your opinions, and happy to be a new member of the website. I love the work you all put into the site, and the comment section is always filled with knowledge and humor.
Comment system testing, ignore. 🙂
{ sees 9:18 a.m. timestamp }
………………………..Fiero-based 918 kit car?
Matt, my first car ever was a 1982 320i manual and, looking back, I’m pretty damn lucky I didn’t kill myself. The rear end is so, so light which made for entertaining handling in the dry and white knuckle moments everytime it rained.
My E21 was not in the best of fettle so maybe it was just mine that felt slow and weazy. Seriously, the M10 sounded like it was going to break free of its motor mounts, pack its shit and sit curbside if you even threatened a redline shift. The upside was that motor would just keep chugging. Unlike today’s BMWs, that all iron lump endured two separate temp gauge pegged in the red incidents due to cooling system failures. And it seemed none the worse for it afterwards – no frothy dipstick or oil cap, no loss of power (not that there was much to begin with) and no driveability issues. The M10 was just a coarse, grenade proof unloveable lump that was sort of BMW’s iron duke.
It didn’t matter. 17 year old me had a blast driving that car. The steering was manual and heavy AF at parking lot speeds. The front brakes were dual piston calipers because BMW cost accountants hadn’t taken over yet and emergency braking and balance was ridiculously good. The handling, as mentioned, was very entertaining and the shifter was a joy to row.
My bad car advice: get it! You certainly won’t lose money on it and you will get a workout everytime you drive it.
Does anyone have any real world experience with the 80s/early 90s Alfa Romeo Spiders? I saw an ad for one in an old issue of Car and Driver which reminded me that they actually sold those here. Then I saw that they aren’t terribly expensive and now I sort of want one.
How bad can they really be? Obviously I’ve seen all of the jokes online but the internet loves to blow things out of proportion and I’ve seen the Top Gear episode but I’d get one nicer than those anyway. I’ve never owned a European car before so I feel like I should jump right in to the deep end if I’m going to get one.
I’ve had a Miata which was the small European sports car that actually worked all the time but now I want to try the one that may not always work.
I do. Bought a 1982 Spider on a whim in the middle of winter and flew out to Buffalo, NY to drive it 6 hours back to NJ. There was 2 – 3 inches of snow on the ground when I landed. Made it back without a hiccup and immediately hosed down the underside and anywhere where salt / snow might have been hiding.
And then I proceeded to drive it for the next 3 years EVERYWHERE. 2 mile trips to the grocery store. 4 hour jaunts to see IMSA at WGI. 30 minute trips up the Garden State Parkway to my office. It did it all and more importantly, unless it was sub 40 degrees out, it did it with the top down.
Never gave me a lick of trouble and to this day, dollar for mile, might be the cheapest car I’ve ever owned. They’re reasonably fuel efficient and have the added benefit of not depreciating.
The 82 was a 1 year only model – first year the Spider went from the Spicca to Bosch FI and the last year for the Kamm tail, which in my opinion, looks so much better than the rubber duck spoiler on the 83 – 90 ones. So you might argue the 82 is the sweet spot for Spiders.
They will rust so I just didn’t drive mine in the winter. Aside from that, I can’t really think of any downside to owning one. They are relatively inexpensive to buy, cheap to maintain, easy to wrench on, have good parts support and will put a smile on your face everytime you drive it. So here’s my bad car advice – go ahead and get that Spider!
I don’t even know what triggered moderation this time. Should I vinyl wrap my gray Niro? Should I give it a slight body lift? I’m considering both, but they are both probably wasteful.
And has anyone tried Spaccer? One of few options for the Niro to get a lift.
I have decided not to reduce my number of vehicles, but I still don’t quite like my Niro as much as I could. So I am looking to wrap it and add a slight lift. It’s not a GOOD use of my limited cash, but is it too bad a choice? The paint’s good, just a boring gray. The car is fine, I just could use a slightly better approach angle sometimes (I just scrape the underside of the bumper sometimes).
Also, has anyone used Spaccer? There aren’t a ton of good options for a lift on a Niro, but they have aluminum spacers that look like they could do well enough.
