Give me your tired, your worn out, your depreciated.....

I posted one in his hood for $9800 under 2000 328i on the first page

Strizzo wrote: um, i just skimmed the responses, but i don't think anyone has mentioned an E39 5 series. you could probably find a 6cyl/6spd for well under your 10k limit, and 540i/6's go for about 10k as well. even available in wagon form, but not sure if you could get the stick that way

All I6 manual E39s are 5-speeds; 6-speed only in the V8. Manual wagons were 528i and 525i only; all V8 US-market wagons were automatic.

02Pilot wrote:

Strizzo wrote: um, i just skimmed the responses, but i don't think anyone has mentioned an E39 5 series. you could probably find a 6cyl/6spd for well under your 10k limit, and 540i/6's go for about 10k as well. even available in wagon form, but not sure if you could get the stick that way

All I6 manual E39s are 5-speeds; 6-speed only in the V8. Manual wagons were 528i and 525i only; all V8 US-market wagons were automatic.

ruin my day and dash all my dreams, why don't you?

mrhappy wrote: Does this one have the rear facing third row seat?

Mine doesn't, but I've thought about finding one to install. It's hauling more race tires than people lately, so I haven't made extra seating a priority.

Some sort of Volvo. They seem to be indestructable, look nice and have really good seats.

Tom Heath wrote:

mrhappy wrote: Does this one have the rear facing third row seat?

Mine doesn't, but I've thought about finding one to install. It's hauling more race tires than people lately, so I haven't made extra seating a priority.

I prefer them without - my first one was a seven seater, the current one is a five seater. The seven seater fills part of that nifty compartment in the trunk with a seat so you have less "invisible" storage space.

Strizzo wrote:

02Pilot wrote:

Strizzo wrote: um, i just skimmed the responses, but i don't think anyone has mentioned an E39 5 series. you could probably find a 6cyl/6spd for well under your 10k limit, and 540i/6's go for about 10k as well. even available in wagon form, but not sure if you could get the stick that way

All I6 manual E39s are 5-speeds; 6-speed only in the V8. Manual wagons were 528i and 525i only; all V8 US-market wagons were automatic.

ruin my day and dash all my dreams, why don't you?

That's what I'm here for.

going to be hard to find for the price, but Volvo C30...?

I'll third the Mazda6. Should be able to find a good used 4cyl/5 speed, and will have no problem getting over 30 mpg on the highway. Our automatic (I know) gets around 32 on the highway on trips.

Ideally, I'd recommend the hatch, it doesn't weigh much more than the sedan(which is what we ended up with), and cargo hauling is awesome. The wagon only came in a V6, so not sure about mileage, though I have seen a surprising number of manual wagons.

5 cherry minty clean Escort GTs. Don't fix them.

Drive one until it breaks. Sell it for $500. Drive another one until it breaks. Sell it for $500. Wash, rinse, repeat. Every 4th one that breaks, buy another one.

You could end up with 13 of them if you play your cards right. Easily good for 13+ years.

mazdaspeed 6 or 3??

Andrew

02Pilot wrote:

skruffy wrote: Any of the 6 cyl E39's (525, 528, 530) should get 30mpg or better on the highway. All were available with a stick and are plentiful below $10k. Most of them will already have had the cooling system gone through at this point, and it's really the only weak point on 5's. Get one with the sport package. Plenty big for hauling kids, fun to drive, very safe, easy to work on, good looking but outdated enough as to not look expensive, etc... It's the car you want.

All of this is true under ideal circumstances. However, if the CCV hasn't been done, there are probably vacuum leaks and/or other related issues that will reduce fuel efficiency, sometimes significantly. If the suspension hasn't been looked after, it will likely need front control arm bushings and sway bar end links at the very least. And no automatic will touch 30mpg on the hilly highways of CT. But, it can be done - I just drove from NY to RI and back last weekend and managed 30.9mpg over the highway portions in my manual 525i Sport.

Man. I must be doing something wrong. I have a 325iT with the sport package and a manual (5-speed) transmission. I set the cruise control at 75 on the highways in Florida (i.e. pretty darn flat) and am lucky to eek out 27mpg. Granted I have 18" wheels, which may be the issue, but I never see 30 mpg at highway speeds.

John Brown wrote: Jetta TDi

Hmm thats in my town...

Now I wonder if I want to suffer through VW ownership.....

I'm not super convinced that a BMW will fit my needs and I don't want to pay european car shop rates.... I dunno yet...

dyintorace wrote:

02Pilot wrote:

skruffy wrote: Any of the 6 cyl E39's (525, 528, 530) should get 30mpg or better on the highway. All were available with a stick and are plentiful below $10k. Most of them will already have had the cooling system gone through at this point, and it's really the only weak point on 5's. Get one with the sport package. Plenty big for hauling kids, fun to drive, very safe, easy to work on, good looking but outdated enough as to not look expensive, etc... It's the car you want.

