Yet another car replacement thread

You want to ignore mum and dad, but you want to make them proud at the same time? How does that work? :?

Anyway, since you are searching for a month now, has your budget gone up a bit atleast?
 
rickhamilton620 said:
All of those sound interesting. Sorry for delay in replying, I had to step away shortly before your post in order to get a ride to my parents to borrow my Dad's car to go to class.

In your opinion, would the Intrepid be something that (if everything checked out, no warning lights, etc.) I should jump on over the Mercury, especially if I can get to the Intrepid faster than the Mercury? I'd accept the warning from work (sending an email to my boss explaining the extenuating circumstances in advance of course!) and take unscheduled time off to see the Intrepid if that's what it took...otherwise I'd go to work and visit the Mercury in the evening as planned.

Both cars would meet my parents "don't you dare buy a old, unreliable, piece of crap!" requirement, (aka: it looks nice, has relatively low miles and was built within this decade) the Intrepid being more so since it's a 04.

I couldn't really give a rats ass about what they think, but it would be nice to actually have them both be happy with my car choices for once beyond the Saturn.
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Something that should be pointed out, since HV was kind of leading in that direction, is this: When you're buying temporary transportation, you are supposed to shop for its replacement *before* it blows up. You use it to get around to the candidates to replace it and then sell it before it blows up so it has value. rick, naturally, didn't quite get that and waited just a bit too long. :p

Okay, that aside: No, I would go for the big Mercury over the Intrepid. The Intrepid, as good as it is, is still FWD. This is automatically higher maintenance in the US operating environment as things like CV joints and boots are far more fragile than the Mercury's front suspension or the live rear axle. Say what you will about the failings of live rear axles/stick axles (and we all know I do) the one thing they do really well is *last* even with minimal maintenance. Further with all the ownership changes Chrysler has gone through, parts may be an issue not too long from now. The Mercury, of course, is a rebadged Ford and is a car that was made in large numbers from 1979 to 2011 so the chances of running out of parts in any significant time frame is about nil. (The sheer numbers that were made ensure that the parts will be cheaper as well. You can buy actual factory parts for it at *gas stations* and *Walmart* for god's sake.) The Mercury is also less complex - far less complex - and easier to fix. The downside is that it doesn't have as many driver aids nor is it as fun to drive. Then again, your focus needs to be on reliable low total cost of ownership transport rather than on 'fun to drive ?ber alles'. Plus if you get bored you can often raid the Mustang aftermarket toybox for bolt-ons.

However, the name of the game is to keep as many options open as possible. Do not exclude one to focus on the other - the Mercury could turn out to be crap, or they may not have fixed the Intrepid's actual problems and have been throwing parts at it. You need to keep looking at cars until you have at least a couple of candidates you have looked at in person and seen what is wrong with them (if anything.)

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lip said:
You want to ignore mum and dad, but you want to make them proud at the same time? How does that work? :?

Anyway, since you are searching for a month now, has your budget gone up a bit atleast?
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Also, both of these points - you can either ignore the parents (at the price of them doing 'told you so' if you make a bad choice or you can please them with your choice (at the price of being condemned to possibly driving something awful). You cannot do both. Is the budget still stuck at $1800?

Edit: Now I'm thinking I really should write that piece on 'how to get deals in the bottom end of the car market'...

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This could be interesting. http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371770049.html
Here's where you dispose of the Escort: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371618414.html
 
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_HighVoltage_ said:
Okay, this thread started a month ago. Rick, didn't you say you need a car as soon as possible? Why is this taking so long? Some people spend this amount of time (or more) when they look for a specific car. I get a sense that you are looking for just about anything reliable. Your price range makes this a little complicated, and although some cars are more reliable than others, you need to bite the bullet at one point and just get something (also, if you are looking for that cheap car with no problems with good gas mileage, and good reliability, you are looking for something that doesn't exist. If it did, why would somebody be selling it and not keep it to themselves?)
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I do, its taking long for several reasons:

Seemingly every day I had a day off, it would snow. Annoyingly, multiple sellers said such things as "no test drives" due to snow, or pushed things to the weekend when I'm stuck at work. By the time I'd get off, the car was sold.

Until last week, it was gSomething rk before 5 pm. By the time I'd get off work, it would be too dark to really get a good look at the car, body wise.

