Big cars are out, narrowing down the players for 5 replacement

I've visited every car lot in my po-dunk county and actually had a look at some of the bit players. XC90 is out, it's way too big for me to feel comfortable in. The XTerra/Pathfinder, Land Cruiser, and Jeep GC are all out as well. Big, thirsty, and not much fun to drive. I'm just not into slow off-roading I guess?

SWMBO isn't so hot on V70's (leather only, hard to find with low-ish miles, pricey repairs). The leaders right now would seem to be a Legacy 2.5 GT wagon or the Mazda6 Sport wagon.

I'm still going to try some small cars. There's a 9-2X Aero, a hawkeye WRX wagon, and a Mazdaspeed3 all looking pretty good from pictures. I need to get car seats in there and see what's what.

What about the SVT Focus? I've found quite a few 5-doors in really nice shape for cheap, and the back seat looks wide and flat. Possible to get the kids 3 across back there?

FWIW, we only have 2 kids, and #2 is a ward of the state. SWMBO is being slightly irrational over the desire to carry a third (we don't even have the space in the house), but I can live with having 5 seats/belts.

What about the SAABaru alternative?

Avenger R/T with the 3.6 engine. Test drive one, you'll see.

While I love my Legacy GT wagon, be very careful checking one over or any other 2.5 Turbo Subaru/SAABaru. A good chunk of them are running around with cracked ring lands due to the weak pistons and bad factory tune. It's very hard to tell, the car can drive fine and not show any signs- until you need to add a QT of oil every 500 miles. If you do get a good one, get a safer tune on it right away.

In reply to Boost_Crazy:

What years are you talking about? I've been looking at a Legacy as well, but more like late 90's without a turbo... at least at the moment.

I don't mean to thread-jack Javelin, it's just nice to have a good resource of knowledge here!

-Hamid

Legacy GT wagon is great.

If you do get a good one, get a safer tune on it right away.

I've been told that this is only the case in areas where 91 octane gas is used, and a recall was issued over that. I think where he is they use 93.

SWMBO is being slightly irrational over the desire to carry a third (we don't even have the space in the house), but I can live with having 5 seats/belts.

Time to go get your nuts clipped. A few of my friends and my dad did that when their wives (and my mom) was in the same mood. Put an end to it immediately. When that happens to me i'm going to do it as well.

We have 91 gas.

Looking at 5-door wagons/hatchbacks only, used, for $13k or less, with a stick.

Subaru's are common as dirt up here. Is there any way to tell about the ring lands? I'm looking at turbocharged Scooby's only, the NA ones are too slow.

Also, we're foster parents, getting snipped won't solve anything.

Saab 9-5 wagon. They are dirt cheap, reliable, can be had with a manual and make awesome power with the 2.3t and a reflash.

mazda6 sport wagon is hard to find with lower mileage. sport wagon in manual is needle in haystack territory.

Javelin wrote: We have 91 gas. Looking at 5-door wagons/hatchbacks only, used, for $13k or less, with a stick. Subaru's are common as dirt up here. Is there any way to tell about the ring lands? I'm looking at turbocharged Scooby's only, the NA ones are too slow.

There a crap ton of 2.5L turbos out there that don't have the ringland problem They were used in WRX (06-14), WRX STi (04-15 - still used), Legacy's (05-?), Foresters (04-?), if they were all a problem there would be Subaru wreckage everywhere. But AFAIK there is no way to know if it does or doesn't from the outside, other than a Leakdown or compression test should pick it up. The problem is most common in STi's because of the more aggressive tune (and likely more aggressive drivers). It most commonly occurs in Cyl #4 and there is some belief that it is caused by high cylinder temps due to the unequal length exhausts used on turbo Subaru's. There is also speculation that the factory tune on the Subaru's gets lean at times and that Cyl #4 is the first to go lean due to the intake manifold design.

Legacy GT wagons with MT's are unicorns - you will have trouble finding one. Up here they were a single year (2005) only, but I am not sure about the US. You have a better shot at finding a Forester XT with an MT than a Leggy.

Take a BMW 3 series wagon for a drive.

Seriously. Why Javelin is interested in Volvos and Saabs, but fears BMW is beyond me.

Javelin wrote: I've visited every car lot in my po-dunk county and actually had a look at some of the bit players. XC90 is out, it's way too big for me to feel comfortable in. The XTerra/Pathfinder, Land Cruiser, and Jeep GC are all out as well. Big, thirsty, and not much fun to drive. I'm just not into slow off-roading I guess? SWMBO isn't so hot on V70's (leather only, hard to find with low-ish miles, pricey repairs). The leaders right now would seem to be a Legacy 2.5 GT wagon or the Mazda6 Sport wagon. I'm still going to try some small cars. There's a 9-2X Aero, a hawkeye WRX wagon, and a Mazdaspeed3 all looking pretty good from pictures. I need to get car seats in there and see what's what. What about the SVT Focus? I've found quite a few 5-doors in really nice shape for cheap, and the back seat looks wide and flat. Possible to get the kids 3 across back there? FWIW, we only have 2 kids, and #2 is a ward of the state. SWMBO is being slightly irrational over the desire to carry a third (we don't even have the space in the house), but I can live with having 5 seats/belts.

