Practical or weird; the Oppo battle.

"adamftw" (adamftw) 12/19/2016 at 11:15 • Filed to: None

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So, hear me out. The Disco is done or soon dead. Cliff’s notes:

- Been nursing a pressurizing cooling system (head gasket leak, more than likely) for a couple weeks. Been adding around a gallon of 50/50 every day and a half since the system kept purging itself.

- Last week driving to work from my new place (longer, more highway-speed commute) in the uber cold my cooling fan exploded, and took a couple hoses out. Got the Disco home on a flatbed.

I replaced the hoses with spares I had, and I’m waiting on a new expansion tank cap to come in a day or so. Going to see how it goes but I doubt it is any better. I’m not dropping $600 minimum doing the head gaskets myself on a truck that is worth only $2000 on the high side to someone, west coast Discos are much more desirable (in the Rover world, at least). So I’ll probably end up parting it out as it has some good stuff on it and scrapping the rest.

So here lies the battle. I have a family friend’s spare car (99 Civic) to drive until whenever. Money is tight because I just bought a house, so I’m really not looking to spend much, I’m thinking $3-4k max. Said house has a 2 car garage (yay!) so I have a place to turn wrenches. So do I get myself a stick shift Honda, be boring and enjoy the reliability? Or get weird? My $2000 Disco was very good to me for almost three years.

Things I’ve been checking out:

- 6th & 7th gen Civics. BORING. Stick shift and VTEC though.

- Ranger/B3000/B4000. Practical. 4x4. Available stick shift makes it fun to drive, good fuel mileage.

- 1500 Chevys & Tahoes. Practical. Meh fuel mileage. Undeniable reliability (save for the trans and rust issues). Clean square body Chevys are on the table too, but those usually command more dollars.

- Jeep Grand Waggys. But rust and that 360 V8 is a pile of trash. J Trucks are hard to find around here clean but I’d get back into a Jeep for one of those too.

- MB W124 and W210 wagons. Seem to be reliable, prices are in my range. Needs to be 4Matic because I need to get to work (save the snow tire argument, I’d still rather not have a rear wheel Kraut wagen in the winter).

- First gen Volvo V70s.

- E34 wagons, only stick shift. There’s maybe like one for sale anywhere.

- Isuzu Trooper, 2nd and 2.5 gen Monteros, and Montero Sports. Pretty rare here; My dad had a 97 Sport with the offroad package and a 5 speed so I have a nostalgic tick for that. I’ve always liked the 2-2.5 gen Montys and they’re a logical next step from the Disco.

What say you?

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 11:20

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Needs to be 4Matic because I need to get to work (save the snow tire argument, I’d still rather not have a rear wheel Kraut wagen in the winter).

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E34 wagons

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Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 11:24

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“Just bought a house” to me says Ranger/B3K/B4K or 1500. Just bought a house often means “will soon be fixing shit”.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 11:25

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3/4k budget - have you considered a 4.3L S10/S15? In SUV or Pickup format? They are about as reliable as the bigger SUV’s from GM and can be quite capable.

I owned an 88 that was wildly build (2 door Blazer) and an 04 (4 door Blazer) great trucks, not great mileage, better than a Tahoe though on mileage.

4.3L is a GREAT motor.

Chariotoflove > Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer 12/19/2016 at 11:25

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Truth.

LongbowMkII > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 11:26

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Don’t expect a manual ranger to bring much fun to the table. It’s like moving a broom handle around a cup of yogurt.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > LongbowMkII 12/19/2016 at 11:29

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Yeah, I’m not sure where this idea that manuel automatically equals fun is coming from, but I’m seeing it alot. The are not fun in trucks. Useful, but not fun.

adamftw > LongbowMkII 12/19/2016 at 11:55

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Manual is more engaging (lol) than the auto.

adamftw > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 12/19/2016 at 12:01

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Yea, I see how that sounds now

adamftw > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 12/19/2016 at 12:02

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the 4.3 IS a great motor. But the S10s and Blazers are junk and fall apart around them. From what I’ve seen.

adamftw > Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer 12/19/2016 at 12:11

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Yea... Probably end up with one of these to be honest.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 13:21

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I will say plenty of things around the 4.3 can break, but the 4.3 itself will never leave you stranded. It won’t be on a flat bed anytime soon or anytime in a while. It’s also cheap and pretty easy to fix the other problems that may arise. My biggest issue with the 04 was the heater core because of that dexcool crap. Trans was solid, 4x4 was solid, it was mainly sensor crap (o2's etc) that were going when I sold it around 100k miles.

shop-teacher > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 13:51

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Ranger/etc or 1500 Tahoe/truck/etc.

You just bought a house, so not only are you going to need to haul stuff to fix the house, bu most/all of the spare money to fix unreliable cars will need to be diverted to the house.

As much as I love pickups, you can get a nicer Tahoe/Suburban with less miles than a comparable pickup.

adamftw > shop-teacher 12/19/2016 at 14:25

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Yea, I can get into a GMT800 Tahoe for under $2k. The Ranger/Mazda is easier on fuel.

shop-teacher > adamftw 12/19/2016 at 20:52

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They are easier on fuel, but unless you get a 4-banger they’re really not that much easier on it.