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Vehicles / bikes 🏍 Car Talk

The Terminator said:
I still really want a Plymouth Acclaim somehow, even though I know they're low-end Mopar junk from the post-Iacocca era and it's not a really great idea to use one as an "appliance car".

The 2.5 4 cylinder equipped Acclaim isn't terrible, although its no Volvo Redblock or Honda D block. I believe the base model 4cyl 89-95 Acclaim would have come with a 3 speed auto and a 2.5. A three speed! To my knowledge while a 5 speed manual was optional on the Acclaim/Dodge Spirit, virtually none were ordered and the only known manual swap setups (that are "direct fit" so to say, not crazy customfab sh*t where anything is possible) come from the Dodge Spirit R/T, itself an obscure 91-92 only performance version of the Acclaim's Dodge cousin. Meaning, you're not gonna manual swap an Acclaim without deep deep pockets.

Most Acclaims in 2023 have been long crushed. Some survive as regular cars in the non salt States and British Columbia's Lower Mainland. But here in the Northeast, their numbers are scant enough that I get excited when I see one!

These things were as common as dirt in the latter 1990s, when they had reached semi-hoopdi status already. My Father's good friend had a '90 Acclaim that was brown on red interior (eeek) and he kept on the road until 2001. One of my school friends, John P., would get picked up in a really steazy low mileage green on grey interior '95 Acclaim when we were in Day Camp together summers of 1997 and 1998. I later jammed frequently with John in High School (he played bass) but the Acclaim been traded for a '98 Corolla that got handed down, and he would drive me around in when we were yutes up to no good. 90s Corolla's are objectively better cars than 90s Acclaims. But I still want an f'in acclaim! I must be crazy.

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I forgot all about the Plymouth Acclaim and cannot recall the last time I saw one but I did see a Dodge Spirit on the road not too long ago and it reminded me of the Spirit R/T a friend of mine had in high school. I don't remember the Spirit or Acclaim ever being all that popular, even up here in the land of the Chrysler HQ, but the slightly smaller Dodge Shadow and the Plymouth Sundance were absolutely EVERYWHERE! and I'd wager that there were usually at least 50 or 60 of them in our high school parking lot on any given day.


I was out running a couple mornings ago and saw a very minty looking late '80s Saab 900 in somebody's driveway. It reminded me of how cool of a car I thought that was and how I always sort of wanted one. Years later, a friend of mine in the Marines had a 1990 900. It was not a particularly powerful car but it was still quick. There was always something wrong with the car but everything seemed very simple and he was able to fix nearly everything his self. If I cold find a pre-1994 Saab 900 in fantastic condition for a good price, I'd seriously consider it.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I forgot all about the Plymouth Acclaim and cannot recall the last time I saw one but I did see a Dodge Spirit on the road not too long ago and it reminded me of the Spirit R/T a friend of mine had in high school. I don't remember the Spirit or Acclaim ever being all that popular, even up here in the land of the Chrysler HQ, but the slightly smaller Dodge Shadow and the Plymouth Sundance were absolutely EVERYWHERE! and I'd wager that there were usually at least 50 or 60 of them in our high school parking lot on any given day.


I was out running a couple mornings ago and saw a very minty looking late '80s Saab 900 in somebody's driveway. It reminded me of how cool of a car I thought that was and how I always sort of wanted one. Years later, a friend of mine in the Marines had a 1990 900. It was not a particularly powerful car but it was still quick. There was always something wrong with the car but everything seemed very simple and he was able to fix nearly everything his self. If I cold find a pre-1994 Saab 900 in fantastic condition for a good price, I'd seriously consider it.
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My BIL had a 1992 for a while and I took care of it/drove it for a couple of months when he was away on summer vacation from the city where we both lived. Sadly it developed a problem he couldn't afford to fix and he parked it for a couple of years outdoors on Cape Cod. It filled with mold, which we bleached out once but then terminal frame rot. You just can't leave any car parked like that on the Cape.

I loved the key in the center of the console and all the other Saab weirdness.
 
The Terminator said:
I still really want a Plymouth Acclaim somehow, even though I know they're low-end Mopar junk from the post-Iacocca era and it's not a really great idea to use one as an "appliance car".

The 2.5 4 cylinder equipped Acclaim isn't terrible, although its no Volvo Redblock or Honda D block. I believe the base model 4cyl 89-95 Acclaim would have come with a 3 speed auto and a 2.5. A three speed! To my knowledge while a 5 speed manual was optional on the Acclaim/Dodge Spirit, virtually none were ordered and the only known manual swap setups (that are "direct fit" so to say, not crazy customfab sh*t where anything is possible) come from the Dodge Spirit R/T, itself an obscure 91-92 only performance version of the Acclaim's Dodge cousin. Meaning, you're not gonna manual swap an Acclaim without deep deep pockets.

Most Acclaims in 2023 have been long crushed. Some survive as regular cars in the non salt States and British Columbia's Lower Mainland. But here in the Northeast, their numbers are scant enough that I get excited when I see one!

These things were as common as dirt in the latter 1990s, when they had reached semi-hoopdi status already. My Father's good friend had a '90 Acclaim that was brown on red interior (eeek) and he kept on the road until 2001. One of my school friends, John P., would get picked up in a really steazy low mileage green on grey interior '95 Acclaim when we were in Day Camp together summers of 1997 and 1998. I later jammed frequently with John in High School (he played bass) but the Acclaim been traded for a '98 Corolla that got handed down, and he would drive me around in when we were yutes up to no good. 90s Corolla's are objectively better cars than 90s Acclaims. But I still want an f'in acclaim! I must be crazy.

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These were the cars we/I used for driver's training at my high school in the summer of 1993. They were new 93s from the local dealership.

One of the benefits of living in a small rural city.
 
estromberg said:
I had a Dodge Spirit with the 3.0L V6. The transmissions in these cars were complete trash and prone to failure, which is what happened to mine.
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Not surprising. That V6 itself is decent, Mitsubishi derived. But yeah, those 3 speeds were low-end Mopar junk. Did you lose reverse or blow the torque convertor?

When I think of peak "regular domestic car" from the early 90s, I think of an Acclaim, a Taurus and a Lumina.

@WSU MUP Student : DO IT! 900s are siiiick, even if you find a cheapish (sub 5k) non-turbo, fun little Sunday car! Although you can still get a clean Merc W123 in the 5k range too, if you look outside of major metros.
 
The Terminator said:
Not surprising. That V6 itself is decent, Mitsubishi derived. But yeah, those 3 speeds were low-end Mopar junk. Did you lose reverse or blow the torque convertor?

When I think of peak "regular domestic car" from the early 90s, I think of an Acclaim, a Taurus and a Lumina.

@WSU MUP Student : DO IT! 900s are siiiick, even if you find a cheapish (sub 5k) non-turbo, fun little Sunday car! Although you can still get a clean Merc W123 in the 5k range too, if you look outside of major metros.
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Torque Converter. IIRC it worked until it got warm.
 
The Terminator said:
Not surprising. That V6 itself is decent, Mitsubishi derived. But yeah, those 3 speeds were low-end Mopar junk. Did you lose reverse or blow the torque convertor?

When I think of peak "regular domestic car" from the early 90s, I think of an Acclaim, a Taurus and a Lumina.

@WSU MUP Student : DO IT! 900s are siiiick, even if you find a cheapish (sub 5k) non-turbo, fun little Sunday car! Although you can still get a clean Merc W123 in the 5k range too, if you look outside of major metros.
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The Mercedes would be cool too (and probably actually a bit easier to find) but I think I'd prefer the smaller size of the Saab.

A house around the corner from me had a very nice early '80s Mercedes 300D coupe sitting in their driveway for years. It looked to be very well maintained and I'd see it getting driven around quite a bit too so I knew it was in working order. I'd run or walk past at least once a week in hopes of seeing a "For Sale" sign in the window. Then one day about a year ago it disappeared and was replaced by boring Mercedes wagon from the early '00s. :disappointed"

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WSU MUP Student said:
The Mercedes would be cool too (and probably actually a bit easier to find) but I think I'd prefer the smaller size of the Saab.

A house around the corner from me had a very nice early '80s Mercedes 300D coupe sitting in their driveway for years. It looked to be very well maintained and I'd see it getting driven around quite a bit too so I knew it was in working order. I'd run or walk past at least once a week in hopes of seeing a "For Sale" sign in the window. Then one day about a year ago it disappeared and was replaced by boring Mercedes wagon from the early '00s. :disappointed"

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My commuter (currently "resting") is a 83 300D: I would always see them growing up, found one for sale cheap in my town a while back and had to have it. Almost 300k miles, interior in sorry shape, but it still trucks along nicely when all the wheels are on. Recently it hailed and while it's not dented up, the paint looks like it was in a shootout from above. C'est la vie. I get waste oil fuel from the oil change place down the road periodically and filter it at home.
 
For the first time ever the check engine light is on in the Subaru and the engine sort of chugged for lack of a better word. It's 9 years old and hasn't needed any work other than the usual oil changes, filters, brakes, tires, and battery. I'm going to drop it off at the mechanic this afternoon.
 
joscoffee said:
My commuter (currently "resting") is a 83 300D: I would always see them growing up, found one for sale cheap in my town a while back and had to have it. Almost 300k miles, interior in sorry shape, but it still trucks along nicely when all the wheels are on. Recently it hailed and while it's not dented up, the paint looks like it was in a shootout from above. C'est la vie. I get waste oil fuel from the oil change place down the road periodically and filter it at home.
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THATS AMAZEBALLS!! W123s are so lit. I had an '81 300D Non-Turbo for a bit in 2018. It was dangerously slow merging onto NYC highways, had bad rust and needed a motor rebuild. Yet the thing still ran, eeeked out 29mpg combined without hesitation and was a complete swag machine aesthetically.

I know people like to ruin Diesels by doing improper SVO conversions but I never delved into making Diesel from Waste Oil, what's your setup?

@WSU MUP Student : I think I already told you about my late neighbor up the block, who had a purple on tan leather '79 W116 450 SEL rotting into her driveway. It had pools of water in the passenger compartment and mold growing, with structural rust beginning. Mechanically, everything looked like it was still there under the hood and it "ran when parked". Story was my neighbor got it at an estate sale in Scarsdale on the cheap, and used it to drive around her late mother. Than the mother passed, neighbor got cancer and the car sat for about ten years total. My neighbor was willing to straight up give it to me in 2019, but it was waaaaay beyond my budget and skill level at the time. I did I try to get a few Benz people I know on Instagram to take it, but no interest. After my neighbor sadly passed, her widower scrapped the car :( I would have done it if it were a Diesel.
 
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The Terminator said:
THATS AMAZEBALLS!! W123s are so lit. I had an '81 300D Non-Turbo for a bit in 2018. It was dangerously slow merging onto NYC highways, had bad rust and needed a motor rebuild. Yet the thing still ran, eeeked out 29mpg combined without hesitation and was a complete swag machine aesthetically.

I know people like to ruin Diesels by doing improper SVO conversions but I never delved into making Diesel from Waste Oil, what's your setup?
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Yes, dangerously slow and tiny mirrors make for exciting merging practice!
It seems like doing the veggie conversions or waste oil on newer diesels is a non-starter. It seems like the veggie oil treats the machine much worse than diesel alone and gives a much shorter engine life. It is possible that the waste oil will do the same I guess, but I've tried to minimize the risk (& this is not an otherwise-immaculate project). I have a replacement pump and injectors to do sometime in the next year or so and will check how things are going then.
There's not as much to do to the used oil as the veggie oil though -- the setup is just to screen the waste to get rid of big particles, then run it through a water/particle filter to make sure it's dry. Usually I just recycle, filter, and pour it in - mixing like 50/50 with diesel recently. It ran just fine on waste oil alone but I had to supplement since I wasn't getting (couldn't transport/store) more than a few gallons at a time from the shop. It'd be cool to get one of the 50 gallon centrifuges though.
They're pretty sweet cars but the vacuum system is kind of a weak spot. All the essentials seem to work fine, but the dinky rubber hoses always crack over time. I have to shut off the engine with the switch under the hood.
 
The Terminator said:
@WSU MUP Student : I think I already told you about my late neighbor up the block, who had a purple on tan leather '79 W116 450 SEL rotting into her driveway. It had pools of water in the passenger compartment and mold growing, with structural rust beginning. Mechanically, everything looked like it was still there under the hood and it "ran when parked". Story was my neighbor got it at an estate sale in Scarsdale on the cheap, and used it to drive around her late mother. Than the mother passed, neighbor got cancer and the car sat for about ten years total. My neighbor was willing to straight up give it to me in 2019, but it was waaaaay beyond my budget and skill level at the time. I did I try to get a few Benz people I know on Instagram to take it, but no interest. After my neighbor sadly passed, her widower scrapped the car :( I would have done it if it were a Diesel.
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I do recall mention of that W116.

Those old Benzs are cool cars and I wouldn't mind working under the hood on something from that era but l've got no desire to do any bodywork (beyond maybe patching small rust spots that I can catch early) and that's also a spot where the costs can add up quickly. It's definitely still sad when something like that gets scrapped, especially when you can see the potential in it.

I don't go on Instagram often anymore but somehow my feed gets a lot of videos of people restoring rusted out trucks and SUVs (I get a lot of videos of old Range Rovers) that have been sitting in fields for 10+ years and it always amazes me how nicely they come together but I hate to imagine what the actual cost of doing something like that is.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
my feed gets a lot of videos of people restoring rusted out trucks and SUVs (I get a lot of videos of old Range Rovers) that have been sitting in fields for 10+ years and it always amazes me how nicely they come together but I hate to imagine what the actual cost of doing something like that is.
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A friend of mine did a Range Rover, and he'll be the first to tell you that he spent a stupid amount of money and it seemingly never-ended. He said his takeaway was that "the British should be allowed to design the shape of cars, but never any of functional aspects.
 
Suburb Repairman said:
A friend of mine did a Range Rover, and he'll be the first to tell you that he spent a stupid amount of money and it seemingly never-ended. He said his takeaway was that "the British should be allowed to design the shape of cars, but never any of functional aspects.
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I had a 1994 Range Rover County LWB for about a year in the early '00s that I used as a trail vehicle and on various camping trips. It had so much room and was so comfortable but guzzled gasoline, had everything go wrong with the suspension that you could imagine, broke the struts on the hood then broke the hood release cable, leaked through the factory-installed sunroof and one of the rear windows, gauges would work intermittently, locks only worked when they felt like it, etc. All this on a vehicle that was less than 10 years old!

I probably would have kept it and worked on it (body was in fantastic condition) but ended up parting ways with it once it developed a dangerously bad death wobble and I was getting ready to go on a deployment. I decided that was a good time to let it become somebody else's problem.

I think I bought the Rover for about $3,500 (should have been a sign of how bad it was that it was that "cheap" for a luxury SUV that was less than 10 years old) and sold it for about the same price. Recently, I was looking at other '94 Range Rovers and the prices are crazy - think $25k and up for ones in good condition! They were probably like mine though in that the bodies may have needed minimal work but somebody had to put thousands and thousands into the electrical and suspension systems.

All that said, I'd still buy a late model Disco II if I could find one around here at a not terrible price! I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. :rofl:
 
^^^I remember a guy about 5 or 6 years ago would buy LandRovers from CarMax with their warranty.
Ended up taking it to them for warranty repairs (big ticket items too) about a dozen times in the 2 years of ownership and fixed for free. They bought it back from him and offered to sell him another...sans warranty offer.
 
The best auto I've owned (so far) was our 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

No major issues other than maintenance and occasional operator error for the entire 12 years we owned it.
 
mendelman said:
The best auto I've owned (so far) was our 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

No major issues other than maintenance and occasional operator error for the entire 12 years we owned it.
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My wife had a 2006 Dodge-badged equivalent - I don't think there was any possible way to make it stop running, just one of the most reliable machines ever produced. After its third rehab and the loss of AC a few years ago we gave it away to a cousin who still uses it.
 
joscoffee said:
My wife had a 2006 Dodge-badged equivalent - I don't think there was any possible way to make it stop running, just one of the most reliable machines ever produced. After its third rehab and the loss of AC a few years ago we gave it away to a cousin who still uses it.
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That's pretty much where we were when we traded in our T&C. The AC had died about 2 years earlier, but it was just our extra car (we had two T&Cs at the time) that I drove 3 miles round trip in town to work and was a hauler for house/yard stuff.

But we moved to another Metro in 2021 and I was going to have a long commute, so we needed a more reliable fuel efficient car so we traded the 08 T&C partially toward the cost of a 2015 Honda Civic sedan. We even got $1,750 in value for the minivan.

We are still running a 2016 T&C as our main family car.
 
kjel said:
For the first time ever the check engine light is on in the Subaru and the engine sort of chugged for lack of a better word. It's 9 years old and hasn't needed any work other than the usual oil changes, filters, brakes, tires, and battery. I'm going to drop it off at the mechanic this afternoon.
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Mine (04 Outback) did that at one point when the alternator died. CEL and "Limp mode" where i thought i'd never make it up the hill i needed to climb to get it to the shop. Good Luck.

I have the CEL again now but since it's more than 16 y/o my state does not require me to get it fixed (it's one or both of the o2 sensors integral to the Cat and that's 3k I'd rather not spend if everything seems to be running OK otherwise.)
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I am in no way nostalgic for my first car - a 1984 Ford Escort.

It looked just like this one when my grandma gave it to me in 1994 but I made sure to round off all the corners in short order!

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We had an '84 Escort when I was growing up- in metallic doo-doo brown as I recall. No radio so my sister and I rode with a tape recorder between us in the back seat and it overheated if you looked at it wrong.
 
Inspired by the K-Car posts

Here's a twist - what was your first work car in your professional career? This would be the "Department Vehicle" that you drove...


1983 Dodge Aires in poopoo brown in SW Florida - I was happy it had AC which took a while to cool.
Others of note include a 1982 Chevette & a 1986 Caprice (ex-cop car) both of which I tried to kill.
Presently we have a 2013 Explorer.
 
Planit said:
Inspired by the K-Car posts

Here's a twist - what was your first work car in your professional career? This would be the "Department Vehicle" that you drove...


1983 Dodge Aires in poopoo brown in SW Florida - I was happy it had AC which took a while to cool.
Others of note include a 1982 Chevette & a 1986 Caprice (ex-cop car) both of which I tried to kill.
Presently we have a 2013 Explorer.
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First work vehicle I ever drove was a Ford Aerostar done up black and white like a cop car- it had been surpluses to the natural resources department who loaned it to me. It was fun having everybody slow down and get out of my way on the highway, but I really couldn’t have passed them if I tried. Next job was luck of the draw from the motor pool whenever you needed a vehicle but I usually pulled the first gen Prius with stock tires- for 70 mile one way trips to meetings in elk country in rural MT in the middle of winter. Never have I stayed so alert driving! I haven’t had a work vehicle since. Just put in for mileage.
 
joscoffee said:
It's such a cool platform, that length...that body roll...
What motor was in the LTDs? Was it the 351 like the tbirds?
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Well, the 1976 Country Squire wagon (a 'fancy' LTD) my parents had in the late 80s-early 90s had the 400ci engine. It was used to pull a 36 foot Airstream trailer and all the stuff for our family of 5.

I didn't get to drive it, but I got to drive the last Ford gen of full size wagons - our 1985 Country Squire, which likely had only the 301ci engine, but it could still pull the same Airstream trailer.
 
Planit said:
...but dang it drove like an aircraft carrier.
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My brother drove the '76 a bit and had the same general opinion as you (the SQ and the CP were effectively the same platform architecture & mechanicals).
 
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joscoffee said:
It's such a cool platform, that length...that body roll...
What motor was in the LTDs? Was it the 351 like the tbirds?
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Mine had the 400ci. Dad later had a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV with a 460ci.


mendelman said:
Well, the 1976 Country Squire wagon (a 'fancy' LTD) my parents had in the late 80s-early 90s had the 400ci engine. It was used to pull a 36 foot Airstream trailer and all the stuff for our family of 5.

I didn't get to drive it, but I got to drive the last Ford gen of full size wagons - our 1985 Country Squire, which likely had only the 301ci engine, but it could still pull the same Airstream trailer.
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Yeah, the Country Squire had the wood paneling and flip-up headlights. "Wood" trim amounted to a thin strip on the interior of the doors in my 1978. Seems like a small platform to the pulling a 35-foot Airstream (I really want one) as they are not light weight. A 36-foot Airstream has to be pushing 8,000 lbs dry weight. Go, Ford.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Mine had the 400ci. Dad later had a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV with a 460ci.



Yeah, the Country Squire had the wood paneling and flip-up headlights. "Wood" trim amounted to a thin strip on the interior of the doors in my 1978. Seems like a small platform to the pulling a 35-foot Airstream (I really want one) as they are not light weight. A 36-foot Airstream has to be pushing 8,000 lbs dry weight. Go, Ford.
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The 78 and the 76 were still the 'large' platform, so I presumed it was sufficient to pull the Airstream as it did it from OH to northern MI and for the next 2 years of summer seasons. The car probably didn't go fast and the mpg was likely atrocious, but I don't remember my parents complaining and it was between 1988-1990 that we had the 76 and the full size Airstream.
 
