What are some affordable comfy classic wagons, Veeky Forums?
>wagon: four doors and tailgate
>classic: over 30 y/o, but the more classic looking the better
>comfy: decent ride quality and noise level on longer trips
>affordable: not astronomical in price, fuel consumption or repair costs
Pic related kinda fits the bill, but there might be some more original choices I'm overlooking right now so I figure I'd ask.
Also feel free to post any classic wagons you like.
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the e30 looks cool
not really what i'd call comfy though
...
Did any previous BMWs have wagon versions?
A guy on my street has one of those. Its slow as fuck, loud as fuck and he usually needs to warm it up a few minutes before going. Albeit this is middle of the winter.
Classic cars are a real wet dream, but it's very hard to actually DD one.
But if you want an extremely good and comfy, cheap wagon that ticks all your boxes (save for the age) is the E39 520d or 525d. In fact, it's so good that TopGear Magazine (the magazine staff, before the Clarkson incident) regarded the E39 as one of the best bangers money can buy. Not to mention Clarkson's 528i in the Africa special.
Here is his afterthought on that very same 528i:
driving.co.uk
A friend of mine has a saloon 520d. He earns 300 euros/month, yet he still is able to properly maintain it, with everything changed in time.
Yea you could go for the E34, but the E39 is such much above it in terms of actual comfort.
Bonus points if you find one with the brick phone installed, like my friend did.
Volvo Amazon or bust
nope
there are conversion kits for e28s i believe but it might be expensive as fuck to get it right
import one from europe if you can't find any locally
>but it's very hard to actually DD one
That's the kicker. It would be my only car but it could be older because I wouldn't have to DD it because I could and would want to bike to work. I'd just like it to handle some bulky loads if needed, that's why the fixation on wagons.
I have these in mind as well, but I'm wondering about ride comfort and noise at highway speed. I really would like it to be a premium model which for its time was exceptionally quiet and comfortable. I'm sure a bunch of American wagons would suit this requirement, but sadly they all seem to have an insatiable appetite.
I am from Europe which makes finding European wagons all the easier and finding non-European wagons all the harder.
If you get an E39 that has a stock exhaust system in good shape then it wont be loud, even the M5 is very very quiet with the stock exhaust, and the 530i, 540i and 530D have very decent power
Have you considered an old as fuck Land Cruiser? The 1KZ-TE 3.0 litre diesel in the Land Cruiser 70 doesn't even need a battery to start.
well great
how much will a non rusted example run me?
been thinking about importing one
Non rusted example of what?
e30 touring
316 starting at 2k€, 318 starting at 3k€, 320 and 325 starting at 4k€, but they go all the way up beyond 10k€ with various engines so I'm not sure if I'm missing something.
3k euros on the other hand get you a pretty decent E39 520d Touring.
The car you want is a 124 chassis 300T
Mercedes 300SD wagons if you can find one.
This
Not this
came here to post this
Don't be a bitch, get a giant land yacht American wagon. Big block V8 and miles of room
W123 wagons are a good choice. Are you in the US??
If so, the only W123 wagon you'll find here is the 300TD Turbo. The non-turbos were imported in 79, but are exceedingly rare. The turbos are from 81-85.
They're powerful enough - someone mentioned "slow" but it's a 35 year old diesel wagon. Speed isn't the point., and that's one tiny portion of a car's worth.
The OM617 turbo is easy to wrench on, but you'll have the best luck with earlier year models - less complicated emissions/vacuum systems. Be prepared to spend time and a little money sorting vacuum leaks and replacing vacuum valves, and DO NOT do any transmission work to any W123 until you have.
I daily drive an 83 240D without problems, but I do all my own maintenance and most repairs. That's the only way you can have one of these as a daily driver.
The wagons are harder to find. Don't buy one that's been a veggie car.
>I daily drive an 83 240D without problems, but I do all my own maintenance and most repairs. That's the only way you can have one of these as a daily driver.
Aren't you exaggerating here? I thought 70s and 80s Diesel Mercs were supposed to be some of the most low-maintenance classics there are.
any thing
GM G body wagon or car great smooth ride the fuel economy isnt that great but the ease of maintenance and the cheapness of the parts well then make up for it i would most highly recommend getting the 305 because it make the parts that much easier to get
you don't seriously think any 40+ year old car will be a reliable daily right?
If it's been properly maintained (without implying that you have to do most things yourself as that simply isn't realistic for most people) and possibly restored then why wouldn't it be? Assuming it was ever reliable in the first place, so I wouldn't expect that from a fucking Alfa Romeo. But a Benz? Sure.
E39s are cheap as fuck in Germany, you can get one for way less than that.
