Book's vehicles thread: Now with Two Different Wheels-Post 339

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YSSMAN
Any '90s Celica is going to be a pretty solid choice. Their Camry engines are outstandingly solid (despite not making a whole lot of power), and the fuel mileage isn't bad either.
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Azuremen
Well, it uses the 5S-FE in the sporty trims, which is the 2.2 liter from the Camry.
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I'm not trying to make an argument here, but why does everyone call the 5s-fe a camry engine? Didn't it first come in the Celica GT, GTS, and MR2s? Is it because perhaps more camry's where sold, or was it introduced in the camry somewhere else first?

As far as the celica as a first car, It was my first, well besides my jeepster I drove as a kid, and it has been an excellent car. I'm going on six years of owning it and it has been very reliable, only time it has ever failed to start ever, is when I run the battery down or out of gas. Of course there are some problems i've had, wheels bearing, axles, slave cylinder, but mine has nearly 240,000 miles on it now.

And as far as the performance, it's definitely not bad, I wouldn't call it fast, but it's not slow by any means. No problems getting up to speed, passing, gets good gas mileage, I usually get around 30mpg. Handles well, but like YSSMAN said the back end will come around on you, scared the **** out of me first time it happened.

And in my biased opinion, the 5th generation GTS is by far the best-looking of the FWD Celicas, and thats what I would recommend. Only problem is the GTS may be a little heavier than a GT, thus not perform as well.

BTW, mine is a '91 celica GT, bought it for $1900 with roughly 150,000 miles. I've installed a all-trac bumper, spoiler, and 6th gen wheels, which makes it look almost as good as the GTS.
 
Rennsport
VW ftw. fun cars to toss around and rev the **** out of. especially in the snow
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One of my friends has a '97 Jetta (2.0L motor); granted, he's destroyed it, but I drove it once. Was pretty fun (along with being my first experience with a stick). However, VW's have a reputation for being horrendously expensive to fix, so that's a bit of a turn-off. Not out of the question, but not hugely high on the list.
 
casey_2005
I'm not trying to make an argument here, but why does everyone call the 5s-fe a camry engine? Didn't it first come in the Celica GT, GTS, and MR2s? Is it because perhaps more camry's where sold, or was it introduced in the camry somewhere else first?
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Camry = boring, non sporty. Its a derogatory term used because the 5S-FE engine was used instead of the continuous refinement of the 3S-GE that the rest of the world got. While Europe and Japan got engines nearing 200 horsepower, America was stuck with a lazy revving engine that only ever produced 135; making the entire Celica range seem like a bad Prelude competitor.
 
That would have been my next reasoning for why people possibly call it a camry engine. All in all though it's really not that bad of an engine, but yes, it could have been replaced with the 3s-ge and few people would have missed it.
 
I beg to differ. Cousin had ancient first gen Polo, 1l of German fury and it was hilarious to drive on the track he had made on frozen lake.
 
Only problem with the old Beetles is lack of heat. Heat is nice. :lol:
 
casey_2005
...why does everyone call the 5s-fe a camry engine?
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My reasoning is pretty simple: I had a Camry with the 5S-FE first, but I think it showing up mostly in the Camry (and its variants) for the longest kinda makes it a "Camry engine" by default. Kinda the same way how the LS2 (and the like) became a "Corvette engine" despite being in damn-near everything at one point.
 
HOLY THREAD REVIVAL BATMAN!!!

Ahem... Possibly have found a car for myself. 1994 Ford Probe, 138,xxx miles. Body is in decent shape, suspension and tires are good, but I haven't had a chance to look under the hood. They're selling it for $1500.

Good price? Bad price? Go for it at all? Should I look out for certain things with the car?
 
I know you said you didn't check under the hood, but do you know if it is a V6 or I4?

From my experience, Probes are fun, decent handling cars with good mid-range grunt tat doesn't peter out. The only problem I had with the one I've driven is that the owner can't drive the thing. The price doesn't seem too bad, but the mileage is a bit high.
 
Toronado
I know you said you didn't check under the hood, but do you know if it is a V6 or I4?
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From seeing the rear wing, white rear wiper, and white washer fluid nozzles (failed rice that will come off as soon as I get it (if I get it)), my guess is that it has the I4. Might be wrong, though.
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From my experience, Probes are fun, decent handling cars with good mid-range grunt tat doesn't peter out. The only problem I had with the one I've driven is that the owner can't drive the thing. The price doesn't seem too bad, but the mileage is a bit high.
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Sounds about what I would like. I'm not too worried about the mileage, unless something in the motor would be ready to go at 140,000.
 
