Good morning! Today for your viewing pleasure, I have two station wagons. One is a garage ornament, and the other is, well, you’ll see.
But first, let’s see which scooter you chose on Friday:
Yep, I suspected as much. And I agree. But to the commenter who voted for the Honda and invokedĀ The Legend of Billie Jean in doing so, bravo. Fair is, indeed, fair.
Now, to new business. You all like station wagons, right? How about broken ones? How about, um, colorful ones? Well, you’re in luck, because that’s what we’ve got today.
2005 Dodge Magnum R/T – $2,100
Engine/drivetrain: 5.7 liter OHV V8, 5 speed automatic, RWD
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Odometer reading: 110,000 miles
Runs/drives? Nope, blown head gasket, and has been sitting for years
The Dodge Magnum seems so good on paper. A rear-wheel-drive station wagon with a Hemi V8, and Mercedes-derived suspension? Where do I sign up, right? But the styling is weird. It always looked sort of squashed, like the front is too big for the rear, and the roofline is too low.
While lesser Magnums had either 2.7 or 3.5 liter V6s, this R/T model features eight hemispherical combustion chambers under its oddly-shaped hood. Unfortunately, this Hemi isn’t going to be lighting up any tires anytime soon; it has an unspecified leak in a head gasket, and has been parked in that state for a couple of years. I can’t imagine what leaving a car to sit with water in the oil for “a year or two” does to it, but I can’t imagine it’s anything good.
This car is also filthy inside, and the exposed speaker wires (or whatever they are) don’t speak too highly of its condition either. It’s all fixable, I imagine, but is it worth it? You decide.
But first you’ll have to extricate it from a garage full of crap.
[Ed note: A V8 wagon for $2,100. Hot damn. I’d almost be willing to deal with cave-wall-hard interior plastics. -DT].Ā
2001 Ford Focus Wagon – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0 liter inline 4, 4 speed automatic, FWD
Location: Decatur, GA
Odometer reading: 138,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep, great!
You don’t see too many Focus wagons. And it’s kind of a shame, because they’re a good useful size: not too big and not too small. The Focus’s styling isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it doesn’t look nearly as weird today as it did when it first came out.
At least, most Focus wagons don’t look weird. This one? Well, as you can see, it features an interesting custom paint job. Someone attacked it with three cans of Krylon, and the results are not attractive. I thought maybe the colors were meant to represent some country’s flag, but to what end I can’t be sure. Food delivery, perhaps? But is it likely there is a Guinean restaurant in Georgia that delivers? In any event, you’re not likely to lose it in a parking lot.
Okay, you’re thinking: Yes, it’s painted in three different colors, including the rear windows. I can live with that. You can’t see the crazy colors from the inside, right?
Guess again. Whoever painted this thing was dedicated.
The good news is that it runs well, has low miles, and is a just-right-sized wagon. You just have to accept a little spray paint in your life. But hey, at least it isn’t beige, right?
One of them could be fun to drive, but doesn’t run. The other runs great and is very practical, but hurts to look at. Sorry, you gotta choose one. What will it be?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Sure, the Focus looks rough, but it moves under its own power, making it practically a turnkey winter beater (depending on your state inspection rules for the inoperable driver’s door, painted windows, and fogged headlights). The tomfoolery seems to be limited to rattle-cans and a few fumbled spliffs.
The Magnum looks decent (in a good from far, but far from good kind of way), but is almost guaranteed to be a nightmare. Unless your plan is to gut it, drop in the engine from a totalled Hellcat, and run it at the dragstrip on Friday nights. In that case, Mopar power to you!
TL;DR: I went with the Focus.
Is $1500 work of bus tickets a valid option?
That Focus looks like a meth lab. The Magnum is just a swap away from good š
I would in the end want to have the Magnum, it is just a much cooler wagon. and the 05 is pre-MDS, so it has that going for it. the Focus however is also fromt he years that it actually had an auto trans and the motor, while not powerful, it is pretty reliable. I would not want to swap the Hemi as it is a this year or so only motor and requires the same, so it is not worth it to me, but the ford could be a great winter beater.
Magnum because an engine swap can’t be that bad.
I bet the Focus smells awful. Look at all the cigarette burns in the seats. It’s like a mobile ashtray.
Since I already have a running car, I picked the more dangerous option here with the Dodge. At least it’s new and different enough to justify fixing it.
None of the above would be my choice.
Devil I know. MOPAR today.
“Whoever painted this thing was dedicated.”
Dedicated. Delusional. Deranged. Demented. It’s a fine line.
āWhoever painted this thing was committed”.
And likely for more than the 72-hour minimum.
I get the appeal of the Magnum, but I canāt pick it over a wagon that actually runs. The Magnum could make for an interesting project since it already needs a new motor.
One of these will immediately do its job of transporting you for $1,500. The other one will need expensive work to move under its own power and costs $2,100. I’ve been looking for a shitbox for a friend of ours, and there is one obvious choice here.
One thing – the craigslist ad says that the driver’s side door doesn’t open. Did they paint it shut?
