Good morning to any and all Autopians in range of my voice! I’m writing to you from sunny (and hot) Las Vegas, Nevada, so just ignore the beeps and dings of the slot machines. We’re here to talk about cars, specifically old beat-up cars for sale in northern Wisconsin. But first, let’s see how our Corvettes ended up:
Bah. Philistines, the lot of you. Well, fifty-eight percent of you, anyway.
All right. Let’s head north to Wisconsin, where old American cars with a bazillion miles are kings of the road. Winters are harsh here, and folks are thrifty, and they hate buying a new thing when the old one is still fine. Still, there are bargains to be found, especially if you’re not picky about looks. These two still seem like viable machines; let’s see what you make of them.
2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GT – $3,000
Engine/drivetrain: 3.8 liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Odometer reading: 190,000 miles
Runs/drives? You betcha
The GM W-body is a member of that rare class of car that just seems to run forever, or at least have a remarkably long half-life. One owner thinks it’s just about used up, sells it for cheap, then the next person gets another few years out of it before they think it’s done for, sells it, and so on. And GM made so many of them that chances are we’ll still be seeing them on the road for quite a while to come.
This Pontiac is probably a couple of owners along in its journey through life, and it’s got some scars to show for it. The interior still looks all right, but the left rear quarter panel is pretty banged up, and we can see some rust in the door sills peeking out from around the plastic cladding. It’s still not terrible by Great Lakes region standards, but it’s not going to win any show awards.
I do have to hand it to the seller for having a car with this much body damage detailed before sale. I’m not sure it helps the car itself much, but it shows they still care about it, and that speaks highly of its history. We don’t get much information on its mechanicals except that it runs well and is daily driven, but it’s a basic and well-regarded car that’s a known quantity. It probably has a couple of years left in it before it ratchets down to the next tier of buyer.
I can’t quite figure out why the seller chose to only photograph it in their garage with everything open but the hood, unless the detailer just finished with it. The whole thing is just kind of weird. But the car looks honest enough.
2006 Chrysler Town & Country – $3,000
Engine/drivetrain: 3.8 liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Odometer reading: 244,000 miles
Runs/drives? Sure does!
If there is one vehicle that defines rural or small-town northern Wisconsin life for me, it is the American-made minivan. Folks in the northern plains embraced the two-box minivan philosophy early on, and these vans quickly became the vehicles of choice for a whole lot of them, and still are. And the Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth models are by far the most common.
This era of Chrysler van, I imagine, especially appealed to frugal Northerners, with its ingenious now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t “Stow & Go” seats. Drive the kids to school, take Grandma to church on Sunday, and haul lumber to build the new woodshed, all with the same vehicle, without having to break out the tools to switch between modes. It can replace the truck and the sedan!
This van has literally been to the moon mileage-wise, but the seller says it still runs and drives just fine, and they’re only selling because they need something with a wheelchair ramp. They say most of the miles were driving back and forth to “the Cities” (Minneapolis/St Paul, in case you’re not from the area) so it hasn’t really been to the moon, just back and forth over the same eighty miles of Interstate 94 a whole bunch of times.
It’s in fair shape, with some rust creeping in along the lower edges, but for its age and location, it’s really not bad at all. Inside it looks pretty nice, and the high mileage is actually a benefit with this one, because it means the notorious Ultradrive transmission has been maintained. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have made it this far.
Well, that’s what I’ve got: two crusty silver steeds with their best miles behind them, still slogging through Midwestern winters with resolve and as much dignity as they can muster. Which one is for you?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Minivan, definitely. You can haul a motorcycle or a few goats in that. You can even sleep in the back, once you’ve swept out the goat poop.
“Just had it professionally detailed for six hours.”
This is a line from the craigslist ad for the Grand Prix, and it makes me nervous. I’m sure the seller included that line to imply the car has been meticulously cared for, but it makes me think the opposite. How nasty and neglected does a car have to be that it takes a professional 6 hours to get it clean enough to sell????
I’m going with the van. At least the seller doesn’t appear to be trying to hide something.
Yeah, some people don’t think things through before they type their ads. If you can convince me that that’s the normal state of things, I’m much more interested. That said, at least they DID bother to have it cleaned-out! Then again, no chance of you finding any forgotten dime-bags under the seats.
Seeing less rust draws me to the Grand Prix.
Still have a 2007 T&C with 360k+ miles on it. Rust is the thing to watch for, but tough to beat for a people / lumber / bikes / college move hauler.
Everyone freaking out over the price really hasn’t looked at the market in awhile. Or at least the market here in Wisconsin. A running, driving, stopping, not rusting through the floors beater is going easily over $2000.
The 3800 is the winner here, without question. If not for the reliability of the engine, then for the fact that the Grand Prix is a much better experience than a Town and Country.
God, the minivan is so ugly; absolutely hate that style and I always, always wanted a Grand Prix of this vintage (granted, in GTP form), but I have to go with the van.
Frankly, I just don’t like GM products and in spite of hating the the minivans style, I own a 2004. I now have 230k on it and it just keeps going. It’s hauls my family every day, been across the country multiple times and has been used to haul large items off craigslist. I hope the thing lasts forever, because I can’t help but appreciate its utility, comfort and tenacity; even gets around 20mpg. It’s (mostly) easy work on too.
I’ve had both. Both seem over priced but this is what these actually go for right now. Both are great vehicles that will last, the deciding factor is just what your family situation calls for at the moment. The pontiac will net you better fuel economy but the van can haul full sheets of plywood. Side note, the vans tend to rust really bad so beware.
