All this week, we’ve been sticking with a hard $2,500 price ceiling, and looking at cars we might recommend to friends of ours who aren’t enthusiasts, but need a good cheap ride they can count on. We’ve narrowed it down to four finalists, and now you must choose a winner. Even though there is no Highlander among this group, there can be only one.
Our final pairing yesterday ventured into the world of manual transmissions, historically a good idea but a hard sell for cheap cars. You all made good strong arguments for each, but in the end, the Subaru Outback took a decisive win, I think just because it is such a clean example. A lot of those Outbacks get thrashed within an inch of their lives; seeing one that still looks respectable, and has a stickshift, is a rare sight indeed.
I could go with that. The Matrix would make a fine beater, but I think it’s a little overpriced for its condition. The Outback looks like something you could still take some pride in owning, and that goes a long way towards making a cheap car last longer. And as long as the head gaskets have already been replaced with the “good” kind, it should be good to go.
So we have our four finalists, and you have a non-gearhead friend waiting with twenty-five hundred bucks for you to tell them which one to buy. Let’s review the choices.
2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser
The case for it: It’s a useful little wagon chock-full of cheap, plentiful domestic parts. It has reasonably low mileage, too, so it should have plenty of life left.
The case against it: Automatic PT Cruisers are sluggish performers, and don’t get the gas mileage you think they ought to. Also, if that is a cigarette burn on the driver’s seat, there’s a chance it might be stinky inside.
1992 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale
The case for it: It’s a genuine grandpa-mobile, probably maintained by the same mechanic all its life, though those records are probably lost. It has a simple and durable drivetrain and plenty of room inside. And it gets better mileage than you would think.
The case against it: Nothing really, as long as it isn’t rusted out underneath. But that’s a big “if.” Check it out carefully.
2011 Kia Sedona EX
The case for it: Minivans are still the most useful personal vehicles ever devised. If you need a lot of seats or a lot of open space, nothing will do the job better. And this looks like a good one for the price.
The case against it: There’s some strangeness about the title that I don’t quite understand. And some people just wouldn’t touch a minivan, no matter how much sense it makes, because they think it makes them look “uncool.” But most of the people who think that aren’t very cool anyway.
2003 Subaru Outback
The case for it: It’s a legitimately nice car that just happens to not cost very much, so it doesn’t really have that “beater” stigma that something in rougher shape would have. And it’s a wagon, which is the second-most useful vehicle shape of all time.
The case against it: The manual transmission might be a hard sell, depending on who your friend is. And if you don’t actually need AWD, which most people don’t, it adds complexity and potential maintenance to worry about.
Right, now remember: You’re not shopping for yourself. You’re helping out a friend, to keep them from throwing $2,500 down on a sketchy Ford Explorer from the buy-here-pay-here lot, and getting roped into $500 per month payments for God knows how long. Any of these would be better than that, but which one would you feel best about recommending?
I don’t like Subarus, but I had to go for it because it’s a decade newer than the Oldsmobile.
I also went Subaru, despite looking mid 90s to me.
It wasn’t and still isn’t a bad look.
There should be wagering for Shitbox Showdown, I would’ve cleaned up today.
If there ever is wagering on this, I’ll know I’ve made it.
My friends are old. They can drive stick. I’ll recommend they buy the Subie to drive to dinner at 5pm.
I voted for the subie, but the van or the olds are just about as good a choice as well.
It’s the green Scooby-Snack Steakhouse for me.
If you’re recommending a car for someone else, Honda and Toyota are the standard. A Honda and a Toyota were knocked out by inferior cars 🙁
I voted for the 88 today, but depending on what the friend needed in terms of space and shit, the Sedona would also be ok in that case.
The Subaru is a terrible choice for someone who needs a cheap daily driver, as the AWD is thirsty as fuck, and Subaru’s manual transmissions supposedly aren’t that great, either.
Also, the manual Subarus have a different AWD system that’s all-mechanical, not electronic, and always 50/50 F/R. At least with the automatics of the time (pre-CVT), you could install a fuse to turn off the AWD and run it as FWD to save gas.
Head gasket sealers make Subarus worth considering LOL
This is not rationaltopian though. and AWD, Manual Wagon in mint condition is hard to go past.
Apparently, the poll responders forgot that this car is for a friend, not for them, despite the reminder. No other way to explain why the Subaru has such a huge lead. The Olds is the obvious choice, assuming no rust. That thing will run forever, and the bordello interior is a thing of rare beauty.
