One of the aspects of getting older that no one warns you about is that new stuff becomes old stuff while you’re not looking. These two cars are eighteen years old now, old enough to vote if they were people, but I swear they were brand new just a couple years ago. Staying on theme, these are both winter beater conteders, for sale in a place that knows a thing or two about driving in snow: Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Yesterday we looked at one Chicago car and one Detroit car, and most of you were none too happy with either of them. The Chevy Equinox won, mainly because of rust concerns with the Dodge Caliber, I think. Keep in mind that there’s a good chance the Equinox is rusted out, too, just in places you can’t see it.
I think I’d have to see it in person to be confident in it, but my gut feeling is that the Caliber is actually the better way to go. Bankruptcy-era GM scares me more than Daimler-era Chrysler, and I like the idea of a mechanically simpler car. I’d want to try to jack it up before I bought it, though.
Between 1994 and 1999, when I finally was in a position to get a car loan and buy something decent, I went through about fifteen cars. Most of them fell into the late 1970s to mid 1980s age range – in other words, complete crap. The average price paid for these clunkers was about $500, and they lasted anywhere from two weeks to a year. These days, $500 is $2,000, but the cars in that price range are from the 2000s, and they’re a hell of a lot better built. The idea of having something as reliable as an Element or a Prius as a dirt-cheap beater almost feels like cheating, like it’s too easy. No random stalling? No trim parts falling off? No mysterious overheating when it’s barely above zero outside? Are you even driving a beater at that point?
2009 Honda Element – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline-4, five-speed automatic, 4WD
Location: Circle Pines, MN
Odometer reading: 224,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
How is it possible that the Honda Element has been out of production for fifteen years? I feel like I was just watching commercials with Gil the crab, and attempting to snowboard through the open doors of one in that one level of SSX 3. And yet, here we have a beat-to-hell Element with well over 200,000 miles on it, for sale for two grand. And you know what? It feels like it would be a really good winter beater.
It’s all good stuff under the hood: Honda’s K-series 2.4-liter four-cylinder sends power to a five-speed automatic transmission, which in turn drives a “Real Time” 4WD system that just kicks in the rear wheels when the front ones spin, without you having to do anything. Sounds perfect for the snow. We don’t get a lot of details about this one’s condition; the seller just says it “runs and drives great.” I get the feeling it’s a dealer masquerading as a private seller, so don’t expect them to be able or willing to answer a lot of questions. But there are car brands I would worry a lot more about going into blind than Honda.
The Element’s interior seems well-suited to dealing with the, um, elements as well. It’s not actually waterproof, as we know, but it will get a whole lot less messed up from snowy boots than a lot of cars. It’s scuffed and banged up, and it has some ill-fitting seat covers, but for a $2,000 car, it looks decent inside.
Outside, it’s a different story. Someone has been “parking by Braille” in this car for a long time, it looks like. Most of the sheetmetal is damaged in some way, and there’s more of it, since this is the post-facelift Element with steel fenders instead of the big gray Tupperware fenders. The hood is particularly bad, and it looks like it’s held shut by those racing-style hood pins. The good news is, though, that it’s not really rusty. There’s some, but the seller conveniently includes a couple of underside photos, and they look fine. You shouldn’t have to worry about rust on this one, for now at least.
2009 Toyota Prius – $1,800
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline-4 plus electric motor, hybrid CVT thingy, FWD
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Odometer reading: 252,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Prius occupies a strange spot in my personal automotive universe. It’s brilliantly engineered, very well-built, efficient, pleasant, reliable, and durable. But driving it is like watching paint dry. It’s a car that I deeply admire, but have zero interest in owning. That is, unless we’re talking about a used example for under two grand, at which point its dullness can be overlooked.
I only kinda-sorta more or less understand how the Prius’s drivetrain does its thing: there’s an engine, two electric motors that can also be generators, a battery, a complex gearbox connecting everything, and a computer to oversee its operation. If I had to learn more about it in order to work on it, I could, but for our purposes here it’s enough to know that it’s dead reliable, doesn’t use much fuel, and because of all the weight over the front wheels, it’s probably pretty good in the snow. It already has a quarter of a million miles on it, and it should be good for a lot more. I think this one is new enough to not have the silly odometer that only goes to 299,999, so you’ll actually be able to see that first digit roll over to a 3 at some point.
Inside, it looks like any other 250,000-mile Toyota: worn down, but not worn out. The front seats look good, and the rear seat hardly looks like it has been sat in at all. The seller says all the power windows work, as does the air conditioning. Again, pretty damn good for such a cheap car, all things considered.
It’s silver, because it’s a Prius and I think that’s the law or something. Most of it looks pretty good, but there is some rust in the rocker panels ahead of the front wheels that’s worth investigating. It sounds like this is a common rust spot for these cars, and it can be pretty serious if it’s too far advanced. But you’d have to poke around under it with a flashlight and a screwdriver to see just how bad it is.
Honestly, for the price, I’m pretty impressed by the condition of both of these cars. When I think about some of the cheap nightmares I’ve driven in the past, these are practically showroom-fresh. I mean, they’d still get some disapproving looks if you tried to park them in one of those fancy neighborhoods with an HOA and a pickleball court, but that’s easy to solve: don’t go to those neighborhoods. For the daily grind of a Midwestern winter, slogging along in the Walgreen’s drive-thru lane through three inches of slush, they’re perfect. Which one would you pick?
The Prius is at least straight, and they just keep going and going. Rust is probably an issue with both salt belt vehicles, but a crashed Element will probably rust faster. The Honda can die a Tuff Truck death at a monster truck show, the Prius can be my winter anode.
Had to go Element on this one. The big difference being the location of said rust/body damage. The Element has some visible rust on the rear gate and the hood damage, I’m thinking “ghetto harlequin” look with some mismatched replacements; the Prius has the noted/dreaded rocker panel rust that may total the car. Plus with the Element you get a K24 block to sell when the rest of the car dies.
At that price point, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to try hosing out the Element.