AWD cars from the early/mid 80's to the mid 90's

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bengee

bengee

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Recently I have been thinking about purchasing an all wheel drive car (2/3 door, sedan, or even a wagon). Furthermore I would be looking to purchase a car for under 5k from the era listed above. More realistically I would like to only spend about 3k with the understanding that I will be needing the extra bucks for improving the cars reliability and general maintainence. These are the cars i have come up with...

Subaru Justy 4wd
Eclipse GSX (90-94)
Talon TSi(same years)
BMW 3 series Xi (Late 80's early 90's)

Basically what I am looking for is a "cheap" car with all wheel drive and some sportiness to it. I was wondering if you guys could help me out and you know come up with some more cars that kinda fit my discription. Thanks all.
 
Actually i was wondering about that car but i could not find out anything about it... you have anyplace i can go for indepth info and specs as well as frequent problems?
 
How about the Celica All-trac? How do you feel about it?

Its probably going to cost more than you plan, because All trac celica arent all that common. I have heard they are a major pain to work at. Not alot of aftermarket parts avaliabile beside that i think the Celica isnt that bad of a buy.
 
And don't diss the mighty AMC Eagle. A 4WD Hornet station wagon.
 
Originally posted by bengee

BMW 3 series Xi (Late 80's early 90's)
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In order to find this car, you need to either live in Colorado, wealthy suburban New England, or northern California. I know that twenty percent of iX's went to Colorado, I can speculate California took about fifteen.

The sedan is better than the coupe.

One vehicle that may be worthy of mention is the 1990 Mitsubishi Galant GSX and the 1991-1992 Galant VR-4. If you can find one, the VR-4 came with a 195bhp turbocharged four and all-wheel drive, and the GSX had a 135bhp four, also with AWD.
 
Did Audi release any awd cars in that time period? They were doing pretty damn well in WRC...
 
Originally posted by emad
Did Audi release any awd cars in that time period? They were doing pretty damn well in WRC...
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The 1993-1995 Audi 90 had Quattro in some models, but Audis before the 1996 A4 were miserable buckets of trash with the sole exception being the Cabriolet, only excepted because it's lost so much value since it was cancelled in 1998 that it's a good used buy.

The Audi 100/A6 (1992-1994 as the 100 and 1995-1997 as the A6) also had all-wheel drive, but it was just as bad as the 90. There was an S6 version in 1995 and 1996 with a 227bhp turbocharged five, but it's probably out of the price range if other cars being considered are the Talon TSi and Subaru Justy.
 
Originally posted by bengee


Subaru Justy 4wd
Eclipse GSX (90-94)
Talon TSi(same years)
BMW 3 series Xi (Late 80's early 90's)
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Skip the Justy. My friend had a Justy and one day the gears were just somehow messed up and wouldn't go forward. Plus its really really slow. I'm warry of the bimmer on reliability, but I hear they're great cars. I would say its a toss between the GSX and Talon. I've driven a 93 GSX and the turbos feel powerful enough, just make sure you take care of that crankcase recall.
 
Originally posted by phreakypat
Skip the Justy. My friend had a Justy and one day the gears were just somehow messed up and wouldn't go forward. Plus its really really slow. I'm warry of the bimmer on reliability, but I hear they're great cars. I would say its a toss between the GSX and Talon. I've driven a 93 GSX and the turbos feel powerful enough, just make sure you take care of that crankcase recall.
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The iX's main cost won't come in maintenance but in insurance (particularly for young drivers) - the 325iX was a high percentage more expensive to insure than the 325i.
 
Definatly go with the DSM's. Check out www.dsmtrader.com. A Galant VR-4 would be a sweet car to get, but with only roughly 1000 registered left in the US, it is very hard to find, my brother was a lucky one to find 2 of them. I would definatly highly recommend the 90-92 DSM's. Lightly modded im hitting 0-60's in low 4's and 60 foot times of 1.70's. The AWD really sucks ur arse into the back of ur seat.
 
I was thinking about a svx but i would rather not get an automatic and i believe that every svx was an auto...

Thanks for the info everyone... esp m5, ts1, and mazkid as well as anyone else who gave me links and good stuff...

GT four celica would be nice in the latter two generations... the rounder ones but that is more than i am looking to spend... A dude in my area has one and its a sweet car...

Audi is also most likely out of my price range...

I will look more into 323 gt-x and the galants completely forgot about those... I will skip the justy unless i can get it for next to nothing and look at the xt6...

I dont need my insurance to be any higher but that bmw would be a nice car to have... And as i live in Northern California it wouldnt be too hard to come by... I have a question... Was the awd 3 series called the ix back then and on newer 3 series called the xi?
 
Originally posted by bengee
I was thinking about a svx but i would rather not get an automatic and i believe that every svx was an auto...
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True - for every non-Japanese version, at least.

I dont need my insurance to be any higher but that bmw would be a nice car to have... And as i live in Northern California it wouldnt be too hard to come by... I have a question... Was the awd 3 series called the ix back then and on newer 3 series called the xi?
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Yes. The 325iX was made from 1986 to 1991, but was only sold in America from 1988 to 1991. The 1988 version was only a coupe in America, but was sold as a sedan in Canada. By 1989, both bodystyles were offered in both markets. In summer 2000, the 325xi and 330xi models were introduced in both sedan and wagon variants as 2001 models; since then they've been fairly popular particularly where the 325iX was popular (Colorado, northern California, urban New England).
 
Originally posted by exhaust_note
the SVX is FWD... my friend has one and he pulls the e-brakes and smokes the front tires...
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You're friend's a moron for pulling the parking brake in an AWD car.

The only reason the front tires smoke is because Subaru doesn't use a locked differential, so power is transfered to where it can go(the newer Sube's are different, ofcourse).

Keep doing that, and soon he'll be at the dealership.
 
Originally posted by MazKid
You're friend's a moron for pulling the parking brake in an AWD car.

The only reason the front tires smoke is because Subaru doesn't use a locked differential, so power is transfered to where it can go(the newer Sube's are different, ofcourse).

Keep doing that, and soon he'll be at the dealership.
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i haven't talk to him or seen him in 2 years... thats some funny **** though... hahaha
 

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