Help My Friend Buy A Car!

"promoted by the color red" (whenindoubtflatout) 08/21/2013 at 02:48 • Filed to: Craigslist!

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After a long hiatus that was spent driving my car much too hard, I found out that my friend needs a car to get around for graduate school in the Ann Arbor area. No requirements other than practicality and automatic gearbox.

I've already told him to check for frame rust and to have snow tires come winter as we live in sunny (hah) California where the only thing we see is rain.

We've gone through a bunch of candidates. I'm thinking he should go American because Detroit and all that jazz. Ford Focii have come and gone and a Toyota Corolla too. Should we put the Japanese back on the table? I would tell him to go Carmax but there aren't any in Michigan.

He saw this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I'm thinking he should look at this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Are we both morons?

Put up what you think are good CL offerings in the Ann Arbor area. Keep it under 8K and 100K miles. Please, no mechanics specials, Miatas, or E30s. Or VW Corrados, either.

shpuker > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 03:01

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http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/cto/400189…

107k miles. 2002 Passat GLX V6. For $4,900. Not a bad deal.

offroadkarter > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 04:08

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What do they have for MPG requirements? What type of mechanical skills do they have?

Just throwing this out there, last year my friend picked up a 2004 crown vic sport for $7000 dollars with 83k miles on it at the time. I shouldn't have to tell you how rugged and unkillable these cars are since the platform has been used as police cars and taxi's for decades. I also don't know of many cars that aren't 20-30 years old where you can get leather seats, electronic HVAC controls, 8 way power driver and passenger seats, redundant steering wheel controls, not to mention all the little things like automatic headlights, power pedals, traction control, for 8 grand or under. These cars are still plenty capable of getting mid to upper 20's in highway MPG (some with 2.73 geared vics have hit 30-31mpg highway, sports have 3.27's). My friend gets about 18-19 mixed with these 18" rims and 245/55 tires all around (stock is 235/65/17 iirc).

You can also find panthers everwhere, and parts are very easy to come by. Even if you don't count all the new stuff availiable from dealers or parts stores and only go by what you can get from a JY, this car has the same engine and trans as the econoline, the f150, and the mustang of the era. So finding parts will never be an issue.

Mattbob > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 07:18

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I wouldn't worry about it being american. It's not that big of a deal, especially in Ann Arbor. I think most of the cars there are foreign anyway. (I live about 15 minutes away)

RS Hole, I forgot my password for 8 months > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 08:46

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Ann Arbor you say?

Subaru Wagon, you'll fit right in. Plus AWD and practicality
http://annarbor.craigslist.org/ctd/3944710528…

ttyymmnn > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 08:48

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Milky > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 10:04

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IMO could you find more boring cars? Step your car enthusiast game up.

2005 Chrysler Crossfire , $8,899 with 80k.

2002 Lexus IS 300 Sportcross , $7,195 with 78k.

1992 Lexus SC400 , $4,900 with 95k.

2001 Ford Mustang , $7,998 with 103k.

1998 Pontiac Firebird , $7,500 with 65k.

promoted by the color red > Milky 08/21/2013 at 10:12

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He's not "a car guy" and as he'll be doing the transactions in another state without me present I basically want to eliminate any chances of him getting a car that's expensive to run, insure, or has some kind of potentially fatal flaw in the snow. Plus, it'll be his first car. So there's that. And he can't drive stick, either. I don't want to encourage the survival of automatic E30s in non-enthusiast hands. :D

Those Lexi look pretty sweet, though. Thanks for the help anyways!

promoted by the color red > offroadkarter 08/21/2013 at 10:16

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Pretty much the higher the better. While he's a smart guy (nuclear engineering) I don't think he's too experienced in the world of cars. Can't believe I didn't think of the Panther! Maybe it's because my car enthusiast tendencies equate them with cops and cops with tickets...

Do those things do well in the snow with all-seasons?

Edit: What luck! There's a 68K mile ex-cop Panther for sale !

Milky > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 10:21

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Its his first car .... so you'll be setting someone up to buy boring their whole life.

promoted by the color red > Milky 08/21/2013 at 10:36

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Nah, once grad school ends and he moves back wherever/whenever I'll point him towards something more fun.

Plus I've just spotted an ex-police Crown Vic with well under 100K miles.

SpeedSix > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 10:45

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Volvo 1800ES

Milky > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 10:48

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elifuwgskjnd;sjnv

just get fun now!

offroadkarter > promoted by the color red 08/21/2013 at 13:33

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Snow tires and maybe a couple bags of sand in the trunk and they are unstoppable. Personally I'd rather have a LX over a P71 any day for the options but some people tend to think the other way and want the simplicity of the cop car. The 06+ P71's all have 31 spline axles and its more common to find them with a 3.55 limited slip rear. 06+ Civilian cars got 31 splines also but most of them are 2.73's.

promoted by the color red > Milky 08/21/2013 at 19:28

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I would if it were local and I could check it out myself.