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About a year ago we took an R-Class in for trade and one our directors was here with a Pacfica as his Demo. A couple of us drove the R-Class back to back with the pacifica and everyone agreed that the Pacifica was a better driving car then the R-Class. Sure the R was a little better looking inside with slightly more room but not much.
What I'd worry about is parts and getting someone to fix it. Great car if you also have an old Corolla for a parts chaser...
-Mathias
The original 626 was RWD though. I imagine the 929 might have been it's big brother?
I think the 929 was fairly sophisticated for it's day.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
At some point in its life all the rear diff oil was drained out of it and never put back in.
That car went several years and 50,000 miles with no diff oil.
I never fully bought the "it doesn't have tilt steering because of the airbag ploy", either. About 5 1/2 years after I drove that 929, I bought a used '89 Gran Fury. It had an airbag. Wanna know what else it had? Yup, you guessed it! A tilt steering wheel! I doubt if Chrysler built more than 40,000 M-bodies total for 1989, which was its last year, yet they went through the effort to figure out how to do a tilt wheel with an airbag. Way to go, Mazda. :confuse:
And yeah, that had a few things in common with a 626, but I really liked it. Not much of a canoemobile, though...
http://www.msu.edu/~steine13/ins11.jpg
I scraped the undercarriage pretty good on that trip. Just was back there couple weeks ago, and it's funny how the Silverado had no such problem.
"Beavis, you just need the right tool for the job!"
-Mathias
andre: yeah, I think the bench seat is on the lower-end models, though. We like the 2+2+2 for the most part. The only problem is with the carseat taking up one of the middle seats, it means anytime you take out another couple, someone HAS to sit in the back. But the 3rd row is quite inhabitable. Just not easy to get back there. My wife usually volunteers. The upside is that the 2nd row is much more comfortable with 2 seats that can be adjusted to the occupants liking AND has bun warmers.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Cheapo R107, nice 116 beside it
Maybe filled with sand or something to add weight? (not that the car needs it)
The fuel tank is strapped down behind the passenger seat instead of under it because of the Toybox, was going to put a fuel cell in just never got around to it.
Just need to buy a fuel cell.
Well I would not call it rare but at least it is unmolested.
1. that blower thing was a recall/underground extended warranty ("they all do that")
2. waterpump - yeah, the plastic ones fail, usually around the time a car with a belt needs the belt changed and it would get swapped anyway. Incidentally BMW has this issue with E36/E39+. ("they all do that")
3. cup holder - what kind of wacky design is that? This flimsy little thing pops out of the center console and can barely hold a pop can.
4. I have no idea how he broke the suspension unless the car was in a crash or something. In 150k of rolling off berms at Buttonwillow and Streets of Willow Springs, the entire suspension system was fine.
5. I have no idea how the valvetrain broke either. See above.
As far as what is wrong now, there are two vacuum lines that will trigger a CEL and those dry out and cook and fail. $30 in parts. You need to take the code scanner and start looking at the relationships in the codes its throwing.
While overall the car may be a POS, it is a 175hp V6 manual transmission vehicle, which I always felt made it fun to drive. I would go for a 96-97 Contour SE because it had better seats and a firmer suspension.
For all those ads that say the car needs TLC and there are big pieces missing and stuff rusting off of it, there is an ad like this where the car really needs a few hours of sorting out.
Je ne comprends pas...
-Mathias
Je ne comprends pas...
No, its a different motor, the 2.5 Duratec. Honestly, if my car went 2x that mileage and had that many HPDEs/autocrosses on it, I don't know how that one got so sorry, although it its 12 years old...
They really aren't that hard to work on, mine was actually very reliable (it never had a no-start condition and it left me stranded once at 120k for the waterpump).
The tranny is the MTX75 thats now in the Focus. I never had a problem with it, although shifting did improve when I went to Ford's synthetic trans fluid used in the current MTX75.
I still miss that car...I should've dumped the Accord and kept the Contour.
Obviously a hard life.
Disclosed flood history is disclosed No way for 5 grand
Since this is a stick, do we have any takers For the price, you could do worse
That thing about 15 grand... nah This car must have been passed by by so many subsequent production GTs, that it's not worth much of a premium
Man I even like the color. Interior looks shabby but I guess that is par for the course for a 1990 Ford product.
