- 11,628
- Marin County
Can't believe it's been a year and a half since I last posted in this thread. So I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now. I still have the Porsche and I still enjoy the car quite a bit. After the first few issues were resolved, the car has been really great now for a while. I've taken it on a few long distance trips (to LA and SD) and it has performed flawlessly. Even better, I now have a garage to keep the car in because I bought a house. Better still, I have a driveway where I can place another car and I'm thinking of doing just that. I will probably keep my 986 until I feel I'm in a good position to get either a 981 or a 718. That one will be lapis blue on tan. Unless Toyota makes a new MR2 and then I might consider that. I'm pretty smitten by MR sports cars.
Me and my SO are planning to buy a nicer new car sometime in the next year (eyeing a Mazda CX-50) that will be her DD and a road trip adventure car. But that still leaves me without a "utility" car to do stuff like make trips to the hardware store with or load my bike into for day trips in the back country. So I'm on the hunt for something for that purpose. AWD would be a nice to have, but realistically I don't think it's that essential. Aside from snow, I don't foresee myself going anywhere in CA that really needs AWD. I don't want an exposed bed (like a pickup) but I do want a lot of interior cargo volume in a small package. Ideally I would be able to fit two bikes inside the car (front wheels removed) and the car should be pretty good on gas (gas is ridiculous in CA). Did I mention it should be cheap? Yo' I got a mortgage...
All that being said, one car that keeps coming up in my searches is the Second Gen Scion XB. These things seemed to be vehemently unloved by all, but I'm not sure why. They have quite a bit of storage space in the back (70cf with the seats folded, which is more than even a new Rav4 and almost on par with a Honda Element) and they have a good powertrain (the 2.4 Camry engine) and I honestly think they look pretty good too. They aren't as quirky as the first gens, but they have a vastly better engine, and I'm not sure you can get a car with a higher ratio of interior storage to exterior dimensions anywhere else. I think the interior is kind of neat too. Lastly, probably due to the unloved part, they are cheap. I found one near me with 150k miles in seemingly great condition for less than $6k, which is waaaay less than a comparable Rav4 or similar competitors. Good luck even finding an Element for sale at all. Does anyone have any experience with these? @Keef you seem to know a lot about Toyotas ...any thoughts? I would guess a Toyota of this vintage would be good for at least 300k miles, if not far more.
Me and my SO are planning to buy a nicer new car sometime in the next year (eyeing a Mazda CX-50) that will be her DD and a road trip adventure car. But that still leaves me without a "utility" car to do stuff like make trips to the hardware store with or load my bike into for day trips in the back country. So I'm on the hunt for something for that purpose. AWD would be a nice to have, but realistically I don't think it's that essential. Aside from snow, I don't foresee myself going anywhere in CA that really needs AWD. I don't want an exposed bed (like a pickup) but I do want a lot of interior cargo volume in a small package. Ideally I would be able to fit two bikes inside the car (front wheels removed) and the car should be pretty good on gas (gas is ridiculous in CA). Did I mention it should be cheap? Yo' I got a mortgage...
All that being said, one car that keeps coming up in my searches is the Second Gen Scion XB. These things seemed to be vehemently unloved by all, but I'm not sure why. They have quite a bit of storage space in the back (70cf with the seats folded, which is more than even a new Rav4 and almost on par with a Honda Element) and they have a good powertrain (the 2.4 Camry engine) and I honestly think they look pretty good too. They aren't as quirky as the first gens, but they have a vastly better engine, and I'm not sure you can get a car with a higher ratio of interior storage to exterior dimensions anywhere else. I think the interior is kind of neat too. Lastly, probably due to the unloved part, they are cheap. I found one near me with 150k miles in seemingly great condition for less than $6k, which is waaaay less than a comparable Rav4 or similar competitors. Good luck even finding an Element for sale at all. Does anyone have any experience with these? @Keef you seem to know a lot about Toyotas ...any thoughts? I would guess a Toyota of this vintage would be good for at least 300k miles, if not far more.