It dawns on me
I have 410,000 miles on the old exploder (More, but I put 410 on it myself) I put 205 on the van that preceeded it. I drove it’s predecessor, a Probe, for around 275,000 miles. Prior to that it was a wound up little escrote I thrashed about for 60,000 miles. And now I’ve put about 72 on this exploder. I’ve driven over a million miles since i began doing this work.
Tam was talking yesterday about missing the cruise,but I never used mine. In fact it was broken on the old exploder for over a hundred thousand miles and I didn’t even know it till I took it in for a recall notice. I always prefer to let my foot figure out where it wants to be.
Power windows, now that I like. And automatic door locks, but you can put that on damned near any car for a few bucks. When the lock on the passenger side of the old sploder worked its way loose from it’s rivets, I was nuts till I got it fixed.
I do miss driving a stick, I like it and I want to get another one soon. There are old beater 944’s around everywhere, and I can fit in one ok, and they’re cheap as chips, so I may do something like that, or find a wrx some kid ran out of money on, or something.
12 comments Og | Uncategorized
Parts on a 944 would eat you alive.
Back in the late 1980s I had a VW 412, the engine of which happened to share parts with the Porsche 914. Because of this, a muffler cost $200; the equivalent part on a Beetle was under $100. A fuel injector was $140 (Beetle used carbs) and the deeper into the engine you went the more things cost.
Point is, even if the 944 uses VW-sourced parts, they’ll cost an assload.
I’d go with the ‘Bu anyway–better performance and AWD.
I once had a Renault. Had some bad injectors, oring where out. Went to the local dealer and said I needed injectors, 95$ each. I said do you have the O-Rings, answer was no, can you order them, sure be in two days out. How much? 10$ for the whole set. That fixed that french pile of parts long enough to get rid of it.
I have never had stellar luck wiht Foriegn cars. Civic was my last one. 3 days out of every week it was down with something. I think I am done with foriegn cars for the foreseeable future.
My brothers Tiburon is a rocket and 200K on it.
Low entry price.
Replaced the engine with a new crate motor for $750 when he forgot it was an interference motor.
You might like one.
And it’s a six speed stick.
Og, what do you think of the Sport Trac version of the Exploder. I know that’s only about a 5-foot bed back there, but is it worth the extra bucks to find a good used one?
Dog:
The Sport Trac has a lot to reccomend it. If you find a low mileage one with the 4.0 liter engine, it’s a cast block with cast heads, which is my personal preference for all engines. They’re easy to work on and easy to get parts for, fairly nimble off road.
That said, if you get one that has been used off road, it will need to have the drivetrain gone through. The Ujoints need to be changed past 100k. Diff seals fail and can be a real pita to change. CV axles also need to be looked at.
If you find a well tended one, and by that I mean NO RUST and NO NOISE, you can expect to get a lot of relatively trouble free miles out of it, if you take care of it. I’ve ridden in your van; it looked like my truck, in need of a vacuuming but not in need of maintenance.
You won’t get much more than 18 mph out of it, no matter what anyone tells you. And some of the tonneau covers are secure, but many are not. And it isn’t gonna tow your boat, though it might tow a decent bass boat, so long as you have a trans oil cooler. AWD is better but you might get a few more miles per gallon with shiftable 2wd/4wd.
Partner is thinking of parking his exploder for just winter and getting something newer. It’s one of the older “look it roll!” and has had it’s share of moodiness, which he has been able to handle, but it’s really high miles.
He’s thinking Suburau, but we don’t know how that will hold up in the lake effect winters.
Brigid: I’m looking at tauruses. (Tauri?) Cheap to find a really nice used one, engines last forever, nobody wants to steal them, decent manners on ice, and you can beat the hell out of a $1200 one and STILL drive it 100,000 miles with almost no maintenance. Partner (Mine, not yours) has one, and it’s been very well maintained, but I would not be afraid to get in one and drive it across Africa.
And- and this is MY primary motivation for the Taurus- it lets me save the payments I would be making toward something much better.
Had a neighbor in NJ who bought TWO Tauruses (they were the sales force cars for his employer) with nearly 100k on each of them. Five years later they were both well over 200k miles and chugging along. He still has them. Roomy, dependable, cheap. That’s what I’M talking about.
my cruise control is giving me problems, and I miss it when it craps out on trips. Primarily because sometimes that hip gives me trouble on long drives, and I can shift around to ease it without pogoing on speed
I liked the old square taurus, 90 to 95. 96 they squeezed out of someone butt and I don’t like them as much. Still they are a good cheap ride. Just picked up a 2004 focus wagon. I think I will like it. Have a beat to crap pick up to get out hunting. Always a surprise when it starts, but I’ll get it better as time goes on.