We all contain multitudes, don’t we? That’s from the title of a novel I’ve never read and if I’m honest I don’t really get the significance of, but somehow it seemed like a good way to start this, because all of us as car lovers do have multitudes of ideas and feelings about all sorts of cars. And alongside the cars we love and admire and hate and revile there are those cars that, while they may not be our favorites, they’re cars that we feel strangely protective about. Cars that we have to speak up and defend when we hear them maligned, because deep down we know they deserve better.
I suspect we all have cars like this, leaking oil in the parking lot of our mind. Cars that we find ourselves in a genuine argument defending, as part of our brains float up and above, watching the conflict, wondering, hey, how did I get here? Why am I yelling at a dude for talking shit about a car I’ve never even owned? And yet here we are.
Mercedes told me for her that car is the Smart ForTwo, and I get that. She’s owned several, and they’re often the target of ridicule, undeserved, I think. For me, I think there’s two: the Fiat 500L, which I’ve defended on these very pages, and also the Yugo, which takes an extraordinary amount of bullshit from the world at large, and I think, needs me to defend it.
I once made a whole video defending this car, which I now own:
Man, now I’m getting worked up again, just imagining all the slights and eye rolls and dismissive comments that Yugos and 500Ls are inspiring, just by being mentioned. But I don’t think I’ll ever stop defending them.
Why am I like this? Who the hell knows? But I bet I’m not alone. I bet almost all of you have some sort of car you will always defend, and I want to know what they are, and why they make you feel the way you do, and how you defend them – everything. I want to know everything, always, forever.
So please tell me.
Literally any minivan
Great bang for your interior-space money. But they’re hardly the family-budget friendly vehicles they were years ago.
The are cheaper than a lot of SUVs and crossovers.
Not any more.
Try shopping equivalent vehicles in size, capability and it will be not much difference in price. Honda Pilot EX-L hovers around $44K – 48k Odyssey EX-L is about $3k cheaper. And the Pilot may have AWD.
The starting prices aren’t bad. The Sienna, Odyssey, and Pacifica all start at under $40,000. The Carnival starts at $34,000. That’s a great price for something that can actually carry 7 people, as opposed to a big crossover with a 3rd row that is only good for toddlers and dogs.
That’s the problem… they got just popular enough to now they are as pricey as any SUV crossover. It sucks. I guess–I mean, every car is expensive these days.
Of course, it’s the high trims everyone tests.
I’m still hanging on to my 2015 Odyssey EX-L. It is the best, most reliable car I’ve ever owned. I paid just under $32k for that.
Literally any minivan
Great bang for your interior-space money. But they’re hardly the family-budget friendly vehicles they were years ago.
The are cheaper than a lot of SUVs and crossovers.
Not any more.
Try shopping equivalent vehicles in size, capability and it will be not much difference in price. Honda Pilot EX-L hovers around $44K – 48k Odyssey EX-L is about $3k cheaper. And the Pilot may have AWD.
The starting prices aren’t bad. The Sienna, Odyssey, and Pacifica all start at under $40,000. The Carnival starts at $34,000. That’s a great price for something that can actually carry 7 people, as opposed to a big crossover with a 3rd row that is only good for toddlers and dogs.
That’s the problem… they got just popular enough to now they are as pricey as any SUV crossover. It sucks. I guess–I mean, every car is expensive these days.
Of course, it’s the high trims everyone tests.
I’m still hanging on to my 2015 Odyssey EX-L. It is the best, most reliable car I’ve ever owned. I paid just under $32k for that.
Not a car in particular but I’m a believer of Ford’s Ecoboost engines, specially the 2.7 Nano with the CGI block, 2.0/2.3 and late 3.5 Ecobooosts.
I love when people comment on how bad Ecoboosts are in general but it seems most of them were burned by one of those 1.0, 1.5 or 1.6 engines which share nothing in particular with the first ones I mentioned. There are 5 or 6 different engine families that are part of the Ecoboost branding with no shared parts whatsoever.
But maybe it was Ford’s fault for labeling them all as Ecoboosts.
I have no experience with them, but I like the idea and the numbers are impressive. I find myself defending turbos in general, a lot of people think they’re inherently unreliable.
Funny how the same people who think a thousand-dollar t-belt job on a 4.7 Toyota is “reliable”, think a possible turbo replacement totals the vehicle.
