Good morning! Today we’re going to look at two sedans from two different eras, both of which I’m pretty sure were driven by elderly owners. They come from opposite sides of the world, but the basic idea of both of them is the same.
Before we get into yesterday’s results, I just want to remind you all of something: Like those old 1-900 psychic hotlines, the information presented here is for entertainment purposes only. I’m not actually trying to give any car-buying advice. You get that, right? I’m not suggesting (well, kinda but not really) that anyone go buy a 9,000-mile Chevy Cavalier instead of a new Trax. I’m just showing you some cars I found for sale that I thought were interesting.
That said, if I had ten grand to spare, I’d fly out to Santa Barbara, road-trip that Dodge Daytona home, and spend the next ten years happily using it up. Maybe that’s just me, but maybe not. The blue Daytona won in a landslide.
My current daily driver is a 2013 Chrysler 300 that I inherited from my dad when he passed away. Before that, Dad had a 2006 300, and before that, a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider. I remember giving him a hard time about trading in the Eclipse for an “old man car,” but after spending three and a half years behind the wheel of this newer 300, I get it. Comfy seats, a good stereo, and good strong air conditioning make the miles disappear in the rearview mirror in a very pleasant way. And it’s not even at 100,000 miles, so it should last me a good long while yet. You could do worse than to pick up a nice old sedan owned by an elderly driver. But how far back do you go? Let’s check out an old standby and a slightly newer choice, and you can decide.
1987 Pontiac 6000 – $3,950
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter OHV inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Battle Creek, MI
Odometer reading: 137,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
General Motors has been doing the badge-engineering thing for a long time, but it reached its peak in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Fortune magazine called GM out on it in 1983, and the movie Fletch made a joke about it in 1985. This Pontiac 6000 would be nearly indistinguishable from a Chevy Celebrity, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, or Buick Century if not for its grille and badges. Despite that, GM sold a bazillion of these things over the years, and they turned out to be durable, reliable cars.
You’d never accuse one of being fun to drive, though, even though it’s from GM’s “Excitement Division.” This base-model 6000 is powered by our old friend the Iron Duke four-cylinder, which was renamed the Tech IV in 1982 when it gained throttle-body fuel injection. It’s noisy, and it isn’t much of a powerhouse, but if you keep fresh oil in it, it will keep cranking out its measly ninety horsepower until the end of time. It only comes with one transmission in the 6000, a three-speed automatic. This one runs and drives great and has had only two owners who both cared for it.
The interior is a little threadbare, but it doesn’t look abused. It has a gigantic aftermarket touchscreen where the radio should be, which I don’t much care for. I’d rather see the good old two-knob Delco stereo (which is included), and use a cassette adapter to bring it into the modern era. It has a strange assortment of options: cruise control, air conditioning (which works fine), and power locks, but manual crank windows. The old a la carte option days made for some weird specs.
I expect it has a small amount of rust somewhere, being a thirty-nine-year-old Michigan car, but for the most part it’s in remarkable shape outside. The paint is shiny, it has all the original hubcaps, and it isn’t missing any door trim like so many of these are. Oh, and whoever buys this car is required to nickname it “The Purple Duke.” I mean, what else could it be?
2000 Hyundai Sonata GLS – $4,300
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter DOHC V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Sacramento, CA
Odometer reading: 78,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Hyundai didn’t get off to a very auspicious start in the US. It began selling cars here in 1985, with the Excel subcompact, which sold like hotcakes but fell apart as soon as the warranty expired. The Excel was followed in 1989 by the Sonata, which also sold well by undercutting models like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord on price. Both the Excel and the original Sonata were based on Mitsubishi designs, but by the time this Sonata was built, Hyundai was designing its own cars, and screwing them together a whole lot better.
Two engines were available in the Sonata: a Mitsubishi-designed Sirius four-cylinder or Hyundai’s own Delta V6. This being the upmarket GLS model, it has the V6, paired with a four-speed automatic. The seller is a dealer, I think, and we don’t get a whole lot of details about it, but they do say it runs and drives “very smooth.” That’s encouraging, but a pre-purchase inspection is a good idea.
