Anyone care to suggest a car for me?

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Made an offer on a car today - with subject clauses. Basically, if the guy doesn't sell it then I'll have my friend plug a laptop into it and check and see of the turbo is still functioning properly. If it is, then I might just buy a 2002 VW golf 4 door TDI. It's rebuilt w/ 412k kms, but has heated seats and a sunroof and gets 800-1000kms/tank of diesel. I don't NEED a different car.. mine just has a couple minor annoyances like water pooling on the floor when it rains lol. So, if this one isn't sold and he'll take $200 less than asking price AND it checks out then I might just be upgrading to a bit of a better beater. And if he sells it for more, or w/o someone getting it checked, then meh, whatever, not meant to be I guess.

my experience with sunroofs, in addition to their taking away about 2" of precious headroom, is that they more often than not will leak in the rain, eventually. also one's hair can easily get caught up in the mechanism if one is careless.

You've posted this before. I'm 6'2" tall and have never ever been in a vehicle with a sunroof and needed additional headroom. I've had 2 cars with sun/moon roofs and never had one leak. Factory installed ones have drains around them that drain out thru the body of the car. They don't tend to get plugged up with debris like other drains on a car - ie the ones up near the firewall. I've never ever ever heard of anyone getting their hair caught in a sunroof. I love sunroofs and that's about the only feature I really miss from any of my past vehicles.

to each their own.

I'm still gonna drive my little Mariokart all Winter long while the weather is shyte and I'm working on this site where I've often got very muddy boots at the end of the day. Even though I change my shoes, mud still gets in my car... and so does rainwater lol it's leaking in somewhere on the drivers side and I haven't been able to figure out where yet.

Anyways, it's FUN driving around looking at other cars on the road thinking "ooh, maybe one of those.." as I contemplate what my next ride might be when the weather gets nice again. That is, IF I spend money in the Spring. Depends on how much money I make over the Winter. If I can EASILY afford it, F it, I'm gonna upgrade.

Blah blah blah. I've been all over the map looking at car ads ranging from Pontiac Solstices (which I'd have to get a hitch & hitch box for a trunk to make it work.. but it's really just a Summer car for middle aged people with extra covered parking spaces.) to F-150's (my favourite trucks.. especially dual fuel on propane/gas) but the last few days I've been browsing ads for 2003-2004 Honda Pilot's thinking hmmmm, maybe a full size SUV is more practical for my purposes than a pickup truck. More safe/secure space inside, and definitely more comfortable to sleep in on weekend trips. Biggest downside is they get 18.x mpg.. buuuut I currently fill up my civic here in Canada because it's fairly fuel efficient and I can't be bothered to make the drive across the border into Washington state to save a few bucks on gas. However, if I got back into the habit of that - especially bringing back some gas cans full as well, I'd save approx 30% on fuel costs which would make fuelling up a Pilot not much more expensive than driving a little civic hatchback - especially once you factor in all the extra oil my car burns/leaks. Hmmmmm.. actually just did the quick math right now & my car, probably due to a EGR vacuum leak (I electrical taped it months ago, no aftermarket hose available and I never called the dealership to see if new ones are available) is only getting just over 23mpg. Add in the oil cost and it's probably more like the equivalent of 22. Zip across the border to save 30% on fuel and a 18.x mpg vehicle might actually be cheaper to fuel.. Hmmmmmmmmmm..

My daydreaming about changing up to a newer better car sometime has shifted gears from a 2006 Honda Pilot to checking out ads for ~2010 Ford Flex'.. roomie SUV, awd, real head turner (IMO), annnd depending on the year and configuration - FOUR SUNROOFS!! !! Seriously, being a head turner that I like the looks of combined with this one feature might just make one of these my next ride. I LOVE sunroofs/moonroofs.. a vehicle with FOUR!?? Sign me up for 18mpg all day long!

