95-02 Saturn Twincam
95-02 Saturn Twincam
jere wrote: Nissan spec v are in that neighborhood and tough trans
Ours is a constant source of problems and not easy to get parts for. The oil pan and the exhaust are very low, especially for a car that sits up so damn high (we broke the exhaust again yesterday).
It posts really good times though.
The Echo/Yaris have to be some kind of Apollo Program moonshot for how little maintenance is required to keep a car workable.
Mazda 3 or 6
How come no one has recommended a Civic? Am I missing something? Even the most roached out ones I see on my daily commute have but up with hundreds of thousands of miles of terrible backyard mods and still start and get to their destination every day. Other thoughts:
-Cheap 1st gen Mazda 3's seem to be rotted out around here, and can get finicky with old age. I'd probably avoid those.
-I've personally had bad luck with Corollas: My buddy had a late 90's model that nickel and dimed him to death and was a PITA to work on. Everything was fragile and break by looking at it the wrong way. That said, my neighbor has a Prizm with almost 400k on it and just does regular maintenance, so YMMV.
-VW's? Unless it's an earlier TDI, RUN.
-2nd Gen Dodge Neons are a bit crude, but can handle some serious abuse. A friend of mine had one for years that he bought new, and he beat the crap out of that thing every single day and it kept asking for more.
-GM J-Body cars will run and drive terribly, but run and drive terribly forever. Ecotec ones would be the way to go at this point. Also, they absolutely DOMINATE the Double Figure 8 Demolition Derby circuit, so when you are done driving it, you could win yourself a trophy and a few bucks. 
Do you watch "The Amazing Race"? A lot of the taxis overseas are Corollas. Their requirements are probably similar to yours. 
In reply to Tony Sestito:
My 6 year old daughter who's into cars with me, made it a point to show me an older J-Body in traffic the other day.
I grew a little closer to her that day!
Early year GM Delta platform cars (HHR, Cobalt, Saturn ION, Pontiac G5) are getting down around the $2000 price point (2006-07) I believe the HHR has belts for 3 across the rear seat (outboard two are 3 point shoulder harness and a lap belt for the middle) They all have ecotec 4's and the auto is the robust 4T45. Bonus points if you can find a manual. The Turbo models (Cobalt and HHR SS, Ion Red Line) won't be near your price point though.
ProDarwin wrote:jere wrote: Nissan spec v are in that neighborhood and tough transOurs is a constant source of problems and not easy to get parts for.
LOL wuh??
It's a Nissan that share most of it's parts with other Nissan products and a very common car. I have never had any problems finding parts.
I have had two spec-v's. The only issue I have had with the second one is the flywheel breaking and taking the clutch with it. For the rest, they have been reliable as gravity.
And they are cheap. Lemons territory for early cars. I would have problems getting $2K for my creampuff 2006 with 93K.
But I do agree that the sump and exhaust are a little low but nothing that a good skid plate and rerouting cannot easily fix.
I am going to throw an oddball out there. Hyundai Accent. I beat the living crap out of a Excel years ago, to the point of twisting the front crossmember up like a pretzel and eventually ed it. Car got me home (and wore out the front tyres from the excessive toe out). Compared to many Japanese offerings, Hyundais are very simple and made with cheaper materials, which if you are going to beat on something, is a plus, not a minus
second gen Accent (2000-2005) is stupid robust. 2001-2006 Elantra's as long as cancer hasn't caught up to them. The Elantra has stupid amounts of usable suspension travel. 07-10 rio/Accent are decent, but not up to the same standard as the 2nd generation IMO.
I haven't seen anyone suggest this yet, so I'll throw the original Focus into the ring.
fanfoy wrote:ProDarwin wrote:LOL wuh?? It's a Nissan that share most of it's parts with other Nissan products and a very common car. I have never had any problems finding parts. I have had two spec-v's. The only issue I have had with the second one is the flywheel breaking and taking the clutch with it. For the rest, they have been reliable as gravity. And they are cheap. Lemons territory for early cars. I would have problems getting $2K for my creampuff 2006 with 93K. But I do agree that the sump and exhaust are a little low but nothing that a good skid plate and rerouting cannot easily fix.jere wrote: Nissan spec v are in that neighborhood and tough transOurs is a constant source of problems and not easy to get parts for.