It’s pretty fancy inside for a Hyundai, with (hopefully real) leather seats and (probably fake) wood trim. It’s in good condition, which you would hope with only 78,000 miles on it, but you know how some people treat their cars. The seller doesn’t give us much information here either, but they do say the air conditioning works, so that’s something.
I’m still not big on earth tones on cars, but if you have to do it, this is a good one. I’ve always liked this sort of greenish beige. Not that it’s a particularly stylish car, but it’s inoffensive. And it’s in great shape.
The older I get, the more I realize that “cool” cars are overrated. The trick is to find yourself something you think is cool, and then find something you don’t hate that does what you need it to. These both fall into that “something you don’t hate” category, but they will certainly do what you need them to. They’ve got comfy seats and air conditioning; what more could you want in a cheap daily driver? Which one would you pick?
The heart want what the heart wants. Pontiac it is. My grandparents had a 6000 STE, so nostalgia is doing it’s thing to my addled brain.
If you bought this, you’d realize really REALLY fast that this is no STE… and how much worse the Iron Puke driving experience is.
My first car was an ’88 Grand Am with an Iron Duke. I’m familiar with the Duke’s (non)work.
I like the Pontiac better but as an Arizonan, I would never buy a Michigan car. We ain’t got rust ’round these parts.
Normally, I’d pass on these forgettable cars. But the Die-Hard battery in the Sonata showed me just how upmarket that car is. Die-Hard for me.
You’re buying a battery that just happens to have a car attached.
Yep!
Nostalgia wins today. Its the bad choice, but that Pontiac is just too close to a time machine for me to take the better built, but uglier, Hyundai.
I’m imagining the 6000 smells like after concert sweat, cigarette smoke, and bad decisions that I got away with. It also has an exhaust hole that makes it recognizable from a block away.
The Pontiac theoretically fills the bill but oh gawd I would hate the thing every time I plumped my butt down on the threadbare velour over brittle foam over tired springs and inhaled the cloud of dust and old farts as I strategize how to not be accordioned by a ChildCrusher 9000XLT in the 1/4 mile it’ll take me to get to highway speed.
The real hate would start when you were on a highway on-ramp and needed some actual power to get up to speed.
It will get you up to power, but slowly by todya’s standards… with sounds best described as ‘rough, noisy and unrefined’.
The Pontiac 6000 and its various twins were very common high school/young adult cars in my area in the mid to late 90s. Spent a fair amount of time in various friends ones. My buddy Trevor put a massive sound system in his goolie (he always wanted the goose). The vibration from that didn’t help the 10 year old finely assembled GM become any less rattly inside.
I still think the chevy celebrity is the fastest car on earth because all my friends that had one could drive it like a video game, all gas and no brakes, and it would still get 6 teenagers to the movies every time.
The 2 off brand 10’s hooked up to the Sony Xplod head unit would be the icing on the cake. I remember watching the rust shower out the bottom of those cars when the music bumped.
Nostalgia is a helluva drug, and it’s crazy that I thought twice about the Pontiac. When you’re a kid, your parents’ cars are typically the ones you run from. The Hyundai gets my vote today. If I wanted an old man car, I’d shop for something from the ’70s or ’90s.
Head says Sonata, heart says burgundy interior.
Heart wins today; 6000 it is.
That Pontiac is a time capsule, but I can’t get past a knee-jerk reaction. I irrationally hate the instrument panels on those H-body cars, especially the weird horizontal speedometer. I can’t explain why – they just trigger a gag reflex. I have a few of these peccadillos.
Sonata it is.
I agree about the dash. Those things trigger me worse than a mouse belt!
this is an A-Body, but I get what you’re saying. The absolute inaccuracy of the MPH to KPH conversion is hilarious, though.
You’re right. This is an A-body. The Delta 88 that my grandparents drove was an H-body and had that same godawful speedo.