All of this is true under ideal circumstances. However, if the CCV hasn't been done, there are probably vacuum leaks and/or other related issues that will reduce fuel efficiency, sometimes significantly. If the suspension hasn't been looked after, it will likely need front control arm bushings and sway bar end links at the very least. And no automatic will touch 30mpg on the hilly highways of CT. But, it can be done - I just drove from NY to RI and back last weekend and managed 30.9mpg over the highway portions in my manual 525i Sport.

Man. I must be doing something wrong. I have a 325iT with the sport package and a manual (5-speed) transmission. I set the cruise control at 75 on the highways in Florida (i.e. pretty darn flat) and am lucky to eek out 27mpg. Granted I have 18" wheels, which may be the issue, but I *never* see 30 mpg at highway speeds.

If you haven't done the CCV system, that's likely the issue. Vacuum leaks in the intake boots are pretty common as well, and if you're over 100k and you haven't done the O2 sensors, that's another hit. I've also got a simple little (~2") lip/chin spoiler that gives me another maybe 2% (0.6mpg). I'm on stock sport package 17s. Cruise was generally set around 70-75, give or take.

tough to beat a 5/6spd Maxima. My wife had two of them and both were extremely reliable way into the 180k range. Original clutch on both cars. I would feel guilty periodically and check things just to see if I could find something to work on. Her last was 2001 SE anniversary version and the only issue was the splitting leather on the drivers seat(in the area of the side airbag). I replaced them with a set of identical seats from Infiniti off ebay. Near luxury and good performance. Try to find one of the rare 3.5 6spd cars if you can.

I have an IS300 and it is a great car that will meet your needs except the mileage. It could get 30mpg if you drove exactly 55mph with a tail wind. It is a gas hog around town. In 4 years of ownership I have fixed.....one marker light bulb. I doubt there is a more reliable car to be found. A sportx is great car too.
Actually forget about these if you aren't going with winter tires. They are pretty squirrelly without no seasons on ice and snow. You could get a 2005+ Saab 9-3 2.0T. They are pretty reliable these days and standards are easily found. Gets 35mpg on the highway.

hmm.. Talk to me about the saabs.. I am interested.

ignorant wrote: hmm.. Talk to me about the saabs.. I am interested.

Not the same vehicle, but I'll talk to you about a 9-5.

Its a great car almost all of the time. A very fun car to drive, especially considering that it can move 5 people very comfortably (I'm the smallest of them--and I'm 5'10, 200), gets 26mpg city driven hard and 31 highway driven hard, and I have seen as good as 37. Very safe. Nice interior, you don't see yourself coming and going, and it looks respectable.

But... If it breaks, its hard to find people who want to work on it, although it will probably be much easier in CT. Watch out for oil sludge. Keep up on maintenance.

Well, I wouldn't recommend a 9-5 without service records, and maybe not even with them, based on my experience. As noted above, when they fail, it is usually catastrophic: mine ate a belt tensioner (not a big deal, but did strand me), ate a turbo (850 miles from home), and then ate a transmission (most assuredly catastrophic). If you must, get a post-2002 model with the updated block for improved crankcase ventilation. I think the model range was down to just the Aero at that point, but in any case, get an Aero; the low-pressure turbo fails much more often, and the V6 is a horrific pile of catastrophes waiting to happen.

The 9-3s are pretty well-regarded AFAIK, at least the 2004+ ones; the early ones had some transmission issues. The Ecotec engine is quite efficient, and I really like the interiors.

hmmm...

I am warming of the idea of a bmw as well.

If you are thinking about Saabs, go a little older and get one of the last 9000s. you can pick up a perfect condition late 90's 9000 CSE or Aero for $6000 at MOST. I've had two of them and really liked them. They were fast, roomy, comfortable, have rediculous amounts of room in them and will hold nearly as much as a small pickup with the hatch back, and by the end of the run most of the bugs were worked out, and there is a great knowledge base out there for them. As long as you carry a spare DI cassette with you, there isn't much that goes very wrong.

Well, if it means anything, I went to Saab after 9 years with a BMW as my daily driver; after 2 years with the Saab, I went back to BMW and haven't yet fully forgiven myself for my brief, misguided Swedish dalliance. That said, BMWs are not happy without proper maintenance. Not that it is all that frequently required, but there are certain specific jobs that NEED to be done on at regular intervals, and they can be costly if you're not doing the work yourself. There are also a few things that fail periodically, but these are more inconvenient than catastrophic.

P71 wrote: A +1 for the Mazda 3. It fits all of your requirements and is still fun to drive. I think the older ones actually look quite sharp and have fantastic interiors to boot. Get the hatch. /thread

This

I got one of these recently for just over $10K:

'06 S80 AWD. You can get it for less (and eek out a bit more MPG) with FWD only. The slightly smaller S60AWD is similar and even less expensive. MPG on the highway is around 27, but around town I see ~16 - I like the torquey low-pressure turbo.

So in 2006, I bought a '98 328i for $7500, and some other guy bought that S80 for somewhere near 50 large. And I'm annoyed when I think about my car being worth $1000 or so less than I paid for it. In another year or two they'll probably be even.