4 cars into one - compromise purchase

No suggestions here, just wish I had the money to pick up that MR2 of yours. 

I've always loved those.

z31maniac said:

No suggestions here, just wish I had the money to pick up that MR2 of yours. 

I've always loved those.

I am keeping the 95 Turbo. Letting the 94 Turbo go. Yeah this one will be going to Greenwich, CT. I took a deposit for it. Awaiting transport

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Manual swap the TSX wagon. 

TSX left yesterday

John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:

My recent $15k spend was a 2019 Dodge Caravan GT. I know you say you don't want one but I still feel it was a great value. 

We considered a Ford Flex and MKT. Those are good at Hyw cruising but also can have awd that might lend to your soft-roading. Big power from the eco boost but poor mpg. 

I do like the Ford Flex. Yup followed your Caravan thread. Great deal on those

Locally HERTZ is giving them away. We have 113 cars at Hertz now, with more arriving daily

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

red_stapler said:

I feel like a Golf Alltrack fits all of the criteria aside from the budget.  They're not too far above 15k though.

This is what I came here to say, though how easy is it to find with a M/T?

Even a regular Golf Sportwagen would probably fit your description, and get better MPGs than the Alltrack. For $15k you can probably find one very late-model with low miles and remaining warranty (especially if you find an '18 model with the big 6/72 factory warranty before they went back to the lesser warranty....

Everything on your list checks the boxes for reliability and quality, but I have no presonal experience owning any of them. 

I know nothing about Golf Wagens, but due to you and red_stapler I will go reserach them now. 

Your budget buys a Fusion hybrid or plug in hybrid with under 30k miles (bumper to bumper warranty until 36k, hybrid components warranty to 100k)

Pros: They'll seat 4 adults comfortably. Can baby (I'm 6'1" with a huge kid in a rear facing seat and it works for us). Tons of them in your budget. Regular hybrid gets something like 540 miles per tank. My Energi PHEV version gets a 600 mile range with a full tank and battery. If I charge it every night (regular 120v outlet), I can get closer to 1000 miles between fill ups.

Cons: No manual option. It's geared much more toward fuel economy than driving engagement, but it does it's not awful to drive and does it's job well.

dean1484 said:

500-600 mile range on a tank is the hard part of this. 
 

My Merc is in the mid  to upper 400 miles. Not sure if you go to a smaller motor or a bluetech if you can get that range. 

I honestly think you could auto reply to any vehicle post with "A Mercedes is the solution" :-)

trumant (Forum Supporter) said:

What are you hoping to get for the FJ? Seems like a very hot market for them these days.

Sorry I missed this. Given current market, I will be asking $33,500 for it. I will take $30,000. 

I paid 19,700$ for it, if that matters. I love man bun hipsters, they come over with pocket full of cash, and buy these things. I sold my LX470 last year to the same crowd.

So glad you said the MR2 is sold.....It may have been a really expensive trip for me otherwise. 

So the Sportswagen is pretty cool. There is a R version in Europe that you can get the suspension for and it bolts in. The 1.8L is peppy but not fast. The 4motion transmission is the same as the golf R so it can handle a tune. No rear seat room if you are tall at all. It's a really nice driver. I just sold my 18 DSG stripper 4motion for $16K 

I will be asking $33,500 for it. I will take $30,000.

I paid 19,700$ for it, if that matters. 

I hope you get every penny. I truly do not understand why Toyota isn't building another FJ given the way these have caught fire over the last year or so. Not to mention the introduction of the Bronco and new Defender that are both generating a bunch of excitement.

Wow!  How do you take care of 10 vehicles? I had six, now I am down to five. I would like to drop off a couple more.  The insurance here in Michigan is a wallet crusher. I drive one vehicle about 95% of the time so the others just sit with covers on them.  I have endless dead batteries and other oddball problems. I started the spider thread. Yep, creepy crawlers love sitting vehicles with covers on them. Having said that, I have always had a thing for those LS430s. Damn.....must think about baseball instead.