EDIT:
Look I found another one
Very Rare (Yeah no one wants them)
Fortune spent (Sucker)
Rally Car in the making
First, I found out that it has already been converted to R34. That's some good news.
The fuel filter was quite clogged, so that could be good news in terms of the slow starting and underpowered feel.
Found out the alternator belt was split. I'm just glad it didn't break while my wife was driving it back and forth to work thursday and friday.
NOW... why its not yet complete: when putting the timing belt and tensioner back on, it dawned on me that something wasn't quite right with the setup. I look at some pictures on the net and realize the actualy tensioner spring is missing! It scares the hell out of me that we were driving the car like this. My father (the guy i seem to always have to call when i'm doing things like this) believes it is not an absolutely necessary part. As long as you put the proper tension on the pulley before tightening the bolts, you are good to go. But I am waiting for the special order spring to arrive regardless. There's no way I'm taking a chance on a vehicle with an interference engine that is worth more than the entire car. So that ended my BMW tinkering for the weekend.
The parts were $275 (timing belt, tensioner pulley, camshaft seal, water pump, thermostat, fuel filter, plugs, cap, and rotor). Oddly enough, however, the most expensive part was the cap at $75. The old one still looks new, so I'm sending this one back to bring my total cost down to $200. How in the world a water pump is half the price of a distributor cap is beyond me.
Anyway, I moved onto the alfa. I went to get it inspected saturday morning. I expected to fail because of the nonworking parking brake. apparently, that didn't bother the inspectors, but it did fail for emissions. That surprised the heck out of me. It has always been WAAAYYY below the allowed limits. So I'm not sure what I'll do. I don't even know where to begin. It COULD just need to be run on the highway a bit.
I still didn't have the clutch where I wanted it ever since I replaced the slave cylinder. After bleeding it about a dozen times and getting nowhere, I realized this particular setup allows for adjustment of the pedal position. Well, I realize that the only way to do that is to remove the master cylinder. And the only way to remove the clutch master cylinder (at least with the tools I had on hand) is to remove the brake master cylinder. Well, while doing that, I realized the rubber grommets on the brake master cylinder are dry rotted and leaking. UGH. So now I need to get the kit and rebuild that while I'm at it.
ya know, shifty, i think we actually need a forum to discuss our actual projects, and not just potential projects.
sorry for being off-topic. ;b
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Good catch on the tensioner spring. I'm not sure if that engine requires a valve adjustment or not---can't recall, but that's worth checking.
The Alfa might just need an "Italian Tune-Up", you're right. Take 'er out for a burn and bring 'er to the emissions testing red hot. Also throw in some injector cleaner.
So I gotta figure THAT out, too. I had the radiator repaired over the winter. Anyone know if I need to bleed the cooling system on this car? And, if so, where is the bleeder?
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Not enough done to this for 8500 Why would you give it such a plain jane white paint job? Just paint it any red, blue or black and it would like so much better but white covers waves I guess
So futuristic when new, so dated now
Another great Chrysler depreciation story
Great grocery getter That trunk will hold a months worth of food and a case of beer
Sharp car.. is this what it goes for? You very rarely see this listed used. They are a blast to drive
That red velour interior is looking better with age
Somebody wants this for a grand 213,000 miles... I didn't know that they went that long
Is this legit?
Such a peach but cheapo plastic hubcaps Anyone smell a flip?
Not worth fixing
If everything looks good, this is probably worth it
Old Pontiac doesn't look horrible
That '79 Malibu was kinda cool too. But doesn't "roller" mean that you still need to drop an engine and transmission in it? Basically, it rolls. But don't expect it to move under its own power! I have a soft spot for those, as my first car was a 1980 Malibu coupe.
I kinda like those Mark VIII's, too. But I tend to be afraid of late model used luxury cars. Unless it's something comparatively simple, like a RWD Caddy Fleetwood/Brougham.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
DIY M3
Lemkomobile
Shiftymobile
seems fair enough
could be worth it if the pictures are current
not your everyday ride
unmolested survivor
Funny the speedo on that NX goes to 150.