I have some experience with the bigger 4 cyl and currently own an F150 with the 2nd gen 2.7. It pulls awesome but what people say about fuel economy is on point, you either get the Eco or Boost. Fuel economy is not different from my previous Ram with the Pentastar but the performance boost was well worth it IMHO.
And mine is already over 150K, but I’ve seen many with 200K and more.
The eco or boost statement makes sense and is not surprising. My 2.5L turbo Volvo barely gets better HIGHWAY economy than my 4.0 V6 4Runner, and it’s arguably worse in the city. It’s got a great feel though, I love the low-end torque of the 2.5T.
That was a great sounding, peppy engine. A decade ago I booked a compact car in Atlanta. When I arrived to the airport counter I found out SIXT had fumbled it and didn’t have what I ordered so they gave me a new S60 T5 as a free upgrade.
It was a hoot to drive, but can’t recall what the FE was.
I was skeptical of the 2.7, but my Dad put a lot of miles on one without a spec of trouble (the rest of the truck, not so much…), and it was never lacking for power. Mileage was even respectable for a half ton with that much power.
Can’t speak to the later 3.5s, but my brother had an early one of those and it needed a new timing chain after like 90k, which is absurd. Apparently not that uncommon either based on reports from the forums. His was from over a decade ago though so I would hope they’ve improved in the meantime.
The 3.5 had timing issues which were fairly common and still a thing on the early 2nd gen engines with Dual Injection but not exactly widespread. Apparently the camshaft phasers were a point of failure but Ford released a new revision several years ago. It’s too early to say if it solved these issues but even early 3.5 Ecoboosts with 250K or more are not uncommon.
Bottom line: that’s another argument for choosing the 2.7 (and related 3.0) over other Ecoboosts as they were designed from the very beginning to take forced induction, while the other ones were heavily revised around an existing NA engine
Not a car in particular but I’m a believer of Ford’s Ecoboost engines, specially the 2.7 Nano with the CGI block, 2.0/2.3 and late 3.5 Ecobooosts.
I love when people comment on how bad Ecoboosts are in general but it seems most of them were burned by one of those 1.0, 1.5 or 1.6 engines which share nothing in particular with the first ones I mentioned. There are 5 or 6 different engine families that are part of the Ecoboost branding with no shared parts whatsoever.
But maybe it was Ford’s fault for labeling them all as Ecoboosts.
I have no experience with them, but I like the idea and the numbers are impressive. I find myself defending turbos in general, a lot of people think they’re inherently unreliable.
Funny how the same people who think a thousand-dollar t-belt job on a 4.7 Toyota is “reliable”, think a possible turbo replacement totals the vehicle.
I have some experience with the bigger 4 cyl and currently own an F150 with the 2nd gen 2.7. It pulls awesome but what people say about fuel economy is on point, you either get the Eco or Boost. Fuel economy is not different from my previous Ram with the Pentastar but the performance boost was well worth it IMHO.
And mine is already over 150K, but I’ve seen many with 200K and more.
The eco or boost statement makes sense and is not surprising. My 2.5L turbo Volvo barely gets better HIGHWAY economy than my 4.0 V6 4Runner, and it’s arguably worse in the city. It’s got a great feel though, I love the low-end torque of the 2.5T.
That was a great sounding, peppy engine. A decade ago I booked a compact car in Atlanta. When I arrived to the airport counter I found out SIXT had fumbled it and didn’t have what I ordered so they gave me a new S60 T5 as a free upgrade.
It was a hoot to drive, but can’t recall what the FE was.
I was skeptical of the 2.7, but my Dad put a lot of miles on one without a spec of trouble (the rest of the truck, not so much…), and it was never lacking for power. Mileage was even respectable for a half ton with that much power.
Can’t speak to the later 3.5s, but my brother had an early one of those and it needed a new timing chain after like 90k, which is absurd. Apparently not that uncommon either based on reports from the forums. His was from over a decade ago though so I would hope they’ve improved in the meantime.
The 3.5 had timing issues which were fairly common and still a thing on the early 2nd gen engines with Dual Injection but not exactly widespread. Apparently the camshaft phasers were a point of failure but Ford released a new revision several years ago. It’s too early to say if it solved these issues but even early 3.5 Ecoboosts with 250K or more are not uncommon.
Bottom line: that’s another argument for choosing the 2.7 (and related 3.0) over other Ecoboosts as they were designed from the very beginning to take forced induction, while the other ones were heavily revised around an existing NA engine
Honda Fit. If you haven’t experienced one, you just can’t comprehend how great they are.
Had one as a loaner back in 2013, I loved it!