I vote accord.  It's hard to beat a manual honda.  It won't break, it will be good on gas and from reading the car reviews it will be fun to drive.

 

We had a CT200h, which was terrible. With the Prius and Camry Hybrids all seem to be losing battery at 100K, I rather not get into that. Plus the CT was soulless as can be. 

 

 

Where are you seeing that Toyota hybrids are losing battery at 100k? 
 

I own a '12 Prius with 126k miles and haven't noticed degradation of the traction battery. I also browse the Prius forum regularly and don't recall people seeing their batteries go so soon. There's something that regularly goes wrong with the 2010, but that was a single year issue.

Either way, I think a Prius is a not awesome choice for road trips because they lack for comfort and quiet. Great commuter though, cheap to run and maintain, IME.

edit: spelling

I also don't get the comment about Prius/Camry Hybrids losing battery. A buddy of mine is the auction buyer for a local used car dealer and their bread and butter is hybrids since other dealers are afraid of them. He says the Hondas don't last but they rarely have to mess with the Toyotas before 200k.

I would think a top-spec Toyota Avalon Hybrid would do everything you want it to. They're pretty underrated cars, if not the most exciting.

You can get a regular Golf Wagon with 4motion. 

UPDATE ON ACCORD SPORT:

Had an interesting experience. 

Just drove for 40 minutes a 2017 Accord Sport, Red 6MT. Car is 2 years old. He ordered it late 17, picked up 18. Original owner.

He tossed me the keys, and said come back in hour. 

The Accord was very spacious as I expected. All the new gadgets were there. Ticked all the boxes. 

Then I drove it around. Shifter is AMAZING. Typical Honda, excellence. The lack of sunroof/moonroof bothers me, but that that is how all the Sport models are. 
Clutch is super light. Almost too light. 

However, the BIG problem was, the car had almost NO power. NO SOUL. It was SO vanilla. I went in expecting IT WAS THE CAR. 

Like its sexy red outside. Dual exhaust. Nice shifter. BUT, all that is like "fake' for lack of better word. I don't know if its due to the weight, but it just wasn't fast or "fun."  It didn't have the urgency of the Acura GSR. 

If its going to be boring, I might as well get a AT trans, Accord, and call it a day, as they are plentiful. 

The 6MT just didn't feel special. 

Asking price is $17K. He will let it go for $14.800.  But he doesn't have title. Still financed by Honda, so it will be 2-3 week process if I buy from him

pointofdeparture said:

I also don't get the comment about Prius/Camry Hybrids losing battery. A buddy of mine is the auction buyer for a local used car dealer and their bread and butter is hybrids since other dealers are afraid of them. He says the Hondas don't last but they rarely have to mess with the Toyotas before 200k.

I would think a top-spec Toyota Avalon Hybrid would do everything you want it to. They're pretty underrated cars, if not the most exciting.

The V6 Altima isn't half bad either.  My mom had one of that generation.  Significantly sportier than the previous gen, but understated especially compared to the tacky autozone-special look of the current Camry.

I have no idea if it goes 500+ miles on a tank, I've never looked for that feature in a car before, and I honestly cannot comprehend doing so.

bmw88rider (Forum Supporter) said:

So glad you said the MR2 is sold.....It may have been a really expensive trip for me otherwise. 

 

So the Sportswagen is pretty cool. There is a R version in Europe that you can get the suspension for and it bolts in. The 1.8L is peppy but not fast. The 4motion transmission is the same as the golf R so it can handle a tune. No rear seat room if you are tall at all. It's a really nice driver. I just sold my 18 DSG stripper 4motion for $16K 

I have a mint 95 MR2 Turbo, if you want to buy that, when you are going home with the GS-R ;) Since that is at the other house - you can take the twisties to there, and give me a nice check for that. I am original owner, and has 8,100 miles as of yesterday, in one of the rarest USDM colors ever ;)

trumant (Forum Supporter) said:

I will be asking $33,500 for it. I will take $30,000.

