What car is truly "indestructable"?

[klankymen]

However, there are some cars worth considering, if the little trucks don't float your boat. I'll post up my suggestions on those later.

Thanks, I hope you do, cause I'm not entirely convinced about driving around looking like an Afghani warlord :lol:

 

[Spectre]

Thanks, I hope you do, cause I'm not entirely convinced about driving around looking like an Afghani warlord :lol:

Well, you only get that if you buy a Navara or Hardbody with the rollbar on top and a pintle mount welded to that.

Pretty much there are no cars as bombproof as those little trucks, but of those that get close, there's the Mercedes 190E - quite probably the best small car ever produced. Simple, troublefree (especially in diesel form with a manual transmission) if you don't get the automatic climate control (which is the single biggest headache with the car), parts are from the Merc partsbin and are relatively cheap, and the car itself is pretty easy to work on (except for the automatic climate control option, which can be both difficult and expensive.)

Seats five, runs forever, cheap parts, build quality out the wazoo.

Oh, and Adunaphel has one over there. IIRC, he was only going to keep it one winter, but he liked it so much he's kept it.

 

[klankymen]

I'd say a 4-cyl Japanese anything.

So a Lancer or an Impreza would be a good choice? I was looking around new Japanese 4 cylinder 5 seat cars for under 20 grand, and those seem to be the most interesting ones.

 

[Labcoatguy]

So a Lancer or an Impreza would be a good choice? I was looking around new Japanese 4 cylinder 5 seat cars for under 20 grand, and those seem to be the most interesting ones.

Regular Lancer is miles away from the Evo in the crappy direction, so don't be fooled by the association. Impreza is nice because of the available AWD, but that does mean lower gas mileage and more parts to break. My only family experience (through my family) is with Toyota Corolla and Camry, and Honda Accord, which are different from their European versions, but the 4A and 5S engines in the Toyotas were pretty solid, if uninteresting.

 

[BlaRo]

I can attest to the reliability too. A few years ago I bought a 1988 Pathfinder to bush-bash in.

http://img135.imageshack.**/img135/6886/path1ps5.jpg

It had the Z24 in it, and used about 15l/100km (15 mpg). It also had around 317,000kms on the clock. All that was wrong with it was a shagged PCV valve, a busted rear tailgate handle (easily fixed) and a melted speedo needle. The plastics in these were never designed for our harsh WA sun, so a lot of them end up with speedo and tacho needles scraping on the speedo backing. A replacement needle was fitted and it was as good as new.

I miss that old beast.

As you all know, I have one myself, a 1990 with the VG30 engine. Almost everything major on it is original except the automatic transmission (due to the known bug with the Nissan automatic transmission cooler clogging up - and which will not apply at all with the manual gearboxes) and the alternator which just died last weekend... at ~408,000kms.

I checked the date codes on the alternator - it's the original one from 1990. 408,000km or 254,000 miles is an excellent run for an alternator.

Everything else is still going strong and shows no signs of being interested in quitting any time soon. I am probably going to swap out the fuel pump on general principles soon - which will take all of about 30 minutes.

I will stand by my statement - the only invincible civilian vehicles in this world are certain small Japanese trucks plus their variants and relatives.

However, there are some cars worth considering, if the little trucks don't float your boat. I'll post up my suggestions on those later.

My neighbor owned a Pathfinder for the longest time I can remember. 5-door, baby blue, rust holes the size of my fist in the quarterpanels. Yet he drove that beast every single day, even coming home with a dark red parts car (with even bigger rust holes) for shits and giggles. He goes to school in Utah now, so I imagine he's having a lot of fun in his Pathy.

And now I want one...

 

[GRtak]

I can agree on the engines being almost impossible to kill as long as you take care of it. I had a 1980 Datsun pickup that I drove until the body rotted away. I don't remember how many miles it had when I quit driving it, but my Uncle still has it running a generator for his beach community(7 small cottages). It only runs a few hours a day, but it has never failed to start. No work has ever been done to it outside of normal maintenance.

 

[Leonidae]

Can't go wrong with 740 Volvo or diesel Mercedes..

 

[klankymen]

Well, thanks everybody for all the info in this thread, +reps all around.

However, matters have changed a bit now, and the plan is to get rid of the golf (german government will pay 2500 if it is wrecked, and damn that car deserves to be wrecked) and get a new car (it has to be new for the wreckage premium to be paid out) that will be shared by my mother and me.

Basically the priorities are the same, we're looking for a car that seats 5 with a bit of luggage, and won't break.

Also, seeing as it's a new car, we want it to have a good warrantee, so that if something breaks, it's not our problem.

The hard part is finding a new car for under 20 grand, that is any good.

