Good morning! This week we’ve been keeping the price cap at $2,000, which is about half of what we’ve been averaging recently. Hey, inflation, man, what are you gonna do? By my reckoning, though, that means you could buy two of this week’s choices for the price of one of those other cars we’ve looked at recently. Among our winners this week are two frugal little economy cars, and two soft and cushy project cars. So I’m going to have you choose one of each.
I don’t follow the vote tally throughout the course of the day, in case you were ever curious. I check it at about 5pm Eastern time, give or take, and declare the winner then. But I always read through the comments first, to get a sense of how I think the vote is going to go. Yesterday I thought the Jag XJ-S had a slight edge over the VW Cabrio, and as it turns out, that’s exactly how it went: Jaguar by a nose.
I went back and forth on these two myself, until it occurred to me that I already have a very pretty British coupe that’s a lot simpler to work on than a V12 Jaguar, and that it has been thirty-six years since I last owned a watercooled VW. I kinda miss them sometimes. I’d rather have another Scirocco, but I could make a Mk1 Cabrio work. But as always, my vote doesn’t count unless it’s a tie, so the Jag earns the spot in today’s runoff.
Like a lot of car enthusiasts with more enthusiasm than means, I’ve had some questionable daily drivers over the years: a turbocharged Chrysler Laser stuffed full of electrical gremlins, a Chevy Nova that I “hot rodded” so poorly it barely ran, and a scruffy Miata with well over 200,000 miles on it. Even my beloved green Chevy truck, now retired from most truck stuff and wearing collector’s plates, was my daily driver for a year. But these days, I know the value of a good everyday car, something with which to go pick up parts for the perpetually broken “fun” car. This week’s finalists just happen to divide nicely into two camps: daily drivers and project cars. You’ll be choosing one of each to create your perfect sub-$4,000 two-car garage. Let’s recap our choices.
Daily Driver: 2002 Mitsubishi Mirage DE
It’s got a salvage title and the bumps and bruises to go with it, but if you ask me, this little Mitsubishi has a heart of gold. It’s exactly the sort of simple, unapologetic economy car that is sorely lacking from the market today. Sure, the silly rear spoiler is writing checks that its tiny 1.5-liter engine can’t cash, and someone has defiled it with stick-on fake vents from an Autozone aisle end cap, but who cares?
It also has cool funky seat fabric in really good condition, and it’s the only manual transmission of the bunch, so if you want to shift your own gears, this is your car. Plus, it’s ready to hit the road for only $1,000, leaving some room in the budget for repairs that the project cars are certain to need.
Daily Driver: 2010 Ford Focus SE
Salvage title scares you off? Want something a little bigger and more substantial than the tiny Mirage? Well then, have I got the car for you! Yes, it’s hideous, but it’s a cool color at least. And while you can’t shift your own gears, its Duratec 20 engine is likely to keep chugging along for a good long time yet. At 253,000 miles, it’s no spring chicken, but it looks like it has been well-maintained.
Inside, it’s got some goodies that the Mirage lacks, like power windows and locks, and I would be surprised if the Mirage had air conditioning, come to think of it. It’s probably quite a bit safer as well, being a generation or two newer. Just don’t expect to derive any pleasure from it; this is an appliance, nothing more.
Project Car: 1976 Chevrolet Impala
Here’s a question: How big is your garage? If you’ve got plenty of room in there, might I suggest you fill it with eighteen and a half feet of good ol’ Detroit steel? This big Chevy has some rust you’ll have to contend with (or ignore), but it also has something most cars these days lack: presence. Its V8 is a low-compression malaise-era mess, but decades of know-how and warehouses full of parts stand at the ready to help you wake it up. And if you don’t care about going fast, it does run just fine as-is.
You probably don’t want to go too fast in this thing anyway, especially around corners; you’ll go sliding right across that bench seat, and those impossible-to-find original wheel covers will go flying. No, best to take it easy in this beast, listening to the 350 burble out its little song and floating down the highway on its marshmallowy-soft suspension.
