Mazda MPV. Yea? Nay?

Going to look at this tomorrow: http://daytona.craigslist.org/cto/2207024750.html

Anything I should know? Everything I can find says they're pretty solid, if slightly underpowered. It'll never need to tow anything besides an 800lb 6 x 9 enclosed bike trailer.

Anyone have any insight?

jg

Looks a whole lot like the one my Dad traded in for a bent rear axle/incurable highway vibration. Parents are snowbirds from CT to Daytona Beach so they put on mileage in fast highway spurts. Traded for a Caravan (ugh!) at a Daytona Dodge dealer a few years ago.

Make sure you take it up to 75mph on the test drive.

dude, aren't you in Florida? Gonna a long way to look at this thing aren't you?

plance1 wrote: dude, aren't you in Florida? Gonna a long way to look at this thing aren't you?

Not really. About 20 miles from my house, and right around the corner from the GRM World HQ. Maybe I'll stop and steal some toilet paper while I'm in the neighborhood. (Actually, with all due respect to the wonderful woman who orders our toilet paper, which is the best that Office Depot has in the bulk we order, I'd sooner use a banana leaf if I was stuck in a jam, since I would have conveniently forgotten to steal any of this. Don't get me wrong, it does the job. Or, should I say, IT DOES THE JOB! If Billy Mayes sold toilet paper, he would sell this. "One wipe—you're done! No fuss, no muss, just a little blood, now use it to seal your driveway!"

Anyway, to answer your question, it's not far, and I don't want to wait until I'm at the office Monday in case it was the right one and it leaves. Might just be nice to take a parrot for a car ride, stop at a farmer's market and get him an apple and look at a van. No deal? Then it's home to keep Azeroth safe.

jg

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Looks a whole lot like the one my Dad traded in for a bent rear axle/incurable highway vibration. Parents are snowbirds from CT to Daytona Beach so they put on mileage in fast highway spurts. Traded for a Caravan (ugh!) at a Daytona Dodge dealer a few years ago. Make sure you take it up to 75mph on the test drive.

Thanks. This one is allegedly privately owned. Any other identifying marks that might stand out?

jg

JG Pasterjak wrote:

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Looks a whole lot like the one my Dad traded in for a bent rear axle/incurable highway vibration. Parents are snowbirds from CT to Daytona Beach so they put on mileage in fast highway spurts. Traded for a Caravan (ugh!) at a Daytona Dodge dealer a few years ago. Make sure you take it up to 75mph on the test drive.

Thanks. This one is allegedly privately owned. Any other identifying marks that might stand out? jg

The tint wasn't the factory stuff, not sure how hard it would be to tell. A Carfax with a CT registration/inspections would be the best way to tell. Dad is retired and down there until May. I could always just ask him tomorrow since I'm sure he kept a record of the VIN.

plance1 wrote: dude, aren't you in Florida? Gonna a long way to look at this thing aren't you?

I think you are confusing DaytonA, FL. with Dayton, OH.

I've done the opposite and added the "a" in my head.

JG,

With a 2001 you're looking at the 2.5 litre V6 and a 4-speed auto. In 2002 they upgraded to 3.0 litres and a 5-speed. We had a 2000 that went close to 300,000 km as a daily driver; we traded it at New Year's for a 2005. It does basically everything we want in a van, and the relatively small size is nice for cities. However, I have no idea about towing.

There are a couple of threads on here about them, with mostly positive things to say. The price for the one you're looking at is on the low side based on the Toronto market, for whatever that's worth.

The only quirk ours have is that if you have the defrost on "heat" and go around a right turn, the hot air disappears for a second until you straighten out. The old one did it, and I lived with it; the new 2005 does it too, so I guess it's a Feature. I have way too little imagination to figure out what on earth is up with this.

Daughter & her family have an '06. It has served them well with no surprises. Bride had an '89 or '90. It served her well with no surprises until she was it was rather severely T-boned. In that case it was a good car to have a wreck in,no injuries to her.

Dang. Too slow on two cars today.

I called the MPV guy last night (the ad appeared yesterday) and he said he had someone supposedly coming from out of state who was real interested. I translated that into Craigslist-ese to mean the car was still totally available. Called today and whaddyaknow, the out-of-state buyer existed and took it.