I got fatigued with the whole thing after a while: nothing is ever close by and the cars that tend to seem solid end up being a gazillion miles away. I also had homework and such.

Flaky sellers who'd I'd hold out to hear from, only to get no reply.

Iffy means of getting to the cars. My brother and his GF have their kids in a crap load of activities that ensures I'll have no car access in the evening on a lot of days. My dads becoming increasingly tired of me borrowing his car.

lip said:
You want to ignore mum and dad, but you want to make them proud at the same time? How does that work? :?

Anyway, since you are searching for a month now, has your budget gone up a bit atleast?
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Not proud per say, just more accepting.

Yes, from 1500 to 1800. While I could do 2k, I still want some money in the bank.

Spectre said:
Something that should be pointed out, since HV was kind of leading in that direction, is this: When you're buying temporary transportation, you are supposed to shop for its replacement *before* it blows up. You use it to get around to the candidates to replace it and then sell it before it blows up so it has value. rick, naturally, didn't quite get that and waited just a bit too long. :p

Okay, that aside: No, I would go for the big Mercury over the Intrepid. The Intrepid, as good as it is, is still FWD. This is automatically higher maintenance in the US operating environment as things like CV joints and boots are far more fragile than the Mercury's front suspension or the live rear axle. Say what you will about the failings of live rear axles/stick axles (and we all know I do) the one thing they do really well is *last* even with minimal maintenance. Further with all the ownership changes Chrysler has gone through, parts may be an issue not too long from now. The Mercury, of course, is a rebadged Ford and is a car that was made in large numbers from 1979 to 2011 so the chances of running out of parts in any significant time frame is about nil. (The sheer numbers that were made ensure that the parts will be cheaper as well. You can buy actual factory parts for it at *gas stations* and *Walmart* for god's sake.) The Mercury is also less complex - far less complex - and easier to fix. The downside is that it doesn't have as many driver aids nor is it as fun to drive. Then again, your focus needs to be on reliable low total cost of ownership transport rather than on 'fun to drive ?ber alles'. Plus if you get bored you can often raid the Mustang aftermarket toybox for bolt-ons.

However, the name of the game is to keep as many options open as possible. Do not exclude one to focus on the other - the Mercury could turn out to be crap, or they may not have fixed the Intrepid's actual problems and have been throwing parts at it. You need to keep looking at cars until you have at least a couple of candidates you have looked at in person and seen what is wrong with them (if anything.)

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Also, both of these points - you can either ignore the parents (at the price of them doing 'told you so' if you make a bad choice or you can please them with your choice (at the price of being condemned to possibly driving something awful). You cannot do both. Is the budget still stuck at $1800?

Edit: Now I'm thinking I really should write that piece on 'how to get deals in the bottom end of the car market'...

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This could be interesting. http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371770049.html
Here's where you dispose of the Escort: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371618414.html
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Yeah, I probably shouldn't have waited as long as I did...I was planning on jumping into the car shopping thing after my income tax...sadly it didn't hold out that long.

Its tough to get to see more than one car per evening, particularly with how long each trip takes. The Mercury is a hour and a half away. One way. I'll have to use my dad's terribly inefficient car to visit it as well adding further expense. Plus I'll have to have my dad drop said car off or come along.

The Camry and intrepid are closer. I could likely visit both in a evening. And borrowing the car would be a lot easier.

I've google imaged the mercury's gauge cluster because of a yellow light seen in the CL ad photo. It matches up to a check engine light disappointingly. If I ask before hand and they say its on, I guess I'll bail.

If I take off work, I'd have access to one of my brother and his gf's cars until 2 or so pm. That wouldn't help me see the mercury, but at least it would allow me to potentially take a early look at the Camry and Intrepid if the sellers are around.
 
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Don't let yourself be turned away by a check engine light if the car seems to be running fine. You can take it to an AutoZone and have the codes read out - it could be something as simple as a bad (or even improperly closed) gas cap.

I got fatigued with the whole thing after a while: nothing is ever close by and the cars that tend to seem solid end up being a gazillion miles away. I also had homework and such.
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See: Should have moved to something resembling civilization, not someplace where gaptooth idiots play Deliverance on banjos. :mrgreen:

Flaky sellers who'd I'd hold out to hear from, only to get no reply.
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The problem here is 'HELD OUT TO HEAR FROM'. Since you are not looking for any specific car but just a car in general, don't hold out to hear from anyone. Move on to the next and the next and the next, don't just concentrate on a single seller.