I really want one of Myron Vernis’s two U.S. spec NSU Ro80’s he’s selling. A great idea that will definitely feel like a bad idea at some point, but will ultimately be a great idea again because I’d never get sick of looking at it.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/793975415266923/
1. I absolutely adore these cars. I’m a big hatch/wagon/fastback guy, but the Ro80 and Pug 505 are cars I think are perfect as sedans.
2. You couldn’t possibly go wrong buying a car from Myron.
yes
YES
I think that’s why rent-a-space places have become so popular, but I would imagine rents falling next year depending on the market.
Matt – here’s you Autopian dream car -it’s only potential flaw being that it’s NOT rusty seeing as it is in Dallas, Texas.
It’s even totally within your budget even after taxes and title! $3,000 asking price? I don’t think he knows what he’s got….
[The Ad Poster is] selling a low mileage Classic Mercedes 300CD coupe that just came out of long-term storage. The car needs some TLC.
This is a two-owner car that is all original. These cars are getting harder to find with low miles. This car is Silver with blue MBTex interior. The car has 148,000 original miles and has been parked in inside storage for years. I have all the papers, including the note and receipt from when he bought it at the dealership originally for $18,000.
https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/7569274458.html
Now, naturally it doesn’t run and the interior is, well, disassembled. But a diesel Mercedes from the “rugged as a Panzer” days?
Think of the thousands of hours of fun you will have
getting it to rundriving it…Ohhhh I do love those.
I don’t feel the need to acquire a propane-powered Aerostar but I’ll pass this along in case anyone else needs one. Bonus hood scoop!
https://vancouver.craigslist.org/rds/cto/7558393986.html
Meanwhile my own inner demons continue to tell me that this is somehow a good idea:
https://bellingham.craigslist.org/snw/7560108442.html
LPG Aerostar is a new one on me. That’s quite the find. I think you have to get the pod. Micromobility is the future!
Micromobility has been the future for several decades now…
Still, I don’t own any vehicles with outriggers, so it remains tempting.
Almost two years ago, with used car prices starting to get nuts, I bought a humble hatchback (2013 Chevy Sonic, ex rental, dings on every body panel, but otherwise has seemed fine). I’m now throwing random money at a p0420 CEL (had an exhaust leak repaired, threw some of that cataclean stuff in the tank). I’m absolute crap at being an amateur mechanic, but I’m now wondering if I keep tracking down the myriad weird possible causes of the CEL (the mechanic couldn’t find anything), or try to sell my silly little car for something else that might also be silly, but interesting. Or hell, live the life I want to see in the world and pick up a Mirage because it can be had cheap, and in an actual color. Either seems like a bad idea.
All good choices. I vote for a new silly little car that’s interesting. What counts as silly to you?
I love tiny things with character, but again, I’m a crap mechanic, so it would need to be reliable. I wanted a first generation Scion xB when I bought what I have, but all the examples I found were rusty and expensive.
Code P0420 means you may be shopping for a new catalytic converter.
Parts Geek has ’em for a little over a couple hundo. I say fix it and keep it!
That was my thought- but the mechanic did some diagnostics and the cat was working within designed parameters. Nothing weird with the o2 sensors either- so maybe pcv valve? maybe coils? Maybe spark plugs? Maybe a lot of things, which I am not qualified to diagnose well. I do kind of like the little thing.
Well, Inclined to think that if the cat was working within parameters, the P420 wouldn’t have populated.
Cat efficiency is determined by the O2 sensors, which you also state are within spec. I’m still putting my internet-diagnostic money on a replacement cat being needed.
I’m with SWG here – since the cat’s designed to work in all temps/phases, the problem doesn’t seem likely to relate to ignition (or at least if it did, you’d get other codes as well, if not outright seat of the pants indication).
I vote totally keep the Sonic if you can – Chevy will likely never make something like that again!
Sonic… And it does have the 1.8
Are we to call you “Click” or “Clack” going forward?
(Posting again after my paragraph breaks disappeared in the moderation preview.)
Nice E21! I came close to a grey-market 320/6 as my first car back when these were a lot more common, but sadly it was sold before I saved up the cash.