Not really anything good to attach a skidplate to down there compared with other cars. If you know of a solution out there, please send me a link. I'd like to fabricate one, but right now it looks quite complex.
Ours would probably be reliable as gravity if A) it had better previous owners and B) it wasn't a rallycross car. Rallycross seems to be harsh on this thing.
Front crossmember (bent on ours) was a bitch to source. Battery wiring, some engine harnesses, etc. were also a pain. Basically anything powertrain related is not shared with the normal Sentra. SpecVs are not common in junkyards. None of it is unobtainable, but a lot of the cars in this thread you can go any U-Pull-It and walk it with whatever you need.
Right now I'm pretty sure we need a steering rack bushing. OEM would be fine, but I can't seem to find it. After quite a bit of searching I found an aftermarket one for $35. Pretty much most of the other bushings are difficult to find as well. Subframe bushings, radiator bushings, etc.
vacuum solenoids, mafs, etc. are obscenely expensive ($100 and $300 respectively). Not available at autozone. We had to resort to some ebay items and again, fitment was questionable.
Exhaust parts that are not loud and from china are also proving quite difficult to find. And those that are from china are horribly misaligned with stock stuff.
Bobzilla wrote: second gen Accent (2000-2005) is stupid robust. 2001-2006 Elantra's as long as cancer hasn't caught up to them. The Elantra has stupid amounts of usable suspension travel. 07-10 rio/Accent are decent, but not up to the same standard as the 2nd generation IMO.
A lot of these cars wind up in the junkyard due to deferred maintenance from people who could barely afford a car in the first place, so except for engines, a lot of suspension, steering, and the like parts are readily available and probably not in bad shape.
Most of the accents and elantras I see in the yards have blown engines from no oil or snapped Timing belts
mad_machine wrote:Bobzilla wrote: second gen Accent (2000-2005) is stupid robust. 2001-2006 Elantra's as long as cancer hasn't caught up to them. The Elantra has stupid amounts of usable suspension travel. 07-10 rio/Accent are decent, but not up to the same standard as the 2nd generation IMO.A lot of these cars wind up in the junkyard due to deferred maintenance from people who could barely afford a car in the first place, so except for engines, a lot of suspension, steering, and the like parts are readily available and probably not in bad shape. Most of the accents and elantras I see in the yards have blown engines from no oil or snapped Timing belts
I've only ever driven one manual trans accent, I went in expecting nothing, and I actually ended up liking it. It felt like the right size and weight for a fun car. Thats not enough for me to be able to say it will take a beating, but I liked it. I definitely agree with the deferred maintenance thing, but I bet thats true of most of the cars suggested. Plan on a timing belt and water pump on whatever you get.
In reply to mad_machine:
dead engine from no oil takes some serious work for the alpha and beta. There's a video I believe from PR where they drain oil from a car and then bet on how long until it blows. They got 30 minutes with a brick on the accelerator. with no oil. I've seen beta's with 65k miles on the original oil and filter.
Shoot,I know htat the wife's DOHC alpha ran perfectly fine on just over a quart of oil in it for weeks. driving 75 miles a day.
In reply to gearheadmb:
The second gen was actually a great little car overall for what it was. IIRC they sold for around $9k new, came with power windows, locks, ac, cd player etc. they were light (~2300lbs) and had torquey engines. Don't bother revving a SOHC alpha past 4500. IT just makes noises and protests the entire time. 4-whl macstruts that were easy to work on and cheap to replace.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
I know from personal experience that one of these can take an incredible amount of punishment on dirt roads and keep coming back for more:
In reply to mblommel:
I'd be more apt to baby that than abuse it. It's... it's... beautiful!
Bobzilla wrote: In reply to mad_machine: dead engine from no oil takes some serious work for the alpha and beta. There's a video I believe from PR where they drain oil from a car and then bet on how long until it blows. They got 30 minutes with a brick on the accelerator. with no oil. I've seen beta's with 65k miles on the original oil and filter. Shoot,I know htat the wife's DOHC alpha ran perfectly fine on just over a quart of oil in it for weeks. driving 75 miles a day.
All I can say is that one Elantra I looked at when I had my tib, the oil still in the crankcase was quite "solid". The Rest of the car looked beaten on, but not overly so, more like it had just been run hard and put away wet far too many times
Pretty happy with my 91 integra with 400k miles. Couldn't get a grand for it here or on CL, so I'm giving it to my buddy's kid who just got his license.
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