Cars I Owned
2000 Honda Insight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight
This is my current daily driver and the oldest car in my family's fleet. As of writing this the car has approximately 210,000 miles. It is a fun and unique car with quite the story.
My specific Insight, has the 1.0L ECA1 Inline 3 Engine along with a 5 speed manual transmission and with the optional AC system, which makes the Florida summers somewhat tolerable.
A fun fact is this is the vehicle I used to learn how to drive a manual transmission. For anyone wanting to learn how to drive stick, this vehicle makes not a great choice, due to how little torque the little engine makes, thus stalling is very frequent until you get a grasp of the vehicle.
For about a few years now the car has been operating only on the gas engine alone, as when the car was brought into the local Honda dealer for a new clutch, the IMA system got messed up and the hybrid part of the car did not function.
Thankfully unlike some hybrids the car can be ran only on the gas engine. Unfortunately, the car's already poor acceleration is further made worse without the assist from the battery pack. This means to get the car to accelerate even someone briskly, the car needs to have the AC off, and ran through each of the very tall gears to get up to speed.
Despite all of the quirks with this vehicle, it is still a blast to drive. It proves that it is "better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow". Despite the age and mileage of the car, it still runs like a champ and proves to be a great car.
For anyone interested in these vehicles, I highly recommend you take a look at the Honda Insight Forum: https://www.insightcentral.net/forums/. The people there are supper nice and are very knowledgeable about these vehicles.
2002 Saturn SL1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_S-Series
This vehicle is the newest addition to the fleet. It was bought about a year ago for only $1000. This vehicle has had quite the extensive maintenance record as a result.
The actual car has the Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) 1.9L L24 Inline 4 engine, that was purpose built for the s-series of Saturn vehicles. Paired to it is the 4 speed MP6 automatic transmission also built for these vehicles. It currently has about 130,000 miles on the odometer.
The reason the car was so cheap to purchase, was it had a no working AC. Now a days finding a working car for that price is fairly difficult, so it was worth the risk. Eventually after a new compressor, tvx valve, and reciver dryer, the car's AC system was working like new. This being the first time working on an AC system, I learned how many things go into a working AC system. Somehow though I managed to get the AC working, which is a must in Florida, where even the winters can get rather warm.
Besides the AC system, the car also recently needed a new front wheel bearing. This being an older vehicle had a press in wheel bearing. This meant I had to take the steering knuckle off and press out the old bearing. Looking back I was surprised that I was even able to do the job, given how much time it took in total.
After that was all said and done, I can say that the older Saturns are pretty cool and unique vehicles. Heck, they are one of the few cars that has an external transmission filter. I kind you not the car has a spin oil filter for the transmission as well.The owners manual even shows how to change all the fluids!
Despite what some people may say online, the early Saturn vehicles were actually decent cars that did the job with little fuss.
Before being fully acquired by GM, Saturn really made a point to make good little cars, and I can vouch that if you find a good condition s-series car, it will treat you well.
Really the only things that killed these vehicles was not topping them up with oil. This was because the engine in these cars had rather small oil return holes on the pistons, which didn't allow much oil to return to the sump. Thus at higher mileages these cars are known to burn oil.
Overall I am pleased with my 2002 Saturn SL1, through my numerous repairs on the vehicle, I have learned a lot about what goes into a vehicle and how much easier older vehicles are to maintain. If you can find one of these cars in good condition, I would say go for it, as long as your top it up with oil as necessary and do all your other maintenance, you can get a reliable form of transportation for pennies on the dollar.
2002 Ford Windstar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Windstar
This was for a while my family's main hauler, but as of writing this is currently being disassembled and being sold for parts. It has had a long history with many mechanical issues and unique aspects
Our Windstar is the LX trim with the standard 3.8L Essex v6, along with the 4 speed AX4N automatic transmission. Currently it has 140,000 miles and is inoperable, thus this is the final mileage for the vehicle.
In order to explain which I am writing about this vehicle in this way, I must explain its history of mechanical issues it has experience, some due to lack of maintenance, and others simply due to poor design.