Bought one of these for my eldest to take to college, after I drove it for several years. Loved that car. In fact, I’m planning on buying it back now that it’s been replaced by a Crosstrek.
It handled like a go cart, had 10 cupholders and loads of interior space. One of the best vehicles I’ve ever owned.
The cupholders on the dash were gamechangers
It’s impossible to take the Fit to Autocross without people coming up afterwards with some sort of comment of how fun/entertaining/insane it looks on course, three wheeling and rotating everywhere!
I own one of the last manual Fits, my only regret is that I didn’t buy a model year sooner so I could have manual and sunroof but the thing’s tall and airy enough that I don’t really miss the latter.
I own a 3rd generation going on 10 years. I’m constantly proselytizing about it for a host of reasons: it’s reliable, economical, very spacious, and fun too!
MAGIC. SEATS.
I was going to work that in, but didn’t want to go overboard! But oh yeah!
Honda Fit. If you haven’t experienced one, you just can’t comprehend how great they are.
Had one as a loaner back in 2013, I loved it!
Bought one of these for my eldest to take to college, after I drove it for several years. Loved that car. In fact, I’m planning on buying it back now that it’s been replaced by a Crosstrek.
It handled like a go cart, had 10 cupholders and loads of interior space. One of the best vehicles I’ve ever owned.
The cupholders on the dash were gamechangers
It’s impossible to take the Fit to Autocross without people coming up afterwards with some sort of comment of how fun/entertaining/insane it looks on course, three wheeling and rotating everywhere!
I own one of the last manual Fits, my only regret is that I didn’t buy a model year sooner so I could have manual and sunroof but the thing’s tall and airy enough that I don’t really miss the latter.
I own a 3rd generation going on 10 years. I’m constantly proselytizing about it for a host of reasons: it’s reliable, economical, very spacious, and fun too!
MAGIC. SEATS.
I was going to work that in, but didn’t want to go overboard! But oh yeah!
The Lexus SC430. 99% of the hate is people repeating Jeremy Clarkson’s take and/or people that see Z30 Soarers/SC300s/SC400s getting drifted or with big turbo 2JZs and think that the SC line was always supposed to be more of a sports car. That was never the case and SCs were never sports cars, they were always big, heavy, comfy grand tourers and that’s exactly what the SC430 is as well.
People have realized this and they’re going up in price quickly
The SC430 is brilliant.
Proud to say I’ve always hated these well before Clarkson came along. They’re ugly, slow and ride like crap.
The Lexus SC430. 99% of the hate is people repeating Jeremy Clarkson’s take and/or people that see Z30 Soarers/SC300s/SC400s getting drifted or with big turbo 2JZs and think that the SC line was always supposed to be more of a sports car. That was never the case and SCs were never sports cars, they were always big, heavy, comfy grand tourers and that’s exactly what the SC430 is as well.
People have realized this and they’re going up in price quickly
The SC430 is brilliant.
Proud to say I’ve always hated these well before Clarkson came along. They’re ugly, slow and ride like crap.
Vans
But what if I want my belongings to roll around unsecured in the rain, snow and road debris, all while being open for theft at any time?
Incoming tonneau cover comments in 3… 2…
But yeah I agree, don’t own very many things that I want to be wet/filthy. For most people and situations, covered cargo area is key.
Ah, yes, the security of a thin film of vinyl or the hard-tops that can usually just be pried open. My mistake for forgetting about this level of armour.
Beat me to it.
Clearly, we are aligned on this.
Vans
But what if I want my belongings to roll around unsecured in the rain, snow and road debris, all while being open for theft at any time?
Incoming tonneau cover comments in 3… 2…
But yeah I agree, don’t own very many things that I want to be wet/filthy. For most people and situations, covered cargo area is key.
Ah, yes, the security of a thin film of vinyl or the hard-tops that can usually just be pried open. My mistake for forgetting about this level of armour.
Beat me to it.
Clearly, we are aligned on this.
My Pilot, and its predecessor in my family, an Odyssey, from David Tracy and suggestion that they are not reliable.
My Pilot, and its predecessor in my family, an Odyssey, from David Tracy and suggestion that they are not reliable.
Variously and somewhat chronologically, the Porsche 914, the VW Thing, the Subaru BRAT, the Dodge Rampage, the Jeep Scrambler, the Saab 900, the Suzuki Samurai, the Audi TT (first gen), the Subaru Baha, the Saab 9-2x, the Honda Element, the Mini Cooper Roadster, any VW TDI, the BMW i3, restomods, and most recently the Hyundai Santa Cruz. What can I say? I like to argue.
