Best unbustable car?

Get a Volvo :p
As long as you change the timing belt and always have fresh fluids you will be fine :)

Volvo's automatic transmissions have not been the happiest things sold on the American market - same problem most Euro makers have, insufficient cooling (and by extension, hot weather testing). They're not terrible, but they do tend to give more trouble than average.

Also, parts for Volvos, while readily available, aren't always sold in the little corner auto parts shops, whereas the Former Big Three and the Japanese stuff is.
 
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if its for gobs of torque and towing ability, surely its a big turbo diesel you want?
 
Toyota trucks had an optional V6, but it was a steaming pile of crap. The Tacoma (post-95 truck) does not have the R-series engine and is not as strong or unkillable. If you want an indestructable small Toyota pickup, you want a 22R in it. Yes, including the 4Runners.

Nissan's Hardbody trucks are about as unkillable as the Toyota Hilux; the Z24 and later KA24 engines are just as impossible to kill. The VG30E is just as durable as those engines, but you have to change the timing belt every 60 or 105K (depending on year model), which drops it down a notch (the others use chain drive). If you want an SUV, the 95-and-down Pathfinder (like mine) is built off the truck chassis and mounts the same VG30 engines. It also drives a hell of a lot better than the XJ Cherokee and is almost as capable offroad out of the box.

Someone else has already mentioned the RWD Celica - I'll second that recommendation. Another option would be the Nissan 240SX, for the same reasons; truck engine in a coupe body.

I know how much abuse a KA24 can take. My friend had one in his 240, and dogged on it relentlessly for hours on end. It was still running after the car had been totaled...:lol:

I'm liking the F150 with the 4.9

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/1100773193.html

That looks just about perfect.

Reasoning against diesel: Don't like the sound, don't like the required maintenance, and don't like the price of oil/fuel.
 
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I know how much abuse a KA24 can take. My friend had one in his 240, and dogged on it relentlessly for hours on end. It was still running after the car had been totaled...:lol:

I'm liking the F150 with the 4.9

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/1100773193.html

That looks just about perfect.

Reasoning against diesel: Don't like the sound, don't like the required maintenance, and don't like the price of oil/fuel.

If you get one of those, you need to relocate or shield the fuel pump. They put it in a really stupid location and it gets cooked easily. You'll also want to carry a spare ECU and/or ignition module depending on year, as those fail often. The road manners aren't all that great, either.
 
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Volvo's automatic transmissions have not been the happiest things sold on the American market - same problem most Euro makers have, insufficient cooling (and by extension, hot weather testing). They're not terrible, but they do tend to give more trouble than average.

Also, parts for Volvos, while readily available, aren't always sold in the little corner auto parts shops, whereas the Former Big Three and the Japanese stuff is.

Yep. I had to have the slushbox on my old 850 Turbo rebuilt. Not exactly cheap. Of course nothing with that car was.
 
Stop saying things like that! You'll jinx my car lol :)
 
I know how much abuse a KA24 can take. My friend had one in his 240, and dogged on it relentlessly for hours on end. It was still running after the car had been totaled...:lol:
Lets see, in the past couple of months, my 240 KA24DE with nearly 180,000 miles on it...

- drove to the track with no oil in it
- did 10 full-bore laps of Gateway Raceway with 2 quarts of RedLine in it
- burned that out, as well as boiled all of it's coolant
- drove back home on the highway
- sat for 6 months, outside, during the winter, with no oil in it
- started up with just a jump start to the battery
- drove 10 miles on a city road (with the worst shudder I've ever felt)
- still started up just now

It sounds like a two-stroke, and I'm pretty sure it's only running on three cylinders... but this is one hardcore motor. :cool:

I'm going to be really sad when I swap it, but you better believe another KA is going in.
 
Forget the XJ, I had one. While a fun vehicle it was constantly in the shop.

Go with a used Crown Victoria Police Package or an older Mercedes. My first thought was to get a Volvo, they are abundant, cheap, and probably made from melted down tanks or something.
 
Volvo's are very rare here in Texas. Only college towns (oddly not Arlington) tend to have a lot running around. I think an F150 with 4.9 is about perfect for my needs.
 
Non truck wise, lots of people mention the toyotas, but I've sat in a bunch of old celicas, camrys, cressidas? and they all had issues with mechanical resonance, untorquing odds and ends around the cars. Sounded like bolts and nuts are moving about... scary..

i always go with e30s, and old mercs, bulletproof aside from electric windows and air con units.
 