First about 2 years ago, the car starting experiencing a rather concerning issue, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust and the oil looked like a milkshake. Just about any mechanic would say this is the classic signs of a head gasket leak. Most of the time this requires a costly engine tear-down to resolve. Not wanting to take the engine apart, I decided to use a bottle of bars leak head gasket fix. Surprisingly the issue was resolved, while not a fool proof fix, it did manage to quell the problem, and the car never had any head gasket issues again.
The next issue the sprung up may have been accelerated the head gasket problem earlier. About a year ago, while driving, the low oil pressure light popped up on the dash. Usually this light appears when the car has low oil, but I knew the car had plenty of oil, as I check it once a week. While driving home with the light on, I noticed that the car started getting louder. It even started making the infamous knocking sound while idling. I knew this was bad news for the engine. In an effort to delay the problem, I changed the oil and put in a thicker grade oil to mask the issue. This worked as the car ran trouble free for another 6 months.
Now fast forward to about 2 weeks ago, and once again the low oil pressure light came on while driving. I thought "Oh Crap", as I knew that even despite being full on oil, the car was getting less than normal amounts oil pressure was a bad sign. As the car was on its way home after the surprise light, the car seemed even worse, as it would struggle to accelerate and not blow cold air from the AC vents. Clearly the car's engine was being worn abnormally and was likely a result of the earlier incident of low oil pressure. Once the car was home the knocking was now clearly apparent as the engine sounded akin to a diesel engine.
I knew the engine at this point would need a rebuild, but due to the age and condition of the rest of the car, a rebuild wouldn't make financial sense. As such it current sits in my garage with parts taken out to be sold.
Clearly this vehicle has had quite the track record of issues. I can say that I have gotten quite lucky, as these cars a known for more serve issues, such as failed transmissions and even cracked rear axles in regions that get snow. While I wouldn't say the Windstar is an awful car, as besides the mechanical issues, the car was decent as a minivan, it certainty isn't the best minivan of its era. Despite this the car is quite unique and it is a rarity to see one on the road now a days.
2006 Scion xA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scion_xA
The Scion xA is the little know sibling to the Scion xB. It was part of Scion's initial roster of cars with it debuted in 2003. The xA is almost identical to the xB , as it shares the same power-train and most of the interior parts.
Our Scion xA comes with the 1.5L 1NZFE Inline 4 engine along with the 4 speed U340E automatic transmission. It currently sits at about 146,000 miles on the odometer.
For the most part it has been a pretty reliable and trouble free vehicle. The car is very easy to work on, as most of the important areas are easily reached and the car's small size and weight makes it very fuel efficient.
Ironically despite being targeted for young people, the car is actually very friendly to old individuals, as with the siting position and ride height, the car is very comfortable to operate.
Quite surprising given the size of the car is how much cargo it can hold. Because the rear seats can be dropped you can get a rather large area to hold things for the size.
Overall I would recommend the Scion xA as a cheap beater car for anyone needing a good all around vehicle for a daily commute. While I have not driven the Scion xB of the same year, I can guess that it handles nearly identically to how the xA does. For those who aren't as big of a fan of the xB's style, the xA is a more rounded version.
Another thing to not is the fairly active community of people who like these vehicles. Most of them are found on the Club xB Forum: https://www.clubxb.com/ the community is very welcoming with plenty of support for these vehicles.
2009 Mercury Grand Marquis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Grand_Marquis
Our newest car in the fleet and the largest. Our Mercury Grand Marquis is the nicest of our rather antiquated car collection
Our vehicle is the "LS Ultimate" trim level. It has the Modular 4.6 V8 and the 4speed 4R75E automatic transmission driven to a 2.73 final drive rear end.
Being the 2nd last year model for the car, many of the common issues with the model have been ironed out. As a result, the car has given little in the way of mechanical issues. Sitting at almost 160,000 miles is proof of that.
A fun fact is this was the vehicle I learned how to drive in and the one I got my drivers license in. Certaintly it made parking more difficult to learn.
These vehicles are known to be great solid cars, as the sister vehicle to the Grand Marquis, the Ford Crown Victoria was extensively used for police service during its run.
The car runs super smooth on the high way and gets decent gas mileage, but the cabin space and trunk space is enormous. For the most part the car has been fairly easy to work on, with lots of space in and under the car.
While I cannot comment on the older models of the Grand Marquis, the post facelift ones from 2006-2011 are great vehicles if you want a large family sedan to cruse down the highway with a little bit of luxury.