I paid 19,700$ for it, if that matters. 

I hope you get every penny. I truly do not understand why Toyota isn't building another FJ given the way these have caught fire over the last year or so. Not to mention the introduction of the Bronco and new Defender that are both generating a bunch of excitement.

Agree with you 100%

Don't understand why not. But the Hino factory is ongoing, and my brother has a brand new 2020 FJ Cruiser in the Middle East. 

mr2s2000elise said:

yupididit said:

That Viper in the classifieds

It won't meet CA emissions. 

I got a guy. 

But honestly you want a LS400 in the best shape you can find and save another 2-3k for repairs over the next year or so. 

Feedyurhed said:

Wow!  How do you take care of 10 vehicles? I had six, now I am down to five. I would like to drop off a couple more.  The insurance here in Michigan is a wallet crusher. I drive one vehicle about 95% of the time so the others just sit with covers on them.  I have endless dead batteries and other oddball problems. I started the spider thread. Yep, creepy crawlers love sitting vehicles with covers on them. Having said that, I have always had a thing for those LS430s. Damn.....must think about baseball instead.

No mistresses, currently 

No dead batteries here, as I have 4 battery tenders at a time. I also have 6 currently 2 wheelers that I don't count as "vehicles." But yes having so many toys in big city gets expensive. 

LS430s are great machines. We repalced (that black cherry) with a LS600hL, and thats staying around for a bit. Thats the work car, with the rear Executive package option. Can't remember, it was like 12-15K for that option a while back.

wearymicrobe said:

mr2s2000elise said:

yupididit said:

That Viper in the classifieds

It won't meet CA emissions. 

I got a guy. 

 

But honestly you want a LS400 in the best shape you can find and save another 2-3k for repairs over the next year or so. 

Sadly my "guy" who did all of it for me, doesn't anymore. Though he "has" a guy, who will help on the Ariel Atom, since I missed the SB100 last year. But that is another story. If yours was clean/legal/no headache, I would be at your house wiht a checkbook. I just am too old to deal with those "guys" if you get my drift, these days 

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:

I vote accord.  It's hard to beat a manual honda.  It won't break, it will be good on gas and from reading the car reviews it will be fun to drive.

Maybe my expectation was too high. FUN it really wasn't 

AaronT said:

 

We had a CT200h, which was terrible. With the Prius and Camry Hybrids all seem to be losing battery at 100K, I rather not get into that. Plus the CT was soulless as can be. 

 

 

Where are you seeing that Toyota hybrids are losing battery at 100k? 
 

I own a '12 Prius with 126k miles and haven't noticed degradation of the traction battery. I also browse the Prius forum regularly and don't recall people seeing their batteries go so soon. There's something that regularly goes wrong with the 2010, but that was a single year issue.

Either way, I think a Prius is a not awesome choice for road trips because they lack for comfort and quiet. Great commuter though, cheap to run and maintain, IME.

edit: spelling

When I live in Boston, taxi Prius had 500K miles always. Which is why I bought a CT. Since I bought and sold my CT (no soul, but I didn't buy it for the soul), 3 in our family (LS600h in laws), Camry Hybrid Moms, Prius V dads, all have dead batteries. 

I just don't want a Prius :) Great cars, just not for me.

pointofdeparture said:

I also don't get the comment about Prius/Camry Hybrids losing battery. A buddy of mine is the auction buyer for a local used car dealer and their bread and butter is hybrids since other dealers are afraid of them. He says the Hondas don't last but they rarely have to mess with the Toyotas before 200k.

I would think a top-spec Toyota Avalon Hybrid would do everything you want it to. They're pretty underrated cars, if not the most exciting.

 

Maybe my family is the outlier. I haven't done research. Just saying what happened in our family. Maybe our batteries are getting old, and its the years before the miles? I don't know. I am familiar with the IMSA battery issue with the Hondas. 

I don't think any Avalon Hybrid is in my budget.