Iffy means of getting to the cars. My brother and his GF have their kids in a crap load of activities that ensures I'll have no car access in the evening on a lot of days. My dads becoming increasingly tired of me borrowing his car.
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Which is why you should have been looking sooner, when your own transport was still functional.

Also, go look at that Mercedes again. And $2K as an upper limit might give you room to negotiate downward. Remember, you can always try to negotiate the price down, especially on a used car.

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4372421842.html
http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371493656.html
http://lancaster.craigslist.org/cto/4347008376.html
http://york.craigslist.org/cto/4359339378.html
 
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Spectre said:
Don't let yourself be turned away by a check engine light if the car seems to be running fine. You can take it to an AutoZone and have the codes read out - it could be something as simple as a bad (or even improperly closed) gas cap.



See: Should have moved to something resembling civilization, not someplace where gaptooth idiots play Deliverance on banjos. :mrgreen:



The problem here is 'HELD OUT TO HEAR FROM'. Since you are not looking for any specific car but just a car in general, don't hold out to hear from anyone. Move on to the next and the next and the next, don't just concentrate on a single seller.



Which is why you should have been looking sooner, when your own transport was still functional.

Also, go look at that Mercedes again. And $2K as an upper limit might give you room to negotiate downward. Remember, you can always try to negotiate the price down, especially on a used car.

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4372421842.html
http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4371493656.html
http://lancaster.craigslist.org/cto/4347008376.html
http://york.craigslist.org/cto/4359339378.html
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Carlisle isn't in the boobies, its where the cars are that is. :p

I've taken the day off. Plan is to look at the Camry first if possible given the distance ( about 15 to 20 min) before venturing on to the others.

I'll be the owner of something by the end of the day. It's my goal.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
Carlisle isn't in the boobies, its where the cars are that is. :p

I've taken the day off. Plan is to look at the Camry first if possible given the distance ( about 15 to 20 min) before venturing on to the others.

I'll be the owner of something by the end of the day. It's my goal.
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Dis_gonna_b_gud.gif
 
Spectre said:
This is not going to end well. Don't just buy something to be buying it.
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Oh I still have standards, don't worry. I basically ruled out the Camry during the test drive. It was a trade at a local used car lot. The steering pump had to be replaced by their mechanic yet none of them noticed the horrible alignment.

The spokes were near vertical when trying to drive in a straight line. The rest of the car was OK, belts a bit squeaky but the steering thing was a turn off....esp when I compared the asking price to kbb...wayyyyy overpriced.

Next.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
Planning to check this out while I'm in the area: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4370998692.html

What's so bad about them again? It looks pretty solid and is inspected.
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Not very reliable overall and weren't built very well to begin with. Earlier models had the wiring harness disintegrate, for example. As in, you get to rewire the entire vehicle. While it was supposedly fixed for the 99 models, I've heard that it wasn't until the 2000+ car that it really was. The V6 eats water pumps. The electronic engine controls can spaz out and leave you stranded. Do I need to go on?

intrepid sold as I was test driving the POS Camry.
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On to the next one, don't fixate on it, just keep going.

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http://york.craigslist.org/cto/4373072359.html

Did you check out the Mercedes yet?

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http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4367254881.html

Hm. Last of the good Benzes: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4365354221.html

How about some bankruptcy? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4360874866.html

Hmmm, an auto SHO? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4352748055.html

A modular Pulsar: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4347654386.html

Hm, might want to get details on this: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4368101208.html

This would be worth dealing with if they get it inspected: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4346374319.html

Hm, scumbag dealer, but... http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/ctd/4364209183.html

LOL http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4359877772.html

03 Tiburon? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4351820741.html
 
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Spectre said:
Not very reliable overall and weren't built very well to begin with. Earlier models had the wiring harness disintegrate, for example. As in, you get to rewire the entire vehicle. While it was supposedly fixed for the 99 models, I've heard that it wasn't until the 2000+ car that it really was. The V6 eats water pumps. The electronic engine controls can spaz out and leave you stranded. Do I need to go on?



