The classic Saab 900s are great cars but they had some of the weirdest designs to them. Also they are FWD and if you hadn't already caught the drift I'm a RWD fan haha.
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Sedan under 10k, what would you buy?
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My favorite bit is the way the engine is installed.
They did it backwards, and rotated 90 degrees. In a FWD car the engine usually goes east to west. But in the 900 it goes north to south, like in a RWD car. And the driven end of the crankshaft is in the front. And they've hinged the hood at the front, meaning it's really hard to access those vital drivetrain components. But removing a hood isn't the biggest deal.
Exactly! Not exactly DIY friendly. They are fun cars to drive especially the SPG 900. Plus I like the designs of Volvo much more than Saabs.
If you're mechanically inclined and can diagnose a problem quickly, you might want to try an Alfa Romeo. Not the Spider, but a 164, 156, or better yet a Milano (aka 75). They're not the easiest to find, but they sure are fun and you really get to know them. And they're not really that expensive to buy and own, unless something massive goes wrong. If you really want to look, you can find a 4WD Milano or 164 with a manual.
I would kill,kill, KILL to own one someday.
But never as my first car. Especially not in the states.
To be honest the Volvo cars 1999 onwards suck. Anything before that was awesome. Volvo's are extremely reliable.. Holds the world record for the highest mileage car! 2.8 million miles.
Volvos are still fine. There is a V70 in the larger family and they take miles very well as you would expect it from these big-loaders.
Just a bit of mathematics... You drive 6 hours a day, 6 days a week and 52 weeks of the year... That's a bit excessive, but it's OK, we want the result to be high... Let's assume that you drive at the average speed of 65mph, that is motorway traffic and it includes a bit of town-driving, stopping, traffic jams and so on. It's also excessive, but that's OK. So, in a year you put over 121k miles. It's still about ten times as much as an average UK family car's share, but that's OK. It takes almost a quarter of a century to reach 2.8 million miles that way. Nobody uses 20 years old cars to do work that involves driving 121k miles a year.
However, I can imagine that some of those E-class driving taxi drivers have half a million miles in some of those decade-old cars. But 2.8 million... I don't believe that.
2.8 million miles is a lot and can only be achieved if you drive the car forever
I actually met the man who did drive the 2.8 million miles. Here's an article about it.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/26/man-with-2-6-million-mile-volvo-p1800-aims-for-3-million/
OK, I believe you. I wonder though how many engines the car had and how regularly they changed the oil.
This is the same model as what The Saint TV series featured, isn't it?
Original engine and transmission. I saw the records for myself. The engine had been rebuilt twice already. Changed the oil every 3000 miles.
Yep! Same model that Roger Moore drove.
we are never going to see another car like this though because modern cars just are not built to last as long. They lighter weight and get better gas mileage and I say they last up until 130-150k easily but after that things get iffy. 200k is rare to see on cars any more and they just are not designed to make it much past 130k point. Hell at around that part expensive parts just start waring out and it is not worth repairing them any longer.
$300 for a HID bulb?!
Including installation costs. But I agree that it is overly expensive, OEM parts shouldn't cost that much.
GF picked up a 2003 Lexus ES 300 for under 10k. Great car, reliable and is loaded with features.
Easy. I would look for an Accord or Camry. Buy the one with the lowest mileage and decent service records. If your budget is 10K, look for an 8K car and save a bit for taxes, title, insurance, unexpected repair, personalization, etc.
You might want to check out beaterreview.com. It's got reviews on cars that are around 10 years old or more. It tells you why it's a good car, what's not so great about it and what to expect to pay for one.
How difficult is it to replace them on a XC70? I know a guy with a 04 V8 touareg. The ballast/controller box fried on it and i replaced it and the bulb for him. The bulb at oreilly's was $114 I believe. Installation was easy.
There are a number of cars I'd rather recommend, but if you want a SOLUTION to your problem, a Kia isn't a bad recommendation, as iJohnHenry has already said.
That, and you can get a much newer Kia for $10k than you could a Honda/Toyota or old Volvo/Benz/European car.
I'd also recommend looking for a Mazda 3.
And old Volvos may be good, but the S70 wasn't a good, reliable Volvo. My parents have a 1992 that's still running. They still own it. The 1999 S60 T5 that they purchased 10 years ago was sold 2 years ago for a Hyundai Sonata. Although it drives a bit worse (IMO), it's a much better car overall.
That, and you can get a much newer Kia for $10k than you could a Honda/Toyota or old Volvo/Benz/European car.
I'd also recommend looking for a Mazda 3.
And old Volvos may be good, but the S70 wasn't a good, reliable Volvo. My parents have a 1992 that's still running. They still own it. The 1999 S60 T5 that they purchased 10 years ago was sold 2 years ago for a Hyundai Sonata. Although it drives a bit worse (IMO), it's a much better car overall.
Must have been a lemon car your parents bought???? You seriously can't compare a Volvo against a Hyundai haha. Everything about a Volvo...even the old ones.....is better than a Hyundai any day haha.
the older Benz's are tanks, if they havent been beaten upon and have good maintenance. Especially the 560's and especially the diesel's will go for hundreds of thousands of miles if properly maintained. Mercedes quality really took a dive in the early 2000's
lets put it this way. In 1995 an S500 would cost 80-100 thousand and they were built like tanks. But now, in 2010 an S500 costs around 90k and while they are still built well i would take a 90's S class over a 2010 any day if money was no object.
I've seen a few mentions of subaru, but just for a wrx.
Subaru's a great in about every aspect: reliable, relatively low maintenance costs, and very safe and cheap insurance.
What about a legacy? If you look around you can prob find an 05/06 Legacy 2.5i for less than 10k. 4dr, leather (usually), power everything, sunroof and best of all: awd
Or you can find an 01-04 legacy for well under 10k with essentially the same options as above just the older body style.
Subaru's a great in about every aspect: reliable, relatively low maintenance costs, and very safe and cheap insurance.
What about a legacy? If you look around you can prob find an 05/06 Legacy 2.5i for less than 10k. 4dr, leather (usually), power everything, sunroof and best of all: awd
Or you can find an 01-04 legacy for well under 10k with essentially the same options as above just the older body style.
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Mercedes are awesome! I would really love to own a W123 230E someday with a manual.
Despite what you think of Chevys, the Cobalt actually makes for a really good used car buy, thanks in large part to it's legendary Chevy depreciation. They're still very reliable, economical and you can get one for cheap.
Another overlooked and cheap-to-buy candidate is the KIA Spectra:
Another overlooked and cheap-to-buy candidate is the KIA Spectra: