Trying to choose a beater

[Turin39789]

Need some advice. My main car lately has been my new motorcycle(my first), but my main actual car is over 30 years old and is starting to get dinged and rusty and I'm supposed to be restoring it. Also it doesn't have heat. I'm looking for something that will get good mpg, and will be reliable for getting me to work or 100 miles away. I'd like a small truck for the option to haul some things.


So I'm looking for a beater with good gas mileage, and cheap. I have a shot at a 1986 ranger for $500 obo that was used as a work truck but looks to be in decent shape, some faded paint but no real rust problems, owner assures it is working great. Local truck, still need to call and get the mileage.

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100 miles away is a 1997 Mazda B2300 for $800, owner says it runs great, leaks some power steering fluid and has some ugly front end damage but otherwise runs around fine and gets 27 mpg. 140k miles, pictures of front end damage are supposed to be forthcoming.


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I could also go for an 86 toyota tercel that is being offered for a trade(drill press) + $200. It's got 170k miles, the owner is the pres of my VW club who was using it as a beater and was starting to clean it up, replacing body panels with odd colored non rusty ones. I won't get the functionality of a truck that I wanted, but it would get 36-38 mpg instead of 20-27.

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So if I go for a truck, do I go for the old close one, or pay some more for a newer one that im going to have to hike to get.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Consider a minivan. I know how cool they are but my 89 caravan turbo I bought 6 years ago for $800 has been the best beater I have ever owned. Take the rear seats out and its a truck. I think I can actually haul more with it then my old little nissan truck since I can also load down the roof. Put the seats back in and it can seat 7 in comfort and its fully loaded with power everything working a/c and good heat. Being fwd comes in handy during the winter too. They are worthless so you can pick up a pretty nice one for nothing. Its just a real comfortable easy to drive vehicle. If you think you would be embarrassed to have people see you driving a minivan don't worry, nobody will because nobody including cops pays them any attention. My dogs certainly like riding around it it a lot better then they did the bed of a truck which is one of the big reasons I went with the van. I also just really like the idea of a turbo charged souped up minivan .

 

[SparkyJJO]

Friend of mine was driving a tercel for awhile (newer than that one like mid-90's). They have no power to them. Don't expect to load it down too much if you get it

RWD pickup is bad news in the winter.

 

[AmigaMan]

I'd get the Ranger. My Dad's 91 has 300K+ miles on it and still ticking. He bought it new for ~$10,000 and he's definitely got his money's worth. With regular maintenance I have no doubts that it'll keep going for another 100K+ miles.

 

[dpert1]

Beat it with some style, Chrysler lebaron

 

[santuitman]

I second the ranger. The auto parts store I worked at years ago had a fleet of these and they really held up. Whats the 30 year old resto project?

 

[soydios]

you have a motorcycle for good fuel efficiency. get the ranger for the cargo capacity, or as darkwolf said, a minivan for cargo and people moving.

 

[Obsoleet]

The ford truck is probably the way to go, I wouldn't go adventuring for a $800 used mazda that has issues.
All these are likely to have something come up periodically for the rest of their lives so why go drive off for a beater? Beaters are everywhere including locally.

At first I didnt want to say go with the pickup because a family member had a ford pickup like that and the real world mileage was not what a small pickup should be. That said, those other choices you have are attrocious. I wanted to say the Tercel but looked at it and yeah.. get the pickup, it's useful at least and definitely looks the best (not that any of them will win any beauty contests).

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I kind of agree with the minivan guy. I have a plymouth grand voyager from 1992 with 175,000 miles on it. The thing is a beast, 3.8 V6, AWD, ABS, airbags, power everything, tow package and all. Stereo sucks after this many years and the sliding door takes some real grunt to close it but hey what do you expect. My friends and I clocked its 0-60 and it was a tad over 9 seconds, so pretty beastly for a van

The other beater I drive sometimes is a 1989 Isuzu Trooper. Which is a piece of junk car, under powered, no ABS, no airbags, high center of gravity, stereo is junk, takes an eternity for the engine to warm up enough for the heater to function. But it is fun to drive, because it is so skinny, and has a real sense of adventure (I can't describe it). It is totally the car you'd find parked outside a mini-mart in a Zombie movie ready to go.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: santuitman
I second the ranger. The auto parts store I worked at years ago had a fleet of these and they really held up. Whats the 30 year old resto project?

1972 Volkswagen beetle has been my primary for a few years now. Someone dented the front end a while back and before that I caught a porsche cayenne coming over a hill at speed while I was making a left turn. My fault of course. Also teh PO's paint job is starting to come off. I'm not a bodywork or paint guy, so I'm going to have to ask around, but I should be able to at least strip most of the old stuff down before it goes out to a shop.

How she came, I think the ebayer added the sparkles

pics of the badness, does not include front in squish

Picked up a 1975 honda cb550 that I ride most days now. It's got a few issues as well but it gets a bit better every week. I have to take it in for new tires soon and I'll probably have the shop do a safety check to make sure that the fork isn't going to split in half on me. My first bike so I'm still learning, but I've put about 3k miles on it already.

Le bike

I really want to get the tercel and the ranger, but haven't been able to talk the little lady into letting me have 3 bikes(the 550 came with a parts 550 and a 80's nighthawk that don't run and don't have titles and are taking up my one car garages space) and 3 cages.

The tercel is coming from the president of the VW club, just had about $200 in new struts put into it, and he's replacing 3 body panels to clear out some rust and i might have him primer it for free. A trusty VW shop has looked at it and is probably going to tune up the carb and the clutch cylinder for under $50.
It's got no power, but it will be great work to home transport for a rainy day, I can flat black paint it and not give a hoot. I got in on a deal on a drill press from sears(maybe, I'm supposed to be able to pick it up from sears today) and he's wanting it in trade, so I'll be out $3-400 to buy this little gem.

For those dissing on the ford over the mazda because the mazda is a mazda- the mazda is a ford! The ranger and mazda are essentially the same truck, with the exact same engine and tranny etc. So that one is more of a debate of getting an older local truck vs a newer safer truck from farther away with a beat up front end.

Right now the tercel is in the lead, because of mpg. I should be ok with the ranger because I really only get 20 or so in the bug(engines a little sloppy) but gas prices aren't going down again ever and I actually have a fairly in depth mechanical history on the toyota.


One car garage has the VW and the bikes in it. Will actuall have some room to work once I part out the nighthawk and get the yard sale junk out. Her Scion is in teh driveway, and it does seem kinda excessive to have two more cars out on the street. I knew how to change oil and brakes when I got my first car, was never too mechanically inclined as a teen when my brother was taking apart his cars for fun and necessity. But I've started to really get into it, which means I have a bad habit of scanning craigslist classifies every day for deals and wanting to bring home every project I see.

Post is too long, did not read.

 

[Turin39789]

Just wanted to add that what I really want is a slow old VW Rabbit diesel pickup, but they have held too much value. I've found one in the state, but its going for around $2600, and that seems to be pretty standard, for these late 80's gems. I'd almost to be tempted to buy a modern car if someone brought another light pickup with a diesel/turbodiesel to the us market again. I've heard rumors that a crappy(according to an australian messageboard) on is coming from india, but we'll see. I'd rather it were an option on rangers again or the VW came back.

 

[santuitman]

Hey
Just had to write back. The beetle actually sounds like a fun project. I had a '72 and an '80 superbeetle, a regular beetle and an '80 vanagon camper. Volkwagens are fun to tinker with and they didn't cost too much for parts when I had mine a few years ago. Sadly here in Massachusetts most of the old v-dubs are gone due to rot and they are tough for people who like heat in the winter! No project cars anymore for me as wife and kids take up all my time. Sure had some fun though!

What did you end up picking?

Cheers!

BRian