Then I called at about 2pm on a 2002 Explorer that went up about 9am. Gone.

Gotta get those dialing fingers working better.

jg

Too bad. The MPV is a great car (I've got one). And that was a very good price.

The mpv was gone because you were slow, but the explorer was gone as a sign to make you question your explorer-buying.

Vigo wrote: The mpv was gone because you were slow, but the explorer was gone as a sign to make you question your explorer-buying.

You may have a point there. However, I see lots of crappy Explorers on the road driven by methed-out groders. Not that I want to join their ranks, but that does say something for the unkillability of the platform.

Here's today's quarry: http://daytona.craigslist.org/cto/2211704918.html

Went up last night. Let's see how my fingers are doing this morning.

jg

The board say no to Durangos.

If it's a 4.7, RUN AWAY. Even now, the 4.7 is a steaming pile. I used to work on them in a 3 to 1 ratio to almost any other DCX engine out there, except for the equally craptacular 2.4 and the kissing cousin 3.7. Oh and it's EXPENSIVE to fix when stuff goes wrong.

If it is a 5.9, it's decent.

As with all Dodge's don't expect any kind of decent mileage.

But I, myself, wouldn't hesitate to own it.

No Durango.

What's the purpose of these vehicles for you?

MrJoshua wrote: The board say no to Durangos.

Ok, I'm curious. Why?

Let me preface first the 04-ups are steaming POS's. Mostly because of size.

My Mom put a pile of mileage on a 5.9 Durango. The only complaint I ever heard about it was gas mileage. Theirs had the tow package with the HD rear axle. They sold it to a friend of the family and it's still running. It had a pretty good exhaust rumble. My Mom used to call it her hot rod. Good truck.

Durangos just plain fall apart, the assembly quality sucks; it's abysmal even by Chrysler standards. They just get old way before their time, so to speak.

Buddy has one the body style of the ad with literally 70k miles on it.

It's a pile of crap. Everything rattles, runs like E36 M3, eats brakes like no tomorrow, no matter what he does the front end feels terrible, gets horrible gas mileage... Basically when you drive it, you wonder if it's time to send it to the scrap yard.

Worth mentioning that i got my Cherokee for half the price, with 100k more miles, and it feels brand new.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: No Durango. What's the purpose of these vehicles for you?

Replacing a 1998 Chrysler T&C that is at that "needs some real money spent on it" stage. Unfortunately, what it needs spent on it will not increase its value relative to the dollar outlay. It's served me well for many years, and served the magazine well for many years before that.

Its replacement is ideally something that is nice enough that I'm not embarrassed to drive it, but not so nice that I freak out every time a parrot craps on the floor. Needs to be able to move clean and not so clean cargo, and tow a 1000lb enclosed bike trailer comfortably. More towing capacity would not be frowned upon. It needs to be enclosed (no Ridgeline-style half trucks) because I frequently carry things like camera gear or parrots that wouldn't appreciate the exposure.

Hard cap is $5k. Soft cap is more like $4k, but I'd go above 4k for the right situation.

jg

Really? Only time I have seen that is from owner abuse/neglect.

JG Pasterjak wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: No Durango. What's the purpose of these vehicles for you?

Replacing a 1998 Chrysler T&C that is at that "needs some real money spent on it" stage. Unfortunately, what it needs spent on it will not increase its value relative to the dollar outlay. It's served me well for many years, and served the magazine well for many years before that. Its replacement is ideally something that is nice enough that I'm not embarrassed to drive it, but not so nice that I freak out every time a parrot craps on the floor. Needs to be able to move clean and not so clean cargo, and tow a 1000lb enclosed bike trailer comfortably. More towing capacity would not be frowned upon. It needs to be enclosed (no Ridgeline-style half trucks) because I frequently carry things like camera gear or parrots that wouldn't appreciate the exposure. Hard cap is $5k. Soft cap is more like $4k, but I'd go above 4k for the right situation. jg

Cherokee. It's the GRM answer.

Ranger50 wrote: Really? Only time I have seen that is from owner abuse/neglect.

It's been well cared for, he doesn't neglect it, and his dad had it before him, and he took good care of it.

Maybe it's a special case, i don't know... but it's an epic pile.