Yeah, I'm still very set on test driving a ~2010 Flex in the Spring. So long as I like driving it, I'm quite sure I'll buy one. It's a part of what's going to keep me going at work this Winter - having that goal to work towards.. the carrot on the stick so to speak. I'm working outside all Winter and the last week has been unseasonably COLD. Today I stayed home because the weather forecast was for stormpocalypse. It's been pretty mild at home, but with 45km between home and work I didn't want to risk being on the roads today. (Monday took me 3h 45min to get to work - our city is NOT prepared for Winter driving conditions, nor are our drivers.) On a more car related note.. my muffler fell off a couple weeks ago.. water leaks into my car so much that there was a few inches of water pooling on the drivers side floor of my car so I drilled about 20 holes in the floor for it to drain out.. the moisture causes ice on the inside of the windows every cold morning.. yep, I'll be ready for a different vehicle next Spring when the insurance runs out on my car in March. Hopefully the stars align and finances allow for me to do so vs. wait for investments to spike back up.. and also there will have to be a Flex available w/ the exact combination of options I want. Worst case scenario, so long as my little Mariokart civic is still running strong, I re-insure the car and wait for the money and the Flex to be available a little later in the year.

The Escapes now are lighter & possibly cheaper, plus have cheaper turbo & hybrid options. Rav4 v6s also have rallycar power levels & nicer MPG. You'd like an Outback or Fozzy XT turbo way better, my friend has one to go with his DX Civic, another friend had an '07 with 360+ HP for the same kinda money.

I got an AWD Volvo; it was impossible to find a manual 4x4 daily driver outside of cheap 4runners.

lol for a second I thought it said 'anyone care to suggest a cat for me?'

it's not what I Want, isn't as powerful, and doesn't have a sunroof at all (only feature I really wish it did) buuuuut my brother is selling one of these (2004) at a reasonable price w/ awd, black (hot in summer tho) leather, full load except sunroof as it has factory roof racks instead - like the one pictured, in this colour:





No sunroof, gets 17mpg instead of 18.6mpg, black leather - not so great in the Summer, intermittent check engine light for a common vacuum leak that doesn't matter, new front suspension and brakes, 2 year old tires, lowish kms, seats that fold flat for cargo/camping, AWD, heated seats, fancy stuff etc.. annnnnd all for a bit over 25% the price I would end up spending on a Flex if I buy one. I stopped by to look at the exterior tonight and may go test drive it tmw eve. I've only driven it once when I borrowed it one day last year. Now I remember thinking it only needed a sunroof to be perfect lol. Hmmm, if everything clicks just right I might just buy it pretty soon and then drive it around as a massive upgrade over my current transportation appliance.. then sell it if I find the perfect Flex at the right price, or just keep driving it for a while if I'm content with it and just keep the extra $10-12K. Hmmmmm.. it's not perfect, but damn it's SO much better than my 1990 civic hatchback that's really taken a beating.

My car died today. Alternator. Not worth towing and repairing. Got a free tow (BCAA) to the closest scrap yard this eve, will deal with scrapping it tmw/Sat.

Went and test drove the Pacifica around the neighbourhood. Drives fine, but couldn't get the fan to change speeds so it was blasting air the whole time. They'll get that figured out and I'll very likely work out a deal to buy it from them (my brother) this weekend.

I'd go beater Pacifica over Flex anyday, the Ford is too tall anyway. Not really a fan of either but the Chrysler looks WAY better to me. Chryslers are mostly export models, Fords are mostly designed for U.S. roads unless they're British. In reality, a wagon's a wagon but keep in mind since these were built we now have a whole class of cars designed for people on their iPhones. My friend got an Outback turbo last year, he kept his same Civic.

Where does one nominate their cat?

Update:

I had the 2004 Pacifica for 2 months & discovered a water leak that was destroying electronics. I ended up trading it in at a loss and bought a brand new never sold 4 year old 2013 Dodge Dart base model 4cyl 6MT (why it never sold, few people can drive it) w/ only power windows as an option, no a/c. It had 167km on it when I got it (about 104 miles) from test drives only & came with the same full 5 year 100k km new car warranty. Sticker was $18k back in 2013, I paid $12k. That's why I bought it.. otherwise it wouldn't have been my first, or tenth, choice. It's fine, though. I've driven it about 24,500km since last Winter/Spring when I bought it.

The paint's still dirty, but I spent this evening cleaning the interior, windows, and lights. I know HOW to clean; I just don't like to. I'll drive it through a car wash tmw. Installed the ventshades tonight, too. It rains like 9 months a year here and I like having my windows cracked for fresh air.

why can few people drive it?

Because most people never learn to drive Manual transmission cars anymore. That's the biggest reason it sat unsold for 4 years. The other reasons are all listed.. base model, no options, no a/c.. but the feature that limited it's potential buyer pool the most is the transmission.