What car....temporary move edition

Say your required to live on the other side of the country for 2/3 of the year. You’re driving there.  What cheap, fun, used, yet spacious car do you purchase to take with you?

There is also a good chance this car gets turned into a crapcan racecar afterwards too

Crown vic.

With crapcan in mind... Legacy wagon with EJ22, Corolla wagon, B-Body wagon, Civic hatch, DOHC Saturn wagon. Anything with a small trailer behind it. 

early-mid 2000's outback/legacy

Something with a GM 3.8 V6

dropstep said:

Crown vic.

^^^^this

Is that other place California?  If so, due to registration and inspection requirements I would buy the car there and sell the car there when leaving.  

mtn said:

With crapcan in mind... Legacy wagon with EJ22, Corolla wagon, B-Body wagon, Civic hatch, DOHC Saturn wagon. Anything with a small trailer behind it. 

Corolla wagon ftmfw.

Saab 9-5 Aero wagon, manual.  Cheap, fast, huge inside, great highway car that will easily get 30mpg, and they have proven to be pretty fast in Chump. 

540i 

Or some wagon, really like the saab idea

Q45 or LS400

I like some of these ideas.

the state is Texas but registration and so on will stay in my home state

The BMW guy in me says BMW E39 540i/6 or E39 540i wagon, depending on how badly you want a stick (the 540i wagon is only available as an auto). Both are great all around cars.

If you don't like BMW's or don't want to wrench too much, then I'd go with a Crown Vic. They're big, comfortable, stupidly cheap to buy, and you can hoon them a surprising amount. Parts are dirt cheap and readily available too.

My Honda buddies recommended: 2nd gen fit it ep3 Civic Si.

others: e46 wagon - I’ve found sub $4k examples 

saabaru

v70r

Honda Odyssey lol

I would prefer a manual 

Forester

road trips and texas, you want a car with some legs for cruising.

1995 Supercharged Buick Riviera.

The GM "W" body cars can be had with the 3.8 and supercharged, great at knocking down miles, cheap, and easy to fix or have fixed (because GM) .

I.have seen one Grand Prix GTP and a Buick for $2k, one was less than 100k miles.

Paul

Danny Shields said:

1995 Supercharged Buick Riviera.

 

I had one of those. It was an awesome way to eat up highway miles. Probably the most comfortable car ive ever been in. I was to the point that i was genuinely concerned i might fall asleep at the wheel someday because it was like driving a really nice recliner.

Donebrokeit said:

The GM "W" body cars can be had with the 3.8 and supercharged, great at knocking down miles, cheap, and easy to fix or have fixed (because GM) .

 

I.have seen one Grand Prix GTP and a Buick for $2k, one was less than 100k miles.

 

Paul

The great thing about this is that I still have a milk crate full of ignition related components for a 3.8 from my very first car (1995 Firebird). Doing Pizza delivery with that car I needed to carry around the spare parts for random misfires that would occur regularly. 

DirtyBird222 said:

My Honda buddies recommended: 

Honda Odyssey lol

 

I thought GRM generally recommended the Sienna over the Odyssey... and the third gen Quest (04-09) if you wanted fun/accel?