Neighbor has a 2007 Lexus RX400h that has been sitting for probably 6 months to 1 year. 12v battery is dead, but he says it was mostly fine before they parked it. I think it has around 170k miles, looks pretty good at a glance. They have several other cars and aren’t sure what exactly they want to do with it, but it sounds like they might be leaning towards getting rid of it for a very reasonable price. I mentioned I could potentially be interested.
We’ve only had one car since March when Carvana gave us an absurd amount for our Forester XT. Our current car is a 2021 Venza, and I’ve really taken to Toyota hybrids more than I ever expected. I work from home, we can typically get by fine with one reliable car but having backup is occasionally nice – which we were reminded of when the Venza recently took a rock to the the electrochromic sunroof.
My question – assuming the RX400h isn’t rusty underneath and the price is right, is this potentially worth resurrecting as our second vehicle? I’m reasonably handy and have decent tools (though a bit out of practice), from what I’ve read these generally seem pretty robust – might actually be worth putting effort and parts into, even at high mileage, unlike past BMWs and Subarus I’ve owned. The RX certainly isn’t the most exciting of vehicles – but power and MPG is decent enough, has room for a kid seat, and it should be fairly safe/reliable for what I’d anticipate we’d need to put into it all-in. Forum support seems good for these as well, which I find promising.
Depending on what happens when we hook it up to a 12V charger (or get a 12V battery), my biggest concern is that it might to be really hard to evaluate what exactly we’re looking at, and what’s gone bad from sitting, without making some bigger investments. My understanding is the NiMH traction battery tends to self-discharge over time – since it starts the engine, but the engine charges the battery, we might have a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. If it is dead, the options are a hybrid battery charger/conditioner for $350-700, junkyard battery for $600ish, or rebuilt battery for $2000. And then hope the car is otherwise generally sound, beyond whatever a closer look reveals. That said, junkyard parts for these (which share a lot with Highlanders of the era) are shockingly inexpensive.
Go for it!.Worst case scenario you put in a $600 junkyard battery. That’s still a solid score and good odds that you might not even need perform that replacement/repair.
Plus rolling the dice on older cars is a beautiful thing!
RX400h at a good deal is a fantastic choice. Even if you have to spend the $2k on the battery, it’ll probably be worth it.
Thanks for the advice, and good to know about the reconditioned batteries. The first key thing will be to see if the car is rusty. We’re fortunate to be in a nice-to-have situation rather than just needing a cheap car. Rust repair and bodywork is outside my DIY abilities, and something like this isn’t special enough to learn how to do it (or pay to have it done). No interest of putting money or effort into something with a definite expiration date.
The 12V battery is definitely dead, it’s clearly old and from my research the tiny 12V needs to be started at least once a month due to parasitic drain. The batteries were working when they parked the car, they hadn’t planned on just letting it sit but a change in job (and several other cars with a single-file driveway) meant no commute. Neighbor has a charger (which might give enough juice for the aux system to power up) and already mentioned buying a new 12V before deciding what they want to do with the car.
I’ve read a lot of different things about what to expect for how quickly the hybrid batteries self discharge. Apparently that doesn’t cause any actual damage to the batteries, it’s the problem of how to charge it back up. There is a realistic chance it might fire right up with 12V in place, which would no doubt up the price – but also make me (and my wife) a lot more comfortable with the whole idea.
My 1986 Land Rover Defender needs new shocks and springs up front (the rears were done last year.) It’s starting to get a little rusty but still pretty solid up there. How easy a job is this to do in the driveway? What am I likely to need to replace on this job, aside from the new springs and shocks themselves?
I’m also a bit scared by the horror stories around spring compression tools gone wrong… how dangerous are they really?
I’m not a big Land Rover guy, but on the spring/shock/strut replacements I’ve done in the past, just some moxy and a good set of compressors were all that was needed.
The horror stories are accurate; be careful with those things – they bite, hard.
Just suck it up and invest in one of these: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-macpherson-strut-and-coil-spring-compressor.html
Hands down, the best, safest and least stressful spring compressor you’ll ever use. It’s one of the best tools I’ve ever bought.
Th!nk City with the Zebra Molten salt battery pack.
That is all.
Yes. YES. YESSSS!!!!