Well some of those make sense. I really really don’t understand the Element sympathy though, it’s just another ugly crossover.
Element is awesome from a practicality standpoint. Ugly as sin, I agree, but you can stand a fullsize bicycle in the back with both wheels on. I was on a group mtb ride recently, and it blew my mind when one of the riders just rolled her bike right up into the back of an Element as the rest of us were removing wheels or messing with bike racks.
yeah, the Element is an, ugly, slow 4 cyl crossover with FE of a V6 but it’s interior was sorted out better than anything out there. I understand the appeal for those and even thought about getting one. None of the acquaintances that own/owned one ever said bad things about them other than poor fuel economy
Fantastic car list!
Variously and somewhat chronologically, the Porsche 914, the VW Thing, the Subaru BRAT, the Dodge Rampage, the Jeep Scrambler, the Saab 900, the Suzuki Samurai, the Audi TT (first gen), the Subaru Baha, the Saab 9-2x, the Honda Element, the Mini Cooper Roadster, any VW TDI, the BMW i3, restomods, and most recently the Hyundai Santa Cruz. What can I say? I like to argue.
Well some of those make sense. I really really don’t understand the Element sympathy though, it’s just another ugly crossover.
Element is awesome from a practicality standpoint. Ugly as sin, I agree, but you can stand a fullsize bicycle in the back with both wheels on. I was on a group mtb ride recently, and it blew my mind when one of the riders just rolled her bike right up into the back of an Element as the rest of us were removing wheels or messing with bike racks.
yeah, the Element is an, ugly, slow 4 cyl crossover with FE of a V6 but it’s interior was sorted out better than anything out there. I understand the appeal for those and even thought about getting one. None of the acquaintances that own/owned one ever said bad things about them other than poor fuel economy
Fantastic car list!
See username.
See username.
The 500L is trash. I say this having no personal experience with the car other than having to look at it sometimes, but I’m still confident that I’m correct. Trash, trash, trash.
The 500L is trash. I say this having no personal experience with the car other than having to look at it sometimes, but I’m still confident that I’m correct. Trash, trash, trash.
Land Rover in general, and the Range Rover Sport in particular.
Every LR discussion is full of bleating chuzzlewits – most of whom probably have not even sat in a RR, let alone owned one – carrying on about reliability.
I had a Range Rover Sport Supercharged, and loved every second of owning it. The only serious issue it had was with one of the high-pressure fuel pumps and that was repaired under warranty. I swapped it at 125K miles for an F-Pace because I suddenly needed a vehicle with better fuel economy.
The Jaaag has been fantastic and I plan to keep it as long as humanly possible.
tl;dr – owner of JLR products is defender (ha!) of JLR
Same here other than in my case it’s Jaguar F Type.
Brave stance to take. In my experience for how simple the damn things are they are surprisingly unreliable, though the newest LR/RR product I’ve dealt with regularly is an LR3 and that is probably the most reliable of the bunch. Most of my experience is with Defenders though.
I have a Runner, but lately I’ve been lusting after a supercharged late ’00s Rover to offroad with.
The supercharged version may not be the best choice for off-roading, unfortunately.
The SC version comes with larger brakes, which necessitate larger wheels, which in turn dictate lower-profile tires.
I took mine on logging roads and through streams/creeks, but was always worried about denting a rim on rocky trails because of the comparative lack of sidewall. You could swap the SC brakes and wheels for the ones from the regular/NA model, but as Ferdinand Porsche once said, “Nothing should be able to go faster than it can stop”.
Good point, thanks for the info. I think even the N/A 5.0 is close to 400hp, that’ll be enough haha.
Land Rover in general, and the Range Rover Sport in particular.
Every LR discussion is full of bleating chuzzlewits – most of whom probably have not even sat in a RR, let alone owned one – carrying on about reliability.
I had a Range Rover Sport Supercharged, and loved every second of owning it. The only serious issue it had was with one of the high-pressure fuel pumps and that was repaired under warranty. I swapped it at 125K miles for an F-Pace because I suddenly needed a vehicle with better fuel economy.
The Jaaag has been fantastic and I plan to keep it as long as humanly possible.
tl;dr – owner of JLR products is defender (ha!) of JLR
Same here other than in my case it’s Jaguar F Type.
