$10K to spend on a vehicle for a 13K+ mile, all-weather road trip

You really should drive the Fiesta ST. I just drove a 60th Anniversary Corvette Convertible with the Automatic (rental car) through some tight, twisty roads out in the desert and blasted down some nice straights. I kept thinking how awful the interior was and how bad the sight lines were and how freakishly wide the thing was and how much I wished I had my FiST on these roads. It just makes every road come alive and you never get tired of driving it.

You can lease one for 2 years, probably have to put the mileage a bit higher than my 10,000, but you'll still be looking at like $250 a month. Full warranty, stop at any Ford dealer for service, easily sell it afterwards or just keep it because you will like it so much.

Let me throw a curveball at you. What a car feels like around town on a test drive is completely different than spending hours and hours and hours in one.

I had an Intrepid R/T and it is the best long-distance car for your budget. The big V6 has enough power to easily merge into traffic, pass at will, hit some high speeds with ease, and cruise on the highway all day at high speed without the drone of a 4cyl at 9000rpm. The sport suspension was great for highway sweepers and twisty B-roads and the long wheelbase with good aerodynamics made hours of straight, boring highways manageable. (No wander, no wind noise, no push from cross-winds...stable under any conditions) The FWD disappears when you are on the highway, the seats were comfy for hours of use, plus you get cruise, sunroof, power everything and a HUGE trunk and back seat. You could spend $5 or less on one and then just trash the heck out of it and then sell it for scap when you are done.

Most FWD Mid-sized sedans, performance models, from about 2000-2005 would also work. That includes the Dodge Intrepid R/T, Altima SE-R, Taurus SHO, Impala SS, Supercharged Buick Century, Bonneville, etc.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

The two shops that have come up when talking to just about everyone who owned a German car were Best and Tom Hatem. I heard 'Tom Hatem' more often, but that is likely because more of them were in the neighborhoods around the OSU campus than anywhere else. But I didn't have a specific name there. And that VW is awesome. If I buy a BMW or Audi I WILL take it to one of those shops first.

In reply to pinchvalve:

Like the advice I got from my uncle (buy an ex corporate lease, rent, or go to the big Columbus car auction and be patient,) the mid-sized sedan suggestion is a perfectly valid answer to this question. Probably even a better one than the ones I am leaning towards, from a practical/pure $ standpoint, but... I want to do this in a car that is going to incite some active, positive emotion in me, even if that means there are times on the trip where it incites some negative passion as well.

As for the FiST, well... I've put out a couple of feelers and if I get any dealers biting and interested in making a deal before I make my decision, I won't turn down an invitation to go drive one.

This has been entertaining to get your perspective on all these cars. It's like I just test drove them all in a fraction of the time.

You want the Miata, get the Miata. Being limited by cargo space makes the trip a little more interesting anyway.

If you have been following this thread at all, you have probably figured out that my perspective at the end of one day doesn't always (possibly, ever...) match what I say the next. I have narrowed my list down to three cars... only one of which was on the "final" short list two days ago.

And if I tell you that my list now consists of the '04 MSM, a '15 FiST, and the best E46 3-series I can find for $6K or less... then you can probably figure out roughly what I did today.

My list didn't change at all yesterday. I did a few things to prepare for the trip, for purchasing a car, and for the eventual revival of the Vanagon that has been sitting for two years, but made no progress on picking a car, other than acknowledging that Petrolburner (and others of you) are correct when you observe that the MSM is definitely what I most enjoyed driving, even if other cars where better/faster/more comfortable in various ways.

Then I got a reply from the local Ford dealer saying that their network had three Fiesta STs and they would have one on the lot for me to drive at 10am. So this morning I dropped my mom off at work, took her car to get breakfast and a battery for the VW, and showed up at 9:30. Aside from not having that wonderful locked-on chassis feel, and of course a certain level of 'refinement,' from the driver's seat the FiST seems to give up almost nothing to the 330i. That is a hell of an accomplishment for an econobox. Plus 35mpg on the highway, all the smartphone connectivity and satellite radio goodness that would make for a more pleasant trip, and plenty of practicality for college use. This particular one is in black (I could be happy with pretty much any color but white or silver) with only Recaros, the moon-roof, and wheels. Don't need the wheels or moon-roof, but it's a better package than the other two they have (paint up-charges, navi, and at least one more add-on each.) $23,905. 0% interest if I want to finance it (which would give me more financial flexibility over the next year while I get settled into school than even buying used.) Depreciation sucks, but it would still be worth a decent penny in 5 years and would likely cost very little to maintain over that period. Definitely food for thought.

While at breakfast I had done a quick scan for a few things on cl. As of last night there are both a Mazdaspeed3 and a 5-speed Legacy GT (sedan) for sale in the Columbus area. Neither one have responded to emails yet. Ah well. I would love to drive both, but at this point, I am fairly certain neither would change the overall picture.

However, there was a 5-speed 325i at a dealer, and a 5-speed 325ic that got a response, so I went to check those out. The sedan ($5000) was definitely a little bit rougher than anything else I had seen other than the M3 convertible, but not in any major way... just some slightly sticky buttons, loose gear shift knob, some very minor rust spots starting at the bottom edge of the door and back of a fender. Engine bay looked great. Everything worked. On the road the car was 85+ % of the 330i. No sport package and on a highway on-ramp I started sliding out of my seat long before the car complained in any way. I could live without those last few percentage points of power and suspension, but I'm not sure I could live without good bolsters on the seat. =)

http://columbus.craigslist.org/ctd/4706923597.html

The coupe... was a basket-case. It is supposed to be selling for $3500 tomorrow morning and I think the seller is getting the good end of that deal. The chassis and power were all there, but everything else needed some kind of attention.

Again, several of you are free to say 'I told you so' at this point.

Yeah, that 325i looks like a twin of my car. I'd agree about the seats. Could definitely use some healthy bolsters.

Final, final answer: I bought the ZHP.

There were several more detours along the way. At one point I not only planned, but had agreed in principle to buy two cars: a FiST for college, with an E46 for the roadtrip, to be sold to a family member when I returned. After that, I drove an E39 wagon and an E30 coupe, both of which looked great from the outside and were reasonably fun to drive, but also had thoroughly worn interiors and felt like they had lost a step or three since their prime.

Gotta order an aux-in cable to install when I get back from the first leg, before the long drives out west, and hit the road Sunday or Monday. Just realized I could catch the $2014 Challenge as part of my trip...

Re-calculating.

Thanks for painting such a picture of your search. Quite the story!