Project Car: 1987 Jaguar XJ-S
It takes a special sort of person to want to fix up an old British car. You have to contend with faulty wiring, weird bolt threads, rust, and the occasional use of wood in inexplicable places. And for your trouble, you’re rewarded with a car that looks and sounds better than it goes, but will leave you feeling like James Bond behind the wheel – until the next thing breaks. Why put up with it all? Well, I mean, just look at this thing.
Calling this car “sketchy” is an understatement. Not only is it an old Jaguar, itself enough to make one question one’s sanity for even considering it, but since we looked at it yesterday, the seller has re-listed it at a higher price – and with no mention of the alternator warning light, the rust, the non-functional air conditioning, or any of the other problems, which I’m sure have not been fixed since yesterday. Oh well. To paraphrase that old Army ad: it’s not just a car; it’s an adventure.
Having multiple cars is a hassle; I know that. Extra insurance, registration, maintenance, and just finding a place to park the damn thing can be burdensome. But sometimes sacrifices must be made, unless you’re content to drive nothing but safe, reliable, boring cars forever. If you can have a boring everyday car and a fun weekend toy for the price of most “inexpensive” used cars these days, it might be worth finding an extra parking spot. And classic car insurance is dirt cheap. Your assignment for the weekend, then, is to take a second look at these four, weigh the pros and cons, and decide which combination of daily driver and project car is your favorite.
Easy…definitely Mirage + Impala! The Mirage is manual and would be a good daily. That big ol’ classic land yacht w/ a great V8 is so awesome and I’m excited to cruise in comfort and style
Manual Mirage plus Janky Jag. I already have a ’71 GM sedan (Sedan deVille to be exact) that needs attention, so that box is checked. Also in the fleet is an XK8 convertible and and XJ6 sedan – adding a V-12 XJS coupe to that mix would make total sense.
My daily is walking, so I’m voting Focus-Jag. I’ll donate the Focus to someone needy and keep the Jag so I can get more steps in on the weekend.
As someone who takes the subway every day, I can sooooo get behind this plan.
I had to go Mirage and Impala.
I’m in the North, anything I own is going to rust. I’d love to load the family up in the Impala and cruise down the Cape in the Summer and dock that boat in front of a quaint little cottage. If I do body work, cool. If I don’t, also cool! It is cheap as hell, undesirable, and I won’t feel bad when I dispose of it in a few years time.
The Mirage vs. Focus debate was not really a contest. The Focus does have four doors, which is handy, but I’ve got an SUV for when I need space. I’d love to drive manual crap-can to work and remember what it felt like to row the gears in an underpowered FWD piece of crap from Mitsubishi.
This is the best I’ve felt about a choice in this contest in a hot minute!
As a west-coaster I fear tinworm far more than the vagaries of British engineering, so I’ll go Mirage and Jagwire. And then I’ll annoy everyone with the “Mitsubishi Zero down” joke all the time.
Voted fwd manual shitbox for the DGAF fun with the square red ‘take the grandkids out for ice cream’ barge
Blue Ford, red Chevy. The roads need the color and having a weekly AutoZone shopping list for a while beats having to chase rare service items for a project car, and beats the HELL out of having to chase rare service items for a daily driver.
As someone that has had to work on both a focus of that generation, and a mirage that looks shockingly familiar… Personally I prefer the focus. Maybe just more familiarity.
Now the tough one, the Impala or the Jag… The Jag gets nostalgia points for me, and boy does it look good!
I’m all in with Focus and Jag.
That Mirage looks so much like a Cavalier I thought you had mislabeled the photo the first time around. I have no memory of these things on the road whatsoever.
How did I miss the Impala? That thing is minty on the inside.
I am a current owner of a Focus (2017) and a previous owner of the Mitsu (as a 1994 Dodge Colt). The bad thing about Focuses aren’t the car, it’s the previous owner. Mine currently runs and drives good, but it needed motor mounts, struts, and the bumper covers attached better. It doesn’t look like it had a major accident fortunately, but the bumpers could have been done better.
I loved the heck out of my Dodge Colt, though. It had a stick and airco, but lacked the two extra doors necessary to lug kids around in, so I sold it to a guy who I found out was in the army. This is one of only two Chrysler products I owned in my life and both were Mitsus (the other was a 1983 Plymouth Sapporo, which I only had a year an bailed on because the frame rails were rusting).