Brave stance to take. In my experience for how simple the damn things are they are surprisingly unreliable, though the newest LR/RR product I’ve dealt with regularly is an LR3 and that is probably the most reliable of the bunch. Most of my experience is with Defenders though.
I have a Runner, but lately I’ve been lusting after a supercharged late ’00s Rover to offroad with.
The supercharged version may not be the best choice for off-roading, unfortunately.
The SC version comes with larger brakes, which necessitate larger wheels, which in turn dictate lower-profile tires.
I took mine on logging roads and through streams/creeks, but was always worried about denting a rim on rocky trails because of the comparative lack of sidewall. You could swap the SC brakes and wheels for the ones from the regular/NA model, but as Ferdinand Porsche once said, “Nothing should be able to go faster than it can stop”.
Good point, thanks for the info. I think even the N/A 5.0 is close to 400hp, that’ll be enough haha.
Miata Is Always The Answer; and so it is in this case.
I will spend more effort defending the Multipla, but now I can simply point people to Adrian’s article.
Miata Is Always The Answer; and so it is in this case.
I will spend more effort defending the Multipla, but now I can simply point people to Adrian’s article.
I constantly defend minivans and no one will listen to me 🙁 I guess you could also say I defend the N products because no one knows what they are and I always try to explain why they’re interesting. Ultimately no one gives a shit outside of folks at track days or cars and coffee…but no normie knew what my GTI was either so I’m used to it.
Defending vans turns me into a strange curiosity of a person in some groups.
But yeah, I can see the Hyundai N stump speech going just as poorly. You’ve basically got two groups of people out there, one that still somehow thinks it’s still 1998, and the other that thinks “Camrys and Corollas but with more value and a longer warranty”. These are not the people I want to convince that Hyundai now makes desirable sports-adjacent cars.
Hell even when I took it to its first track day no one there had any idea what it was. A bunch of Corvette and Mustang guys were side eyeing me and making passive aggressive comments until they couldn’t keep up with it as soon as things got twisty. Then I got mobbed after I got done lapping and everyone wanted to know what the hell I’d done to it to make it move like that (not a damn thing).
And honestly it only gets attention at Cars and Coffee from other N folks and, I shit you not…car dudes’ partners. I literally walked up to get my water bottle out of it one time at a C&C and a woman was standing there telling her man “now THIS is a car that you can get! Look how PRACTICAL it is!” as he rolled his eyes.
Yeah that’s exactly what I imagine the experience would be like.
I, for better or worse, am comfortable in the quirky “that boy ain’t right” mode that I’m in when it comes to automotive taste, so I’m pretty used to defending things like Suzuki SX4s (took a lot of flak for what was an awesome car). I’m used to it.
An AWD minivan is one of the most practical vehicles one can own. I have no kids and could still justify owning a minivan for camping and mountain biking excursions.
There were 4 of us in Moab a few years back, we had a rental Suburban and Caravan. The Caravan could fit all 4 people, bikes, and gear. The Sub could only fit 3.
Id take this one step further and say that a hybrid AWD minivan is, in fact, the most practical car you can own, bar none.
*gazes menacingly at van haters*
…you may not like it, but the Sienna is what peak automotive performance looks like.
My wife loves and uses the hell out of her awd pacifica. We have a 42×42 dog kennel in the back and still pop up the middle seats if needed. Great rig.
While I’m a fan of all minivans, I particularly like the 2001-2003 MPV. Large enough to move people and cargo, but small & tossable enough to easily drive in cities. They are simple and reliable, and with the 3.0 Duratec feel almost quick. In my small fleet of 8 cars I have two of them – one just for visiting friends and relatives to use.
I constantly defend minivans and no one will listen to me 🙁 I guess you could also say I defend the N products because no one knows what they are and I always try to explain why they’re interesting. Ultimately no one gives a shit outside of folks at track days or cars and coffee…but no normie knew what my GTI was either so I’m used to it.
Defending vans turns me into a strange curiosity of a person in some groups.
But yeah, I can see the Hyundai N stump speech going just as poorly. You’ve basically got two groups of people out there, one that still somehow thinks it’s still 1998, and the other that thinks “Camrys and Corollas but with more value and a longer warranty”. These are not the people I want to convince that Hyundai now makes desirable sports-adjacent cars.
Hell even when I took it to its first track day no one there had any idea what it was. A bunch of Corvette and Mustang guys were side eyeing me and making passive aggressive comments until they couldn’t keep up with it as soon as things got twisty. Then I got mobbed after I got done lapping and everyone wanted to know what the hell I’d done to it to make it move like that (not a damn thing).