Unlike the Contour that replaced it, the 2nd gen. Probe never used Ford engines. Only Mazda engines, so I dunno. If you want advice about the V6 or I4, I'd ask Famine or niky, respectively.
 
The first gen Probe isn't bad, but certainly isn't anything resembling quick either. I still think you should find a Tercel, more durable, and honestly, probably a bit quicker.
 
The tach had a 7,000 RPM redline, which tells me (according to Wikipedia) it has the 6-cylinder.

Azuremen: This opportunity popped up from just driving around one day. As for a Tercel, one of my parents would find something against it (they're not much for imports, even though that's basically what I might be buying). Not a bad idea, though.
 
Welcome to the wonderful of cheap car hunting. Feel free to grab a seat at the table where many a 16 year olds dreams have been beaten, crushed, reassembled, blended, burned, frozen and beaten again.
 
Joey D
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say look at this Mercedes 190E

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...ors=&max_price=2000&cardist=56&standard=false

Apparently they are quite durable, but I'm not going to say for sure as my knowledge of old MB isn't exactly great.
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There's a possible. Good condition, and decent number of miles. Not a stick, but meh.

Here is a Tercel if you are interested.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...ors=&max_price=2000&cardist=39&standard=false
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Nah, it's already got 200k on the clock. Pass on that particular one, but I'm still open to the idea.

YSSMAN
Random search on the local Craigslist brings up interesting results:

1999 Saturn SL2 Sedan
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Hmm... maybe.

1995 Chevrolet Caprice (9C1 I believe)
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Nah, that thing probably gets about as good of gas mileage as my truck (probably the same motor, too).

1992 Toyota Corolla All-Trac (Epic Awkwardness!)
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Wasn't really looking for a wagon, but that'd be a great road-trip vehicle. Maybe.

Or the ultimate in long-term life spans...

1989 Volvo 240 Sedan

...With 278K on the clock. YES!
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If I can sell my parents on it, yes. (I doubt I can, as "it's too far away" and "278k miles?!?!?!" Worth a shot, though.)

Out of the last 7 vehicles (including my Escort) , here are my rankings:

1. Escort
2. Tie between the 240 and 190E
4. Saturn
5. Corolla
6. Tercel
7. Caprice

P.S. YSSMAN, head south a little. I don't think I'll be able to go all the way to the GR area to look at a vehicle. :(
 
I'm not sure if you have had this suggested already (and because someone already suggested a Neon), but what about the Saturn SC series? They are fantastic little cars built during the time that Saturn was actually a very good brand (my Celica-driving friend's sister owns a 1992 with like a million miles on it); and while they aren't Civics, they aren't any less reliable or easy to maintain than Civics, and they don't get any worse mileage, and they are cheaper to buy (probably to insure as well, but I dunno). So long as you get an SC2 they are also somewhat sporty as well.
 
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An SC2 with the twin-cam is an excellent choice, and they are available all over the place. A friend of mine had one in high school; Beat the snot out of it, but it was a fun car to toss around anyway. If anything, it was the spiritual successor to the Beretta GTU... Which isn't a bad thing at all.
 
My dad (who has the final say in what I get) laughed at the idea of an SC2.

Upon further inspection, the 2000 Escort I posted earlier had an air bag and Check Engine Light on. PASS.

We went and looked at a '95 Jetta last night. Dad didn't like the shape the body was in (very bad dent under the taillight and clearcoat was peeling). so we passed on it. On the way back, however, we found a '98 Escort with only 86,000 miles, in good condition, for $3,250. Dad'll be going back tomorrow when the dealer's open to talk to them about it.

I might have finally landed something...
 
Update:

1990 Chevy Blazer R.I.P.

I thought the transmission had begun slipping a little bit, so I had my dad drive it. He came back with the diagnosis that not only had the tranny started going bad, he didn't feel safe driving it. He's selling it for whatever he can get out of it.

He also didn't like the way the Escort started up (knocked really bad for a couple seconds), so he passed on it.

In summary: I'm completely out of a vehicle for now. :grumpy: :scared: :ouch: :yuck: :indiff:: 👎 :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :irked:
 

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