Disagree. When it’s for yourself you’re free to let your freak flag fly, but to recommend to a friend you have to go normcore. The Outback is the one an NPC would choose from this lineup.
What percentage of NPCs do you think prefer to drive manual transmissions?
More than would prefer to be seen in a minivan or land barge. The most important thing to an NPC is to look the same as the other NPCs.
What percent of NPCs even know what a manual transmission is?
Aside from my own vehicles, I haven’t been in a car with a manual transmission since the early 2000s. I’m sure there are a lot of younger people who have never ridden in a car with 3 pedals.
I don’t disagree with that. But ask the nearest NPC in your life “would you rather be seen driving a 15 year old Kia minivan or learn to drive stick?” and see which they choose.
Would they even know what “drive stick” means? Again, a lot of normals have zero familiarity with manual transmissions.
To most NPCs, a car with three pedals is, at best, an inconvenience. It is something they genuinely don’t want to have to deal with. If regular people wanted to drive cars with manual transmissions, 99% of cars sold in the US wouldn’t be automatics. Given car enthusiasts are almost certainly more than 1% of the population, this suggests that even we often prefer an automatic.
I agree they probably wouldn’t be enthused about the minivan, though.
The Subie would be my first choice. If they can’t drive stick and are unwilling to learn then the Kia is next in line.
The Olds is a H-body with a 3800 V6, out of all of them, that’s the one I’d be most comfortable taking the risk on keeping running
My friends are all really “kool doodz” so I’m recommending the Subie.
If it was anyone else that just needed a “decent” car, it’s the Olds.
I’m not usually a Subaru fan, and a family member who just bought a 2011 Forrester had their engine last only two weeks before seizing, but I’m going to have to go with the Outback here. The interior just looks nice, and of course it has the manual. The Olds would be my second choice, i’m sure it would be just fine too as a drivable Barcalounger, just not as much fun. We already have a Pacifica, so the Kia is out, and the PT Cruiser is just a hard no, I can just hear the crappy exhaust noise of that thing tooling around.
Do I risk Swiss cheese rust on the Royale, but reliable/inexpensive to fix 3800 drivetrain?
Or do I risk high mile Subaru drivetrain on rust-free western car?
I hate working on rusty cars. The clean Subaru.
Normal drivers would probably make the opposite choice of a car enthusiast and even for the same reasons. By that logic the PT cruiser is the clear choice.
Of course we pick the brown (& green) manual wagon.
LOL a PT Cruiser is Krysler Kwaliteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 😛
A head gasket-era Subaru beat a Corolla wagon (Matrix). The Matrix would be a perfect daily driver car for most people. The Corolla Quality with some more room too.
All my fiends know how to drive manuals. Outback it is!
I don’t know if “fiends” is a typo or intentional, but either way, I love it.
Was most certainly a typo but I like it better ha
The Subie looks like a real bargain, but I had to vote Olds, pending a good look at the underside. If all you’ve got is $2500, maintenance and running costs are also likely to be front of mind.
You just can’t go wrong with an old GM. It will run badly longer than most cars will run at all.
“It will run badly longer than most cars will run at all.”
I think there might be a flaw in your logic. A car that runs poorly but reliably won’t be cheap to maintain for someone who isn’t a car enthusiast.
Consider how people would respond to a check engine light, which would almost certainly be illuminated in a poorly running car:
If you are a car nerd, you know the proper fix is electrical tape placed over the light. Problem solved. Carry on. The occasional misfire, weird noise, or puff of smoke is fine. It might even be endearing on some level.
If you are a normal person, you freak out and take it to the mechanic. Said mechanic promptly chargers you two hundred dollars. Three days later the light is back on. You bring it back to said mechanic who chargers you a two hundred more dollars. The process repeats until a Pavlovian response develops where the normal sees the light and immediately produces a credit card. At best, this ends in bankruptcy. At worst, bankruptcy and insanity. No bueno.
Given this, a car that runs poorly but indefinitely might be the most expensive choice for a non-car enthusiast. They are better off with a vehicle that either runs great or doesn’t run at all. If your non-car enthusiast enemy asks for advice, though, the Olds might be the one to recommend.
It applies to those who may not have the time and patience to work on old cars. And all of these options can break in their own ways (even Toyotas that are old can break).
So, best option would be to save a little more cash.
Outback is the best choice. If your friend can’t drive stick, teach them! It’s the Autopian Way.