And honestly it only gets attention at Cars and Coffee from other N folks and, I shit you not…car dudes’ partners. I literally walked up to get my water bottle out of it one time at a C&C and a woman was standing there telling her man “now THIS is a car that you can get! Look how PRACTICAL it is!” as he rolled his eyes.
Yeah that’s exactly what I imagine the experience would be like.
I, for better or worse, am comfortable in the quirky “that boy ain’t right” mode that I’m in when it comes to automotive taste, so I’m pretty used to defending things like Suzuki SX4s (took a lot of flak for what was an awesome car). I’m used to it.
An AWD minivan is one of the most practical vehicles one can own. I have no kids and could still justify owning a minivan for camping and mountain biking excursions.
There were 4 of us in Moab a few years back, we had a rental Suburban and Caravan. The Caravan could fit all 4 people, bikes, and gear. The Sub could only fit 3.
Id take this one step further and say that a hybrid AWD minivan is, in fact, the most practical car you can own, bar none.
*gazes menacingly at van haters*
…you may not like it, but the Sienna is what peak automotive performance looks like.
My wife loves and uses the hell out of her awd pacifica. We have a 42×42 dog kennel in the back and still pop up the middle seats if needed. Great rig.
While I’m a fan of all minivans, I particularly like the 2001-2003 MPV. Large enough to move people and cargo, but small & tossable enough to easily drive in cities. They are simple and reliable, and with the 3.0 Duratec feel almost quick. In my small fleet of 8 cars I have two of them – one just for visiting friends and relatives to use.
R51 (3rd gen) Nissan Pathfinder.
People LOVE to shit on Nissans because of CVTs, Altimas, Titans, and whatever else makes themselves feel better about what they are driving.
Then they get to the Pathfinder:
Abysmal MPG
IFS/IRS
Rear door handles not kid-approved
No off-road chops like the Xterra
Lost its way from the original
Ass end wallows like a walrus trying to get back to the water…
I’ve heard them all.
I’ve heard it all.
But I have taken paths (see what I did there) that 4Runners would not.
I have been able to add winch, bumper, side rails, lights, radio, upsized brakes, power adders. I use it to help with Recovery and Rescue for events in WVA. Before I took the back seats out, it transported 7. It has front and rear AC (separate). I have off-roaded with heated seats. It is a good vehicle.
Though few people will modify it the way I will, it is a durable beast. Still, they persist.
Look around the next time you are at a stoplight. You will see one. Your mind may ‘not see it’ because it doesn’t draw attention, but it is there.
You need to seat 7 for under 6k? Get a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder. Do the maintenance. You will be driving it in 2030 with no worries.
You see, the Pathfinder may be a comfortable, durable, long-lasting, and reasonably capable vehicle, but it’s not actually difficult to find a vehicle that checks all of those boxes without having to suffer through these:
“Abysmal MPG
IFS/IRS
Rear door handles not kid-approved
No off-road chops like the Xterra
Lost its way from the original
Ass end wallows like a walrus trying to get back to the water…”
Being a decent vehicle does not prevent it from being a singularly uncompetitive vehicle.
Is it?
It has been out of production 12 years. I genuinely would like to know what is on your list of “comfortable, durable, long-lasting, and reasonably capable” from that era that is around today. Even better if it is in the same price range.
The point, though, is that I have to defend it.
15-20 MPG stock isn’t REALLY abysmal for a BOF SUV
IFS/IRS makes for pleasant on-road driving relative to solid axles
My kids can reach them now. When they couldn’t, I was putting them in car seats anyway.
It is only slightly less capable than an Xterra
The original was a BOF SUV based on the hardbody. This is a BOF SUV that shares the F-Alpha platform with the Xterra, Frontier, Titan, and Armada of their day.
$180 in different rear dampers solves this.
I liked those, specially if you can find one with a V8. They’re thin on ice and people know what they’ve got, just like V8 Explorers from that era.
From what I have learned, the V8 was in dealer allotments only for 2008. 2009-2012 were customer-order. The V8 was only in the LE version. For a hair more, you could have gotten an Armada, so they sat.
I saw a guy that claimed his 2012 V8 was one of 20 for that year, and I have few doubts.
I still see a lot of these around. A little awkward looking, but not bad. I used to see one that was slightly lifted with what looked like 32’s, it looked really good.
I love that they could come with the V8, I only learned that tidbit a few years ago.
I think the IRS is the worst thing about them.