WHERE? If you don’t buy it I’m itching for my first EV to be a low-volume thing from a dead brand with basically no parts availability. lol
On a distantly-related note: I am a devout enthusiast of low-volume things from dead brands with basically no parts availability but, speaking from experience, even if one comes along that seems like a really good deal, whatever you do don’t let your first EV be a Zap Xebra.
What, no love for tossing someone straight into the deep end?
Let me put it this way: As I recall you asked me about my 1981 American Microcar Tri-Ped at the 2016 Concours d’Lemons in California, so it’s clear I have, ah, let’s go with “generous” standards when it comes to what I’ll accept in terms of vehicle design, construction, and usability. Despite that, my brief yet frustrating episode of Xebra ownership did not end well:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52472757796_099584eeb2_c.jpg
If I’m willing to write off a vehicle and warn away others, it’s got problems.
Run down from The Evil Shitbox Wrenching Lair (from under that volcano in Wilmington, NC):
-1997 Ram 1500: For sale for $3995 Waiting on the headliner board to come back from the upholstery shop for install. It’s been for sale for 3 weeks, but nothing but low-ballers and scammers so far.
-2004 Crossfire: Left seat heater still doesn’t work after the Mopar replacement heating element. Will continue to sit in the garage for the time being.
-1994 LeBaron Convertible: in the garage on jack stands currently awaiting surgery. The procedure is a new rack and pinion. New top afterwards, followed by new heads and water pump.
-2002 XK8: Still has a leaking valve cover gasket along with a coolant leak and bad rear shocks. Will sit in the yard until spring.
-1993 Stealth: Window track felt has deteriorated; window regulators are sticking as the glass rubs instead of being guided on felt. Will disassemble doors to replace felt. Meh.
-2003 Durango: Bad radiator. AC Leak. Neither are fun.
-1993 New Yorker: No speedometer. New gauge cluster needs to be installed.
-2013 300C: Bad TPMS sensor, but that’s about it. 110K trouble-free miles. Go Chrysler.
-2003 Stratus Coupe: zero problems. This. Car. Rules.
-1995 Trans Am GT: More problems than I can list in this comment. It’s green though with T-Tops, so all is forgiven.
I’m currently scoping a busted ’95 Park Ave and a busted ’07 Nitro for the next backyard rescues and I’m going to check out a $1500, 20yr old E 500 tonight. Bad ideas, abound!
Wait, what’s the story with this E500?
It’s an ’03 so it may be a bit too new for the distinguished, aged-auto tastes of one Mack Hardigraw (is that how it is spelled?).
I’ll report back after seeing it via flashlight tonight!
Can’t wait for the Stealth story!
Hard to find a car that lived up to its name better. Few people even know of them anymore…even the 3000GT is usually mentioned only either in reference to the Eclipse/Mitsubishi’s product line at the time, or as perhaps *the* example of the overengineered and way overpriced Japanese bubble era car.
Thanks Jack! There are a few stories in front of that one, but it’s certainly on the list.
I just had it painted last month and the paint shop came back with: “You know that thing has a Mitsubishi paint code?! It’s a Dodge! Crazy.”
Hope all is well, my dude!
Wait a sec… You have a 2013 Chrysler 300C? Small world… guess what car I inherited from my dad.
No way! Your dad had excellent taste in care, I see.
I inherited it from an elderly family member, which I’m sure will be the case for many a 2nd owner of these cars. Without the Grand Marquis, Town Car, Crown Vic, Deville, Continental, LeSabre and such around these days, they are the sole carrier of that flag.
Let’s do a piece comparing and contrasting our 300s! Cheers, my dude.
I picked my choice at “green with T-Tops.” Embrace the mullet. You know what to do.
Rubs hands together.
Alright boys and girls, does anyone have a lead on a GM New Look bus for sale that runs and drives? If not, I’ll also take a Grumman LLV.
I love that you and I were the first two responses on a “Bad Car Advice” post.
I’m specifically looking for New Looks on this round. Something about that style just really does it for me! And my budget is far lower than the beauties you have on deck, closer to $10k rather than $35k. 🙂 I mean, I’ll have a lot more cash in a couple of months, but that’s hopefully going into a historic schoolhouse converted into a home with a matching (and much larger) detached pole barn.