For today’s showbox shitdown. Most likely the Outback even though I have a general contempt for Subaru. I do like a good manual wagon and awd is always welcome here in the Midwest, could be a decent winter beater. Although I could also go for the Olds 88.
So, here’s my take, having owned 55 vehicles from 17 brands and also having been a mechanic for a hot second:
The PT Cruiser: Nope. Parts are getting hard to come by, they get atrocious gas mileage for what they are, and they’re hard to work on because of that weird engine bay shape.
The Olds 88: This is a great grampa cruiser, but it lacks a LOT of critical safety features. It’s 32 years old. Also, these Series I 3800’s were prone to the infamouse intake gasket failure; it’s likely this has already been addressed. I do love the Whorehouse Red interior (god, I miss ACTUAL COLORS in interiors) but for a DD, this one has a lot of age related things that are waiting to go wrong.
The Sedona: The 3.8 V6 is one of KH’s best engines, and this being a 2011 model, the 6 speed is considerably more reliable than the earlier 5 speed in the 2007-2010 models which tended to have the EXACT same problem as the four speeds mated to the 3.0 V6 in Honda/Acura models from 98-04: too much torque.
They made a ton of them so parts are cheap, and the interiors are decent enough for the price point. Not quite Toy/Hon quality, but solid. These can go 300k if they’re maintained decently.
The Outback: I’ve owned four Subaru’s, and my old man currently has an ’05 Baja Sport with a wiggle stick as his go to town vehicle. I’m VERY familiar with them.
This is a pretty clean vehicle, but…
Speaking from experience, a LOT of shit breaks on Subies around the 200-225k mark. Ask me how I know. The U-joints, the transmission carrier bearing, the CV axles, the AWD differential, are all probably about at the end of their service life. All this stuff likes to cascade, and it gets pricey to fix. Unless you plan on helping your friend fix the Subie every month or so, this ain’t a vehicle for the non-gearhead.
So I’m gonna go against the grain and tell my friend to buy the boring gold mom-van, because it will get them through for a couple of years and haul EVERYTHING they could imagine, while also getting decent fuel economy.
I would not drive the subie, so I would not wish that on someone else. actually I would probably not drive any of these, but for someone else I would want as new as possible with as low miles as possible with potential reliability being the deciding factor when it’s close. the Big 88 is good on miles and reliability, but the age is concerning for the chances of working features and ability of most modern mechanics to diagnose. I am pretty sure it is pre OBD2. the Kia is newest and the most useful probably, though I hear that generation of KIA was still in the questionable long term reliability stage. The little Chrysler is probably the sweet spot here, even if it does leave a sour note in most peoples mouths.
No question: it has to be the Soob.
If for no other reason than it has a manual transmission. It also seems very clean, which suggests it might have been taken care of. And, it’s a Subaru, which I like. And it doesn’t have that wretched red interior that screams 1990s GM.
Oh, and any friend of mine knows how — or will learn — to drive a stick if they want to be my friend.
The Outback is the best vehicle. I’m going to assume my non-enthusiast friend doesn’t want to learn how to drive a stick though, and will go with the Eighty-Eight. It should be reliable and cheap to keep running for at least a few years.
This was the easiest one yet, I scrolled down and hit Outback. Not even a choice really. Good condition manual wagon that I wouldn’t hate myself for driving.
(Ok, the 88 for a friend that can’t drive a manual.)
Either the Olds or the Subaru is a good buy. Minivans are great, but Kias of that generation are truly garbage. Any PT Cruiser is a hateful machine that should be burned rather than driven.
That Kia is not garbage, it’s the best bet among these. Maybe not when new, but now, for our friend.
I like minivans, have a Sienna despite having no kids, but those Kias are not good. A close family member and her kids all had a series of Kias from the early 2000s, and they were garbage, each and every one. They weren’t car people but they always changed the oil and weren’t abusive to their cars in any way.
The last one they had was this same year and model. It was no end of trouble, and it died with around 100k on the clock. The transmission was the final straw, but there were enough other small issues that it wasn’t worth dealing with. It was especially rusty, which made everything else about it worse as well. This gen wasn’t as horrid as the one before, and the next gen was generally better, but still.
On top of that, dealers were all the worst in the industry, even if that isn’t an issue in this case.
For a friend? The 88. Having experience with cars of that sort, they make good, durable vehicles for cheap that’ll run longer than their bodywork will last. But really, this is so can keep that Outback for myself.
Voted subaru, but I wanted to go for the 88 Royale and recommend the owner to get the license plate “WTH CHSE”