Mid Week Match-Up: Car or Truck for Mike
Today’s (one day late) Mid Week Match-Up comes from Mike R who writes: Looking for some suggestions on a car/truck. Here’s my situation. My family has 3 cars. 2002 GMC Yukon Denali, 2007 VW Passat 3.6 4motion wagon, 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera for weekends. The
issue is the VW. Runs great, rarely let’s me down, has no lien, looks
somewhat cool (black wheels, dark tint), is reasonably comfortable to
drive, decent power, AWD and enough room for two kids car seats and can
haul some stuff. Sounds great right? It is, but it’s not lighting my fire anymore.
I
live in Omaha, land of understated wealth and pick up trucks. I
wouldn’t mind a pickup, nothing full size, more like a early 2000s 4
door Toyota Tacoma but really I just want something with four doors that
I can haul kids and stuff occasionally with AWD or 4WD and a decent
amount of power. Here’s the catch. It must be cool and interesting.
Not that my VW is that cool or interesting but there’s not much wagon
love around here so it stands out some. Also, it can’t be more fun to
drive than my 911. Sure in the winter I’ll drive it almost every day but
come summertime I don’t want to be turning down a trip in the 911 over
my new daily driver. I really need an auto transmission b/c wife can’t
drive a stick so if for some reason I have the Yukon she is stuck with
no car. I’d teach her to drive it but she’s a horrible driver and we’d
prob get in a huge fight in the first 15 min of teaching her. Budget is probably $15,000
I suggest this 2008 Saab 9-7X Aero offered for $8,500 in Golden Valley, MN– this was the Saab version of the Chevrolet Trailblazer SS — so it has the 390 horsepower 6.0 liter LS2 V8 and hits 60mph in under 6 seconds.
If you're gonna buy a Saablazer, it might as well be an Aero, but he might want to offer $5K.
$8.5K gets you some tall German thing, though perhaps a couple years older than the Swedish Chevy.
Autotrader shows a vast array of Benz GL450s and even GL550s just within the price territory, some R500s.
I live a quarter mile from one of automobilia's true unicorns, the R63 AMG, and it's even a color I could see owning, and I think I may know the owners though I haven't talked to them in years.
OK, this one does only have two doors, but it does fit his needs.
Real, usable back seat? Check.
Truck based? Check.
Four wheel drive? Check.
Cool and interesting? This one delivers it in spades.
GMC SUV in Omaha
And the looks are pretty understated, too.
[image src=" images.craigslist.org/01616_bFIb792Hb8m_600x450.jpg" width="400px"/].
I was thinking the same thing. If he can drop the 4 door requirement…
Mike here. I like that Saab, def a sleeper. The Typhoon is super interesting and I like the fact that it's not redneck'd out. I can put my two kids in the back of the 911 I can def get them in that truck.
Let's put it this way I'm going to go test drive it in about 2 hours.
I feel compelled to post my comment about the 9-7X that was posted earlier…
In my humble opinion it's so hideous I'm not sure I'd even want it as a $2k beater. I think it's significantly uglier than even the regular Trailblazer. Then when you consider that this is the pinnacle of GM's utter bastardization and ultimate murder of Saab, it's extra extra hideous. Add in mrkwong's point about the motor and you have most of the reasons GM finally went bankrupt the year after this car was sold all perfectly exemplified by one single vehicle.
Too bad we can't get an STI legacy wagon in the US, that sounds like it might be a good Passat replacement! Not thrilling suggestion but I just took a 2011 Audi Q5 3.2 quattro on a 1500 mile road trip and I have to confess that I really enjoyed it. Comfortable, reasonably powerful, decent milage, good size for city and country, understated but nice looks…
Gotta go Trailblazer SS like this bad boy
If one Porsche is good, would two Porsches be better. Especially if instead of a rear engine 6, you went with a front engined 8 and it has less than 60K miles on the clock?
2006 Porsche Cayenne S
Quick update by me (Mike). I drove the Typhoon. It will get up and go but it's pretty much a rattling POS. It's at a buy here/pay here lot and needs lots of work. most importantly new front brakes and prob a tune up. The drivers door is wonky but other than that the body was straight but made tons of noise driving around. For the right price it would be cool but we'love see.
The Saab seems like a sleeper but it is pretty ugly and blah looking. I've had an Envoy before and was pretty boring so Trailblazer SS doesn't excite as much. Thought about a Cayenne as well. Still interested in early 2000s Tacoma or 4 Runner. Pretty common but can piece together a badass truck easy enough.
G8 from SUX?
siouxcity.craigslist.org/cto/5837868271.html
Or this bitchin' Monza
siouxcity.craigslist.org/cto/5837279619.html
Or B5 S4, but it's a stick.
siouxcity.craigslist.org/cto/5835652459.html
Ooooof that poor S4. I used to have a 6spd Imola just like that, sans the horrific mods. Love that color even though was relentlessly made fun of as a "taxi" – a damn fast and fun taxi! #sorrynotsorry
I really don't get the 'ugly' thing on the 9-7X.
Late-model Land Cruisers are ugly. The 9-7X is just bland. No better and no worse outside than a Trailblazer SS, and somewhat nicer inside.
As for the Typhoon, they're interesting as a toy but they're built like crap and I'd never consider something like that as daily transportation.
You should look at 2012+ Jeep Wrangler Unlimited models. Cool, convertible, 4WD, reliable, and they hold their value really really well (like a Tacoma, or better).
omaha.craigslist.org/cto/5839375171.html
Cool but not even close to my price range.