On to the next one, don't fixate on it, just keep going.

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http://york.craigslist.org/cto/4373072359.html

Did you check out the Mercedes yet?

- - - Updated - - -

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4367254881.html

Hm. Last of the good Benzes: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4365354221.html

How about some bankruptcy? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4360874866.html

Hmmm, an auto SHO? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4352748055.html

A modular Pulsar: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4347654386.html

Hm, might want to get details on this: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4368101208.html

This would be worth dealing with if they get it inspected: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4346374319.html

Hm, scumbag dealer, but... http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/ctd/4364209183.html

LOL http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4359877772.html

03 Tiburon? http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/4351820741.html
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Contacted the Tib, the Explorer, the 01 Ranger (sold a few days ago) and the Crown Victoria seller. I asked if he can get it inspected for the 2k, if so, done deal after a test drive.

Edit: also contacted the diesel Benz owner. Got VM..again. Crown Victoria seller said nope to getting it inspected as a condition of sale. Next.
 
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ScarFace88 said:
Were the non-Cosworth 190s available with a dogleg transmission?

Rick, call the guy with the 190e.
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Yes. However, the 2.6 is the more reliable (not to mention more powerful short of the Cosworth - with practically no fuel economy penalty) of the gas engines available in the US W201 and it was almost invariably bolted to the Mercedes clone of the 4HP22 automatic.

Der Stig and I have been talking about the 190E lately and I still maintain that the 190E is the best small car ever produced. Unlike almost every other small car ever produced, it's actually competent to good at literally everything you'd want a car to do on the street - hauling people, commuting, long road trips, you name it. It's RWD, it's actually easy to service for the most part, parts are readily available and aren't even all that expensive, it's reliable, the looks have even held up really really well.

It is rather frustrating (to me) since you'd think that in the intervening 21 years since the last one rolled out someone would have improved on it.

But nobody has. To this day there are zero small cars that surpass the W201 in its quiet ability to simply do everything you'd want a sedan to do. None. Everything after is hopelessly compromised in one way or another to try to improve one or a few specific aspects and therefore loses the 'does everything well' ability.
 
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ScarFace88 said:
Were the non-Cosworth 190s available with a dogleg transmission?

Rick, call the guy with the 190e.
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I called right after you posted that. Got a VM box has not been set up yet message. Sounds like a cell phone so i'll attempt texting them to try and get their attention.

Spectre said:
Yes. However, the 2.6 is the more reliable (not to mention more powerful short of the Cosworth - with practically no fuel economy penalty) of the gas engines available in the US W201 and it was almost invariably bolted to the Mercedes clone of the 4HP22 automatic.

Der Stig and I have been talking about the 190E lately and I still maintain that the 190E is the best small car ever produced. Unlike almost every other small car ever produced, it's actually competent to good at literally everything you'd want a car to do on the street - hauling people, commuting, long road trips, you name it. It's RWD, it's actually easy to service for the most part, parts are readily available and aren't even all that expensive, it's reliable, the looks have even held up really really well.

It is rather frustrating (to me) since you'd think that in the intervening 21 years since the last one rolled out someone would have improved on it.

But nobody has. To this day there are zero small cars that surpass the W201 in its quiet ability to simply do everything you'd want a sedan to do. None. Everything after is hopelessly compromised in one way or another to try to improve one or a few specific aspects and therefore loses the 'does everything well' ability.
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Sounds like a excellent choice then. Here's to hoping i'll reach them when I try again right now. EDIT: tried 2x. still VM box message. WTF people!?
 
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Spectre said:
Der Stig and I have been talking about the 190E lately and I still maintain that the 190E is the best small car ever produced.
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GM T platform? :)

rickhamilton620 said:
Sounds like a excellent choice then. Here's to hoping i'll reach them when I try again right now. EDIT: tried 2x. still VM box message. WTF people!?
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Keep trying. But maybe the seller turned it's phone off after selling it.
 
Yet another car replacement thread

Dr_Grip said:
GM T platform? :)
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No. A long road trip by American standards in a T-body is an exercise in absolute torture. It's underpowered for American roads, wasn't reliable at all here and was generally a terrible place to spend time in, even when just commuting. And even moderate potholes could rip the suspension apart.
 
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