The Sonata is clearly the better car of the two. It will last longer, it has more power, and it has more modern amenities. If you’re going for an old man car, though, the Pontiac wins. It’s bigger, more stately, and that color is awesome. It gets my vote. I’m not calling it the “Purple Duke”, though, as that nickname is reserved for something a little more…..personal.
Tough one. My first car was an ’86 Celebrity with the Iron Duke and it was sloooow. Also the only car I’ve completely seized the engine on.
I don’t know how that old Pontiac is still on the road. Back in the shop days we used to see those come in, maybe three or four years old, and they’d already be swiss-cheesed from a healthy tin-worm infection. I swear the things rusted from the inside out. There would be some little rust-spot on the door I’d try to get out with some heavy grit on the DA (sander) and suddenly under the paint that rust would grow outwards, weblike, and the next thing I know half the door would be sanded down to the metal. Then we’d have to debate if the sand-blaster was warranted.
So, I’m just going to go with the Hyundai and hope it’s the Good Little Shit it advertises itself to be.
If the Sonata wasn’t a V6, I would’ve voted for it. So unfortunately, I had to vote for the 6000 SUX with the Iron Dukee, even if the 122 would’ve been better.
This is a wild one for me.
When I started driving, we had an 84 Buick Century and a 99 Sonata.
The Buick was an absolute rust bucket, and the Sonata really showed off the beginnings of Hyundai being able to cram a lot of features in a car and keep the price reasonable. Ours was very reliable.
Lotta’ good memories in a Pontiac 6000. I’ll just leave it at that and choose the GM product.
Hyundai all day. This is peak Sonata in my opinion. Before Genesis, they had to way over deliver to make everyone forget how they showed up in the 90s.
Also as someone who has spent some time wrenching on a IV Tech in that cramped ass engine bay, never again!
Peak Sonata for me is the 2006-2010 gen with the 3.3 V6 that would outrun many contemporary vehicles like nobody’s business, plus good looking. But the one featured here is a close second in my book.
I really, REALLY wanted to vote for the Pontiac (For sale in the town I was born in? check. From the same brand as my first car? check.)
But the pushed in LH headlight and the nearly worn-through seats kill it for me, and the rust HAS to be consuming the underside.
The Hyundai is from the era when Hyundai had to push the limits of serviceability and reliability to stay relevant in the US. I had an ’01 Elantra GT for many years that was basically bulletproof, this Sonata has to be the same. It gets my hesitant vote today.
Higher mileage, low power and salt country gives the thumbs down to the Pontiac.
So the Sonata is the pick and I’ll call it “Thomas”.
I could easily have not played today, but, honestly, I’d have felt bad.
That said, the Hyundai probably gets out of its own way way better than the Pontiac. If it was V6 v V6, different story. ’00s V6 is going to be better merging onto the interstate than ’80s GM 4-cyl of the same displacement.
I guess the Sonata. Seems nice enough and comfortable.
I just can’t on an 80’s GM product with the Iron Duke for near $4K.
If the Pontiac was a STE then the 6000 is a no brainer(great memories of a high school friend’s family that had one new); however have to go with the newer Hyundai
The Sonata is probably the more reliable choice but that styling is so blah so Purple Excitement it is.
Sonata great deal on the Hyundai, I guess I I will settle for the Pontiac.
I had an early 2000s Hyundai Elantra. It was reliable enough. The ABS light reliably came on in inclement weather and went out on sunny dry days. After “fixing” it for the third time, the dealership told me I needed to wash the wheel speed sensors better. That was really the only issue with the car though. It ran well and had decent fuel economy. So Hyundai it is for me today.
I’m opting for the newer vehicle as a boring daily, as long as that AC works. My ex-wife had a Tiburon around this era (I think) and for 5 years it needed nothing but oil changes.
My friend’s 86 Excel on the other hand. Yeah, he learned a lesson. Old Navy days, he thought he needed a new vehicle for the new wife and baby (w/ baby seat) that wouldn’t work in his CRX. I tried to convince him to go used, he did not.