I'm rather busy with school, so I can't go actively car shopping, but my parents have looked at the following:

Honda Jazz
Toyota Auris
Mitsubishi Colt

All of these cars are horribly boring, not like that matters that much, cause I won't really be driving that much nowadays. However, maybe somebody has a suggestion for a new car under 20 grand that is reliable, and isn't horribly boring?

 

[argatoga]

Mazda 3?

 

[Alok]

 

[klankymen]

Mazda 3?

Thanks for the suggestion, I've never been in the new 3, but I do rather like the way it looks. I'll pass it on.

 

[Der Stig]

Are there certified pre-owned cars in Germany? If the German gov't accepts CPOs as brand new, then that might broaden the playing field, but I'm doubtful it exists outside the US, Canada and maybe England. Mazda 6's might be in your range too, but they're very thirsty cars (read: get a diesel ). Don't forget about Subaru's though, although I don't know how plentiful they are or how the dealership network is bei euch. I'm not sure if it makes any difference, but maybe try looking at small town dealers as they may have better prices than those in Muenchen.


O/T: lol from the German Mazda site about the Mazda 3MPS:
Erleben Sie den Top-Sportler in Aktion bei der Zoom-Zoom Xperience.

 

[klankymen]

Are there certified pre-owned cars in Germany? If the German gov't accepts CPOs as brand new, then that might broaden the playing field, but I'm doubtful it exists outside the US, Canada and maybe England. Mazda 6's might be in your range too, but they're very thirsty cars (read: get a diesel ). Don't forget about Subaru's though, although I don't know how plentiful they are or how the dealership network is bei euch. I'm not sure if it makes any difference, but maybe try looking at small town dealers as they may have better prices than those in Muenchen.


O/T: lol from the German Mazda site about the Mazda 3MPS:
Erleben Sie den Top-Sportler in Aktion bei der Zoom-Zoom Xperience.

Well, sort of. The car can be less than 12 months old, for the government to accept it. Which does broaden the range a bit, but even so the Mazda 6 is pretty borderline.

I did check out subarus, there is the justy, which only has a 1.1l 90hp engine (although the car does weigh less than a ton, so it might not be that horrid), and there's the base model impreza, which takes 14 seconds to reach 100kmh :lol:

And yeah, we're not looking in Munich, only I live in Munich, my parents live out in the suburbs/small town.

 

[Cobol74]

Can't go wrong with 740 Volvo or diesel Mercedes..

I'd go Volvo 960 myself the engine was smoother and rock solid.

 

[klankymen]

I'd go Volvo 960 myself the engine was smoother and rock solid.

Actually, before I made this thread, I was looking at Volvo 960s (partially inspired by JC) and was surprised how expensive they are in Germany, given how old they are. I'm taking note of the indestructible old cars, even though they aren't relevant ATM any more, for when I decide to get myself a car again someday.

 

[Der Stig]

Yeah, I lol'd at the Justy. They sold them in the states years ago. I also checked the Preisliste. For the Legacy, the cheapest way in was ?28k or so. Yikes. Is the incentive really worth splurging on a new car though? It's ?2,500, but I'm sure you could recoup that by buying a used car instead. Just my ?0.02.


I found the euro key on my iPhone lawlz

 

[klankymen]

Yeah, I lol'd at the Justy. They sold them in the states years ago. I also checked the Preisliste. For the Legacy, the cheapest way in was ?28k or so. Yikes. Is the incentive really worth splurging on a new car though? It's ?2,500, but I'm sure you could recoup that by buying a used car instead. Just my ?0.02.


I found the euro key on my iPhone lawlz

Well, partially. The point is the incentive is more money than the Golf would fetch otherwise, and the idea of getting a new (or less than a year old) car is to have warranty, so that repair costs don't eat cash like a starving michael moore. Honda for example has a 3 year warranty on everything, plus 10 years drivetrain, or 150000km, whichever comes first. So that basically means you can drive it forever, without incurring any repair costs.

As much as the Honda Jazz bores the hell out of me, it does seem like quite the sensible choice, with the massive warranty, and also with resale values of it so high... 3 years from now you could still get rid of it for 10 grand.

 

[Der Stig]

Seconded on the Jazz. It actually has some decent dynamics and can be sporty. Just get the top-spec sports bits and it should be a fun car for what it is. If you go for the bog standard stuff though, it's going to be Toyota-levels of excitement.

 

[waydee]

For something Japanese the standard N/A Impreza is a very solid car with understated styling, none of the flashy bits on the turbo models. Depends if you like the new body style or not though. If you're happy to go used there's no shortage of choice in the pre 2006 models. To be honest I wouldn't consider anything other than Japanese cars if absolute reliability is the most important consideration, might be unfair but from experience nothing comes close.

edit: actually I take that back, I'd happily buy an Audi S4/RS4.

 

[Leonidae]

I'd go Volvo 960 myself the engine was smoother and rock solid.

that would depend of the engine.. is it the 2.5l straight six, 3.0 straight six or 2l turbo i4..