Looking for a $9,000 - $10,000 Vehicle AWD for a nephew going to College in Cleveland, and suggestions?

if it must be AWD, then the Suzuki SX4 seems like the best choice :)
Enough room for stuff, the AWD, good mpg too

OH! AWD, and IT"S GOT A HEMI!
 
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For FWD it is looking like a Toyota Corolla would be a good choice, or a Camry.

I looked into some Subaru Outback, and only see some 2011s as the most recent year in there price range, and the ones that are local have 90K to 99K miles, are all 2.5 Liter 4 cylinder engines. Those had a timing belt that should be replaced at 105K miles. I am not familiar with how much work is involved in doing that job, or how much it would cost, but suspect it would cost about $700 at a decent shop.


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I know there were some years of Subaru that the head-gaskets commonly went bad. But I do not know what years that applies to.

And I know there are some years of Subaru that can have problems with the air-conditioning. It seams that some have no problems with them, and some do have problems. But if you have a problem with them, they fail over and over again and it is expensive every time.

So what are the Subaru bad head-gasket engines and years?

And what are the Subaru bad air-conditioner models and years?

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Forget the Outback. I just bought a beautiful 2011 with leather and sunroof and had to dump it. Nice chassis, interior, build quality EXCEPT these EJ253 engines are garbage. Oil burners, knocking, bad gas mileage etc.

I got mine with 65K mile for 10G. Wholesale is about 5K so $7K or less should be the real transaction price. The high asking prices do not exist in the wholesale market - only on on retail dealer lots.
Don't let ANYONE fool you.

My wife should be trading her 2017 Crosstrek Premium soon.
It runs GREAT. Will be asking around $10K
Car has 90K on it but mostly HW miles. All service up to date , new brakes last year all around.
NO Timing belt. 2 litre FB20 engine uses NO oil usage whatsoever and I have multiple UOA on here showing much less than normal wear numbers,
 
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Forget the Outback. I just bought a beautiful 2011 with leather and sunroof and had to dump it. Nice chassis, interior, build quality EXCEPT these EJ253 engines are garbage. Oil burners, knocking, bad gas mileage etc.

I got mine with 65K mile for 10G. Wholesale is about 5K so $7K or less should be the real transaction price. The high asking prices do not exist in the wholesale market - only on on retail dealer lots.
Don't let ANYONE fool you.

My wife should be trading her 2017 Crosstrek Premium soon.
It runs GREAT. Will be asking around $10K
Car has 90K on it but mostly HW miles. All service up to date , new brakes last year all around.
NO Timing belt. 2 litre FB20 engine uses NO oil usage whatsoever and I have multiple UOA on here showing much less than normal wear numbers,

The Outback and Legacy switched to the FB in 2013 :)

They were actually the last Subarus to switch over.
 
Forget the Outback. I just bought a beautiful 2011 with leather and sunroof and had to dump it. Nice chassis, interior, build quality EXCEPT these EJ253 engines are garbage. Oil burners, knocking, bad gas mileage etc.

I got mine with 65K mile for 10G. Wholesale is about 5K so $7K or less should be the real transaction price. The high asking prices do not exist in the wholesale market - only on on retail dealer lots.
Don't let ANYONE fool you.

My wife should be trading her 2017 Crosstrek Premium soon.
It runs GREAT. Will be asking around $10K
Car has 90K on it but mostly HW miles. All service up to date , new brakes last year all around.
NO Timing belt. 2 litre FB20 engine uses NO oil usage whatsoever and I have multiple UOA on here showing much less than normal wear numbers,
does it change anything that the outback i linked to has a "75,000 mi" JDM engine swapped into it last year...
probably not...
 
does it change anything that the outback i linked to has a "75,000 mi" JDM engine swapped into it last year...
probably not...
JDM engines may have a little higher quality parts, but on average they have about 40 K miles already on them, and are still the same design as the original. The fact that at 75 K miles it required a new engine just verifies that Subaru engines do fail early. Usually it is because the head-gasket fails, and antifreeze gets in the oil, and also oil gets in the antifreeze.

Then the contaminated oil can not lubricate the different bearings of the crank and they get destroyed.

And at the same time the antifreeze that is contaminated with oil looses some of its content into the combustion chamber and the combination of low antifreeze and the oil contamination causes the engine to over-heat.

A double whammy of loosing ability to lube the crank and overheating at the same time.

These problems occur more often in Subarus with age and high miles, which is what is common in used vehicles.

So we have ruled Subaru vehicles out of the list of vehicles to look at.

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Right now Rav 4 is at the top of the list, and CR-V is a close second.
 
Forget the Outback. I just bought a beautiful 2011 with leather and sunroof and had to dump it. Nice chassis, interior, build quality EXCEPT these EJ253 engines are garbage. Oil burners, knocking, bad gas mileage etc.

I got mine with 65K mile for 10G. Wholesale is about 5K so $7K or less should be the real transaction price. The high asking prices do not exist in the wholesale market - only on on retail dealer lots.
Don't let ANYONE fool you.

My wife should be trading her 2017 Crosstrek Premium soon.
It runs GREAT. Will be asking around $10K
Car has 90yK on it but mostly HW miles. All service up to date , new brakes last year all around.
NO Timing belt. 2 litre FB20 engine uses NO oil usage whatsoever and I have multiple UOA on here showing much less than normal wear numbers,
Whatever you do buy local. Don't buy anything long distance that you can't drive and get checked out. Too many descriptions that don't match the car in the internet world.
 