I almost always choose the van, but I’d have to imagine that with the sort of mileage this one has, in rural Wisconsin? It’s got to be about ready to rust in half.
Both are way too expensive as I’d expect an old-as-hell Grand Prix to cost 3k without the damage. But here we are. I sort of like this generation of the Grand Prix, as it was easily the best looking of the GM sadness available at the time.
Insane that people have the nuts to try to sell this stuff at this price, I realize the series is shitbox showdown, but these are apparently polished turds to be selling at this price. I suppose I would Go GM in this case if I had to. I would never have to, so this is all speculation of course.
Both overpriced by about 50%. The minivan would at least make a more effective storage shed once the inevitable happens.
inevitable? Rust in half you mean?
I dream of a dual engined mini van(one in the front, another in the middle) so I went with that.
Again the answer is always 3800…
Aren’t these built in Canada? Or did they move production there after this generation?
The long wheelbases were built in Canda: shorties were built in Missouri.
In this case: definitely Canada.
THREE GRAND for those rusted out shit-heaps? NO!!! No, no, no! All the nope. Make some more nope, and then add that to the total nope. I love a w-body, so ordinarily I would vote for the Grand Prix, but don’t anybody kid yourself there is absolutely ZERO metal behind the plastic cladding over the rocker panels. That car will wad up like a beer can on a frat boys forehead in a wreck. The van isn’t much better either. Good luck jacking that thing up if you get a flat, it’ll punch right through that crusty ass crap. You might as well wipe your ass with the $3,000. Find something else.
$3,000 is the going rate for a rusted out shit-heap in 2023.
The minivan is rusty and is known for transmission problems, so I voted for the other car
I guarantee you there are NO rocker panels left under the plastic cladding of that Grand Prix. It may look less rusty, but it’s actually even more rusty. These are both BAD buys.
you can actually see the rust bubbles in the open door pic of the drivers door, so yeah you would have to look quite closely at the bottom of the rear doors to see how bad it really is, or just poke around under it with a screw driver before paying that much money. the 3.8Gm motor is a plus, but really at 200 thousand miles, how much is it really worth in the end. Sadly the stealerships gouging and failing to offer adequate volume of affordable cars has resulted in 500 dollar junk like this to now suddenly be worth so much more than they should be. DT could have really scored on the Alero if he had done the homework it seems.
I had a friend in high school who bought a 10 year old Grand Am that had no visible rust. It would have been around a 1990, so it had a ton of plastic cladding on the doors and fenders. He had to take the cladding on one of the doors for some reason and found a large hole where the door rusted through. He ended up removing the rest of the cladding out of curiosity and found rust holes under every panel. Plastic cladding seems to trap salt and road schmutz, so even cars that are regularly washed are susceptible to rust. I’m sure both of these cars are super crusty underneath anything plastic.
Look I don’t know if people pay enough attention to the comments to see some random internet commenter’s opinion over time, but I’ll say it again:
I picked the not-Chrysler.
Obviously these are both cockroaches with good reputations for not dying, but the Chrysler minivans always had glass transmissions. And it’s a Chrysler.
I think few pay attention to your comments is really your issue.
*shrug* All the chrysler products I’ve owned have broken down in spectacular stranding-me-places fashion, so I always pick the not-chrysler based on personal biases.
One just wonders if commenting on a post on the internet is more akin to shouting into the void than having a discussion. I don’t particularly remember what anyone else’s comment posts say and I figured it’s the same for anyone reading mine.
I went the the GP but I know full well once you remove that lower plastic rocker cover there isn’t going to be much left. Better to just not look behind it.
the only redeeming quality to this is the repairs can be good, but do not need to look all that good as the cladding can be re-applied and thus cover up ugly welds and angle iron replacement of swiss cheese metal.
I put many miles on a Chrysler van just like that when I graduated college and needed something bigger to move all my stuff between cities. Only the interior was blue. Every fucking square inch was navy blue. Anyway, it drove fine, but for some reason I hate that “jellybean” style, so I’ll take the Pontiac here.
We usually vote Pontiac but in this specific case, we’re choosing utility over nostalgia. We’ll pick the van, take care of its cataracts, and get a few more years of hauling out of it.
As a previous owner of a much-loved ’01 Grand Prix GT coupe (back when coupe meant two doors), Pontiac all day. They have body roll for days, but it is a nice cruiser, gets decent gas mileage, and has enough oomph to merge and pass comfortably. Plus I think they still look great.
Forget dealing with this festival of galvanization, find these same two models for sale in Memphis instead.
Ixnay on oth-bay. The Pontiac because I just don’t dig it, and the van because it looks like rot has been nibbling away at the bottom of the doors and rockers.
If not for the Creeping Rust, I wouldn’t mind the Chrysler. They’re useful and not all that bad to drive. I’d prefer the short-wheelbase version (did Chrysler offer one? Plymouth and Dodge did, IIRC).
It’d be even better if it was a manual diesel like David Tracy’s and passed the TuV. I somehow doubt either of these, well, vehicles could do that.
I am on the Autopian and therefore I must van
I’m taking the Grand Prix this time. The car sucks, but it’ll work as a beater.
BTW, that old German lighting site copied your Apr 24th post
I just saw that. Voted NP anyway…
No love here for the Grand Prix, so I’ll settle for the van.
I’ve always liked that generation of Grand Prix, so I voted Pontiac.
agreed, prolly rusted out underneath but hey I don’t live there lol