What does Veeky Forums think is the best road trip car for under $5k?

What does Veeky Forums think is the best road trip car for under $5k?

A smooth and quiet ride is extremely important, and I'd like to be able to fold the seats down to sleep in the back. Of course, reliability is extremely important too. wouldn't want the car to die in the middle of bumfucknowheresville.

I've been looking at getting pic related, it looks like a nice car altogether, and the AWD version seems capable.

If I'm on a tighter budget when time comes, I'd probably go for the 240 wagon instead, or an 850/inbetween volvo wagon.

How hard are volvos to work on? Could I learn to work on it myself? I know the 2001 volvo wagon has a turd transmission, how difficult would it be to swap that out if it dies?

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_W_platform
chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/5523874181.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

Early 2000s Buick Century
Cars are plentiful, well equipped, cheap and reliable
Parts are easy to find, and the car is fairly easy to work on
Comfy ride quality, plenty of space for you and passengers and a big trunk
Not cars that kids thrash, so not a problem
Good ones can be had from 2-4k easily

Thanks, I'll look into that!

How easy is it to sleep in? Could save money if, on road trips, I'm able to skip out on the hotels without a significant detriment to my sleep quality.

The 1997-2005 Century is a 4 door W-body sedan. If you consider one W-body car, You may as well look at them all.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_W_platform

As to my suggestion, I'll suggest the 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice and Buick Roadmaster station wagons.
No, they're not fuel efficient. The 4.3L and 5.7L V8s are god-tier from GM's second generation Chebby small block engine family, so they're reliable, so long as you take a few precautions first and remove the entire opti-spark ignition system.
Big floaty comfy wagons that can fold down the seats and even have a rear facing jump seat in the back that also folds flat.

Pic Related. Top Gear USA host Ruttledge Wood owns this one

>Buick century
>reliable, easy to work on
>555-comeonnow

If you're going to blow 2-4 grand on a W-body, at least go for a regal

avoid 60* gm v6's like the plague, and watch for rocker panel rust.

Just get an s80 and stay in a hotel. Maximum comfy.

>hey, I need a good circle

>fuck you, you don't need a circle, here's a square. You'll like it.

>that isn't what I asked for

A4 or A6 Avant.

You're the first person I've ever heard suggest otherwise. I've seen several 200k+ mile examples of those cars IRL. Also, what about it not being easy to work on? I do all the oil changes and stuff on my fiancee's Century, and I just did a valve cover and it wasn't bad. A little annoying, but nothing like working on most Japanese compact cars where everything is crammed into the smallest space possible.
Is that it, because it isn't from grorious Nippon you think it's shit?
The seats are comfy, but I have to sleep sitting up in the driver or passenger's seat. I've only passed one night sleeping like that and it wasn't bad. I would've preferred a bed though, but I have a bad back from a motorcycle wreck, so take that as you will. If you're short you can sleep on the back bench seat pretty comfortably though, my fiancee does it a lot in hers over lunch breaks.

The roadmaster wagon looks perfect. I forgot to mention in OP that cruise control is preferred. How difficult would it be to install cruise control aftermarket in one of those?

Depends on how flush you want it man. I looked into aftermarket cruise control for my '06 cobalt. They have dash variants that are universal and wand variants that are a bitch. Depends on your skill with cars.

I don't care if it looks ugly as fug, as long as it's cruise control and it works.

Probably simple. Never did it as I totalled my balt innawoods. Sad times.

This man gets it.

Here is a (You)

just buy a piece of shit and nigger rig it as you go. stay in back packers as you go. no car is guaranteed to not an hero. if it does, just buy another POS.

backpackers are like 30$/night and you get to meet weirdos and sleep somewhere comfy as you clutch your backpack for dear life while you sleep.

driving back wont be as fun. or maybe. I dont know. there is literally nothing but sand and cows between capital cities in australia. I guess amerifats have a different metropolis every 100km.

I've done the cross country road trip thing. It's nice to have a comfy bed with cold a/c after 10-11 hours of driving and a nice shower and breakfast in the morning.

I understand that, but I'll probably be doing the road trip thing on a low budget for at least a few more years. When a hotel isn't an option, being able to put down a bed in the back of a car and sleep would be a good alternative for me.

How poor are you? Pretty much every hotel outside of major cities is less than 100 bucks a night.

Maybe he just wants to bum it up with his hippy wife

Right now I'm pretty poor, and that doesn't look to be changing any time soon.

That, too. Being able to have a nice shag in the back while the car is parked would be nice.

>he doesnt want to be in a backpackers orgy when the lights go out and you can hear everyone screwing then all the chicks get horny and want to screw and everyone has a good time
you can stay in a backpackers for like 20$/night user. check it out. its good value. half international students and tourists. half local homeless prostitutes and schizophrenics.

Toyota Sienna

chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/5523874181.html

If he can't afford a hotel he can't afford 80s jag maintenance or fuel economy

Sounds like my kind of people.

quit fucking around and get one of these OP..

Conversion vans (in good shape) are expensive, and they get worse gas mileage than 90s wagons.

Don't you wish this car was real

Just so you know OP, 240 series really weren't that quiet a ride. They just weren't weighed down by 300 lbs of sound deadening I don't suppose.

literal shaggin-wagon

lincoln town car my nigga

fucking this

sorry dude you is wrong. best car for this job is a van. its not that hard to sound deaden a van.
and you can live in a van. still plenty of good ones around so you may not have to put bed in the back if its already got one.