consulting the Brain Trust of TRS

[74duster318]

This might be a bit more than you're looking to spend, but I think it meets all the other criteria: Ford Escape. They started making them in 2001 so I would think that you'd be able to find one for a decent price.

And they do come in AWD with a 4 banger. Not sure how powerful that combo is, but it's definitely not a hot rod.

 

[Will]

My Girlfriend when she goes to do her student teaching could be doing long drive so she wants something that is more easy on fuel then her 1993 Dodge Dakota 3.9 V6 4X4.

shes got a few requirements that the potential vehicle Must meet:
4x4 for the winter driving.
Good MPG
Automatic
Absolutely positively NOT a Minivan EVER!!!
Comfortable
Easy to maintain/low cost of maintaining
No "ass scraper" low to ground cars
No S10s or Sonomas.
Perfering Domestic made
Simple to run far as the controls ect.
no wagons aka subis

thats her requests from you guys so lets hear what you got.

edit to add must be affordable to buy so under the year 2000

Honda CR-V. Definately. We bought a '99 and sold it within the family when we outgrew it. It's still basically like new and has had no repairs on it at all. I would feel confident buying one with 300,000 on it if it ran well. The auto's on these are counter-shaft trannies and look like manuals inside--no planetaries with big drums, bands and pistons around them. Now that most of the kids are on the yellow bus I have been thinking about getting another of these things. They redesigned them around '01 I think and they got ugly. I like the older ones. The newer ones are a V-Tec motor, the older ones aren't big on low-end torque, but they are fine. We took ours to Florida several times with a big box on the rear receiver and two kayaks on the roof and with the cruise on it was at 4,000rpm going over the mountains, but it is happy doing it. They make good power, just not down low.

 

[mn_smokeater]

thanks guys got lots of ideas now!

when she gets off work il have her go through this and see what she thinks.

Will i really like the CR-V and i know honda makes a great ride.

 

[ranger1999 Bob]

ill second the idea for an escape i had one in 03 and it was pretty good for a four banger 4wd

 

[crbnunit]

Ford Focus ZX-3 meets all those requirements save the "ass scraper" part. The seats lay down and you can haul most anything short of a full sheet of plywood. Hatch back for easy in/out access. The GF and I got 37mpg on a trip a few weeks ago. Cheap and plentiful. Dependable except for a few minor issues. Easy to drive, easy to get in and out of. There are a zillion of them out there and you should be able to find one in your price range. Paid $4K for mine with 32K miles on it. It was a remanufactured title but they did a good job and with 85K miles on it now I have yet to figure out what was bent!

 

[mn_smokeater]

heres somethings she came up with as considering including some cars

ford Taurus
dodge Dakota
dodge Durango
chevy cavalier
chevy lumina
chevy impala
chevy blazer
ford exploder
sunfire
Suzuki Sameri
Ford Bronco II
Ford ranger
Honda cr-v

 

[JD22]

It sounds like your girlfriend is looking for the perfect vehicle..
I don't know if what she's looking for exists. Just my $.02 lol

 

[Will]

There's only one good car I see on that list.

My car, it's partly a hobby. There's always some or another issue with it. My wife's car, it NEEDS to run all of the time without issues. I scan your list and only when I get to the bottom do I say--yes, there is the car that you won't be pulling the door panel out to get at the window motor; there is the car that won't have the freaky high idle; there is the car that won't lose overdrive or fail to go into reverse; there is the car that the exhaust won't suddenly get loud on.

When I was researching to see if I could instal a switch to turn off the airbags on our '99 CR-V I found an article from the late 70's when Honda was first doing airbags. In it, the CEO was observing a test of the steering wheel bag and he was informed that the testing was successful and that the design criteria of one failure in 100,000 units had been met. He asked how many failures would that be? and they told him four or five. He told them "design it to 1 in a million and lets have zero failures". That's their policy ever since.

The newest Ford I've driven was an '02 F350 4x4 dually diesel. That was a few years ago and it was well under 100,000 miles. The power mirrors didn't work and the front ball joints were thumping. And the F-series is the thing Ford is good at.

I would never put my wife in any of those other things. A Cavalier? A Lumina? A Ranger? You'd have to have an Eagle Scout badge to make it across town in any of those.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Don't let her get a Dodge Durango - seems like every person around here driving one has their head so far up their *censored* that they can't see daylight - much less what's happening on the road around them. Must be a qualification to buy one around here or something...

 

[mn_smokeater]

Must be a your area thing. Here there arnt many an they just fart around the rest are cops. Another candidate for the list is Jeep!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Jeeps tend to be expensive for upkeep, I'd stay away for trying to save money.

 

[mn_smokeater]

well guys me and her are going to go to dealerships and such to go check out an get hands on with the ideas.

 

[LearjetMinako]

One that would top my list is a Subaru Baja. It is not a wagon, but a 4-door vehicle with a bed. I loved this vehicle when it came out, but sadly, Subaru discontiuned it.

 

[feellnfroggy]

You know now that CRV was mentioned it reminded me of another butt ugly awd. The element. it takes a little time to grow on you but rides out nice, has 4x4 seats that lay all the way out into beds. and you can hose em out. nice trucks. I sold them and really grew to enjoy them.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Geo tracker, suzuki x90, mistusibshi eclipse awd

just a few i can think of, but i dont know about the eclipse just an idea.