I had just turned in my lease and I had to get something. Then Driving around the Toyota dealer on the way home I saw this beautiful 2011 Dark Blue outback Premium waiting to go to wholesale with parchment leather, good tires, timing belt just done ( there was a Mitsuboshi sticker under the hood ) and only 65K miles on the odo - plus a great shifting 6 speed manual. It needed a PS fluid change as the shuttle valve was acting up. Brakes were all done also. Some woman had moved form Colorado to the Northeast and traded for a new Rav4. A One-owner with extensive maintenance records. Drove it home during the initial test drive and jacked it up and crawled and looked underneath. All looked good. But the EJ253 engine had a slight to moderate clatter at throttle transition - which is typical for this engine. Piston rocking with slipper skirt pistons. the car drove fantastic - much better than any subaru Ive been in and excellent for any car. I Bought it.

But the racket got progressively worse - QUICKLY and was sounding more like a rod knock. Then I went through a 2" stack of maintenance records and noted that the woman ran the car low on oil TWICE - as noted by the garage notes on the r.o., " ... car came in with oil light flickering and no oil on dipstick".
Oh boy. Try you best, then it bites you anyways.

I will say its hard to beat Grampa's old car with only 23K miles - when he eventually goes to God after a good, but hard life..
That car may not be your cup o' tea but I bet its a Duesey !
And Grampa might even help you out of trouble behind the wheel someday!
 
Any
My nephew is going to be going away from home in Pittsburgh PA to attending college in Cleveland and he and his parents have a budget of 9K to 10K for a vehicle for him.

He only has one year of driving experience, but not accidents and no tickets. Besides school, he is a natural when it comes to carpentry, ....
His parents want the vehicle to be AWD because of the snow in Cleveland. I told them that AWD may be more maintnce.
...

They hope to buy something within the next 30 days.
Any up dates on a car find for the boy ?
 
My bother sent me a text of a 2013 Toyota RAV 4 LE that his wife found and he said it is more than they wanted to spend, but they are considering it. It is located at South Hills Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

His wife is outstanding when it comes to mechanical maintnce of there vehicles. She gets the manuals for them and reads them cove to cover.

It''s VIN is: JTMBFREV3DD002095

it has 72,262 miles on it.

I told him that if he wants, I will go with him when he goes to look at it.

What ever they get it will be completely gone over before there son goes away to school in it.

That is all I know for now.
 
My bother sent me a text of a 2013 Toyota RAV 4 LE that his wife found and he said it is more than they wanted to spend, but they are considering it. It is located at South Hills Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

His wife is outstanding when it comes to mechanical maintnce of there vehicles. She gets the manuals for them and reads them cove to cover.

It''s VIN is: JTMBFREV3DD002095

it has 72,262 miles on it.

I told him that if he wants, I will go with him when he goes to look at it.

What ever they get it will be completely gone over before there son goes away to school in it.

That is all I know for now.
Sure, why not, no one will be unhappy with that and what's a couple extra g's to get something that will last well beyond his college years even if he goes for a PhD!
 
Sure, why not, no one will be unhappy with that and what's a couple extra g's to get something that will last well beyond his college years even if he goes for a PhD!
BC it's a Toyota it will last? Its already 9 years old. My wife's 2005 was toast after 3 years with everything going on it.

I did enjoy that car though. She had a stick with awd. Very peppy with the stick.


Looking at the CARFAX car looks very well maintained. I don't think there is much to go through other than insure the Trans and Engine run well, no cleared MIL history, and CV joints are not clicking, no odd vibrations or noise and a decent fuel mileage history. I would check exhaust for excessive rust though and the toyota shocks/struts never seemed to last.

I would say that a 8 to 10g car in today's market. Should be about 6g in reality and that would be the black book auction on it. Crazy prices. I think I turned in my new tubo Jetta with 12K miles the book price was around 12K. And that was with 4 years factory bumper to bumper warranty left.

Cautious advice form a guy who just got burnt.
- Ken
 
BC it's a Toyota it will last? Its already 9 years old. My wife's 2005 was toast after 3 years with everything going on it.

I did enjoy that car though. She had a stick with awd.

My niece had her used 32,000 mile RAV4 drop the transmission on the highway after a month of ownership, $9000 of repairs were needed, so she walked away with a terrible lesson

Toyota has bad years and RAV4 isn’t any exception, it’s on my avoid list
 
Older Honda CRV AWD with decent maintenance history.
Second this. My AWD CR-V with the 5 speed was great in snow for the two times I drove it up north. Gave it to my cousin who is in school and it suits the average college student's needs well... though I heard she had to have the clutch replaced about the time she learned how to drive it :ROFLMAO:
(It was good when she left with it, good pedal and no slipping)
 
My brother and his wife test drove it and said it seamed OK, and they are seriously considering buying it. One thing he said is it has a trailer-hitch on it. You never know with a trailer-hitch what it might have had to tow, and how often, and how far. As my brother said, it could of been for a bicycle rack, or one of those grates for some small amount of extra space to put something, or it could have really been towing something big like a small RV.
 
My brother and his wife test drove it and said it seamed OK, and they are seriously considering buying it. One thing he said is it has a trailer-hitch on it. You never know with a trailer-hitch what it might have had to tow, and how often, and how far. As my brother said, it could of been for a bicycle rack, or one of those grates for some small amount of extra space to put something, or it could have really been towing something big like a small RV.
Call the previous owner and have a chat. People have called me on cars I've traded - Like my 1993 Lincoln Mk Viii that was a "flood car" and I didnt know. A well hidden shell game that dealer played ( Portsmouth Ford Used Cars, NH).
Now I know to look at the seat springs and dash support brackets for rust.
 
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