$4,500 daily driver

Looking to pick up a different dd. Prefer rear wheal drive, awd as a next option. Must be manual and 4 doors. Reliability is important. And must be fun to drive. thinking e30, impreza...???

e36 4dr 5sp could fit the bill too. just leave some budget for a cooling system.

Seconding the E36, 96-99 cars in decent condition are well within that price range. Be patient, find a well maintained one, save a bundle in the long run.

Cressida Wagon and $3k in your pocket.

e28 - m30 - 5spd - that's enough for a pretty nice one.

how are the maintainence cost on the bimmers? And how much maintainence do they need? I had to move, so I don't have many tools...

How long is a piece of string?

Depends entirely upon the condition of the car, where/how it's driven.

My E36 was my Dad's DD for 5 years or so. It had in between an hour and hour and a half drive every day. Most on highway, a lot in DC traffic. Then I got it last year, used it like most teenagers would. I even drove it fairly hard maybe 70% around Summit Point for a session or two. But I'm also nice to it. It has 214k on it and starts and runs fine, everything works. It still has OK power too.

The headliner is droopy, there is a rip in the Drivers seat, and some of the rubber window liner on the outside is rusting underneath. Other than that, it looks great with one clear coat spot wearing away on the C-Pillar. We've never had any major problem with it, but it will get hot if it's been sitting in traffic and it's above 98*F One major problemo: It's an automatic.

I love the car, even just added a whole new speakers and head unit cause I know it will survive for many more years.

Steven

nice In reply to Smack35:

If you don't have to get into bodywork, the only tools I used on my e28 were metric sockets and wrenches, screwdrivers and a paperclip. I drove it about 5000-6000 miles in 6 months - drove it from Chicago to Gainesville, competed in the sub 1k class at the $2010 challenge, drove it back to Chicago and sold it. Maintenance included oil changes, clutch master cylinder replacement and pedal bracket. It had over 200k on it - it should easily make 300k. Nothing on it was particularly hard - great online support for about all the old bimmers. Parts aren't that bad for e28s. They will cost more than chevy parts - they will work better than most chevy parts.

Alfa milano too, they are no worse than BMWs except for a couple hard to find/expensive parts.

Mitsubishi Galant VR4 or GSX are decent 4 door 4WD cars and most/all parts are standard Galant or DSM stuff aside from a few trim items.

You can get a pretty nice close-to-stock Galant VR4 or the nicest Galant GSX on the planet for $4500. All VR4s and some GSXes were 5 speeds.

Honestly, if you want something that meets all those characteristics you are talking about a BMW, maybe a few M-B's here and there. Also, E30's and E28's are great, but OLD. The last E30's are knocking on twenty years old and so they just aren't going to be as reliable as newer cars. E36's and E34's don't have the same cachet, but I think you'll experience fewer headaches with the newer cars.

selliing our M converted challenge car for thread title price http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/3521/

3rd the E36, amazing car just be ready budget wise for when things go wrong because if you don't know how to do it it will get expensive real quick.

Nissan Maxima SE: you cannot kill one of these cars.

Another E36 vote. I'm not biased because I own one, I own one because I'm biased. I've put about 25,000 miles on mine so far, and aside from replacing the blown shocks that were on it when I got it and a rear wheel bearing, it hasn't needed anything beyond basic maintenance stuff. Things to watch out for are coolant leaks - just about anything plastic in the cooling system will wear out eventually and you can get metal replacements - and the rear upper shock mounts. Besides the usual wear on rubber parts you might see on a 15 year old car.

Your spec list - manual, rear wheel drive, reliable, 4 doors, $4500 - means that the BMWs and Subarus are by far the most likely items to turn up on your list. There's also the Volvo 240 / 740 / 940. Most of the other options I can think of aren't going to be easy to find - but you could possibly run across something like a Dodge Dart, Toyota Cressida, Chevy Nova, or the like with the right options checked if you don't live in the Rust Belt.

We have a Lincoln LS in the shop right now and I'm reminded of how much I like them. 5-speed comes with V6 only, but its remarkably fun and cushy.

W210 mercedes is rock solid and 98-99 were the peak years. Anything 88-95 was a bit magoo and probably clapped out pretty hard, but the late 90s E-class is hella fun and the build quality/materials can't be beat. My wife's had almost 250k on it and I swear the seats looked like no one had sat in them. ... but good luck finding a 5-speed. They're scarce.

+1 on the E36, I use mine as a 3 season DD. I did a refresh of the cooling system when I bought it, and the only thing I've had go bad on it was the cap for the radiator expansion tank developed a pinhole leak (should have replaced it when I did everything else). I bought the nicest one I could afford (two-owner car with a 1" stack of maintenance records), and haven't regretted the decision yet.

Mechanical parts are relatively cheap, vendors on Bimmerforums all try to outdo each other and drive the prices down. Interior and exterior parts can be ridiculously expensive (try $600 for a driver's seat rail only), but there's a pretty healthy used market out there. For example, my car came with a ripped door seal, which is a $325 part on the coupe. I bought a used one for $100.

My plan is to continue driving the car and put a little bit into refreshing it each year. This year I'm focusing on the rear suspension, and next year I'll focus on the front suspension.

Another vote for the Maxima.

curtis73 wrote: W210 mercedes is rock solid and 98-99 were the peak years. Anything 88-95 was a bit magoo and probably clapped out pretty hard, but the late 90s E-class is hella fun and the build quality/materials can't be beat. My wife's had almost 250k on it and I swear the seats looked like no one had sat in them. ... but good luck finding a 5-speed. They're scarce.

I don't know if that's the case over here too, but in Europe the W210 is known for some major rust issues that are often only caught when it's too late.

When looking at one, I would definitely remove the engine bay cover from underneath so you can look at the crossmember - that's been known to rust through with interesting consequences to the handling.

Thanx for all the help, this is great!

fastmiata wrote: Nissan Maxima SE: you cannot kill one of these cars.

Can to! The only guy I know that bought one had the auto weld the input shaft to the case sitting in the driveway.

curtis73 wrote: We have a Lincoln LS in the shop right now and I'm reminded of how much I like them. 5-speed comes with V6 only, but its remarkably fun and cushy.

Forgot that one and its cousin the Jaguar S-type.

tuna55 wrote:

fastmiata wrote: Nissan Maxima SE: you cannot kill one of these cars.

Can to! The only guy I know that bought one had the auto weld the input shaft to the case sitting in the driveway.

lies!

okay, maybe not a lie, but definitely an exception to the norm.

For DD duty a Maxima is an excellent choice.