The Focus! Whoever painted this thing was … STONED !
If they weren’t stone when they started they had a hell of a buzz when they got out.
Voted for the Focus. At least it runs, and though it doesn’t look like it led an easy life…that Magnum has definitely seen some things. Exposed wires running through the interior speaks to a hackjob. Likely more than one, who knows what else they did to this car. And if it’s been sitting with water in the crankcase for a year…well we all know how that can turn out. Only way the Magnum would be worth it is if you could get a killer deal on a new engine, and inspected the electrical hackery to see if it’s truly atrocious or fixable.
Anyway, I always thought the Magnum was kinda ugly. I love wagons, and have a Sportwagen myself. But the Magnum never really did it for me.
Fer me, the Focus is a better idea.
Okay, I have both vehicles, 05′ Magnum R/T and 03′ Focus ZX-5. If the Focus didn’t look like Bob Marley threw up on it, I’d go with the Focus. The Focus is notorious for leaky valve cover gaskets but it’s an easy job. I would check and make sure the transmission shifts correctly but mine had the habit of eating them. The Magnum has it’s own issues, besides the engine, the lower control arms wear down to the point where you’ll hear a clunk when going over bumps. The repair is over $1,000 (between $1,500-2K). The Magnum is popular with people that LOVE to put systems in it but unfortunately defer maintenance (it’s like trying to find a Civic that hasn’t been ragged out by a boy racer). Who knows what electrical gremlins are waiting for you in that one. Also, those rims looks like it’s from the V6 (they’re smaller), the R/T runs 18 inch rims. So if you want to be stock, you’ll need 18 inch rims and tires (the tires aren’t cheap). You can find plenty of parts in the junkyard for both cars. I’d find a better interior from a Focus in the junkyard, swap it out, and take it to Maaco. So Focus it is.
Either Maaco, or just buy 3 rattle cans with the same dark color.
Iād say A Magnum.. but not THAT Magnum. Regardless, just looking at photos of both of these makes me feel like I need to wash my hands.
The Magnum was probably the last great looking affordable wagon. I know theres some nice looking wagons out there, but for the money these things rocked. Ill take it.
I recognize the Focus! It did delivery for a Mexican restaurant for years in Atlanta, I hadn’t seen it in a while until a couple of weeks ago, parked on a side street with For Sale signs on it.
Someone should have told them that the Mexico’s colors are red green and white!
Looking at that interior, I don’t want to eat anything that spent more than the 5 second rule in there.
It’s painted that way because it probably also delivered some Jamaican “delicacies” along with the Mexican food.
You’re right, I may have screwed up the nature of food it was delivering. I wish I remembered the name that used to be on the side…
The Focus. That Dodge has seen some things. While the Focus has too, it at least runs. Sitting, especially outside, does nasty things to a car. Especially a 2005 Chrysler product with dodgy electricals to begin with before someone hacked into them for a stereo.
How about I take the cash and light it on fire instead? No, not an option?
Then the Focus since it at least runs.
I’m far more qualified to paint things than fix engines, so it’s the Focus for me. And by qualified I mean I took one painting class in college.
Still, I bet the average person could get that interior livable with a couple weeks of taking 30 minutes to an hour tackling one blocked-out section every few days. The seats will need to go entirely, though, since I bet they smell like Rod Serling’s throw pillows.
This one’s a no brainer. Focus ALL THE WAY! I had a buddy who had a magnum that carpooled it. What a terrible time that was. The windows are TINY, it wasn’t comfortable, and the transmission went kaplooie way early.
Also, I had a 2003 Focus ZX5. That was one of the best cars I’ve ever had. It could take the entire family if needed, or I could put down half of the seats in the back and take the boy, his aide, AND his wheelchair with no issues. The wagon would be even handier!
Focus now people!
Focus ‘cos it runs. And because around here the Charger/Magnum/Challengers are known generically as “Dodge Assholes” because of how they are driven. Though on the Focus downside, who gets cigarette burns on the underside of the seat? I suspect some blunts have been toked in this, I’d clean all the crannies before you get pulled over for breaking HOA bylaws on taste and moderation.
Magnum was never cool enough (IMHO) to bother fixing this much. Gimme the Focus, at least that runs & drives.
If the V8s a dud, just drop in a 392 or a Hellcat engine, even a hellephant if your budget allows.
Magnum for me
If your budget allows for even a used 392, you can afford a much better starting point than this POS.
The buyer of this thing would be doing good to afford a junkyard 3.5 V6.
neither of you make a lot of sense, but since this is the Gen 3 hemi without MDS, it would need to be a similar 5.7 from LKQ to swap out the motor. if you go 392 and from and auto matic vehicle the MDS computer must come with it or the motor needs other mods to make it work. the 3.5 is the same, yet nobody swaps those lumps into anything.
You’re probably right, but what if someone really wants a Dodge Wagon and likes to keep all parts in the Family.
Sort of a la Subaru.
It’s already been proven there there have been extremely minor changes to the front end of the charger family of cars since the mid 2000s.
Engine will bolt right in and then minor fitment work.