So for fuel economy the U-r-a-bus is out. All of them. I had a Legacy and 18 town 26 was the best ever on the highway with the 2.2L. Just so you know I usually beat EPA by 10% with daily driving habits. You could eco-mod the Subaru to turn off the RWD, but that has mixed opinions in the Subaru camp. The engines just aren't fuel efficient as others.

The SVT Focus non-hooned would be great. It has a 2.0L Zetec with a Cosworth head. Love to find a cheap 5 door version for me. Had a 3 door ZX3 with Zetec and 5 speed, great car and was getting mid 30's in fuel economy on the highway. Drove that one harder than most just because it was so much fun. 3 across and/or a car seat will difficult. More of a 4 +1 than a 5 seater.

of what you listed I would go with the 6 wagon. I like Subarus but between the head gasket and rear wheel bearings issues and the poor fuel economy, if you don't need the AWD or are going to be rally crossing stick with the 6.

I known nothing about Saabs, but think they are cool.

My $0.02

and I don't know why people think a Volvo is OK and are scared of BMWs. IME that is the exact opposite of how it should be.

The BMWs I've owned were the most reliable cars I've ever had, my '95 540 had 273k miles on it when I sold her.

Javelin wrote: The XTerra/Pathfinder, Land Cruiser, and Jeep GC are all out as well. Big, thirsty, and not much fun to drive. I'm just not into slow off-roading I guess?

Have you ever tried offroading? I can't imagine anything more exciting that you can do in a vehicle.

Now, if you said "i'm not willing to offroad in my new vehicle I'm driving" I totally get that and it's one of the big reasons why autocross, track days and even wheel to wheel racing is appealing to me, way lower cost, way less carnage.

what do you think of toyota highlanders?

NGTD wrote: Legacy GT wagons with MT's are unicorns - you will have trouble finding one. Up here they were a single year (2005) only, but I am not sure about the US. You have a better shot at finding a Forester XT with an MT than a Leggy.

Why is the Forester not on the list again?

The real problem with the Legacy GT and Outback XT turbo wagons is that the banjo bolts that feed the turbo have filters in them that will get clogged if an oil change regimen isn't adhered to.

Make sure that the maintenance is good, and then remove the filters.

belteshazzar wrote: what do you think of toyota highlanders?

I have one and can confirm they are boring as dirt. Great rigs though. Not as easy to get people and stuff into and out of compared to a Minivan. Have a friend with a newer Rav-4, which is about the same size as our 01 Highlander (the newer Highlanders are larger) but it is much noisier inside the cabin and it feels cheaper.

Our 01 2.4 2WD gets pretty decent mileage for a CUV, 22-24mpg mixed and it gets much better on the highway. The 2.4 loves abuse and the VVT is a nice little surge of power. It really needs a limited slip differential to be of any use in slippery conditions, but once its moving it gets along just fine in ice/snow.

A BMW wagon or a decent Minivan would solve the problem at hand in two different ways. Neither of which is appealing to you for some reason. So we're all going to mentally masturbate without any sort of decent climax.

I think a Forester sounds like it would work for you. Our CR-V is fantastic, and the older ones are available with a manual. Tons of room, very utilitarian, great little soft-roaders. I've taken mine on some rough little spots out in the Blue Ridge Mts. and it's done great. Not very sporty though.

We moved up to a Mazda 5 from a Focus ST sedan. 3 car seats across is no-go in a Focus SVT. Also, the convertible seat we have was hard up against the back of the front pass seat, when set for someone who is 5'7. Similar story in the Mazda3, three seats across is not going to happen. Two seats are ok in either car though.

It's been a very long time since I've been in a pre-05 Focus, so I wouldn't be able to tell you about rear seat space differences between pre and post-refresh...but I can't imagine it'd be much different from my personal experience.

I know it's kind of ugly...but what about an HHR SS?

Storz wrote: The BMWs I've owned were the most reliable cars I've ever had, my '95 540 had 273k miles on it when I sold her.

Note that this poster has a SAAB logo as his picture.

It almost sounds like you're back to the Mazda5...

Re-reading this post, I've noticed talk of small cars being too small and big cars being to big/boring/thirsty. What about the Goldilocks approach? Would a mid-sizer like a 4MT Fusion make sense? Same chassis as the Mazda6 but a bit bigger iirc. V6 MT Accord? Maybe one of those hideous hatchback versions? The Legacy is in this category, but why is it the only one you're looking at? It seems you might be passing over the exact cars you need.