So I want the Mirage. I’d go Impala simply because I know the Jag is going to cost a mint.
How did you like the Sapporo? I had an 82 less than a year. Loved the handling—great fun in snow—and sipped fuel though I drove it like I hated it. Only sold it because a buddy really needed the motor and kept upping the offer until it was stupid not to sell.
Focus & Chevy. I miss having a dumb ol’ 350.
Focus and Jag, mostly because parts are plentiful for thr Focus, unlike the Mirage, and the Jag isn’t 90% rust underneath like that Impala undoubtedly is.
I mean at least the focus will likely still run while waiting on the next part for the jag, and it is awful enough to inspire you to want to get the Jag fixed ASAP.
To be fair, I daily drove a similar Focus to the tune of almost 50,000 miles a year, so my tolerance of the Focus is probably higher than most. It was anything but a fun or nice car, but it was a reliable commuter vehicle that got good fuel mileage.
Where’s the Impala & Jag option?
The Impala likely could be tuned to be dailyable, and the Jag would look pretty even when broken. But the fuel bill would be horrendous.
Not even close:
Mirage with a stick at half the miles.
Big red cruiser that can actually be fixed.
It is still kind of close for me. I agree with your choice, but there is a bit of a draw tot he Mirage for daily and between repairs on the JAAAAGGGG!
IMPAAAAALA!
You’re right. Not quite the same ring to it. Having owned a couple of old British cars, though, Clarkson himself couldn’t tempt me back.
KANEDAAAAA!
TETSUOOOOO!
(Oops, wrong topic.)
Impala plus Jaguar.
Mirage for In-town/DD duties. Impala for Out-of-Town highway-hauling with the occasional Home Depot Duties.
That’s pretty much my thoughts, too. That Impala would be an excellent HD runner. In fact, I bet the trunk on the Impala can hold more than the bed of a Maverick. Hell, it might hold more than a short-bed F-150.
We lived in pickup truck country. But we never had one. We had a Chevy Caprice wagon. Going to a quarry to get stone, hauling junk to the well waste-desposal area. Scout camping off-road. Did it all with a crappy 305 and its Kraco tape-deck.
Old Body-on-Chassis land yachts make great trucks.
The XJS would make a good home for the Impala’s engine block with some parts from the Edelbrock catalog thrown in to de-malaise it. Maybe not this Jag but you don’t exactly want to start with one that’s mint, either.
This is a good point, Daily the impala until the body and floor completely crumble away and the Jag engine has gotten so bad it is financially scrapped and then….Wonder twin powers activate to form Jaguala. GM powered Big beautiful JAAAAAAGGGGG!
Being totally in love with the XJ-S (for no reason beyond time spent behind the wheel), I am compelled to vote for it and not care what the DD would be.
But I chose the Focus, simply because there are more Ford dealers than Mitsubishi dealers.
If the Impala were older (like, say, a ’58) it would be a whole ‘nother ball game.
There’s nothing more expensive than a $2k v12 Jaguar XJ-S. They’re unreliable even by Jaguar standards. But my goodness are they pretty so I cant help but vote for it. I am but a moth to the flame
That’s perfect: you are among your people
The Mirage beats the Focus by a stick, and the Jaaaaaag just feels more… special than the Impala.
If you’re getting a basket case, why not get the most cased basketry you can for the money.
Thank you for the Clarksonism I was coming here to say that.
I decided I’d rather have the Mirage of turning the Impala into something cool than having to Focus on the Jaaaaaag.
I’d take the Mirage and the Impala, so I could park the Mirage inside the Impala’s trunk.
Same, but I went Mirage and Jag. The Mirage will fit on the Jag’s hood.
I’ll take the all-American Focus and Impala team. The Focus is a little boring but will make for a more substantial/survivable daily than the tin can Mirage. The Impala is a comfy old boat that will always run at its own sluggish pace while the non-op Jag is slowly consumed by overgrown weeds. I want my weekend cruiser to actually cruise.
I’m picking the focus + jaguar. The fa-actually, let’s call it the jocus.
I picked the Mirage and the broke pimp-mobile Jaguar. I was thinking Chevy, but I don’t really want to cosplay as a waitress from Mel’s Diner.
I do, and you can kiss my grits.