- 5,428
- Midship_Express
With winter fast approaching and having recently sold my daily driven 1991 MR2 I am in search of a replacement vehicle. My only criteria is that whatever I get must have a rear seat and decent sized cargo capacity. manual transmissions are given a large priority but I am willing to budge on this for the right vehicle. My budget is shall we say around $6000. In this thread I hope that I can explain my thoughts and reasonings behind my choices while taking advice where and when I can. Here goes...
To start with I have actually been searching for a replacement long before having actually sold my car. For the longest time I wanted a pickup truck. From a Ford Ranger to a Dodge Ram I have browsed many classified ads and driven through many used car lots but to no avail. Nothing has caught my eye. At one point I tried to buy an older Tacoma but that deal quickly fell through. At this point I have essentially given up on this being a viable prospect as most worthy candidates worthy of living with day-day have been scooped up by now. I will continue to search but I have now broadened my search to include other vehicles....
At this point now I have begun to look at various sedans. I figure the right car should be able to fulfill my needs albeit without the ability to tow my motorcycle or project car. This is offset by the fact that it could potentially be much more fun to drive every day than a pickup and manual transmissions are slightly more abundant. A sports sedan it is then? Not so fast... Any VW/Audi product is quickly ruled out due to my strong dislike for them. A BMW would be nice but its higher running cost and rear drive layout mean it would be more costly and poor in the snow. Similar reasoning rules out any Mercedes products. The Mazda 6 is still to new for my price range and most seem to have been optioned as automatics. The Honda Accord/Toyota Camry are about as rewarding to drive as a toaster oven so they're out.
So where does any of that leave this idea?
Sweden.
More specifically a turbo Saab. Through my searches several manual, turbo 9-3, 9-5 and 900 have popped up. Even a few with relatively low miles, 1-2 owners and viable service history. They seem to have depreciated enough now to be largely in my price range and despite Saab having gone out of business parts should be largely available due to GMs hefty involvement.
So now is where I ask for your thoughts and/or advice? I realize this has been fairly long winded and I apologize.
To start with I have actually been searching for a replacement long before having actually sold my car. For the longest time I wanted a pickup truck. From a Ford Ranger to a Dodge Ram I have browsed many classified ads and driven through many used car lots but to no avail. Nothing has caught my eye. At one point I tried to buy an older Tacoma but that deal quickly fell through. At this point I have essentially given up on this being a viable prospect as most worthy candidates worthy of living with day-day have been scooped up by now. I will continue to search but I have now broadened my search to include other vehicles....
At this point now I have begun to look at various sedans. I figure the right car should be able to fulfill my needs albeit without the ability to tow my motorcycle or project car. This is offset by the fact that it could potentially be much more fun to drive every day than a pickup and manual transmissions are slightly more abundant. A sports sedan it is then? Not so fast... Any VW/Audi product is quickly ruled out due to my strong dislike for them. A BMW would be nice but its higher running cost and rear drive layout mean it would be more costly and poor in the snow. Similar reasoning rules out any Mercedes products. The Mazda 6 is still to new for my price range and most seem to have been optioned as automatics. The Honda Accord/Toyota Camry are about as rewarding to drive as a toaster oven so they're out.
So where does any of that leave this idea?
Sweden.
More specifically a turbo Saab. Through my searches several manual, turbo 9-3, 9-5 and 900 have popped up. Even a few with relatively low miles, 1-2 owners and viable service history. They seem to have depreciated enough now to be largely in my price range and despite Saab having gone out of business parts should be largely available due to GMs hefty involvement.
So now is where I ask for your thoughts and/or advice? I realize this has been fairly long winded and I apologize.
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