E30s on the other hand are getting out of control. Minimum 5k will buy you a non rotten one right now.
These are nice and if you can find a 20V turbo version, you've got a real Group B engine under the hood.
>Big block V8
That's what scares me. Not the big engine or the power output, the 12 mpg I'd inevitably get.
I am German, I've literally listed E30 prices. I don't give a flying shit about E39s to be frank, they're not the subject of this thread.
I am german too. E39s are actually pretty good cars but mostly fucked up by turks or your average pensioner who pisses his pants every 15 minutes.
As a commuter or workhorse there is not much better to get. The tourings trunk is massive. But otherwise they are pretty boring compared to E30s.
I am glad I have collected a few of them. No touring though, only sedans
I have a 1981 Mercedes 300td. It is amazingly simple to work on. With routine maintenace it will last a long time and be reliable. Theres nothing to go wrong as far as the drivetrain is concerned other than vacuum leaks will make you go insane if you have them. EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BREAK. Random shit like wipers, lights, window regulators, speedometers, fuel gauge shit like that will constantly be broken. But all of that is livable and the car will still start everytime and get you where you need to go. Everyone rags on 300ds as being slow but at the time they were one of the fastest diesel cars of their day amd are still able to be considered reliable. Parts are surprisingly cheap for this car. But remember if you neglect these cars youre gonna have a bad time. Theyre reliable but they still need lots of prevenative maintenance. Change the oil every 3000 miles and use normal non synthetic oil. Lubricate fuel linkages, change fluids every year or two, and it will not break. Even the transmissions in these are strong as shit and unlike most automatics they can be push started with enough speed. If you want an old wagon i highly recommend getting one now because theyre going up in value pretty quick.
i have one and it is a realible daily so fuck off retard
that doesn't exist
you have to work on little things that go wrong but no real drivetrain issues
cheb
They're very reliable, but it gets expensive if you take it to a shop for every little thing that can go wrong on a 35 year old car, thus my statement that if you're going to daily drive one, you should be able to do basic maintenance and repairs yourself.
If you have money to take it to a shop for work, then sure...do it. But...most people won't want to spend that money, which can far exceed the value of the car in a year.
For instance - Indy shop oil change and filters every 3000 miles = 150 bucks. I can do it myself for 30-40. 12k mile valve adjustment is 200-300 at a shop...I can do it for 15. Fuel system purge and cleaning is 200-300 at a shop...I do it for 15. Injector cleaning and balancing is 400-600 at a shop...I do it for 80. Troubleshoot and repair a vacuum system at a shop and it will be thousands of dollars. I did mine for about 200, which included some specialty tools. So on and so forth...
If you want to drive a W123 every day and do not have money to burn and are a little handy with tools, it's easy and fun. If not...it might not be the car for you. No harm, no foul...just might be better to consider a different car.
The one times in 3 years of daily use that my car was down was my fault...I couldn't get the alternator nut off to replace it so I had to wait on a part from Germany. Other than routine maintenance (suspension work...old bushings...) it has never been out of commisssion. Not once.
A maintained W123 is about as bullet-proof as they come.
Correct...there are little things, but they're not catastrophic, and most of the little things are super-easy to fix...often just swapping a part in.
Any 30+ year old car will have little things that fail - rubber and plastic get brittle, things rust, valves wear out, etc. - but...how many 30+ year old cars does anyone on this thread see daily driven? I'd guess not many...
Buick Roadmaster
Chevrolet Caprice
The Peugeot 505 wagon is a good choice if you can find one. They were sold in the US, are fairly cheap, and are rather reliable. They were also sold with a wide variety of engine and transmission combos; manual and automatic with both gas and diesel engines, and the possibility of turbos diesel and turbo gas engines.
That is nice bodykit. Is that the GTi or something?
W123 is my dream car but I'm currently considering getting a W201 instead, as those are cheaper to get. Most W123 are rusted to shit over here unless you pay like 2-3 times more than for a W201 or W124 in a comparable state.
I recently noticed that W126 are surprisingly cheap over here but fuel costs are a huge deterrent. I live in Poland where we pay a bit over 1€ for a liter of Diesel or gas, around half that for a liter of LPG but I hear bad things about old Mercedes engines working on LPG.
In terms of doing my own maintenance, I'd like to do that of course. It's not gonna be possible anytime soon. I'd have to learn everything from scratch and I don't even have anywhere to do it: I park my current shitbox on the street and my driveway is not suited for this sort of thing.
It's a different culture here. Especially in the city, hardly anyone does their own maintenance. There's a lot of "mom and pop" mechanic shops though that don't exactly charge out the ass.