Subaru Impreza with a 2.2. Look at what my idiot friend did to one with 278,000 miles, and then wrecked it at 283,000 miles and it still drove under its' own power more than easily.

Quoted myself from another forum after it happened last fall:

Here's how the car in the following pictures would look new. (Wikipedia)
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This is a followup to the story I posted about my friend's Impreza. I've got some pictures of it today that show it's current condition. His is one of around five or six Imprezas owned by students at my school. One 2008, two first gen wagons, a first gen coupe and his second gen sedan. I've always loved the cars, and now I know I might just pick one up this winter (Since my van can't do winters). His has 283,000 miles and, no exaggeration, he absolutely flogs it. Every day, every possible chance. It has gotten air, it has scraped the undercarriage, it has been sideways more than a lot of drift cars. It has even slid sideways into a 3'' tall curb. It has bombed down freeways, dirt trails and everything in between. All with little to no maintenance even done, and it still runs fine. If I get one and drive it like a normal person, and actually maintain it, it may practically last forever.

(Unfortunately someone tore off the novelty banana hood ornament I wrote about. There is still the screw hole in the hood if you look hard enough)
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*a month or two later @283,000 miles*

Okay, I have a friend who owns a '97/'98 something Impreza sedan, five-speed. Was a great little car. His antics can be referenced on page 108 and earlier on page 102. Well, he had found a three-mile long, uninhabited, single lane stretch of winding dirt roads with enough blind curves and elevation changes to impress a professional rally driver. He had been going there a few times a week, which is somewhat respectable because it was taking his dangerous driving off the public roads. Well, the leaves were falling today and apparently that messed up what grip he did have. Or, he slipped up. I will never know, I just got a phone call and went down to help him. Luckily for him and his friend, neither were hurt. That is the best thing, luckily I think he's learned his lesson. Glad this happened before he could do something else and seriously injure himself and others.

Want to see how it turned out?

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There's the original point of impact, I guess he slid into it on the rear door, which spun the car and it hit another tree with the front. Both back tires are destroyed, and so is the driver's side back rim.
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What a mess! After confirming that they weren't hurt, I set about grabbing some pictures while talking to him about the crash.
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Yeah, she's pretty much a goner. Look at that radiator!

Then, stripping off some of the broken body work, to my amazement, it fires up. It doesn't sound too great, there is a terrible noise coming from the timing belt, I believe. Two flat rear tires, all of the damage, and it still moves under it's own power. Barely.
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Despite the smoke rolling off the flat rear tires as the poor Subaru limps down the roads, and with the now-unsafe qualities of the body, tires and the lack of proper tags. The Subaru has a will to live, if one weren't to remind oneself that the poor thing is just a car, it almost brings a tear to the eye.
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Who didn't see that coming? Two miles from his house. The officer was remarkably nice, didn't even give him a citation for anything. Just required the car get towed. Friend elects to have it flatbedded to his house, despite the fact that the car is totaled, no questions. There is no way this car will ever be normal. At least my friends weren't hurt.
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Man, I am so glad the kid didn't get himself killed with the way he drove. His parents made him scrap the car, and the thing drove under it's own power right onto the flat bed a few days later. It's a real testament to the quality of the Subaru and the 2.2 flat four with the way he treated it, especially at that mileage.
 
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Older model Subarus are extremely rare in Texas. If I was up your way, then I would probably look into it.
 
Toyota Hilux, Ford F-150 (70-90), Celica RWD... it's been said, just seconding.
 
Try looking for something with a northstar v-8. from what I understand, that engine is quite unkillable (especially from the testing they put it through.
 
Try looking for something with a northstar v-8. from what I understand, that engine is quite unkillable (especially from the testing they put it through.

Thing about the Northstar, save for the very recent ones, is that they run perfectly until 125-150K, then they just totally disintegrate, apparently.
 
I would trust a Ford 4.6 DOHC over a northstar. Modulars are bomb proof.
 
I would trust a Ford 4.6 DOHC over a northstar. Modulars are bomb proof.

Except for when they eject the rear spark plugs, starve for oil at the back of the heads, and/or have their intake manifolds shatter. :p
 
Except for when they eject the rear spark plugs, starve for oil at the back of the heads, and/or have their intake manifolds shatter. :p

Only heard of the intake shatter with nitrous, NEVER heard of the rear plugs blow out on a DOHC, and I've only heard of starving for oil at the back of the heads at 150+mph under load.

(This is from personal experience btw)
 
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The intake issue was a huge problem for 98-down engines (the coolant runner issue). The standard runners can blow apart, too. As for the rest, check out the Cobra and Lightning forums. They know all about that.
 
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