2k Daily Driver...what would you buy?

How is the 850 to drive? Sporty(ish)?

I have one of those too, an 850 turbo sportwagon. Drives great...when it works. It has a nasty habit of leaving my family stranded places. Every time I think I've fixed it it waits a month or two then does it again, and it never does it at home...stupid car!

5 speed escort. Zx2 unless you need four doors. A wagon if you need the space. These can be had for less than two sacks and are fun to play with. The good gas mileage will help pad the wallet and the wife won't complain because no women will be looking at you.

ohms wrote: Peugeot 505 Turbo 5speed. Trust me.

Were those ever avail in the US? Looks really cool but parts/knowledge etc I am guessing are scarce...

ohms wrote: Trust me.

He's obviously never met you...

The 850 is a really nice car to drive. Mine is a non-turbo auto wagon in stock form. So I wouldn't call it sporty, but it's not boring. It handles really well for a wagon. I don't have anywhere near the rattles dculberson seems to, just one or two. Fuel mileage sucks, but otherwise I have no complaints. It's incredibly comfortable, hauls anything and everything, and is just a nice overall car. It's mid-90's entry level luxury. The car has kind of become that "comfortable old shoe" for me.

As for the reliability part, I've had mine for about 15 months now and put 27,000+ miles on it. It's needed an MAF and had an air intake flap stuck open (took literally 2 minutes to fix), and that's it...knock on wood. It uses oil, but I just keep an eye on it. Car now has 137k on it.

Storz wrote:

ohms wrote: Peugeot 505 Turbo 5speed. Trust me.

Were those ever avail in the US? Looks really cool but parts/knowledge etc I am guessing are scarce...

Yep, in both sedan and wagon.

In reply to Storz:

There can only be one...

P71

They are in that price range, cheap to insure and maintain, have a ton of room, and are RWD V8 goodness. Manuals swap in pretty easy for that 3rd pedal love, but a J-Mod and a shift kit in the auto will net you some amazing controlability.

Picked this up late last year for $1200, and other than a couple $100 window regulators and a $10 salvage yard coilpack, it's been fine for my stepson's GF as a driver:

Parts are cheap and it's easy to work on if it needs it.

Storz wrote:

ohms wrote: Peugeot 505 Turbo 5speed. Trust me.

Were those ever avail in the US? Looks really cool but parts/knowledge etc I am guessing are scarce...

Yeah, they were sold here for the better part of a decade, believe it or not! Parts availability isn't bad, but it isn't great either. Comparable to something like a Merkur - not common, per se, but not uncommon either.

In your price range I would highly recommend a Saab 9-5. I paid $1200 for mine and sold it for $2600 - it regularly returned 34MPG freeway and was a hoot to drive. Some suspension mods and an ECU flash REALLY wake the car up, and with Saab's recent financial troubles, the cars are selling for pennies on the dollar. Insurance is cheap, and the timing chain design is really low-maintenance - just beware of oil sludge!

Before ddavidv comes in here and ignorantly sh*ts all over my post, PARTS ARE EASILY AVAILABLE FOR ANYTHING 2006 OR OLDER. 2007-up with the front end restyle and HID's get much harder, but there is still stuff out there. 2011-up is unobtainium, plain and simple.

I'm not the only 9-5 owner past or current on the board, everyone else seems to like theirs as much as I liked mine. If you want something smaller, the NG900/9-3 is a pretty good deal too.

ohms wrote: Peugeot 505 Turbo 5speed. Trust me.

It's on my bucket list...

SlickDizzy wrote:

Storz wrote:

ohms wrote: Peugeot 505 Turbo 5speed. Trust me.

Were those ever avail in the US? Looks really cool but parts/knowledge etc I am guessing are scarce...

Yeah, they were sold here for the better part of a decade, believe it or not! Parts availability isn't bad, but it isn't great either. Comparable to something like a Merkur - not common, per se, but not uncommon either. In your price range I would highly recommend a Saab 9-5. I paid $1200 for mine and sold it for $2600 - it regularly returned 34MPG freeway and was a hoot to drive.

Saabs are def on the radar :)

190e 2.6 or 16v. I actually would love my wife's 190e 2.6 if it had a manual trans (they are out there, you just gotta look pretty hard)

Even people who own new cars compliment the ride.

Chris_V wrote: Picked this up late last year for $1200, and other than a couple $100 window regulators and a $10 salvage yard coilpack, it's been fine for my stepson's GF as a driver: Parts are cheap and it's easy to work on if it needs it.

I really like E36s but most in that price range have some scary subframe issues, from my experience

m4ff3w wrote: 190e 2.6 or 16v. I actually would love my wife's 190e 2.6 if it had a manual trans (they are out there, you just gotta look pretty hard) Even people who own new cars compliment the ride.

Can you get a 190E 16v for that price these days?!? I hear they are pretty expensive to maintain, but dang, there's another bucket list car...

Don't forget Alfa Milano. You should easily be able to find a 2.5l for 2k. 3.0l cars are hard to find in that price range.

Parts availability is way better than you'd think. I know travis_k had issues with his, but mine was an absolutely excellent daily driver. I did nothing but normal maintenance on it (clutch, timing belt, water pump) with the exception of a failed drivers side motor mount.

I looked at this one first and it's clean. Easy to check out before paying the money. And they are fun cars to drive (though if you find an automatic one, they are a bit doggish)

SlickDizzy wrote:

m4ff3w wrote: 190e 2.6 or 16v. I actually would love my wife's 190e 2.6 if it had a manual trans (they are out there, you just gotta look pretty hard) Even people who own new cars compliment the ride.

Can you get a 190E 16v for that price these days?!? I hear they are pretty expensive to maintain, but dang, there's another bucket list car...

I've seen two for sale around 2k in the last couple of years - but then again, I've only seen 9 or 10 16v for sale period.

You can't go wrong with a Volvo 700/900 either though. We've had 3 - all were excellent dailies.

m4ff3w wrote: You can't go wrong with a Volvo 700/900 either though. We've had 3 - all were excellent dailies.

yes it really is at the top of my list, there are tons of them for sale around here as well.

There is a really clean ZX3 5spd near me though with only 100k and around the $2k mark, its fwd of course but looks clean...tempting...

XJ6.

I will second the Saab 9-5. I owned a 1999 for five years and then my sister had for it 4 years after that. Fairly easy to maintain, just watch for the sludge issue and make sure it has the latest pcv modification. I sold that car for her last fall for 1700.

Chris

My advice is to get what you know. In this price range, it's gonna need fixin'. Fixin' is much easier if you get something you already know how to work on.

Here you go:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/3146607556.html

Joe Gearin wrote: Here you go: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/3146607556.html

Awesome, just a tad bit far away ;)

Anyone wanna drive it across the country for me.

Storz wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: Here you go: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/3146607556.html

Awesome, just a tad bit far away ;) Anyone wanna drive it across the country for me.

Hmmm......I will be in Sonoma for the World Challenge finale next month......

Get the nicest 945T you can find. You sacrifice the manual tranny, but it's not a bad trade-off.