Traditionally, on Fridays, I show you a roundup of the week’s winners and let you make your final choice for the week. But sometimes, I don’t feel like writing about the same cars all over again, so I show you two new cars, often something special. Today, I’m doing sort of a hybrid of those two formats, and showing you the three winners from this short week, along with one new car.
I had a feeling that the RAV4 was going to win yesterday. It’s the logical choice, despite its high mileage. Stangely, though, more than one of the comments in favor of the Fiat 500L were from people who have rented one in Europe and enjoyed it.
That’s enough of an endorsement for me. Every car I’ve rented in Europe has been a lot of fun, and I’ve often wished I could bring them home. It’s been a long time since I had a European car, and I kind of miss them. The RAV4 is certainly a fine car, but it’s just a Toyota.
So, let’s take a look back at our week’s three winners, along with a newcomer to make up our usual quartet.
1988 Nissan Desert Runner – $6,800
This rare Nissan pickup absolutely mopped the floor with an interesting but overpriced Honda Civic on Monday. It’s hard to beat a small pickup anyway, and this one is extra cool. Sure, it’s faded, and it’s missing some of the details specific to the Desert Runner model, but where else are you going to find one of these for this price?
1987 Alfa Romeo Milano – $8,500
This car is quite a bit more expensive than our normal fare, but I just couldn’t resist showing it to you. The Milano was the undesirable Alfa for a long time; I remember seeing a Craigslist post about ten years ago where someone was selling three of them for $1,500 – and one of them even ran. But those days are gone, and the Milano has come into its own. This car, especially with all the recent work done to it, feels like a good deal. Of course, whether an Alfa is a good deal or not is kind of beside the point; it you want one, you want it. Logic doesn’t really enter into it.
2003 Toyota RAV4 – $3,250
It’s a RAV4 with a stick and a shit-ton of miles on it. It will probably serve someone very well for years to come. But it personally does nothing for me. If you like it, well, here it is.
1991 Geo Storm – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Phelan, CA
Odometer reading: 357,000 miles (yes, really)
Operational status: “Runs perfect”
If none of those choices really do it for you, may I interest you in one of my favorite sporty coupes from the early 1990s? The Storm, like the rest of Geo’s lineup, was a captive import, based on the Isuzu Piazza, which was sold in the US as the Isuzu Impulse. I came close to buying one of these once upon a time, and I really wish I had. It’s a fun car to drive, and clearly durable, if this example is anything to go by.
This is the base model Storm, with a single overhead cam engine making just 95 horsepower. But it’s such a lightweight car that you don’t need a lot of power. That lightness also makes it a ton of fun to toss around. It handles and brakes way better than you’d expect. And someone has really enjoyed this one a lot; it has nearly 360,000 miles on its odometer. The seller doesn’t have a lot to say; all we get is “runs perfect” and “clean title.” I really want to drive it, just to see what one of these is like with that many miles on it. How much of that sharpness and nimble feeling is still there?
The Storm was not an expensive car new, and you can tell from the interior. It’s just gray plastic and fabric. It does the job, but it never lets you forget it’s an economy car. This one has held up pretty well, considering the mileage. The most troublesome thing I see is what looks like cigarette burns in the driver’s seat. I worry that it smells like smoke inside.
Storms came in a lot of cool colors, but whenever I picture one in my head it’s either yellow or teal. The one I almost bought was teal, but I have always liked the yellow. This one is in fair shape outside; I see a couple of dents and scuffs, but nothing major, just old car stuff. The wheels aren’t original, and I can’t place what they’re from, but they look decent on there.
So there you have it: three familiar faces, and one new kid on the block for your Friday morning consideration. We’ve got a little something for everyone: a cool compact truck, a European sports sedan, a practical small SUV, and a sporty coupe. But I hope you know how to drive a stick, because there are no automatics in this crowd. Which one are you going for?
I had to go with the Desert Runner out of this group. It’s just so cool like a toy you played with has grown to real car size the next morning.
I’m not a yellow car guy but I was set to give that Storm a chance. But what the hell happened to that driver’s seat. I get the cigarette burns and hate the smell of smoke in a car but it looks like someone’s bladder and maybe colon exploded in there. Yikes!
“it looks like someone’s bladder and maybe colon exploded in there”
Well, when the lit ash that didn’t hit the seat fabrics lands on their crotch instead, that tends to happen.
With that many ciggy burns, that Geo doesn’t just smell like smoke, it actively emits it from the saturated seat foam every time you sit down and compress them. Nasty. It’s priced moronically anyway.
RAV4. This is a quad of overpriced vehicles but the Toyota is the lowest, probably still has fair bit of life left, and it’s a nimble little rig that would be pretty good to drive.
I Was all set to go for the Geo, but that interior shot turned me off. I didn’t get to vote for the Nissan earlier in the week, but it gets my vote today.
I’d source the missing bits and give it a mild resto with relevant quality of life improvements such as modern audio/car play and a full suspension refresh.
Couldn’t mash the button for the Storm fast enough! (Although, $3,500 is a STEEP price for it)
My first car was a red ‘93 Storm with the 1.8l engine. The guy I bought it from was about to charge people $20 a swing with a sledge hammer to destroy the poor little thing and I said I’ll give you $300 for the whole car. I drove it through high school and sold it to my Dad when I went to college. He drove it for another 6 years until he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed it into a guard rail. I think it had close to 300k miles on it when it went to the yard.
I’ve owned a ton of cars in my life at this point but that little Storm remains up there as one of my favorites. It’s what I learned to wrench on and taught me a ton about cars in general.
Was between the Alfa and the Geo for me (I’m gonna pretend the cigarette burns are from 200k miles ago). Cheapness, and nostalgia for early ’90s lightweights, won out.
The storm looks fun, and has been very well take care of to reach 350+, but I am old enough to remember them in the 90s and they were loud rattle boxes 30 years ago!
Plus the smell of cigarette burns and 30 year old armor all covered sun burned plastic is something that just gets into your pores.
I was all set to vote for the Geo until I saw the interior and could smell it through the screen – I went for the Hardbody because its cool, rare and I haven’t seen one of that generation in forever
The Alfa and Geo do nothing for me, so it was down to the RAV4 or the Nissan. Ultimately, I went Nissan because I love hard bodies and the Desert Runner is so fantastically 80s that it makes me cheerful.
The non-Mystery Storm sounded appealing until I read about it. Mileage is a little too high and it looks pretty tired. How is that Desert Runner still available? If it were closer, I’d seriously think about it.
Former serial ALFA owner here. Girlfriend has a Milano. Nice, but lacks the charm of the earlier non-transaxle cars. I test drove a new Storm in 1991, but found it a bit slow and ponderous compared with the Civic I eventually bought. I went Mulano because it’s most fun to drive, and if I buy another car, it will be a 4-door.