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SlaveToTheGrind said:
Mine had the 400ci. Dad later had a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV with a 460ci.
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This reminded me that I parked downtown for something one day last week and when I came back to my spot somebody had parked a late '60s Lincoln convertible with suicide doors next to me. I should have gotten a picture but it looked like their car was at least a foot longer than my Jeep Gladiator. It was enormous!

Looking up the specs right now it looks like, depending on the year it was maybe only 4" or 5" longer, but it definitely looked like even more.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
This reminded me that I parked downtown for something one day last week and when I came back to my spot somebody had parked a late '60s Lincoln convertible with suicide doors next to me. I should have gotten a picture but it looked like their car was at least a foot longer than my Jeep Gladiator. It was enormous!

Looking up the specs right now it looks like, depending on the year it was maybe only 4" or 5" longer, but it definitely looked like even more.
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My parents had a mid-late 60s Lincoln with suicide doors. Dad totaled in a blizzard while mom was in the hospital having just given birth to me the day before.
 
Faust_Motel said:
Mine (04 Outback) did that at one point when the alternator died. CEL and "Limp mode" where i thought i'd never make it up the hill i needed to climb to get it to the shop. Good Luck.

I have the CEL again now but since it's more than 16 y/o my state does not require me to get it fixed (it's one or both of the o2 sensors integral to the Cat and that's 3k I'd rather not spend if everything seems to be running OK otherwise.)
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The verdict is in. Hard misfire on cylinder 3 due to bad ignition coil pack. As they say, your car knows when you have money (extra check month)! Picking Ruby up this afternoon.
 
kjel said:
The verdict is in. Hard misfire on cylinder 3 due to bad ignition coil pack. As they say, your car knows when you have money (extra check month)! Picking Ruby up this afternoon.
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Phew! That's usually a pretty straightforward job, if pricey and depending on your engine's configuration/orientation accessibility.

Subies are literally built different, boxer engine design and all...so...

@Dan @Faust_Motel
 
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mendelman said:
Phew! That's usually a pretty straightforward job, if pricey and depending on your engine's configuration/orientation accessibility.

Subies are literally built different, boxer engine design and all...

@Dan @Faust_Motel
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^^^True.

It was fairly easy and straight forward on the Mini. I went ahead & replaced all 4 ignition coil packs & spark plugs while I was do 1 anyway.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
I'd like to have my first (that I personally owned) a 1983 Mazda Rx-7 GSL.
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As for other people I knew with cool first/second cars: My brother started with a 1982 AMC 4dr 4sp man Concord. Then his second car was a 1984 Mustang auto with T-tops, then he had a 1987 Saab 9000 turbo (5sp man, 4dr, rear hatch sedan).

That Saab was a screamer, but any repairs were $$$$ when he owned it in northern MI between ~1996-2000.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
My parents had a mid-late 60s Lincoln with suicide doors. Dad totaled in a blizzard while mom was in the hospital having just given birth to me the day before.
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My dad had a '60 Lincoln (final year with the big fishtail rear end) that also got wrecked, but not totaled in a snow storm in early 1965: he spun out in an intersection on his way home from work and sideswiped a tree. He said the car ran fine and looked perfect on the driver's side but every panel on the passenger's side was messed up.

Later in the year he was driving somewhere and was going past a Ford dealership when he saw a truck full of brand new Mustangs being delivered so he pulled in and parked with his driver's side facing the showroom and went to go look at the Mustangs. A salesman came out and my dad said they started talking and he picked out a car still on the truck he really liked and pointed to his Lincoln and asked what he could get on a trade for it. Without even going to check it out, the salesman threw out some number and my dad said he'd take it! :rofl:

My dad being the honest guy he is though, said something like, "...but, you may want to go look at the other side of the car before we sign anything." Dealer took a look and stood buy his original offer and then my dad literally drove his metallic green fastback Mustang off the truck.

He always says it was a fun little car but after about 2 years he started having constant problems with it that he blamed on a bad batch of gasoline.
 
mendelman said:
Phew! That's usually a pretty straightforward job, if pricey and depending on your engine's configuration/orientation accessibility.

Subies are literally built different, boxer engine design and all...so...

@Dan @Faust_Motel
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It was a chunk o' change, but far cheaper than a car payment. The boxer engine design does sometimes make for more costly repairs but considering I've not had anything other than routine maintenance and replacement of tires, battery, and brakes this is Ruby's first big repair. I've had her 9 years and she's been the best car I've ever owned. My husband has a 2021 Forester so we're a two Subie family.
 
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