One difficult aspect of being a car enthusiast is being hopelessly in love with a car that you know you shouldn’t buy. You may think about this vehicle often and maybe even have an example saved in your Facebook Marketplace list, but you just can’t get yourself to buy it. Maybe the car you want is known for its performance but is also known for emptying its owner’s bank account. Maybe you work one of those jobs or live in one of those places where you’re expected to drive a certain kind of vehicle. No matter the reason, what car do you want to buy but are too scared to actually follow through with?
Some of you see me as a bit of a fearless collector. Currently, I own a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, a retired transit bus, a couple of BMWs, and a Suzuki RE-5 rotary-powered motorcycle. Any one of these vehicles can bankrupt a person when they break, but I’ve rolled the dice on them. Thankfully, if these vehicles ever do break on me, I could either just sell them or wait until I can repair them. I don’t need to depend on any of them to get me around.
With that said, there are cars I want, but keep myself from buying. Ironically, one of those vehicles is a Volkswagen with a 2.0-liter turbo four from the late 2000s and early 2010s. These cars are notorious for timing failures. I mean, Jason’s wife’s Tiguan had a timing failure, even though Jason knew the crossover was a bomb just waiting to blow.
It’s a shame because so many cool cars came with that engine from the Holy Grail Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen SEL to the surprisingly capable Tiguan 4Motion. Of course, don’t forget that there are a lot of cheap GTIs with those engines But even I am too scared to pull the trigger.
While we’re on the subject of sketchy VAGs, another vehicle I want to buy but stop short on is the Volkswagen EuroVan. I’d love a EuroVan MV Weekender as a sweet factory camper, but I keep reading reports about automatic transmission failures. This wouldn’t be an issue with a manual transmission, but we didn’t get higher trim EuroVans in America with manual transmissions. It was hard enough to find a B5.5 Passat that didn’t have a dying transmission, so I’m not sure how quickly I want to repeat the process with a van.
Yes, all of this is patently ridiculous when you remember that I own a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI and used to own a Phaeton. Both of those cars are known to break catastrophically, costing their owners piles of money. In my silly head, at least those vehicles are special enough to take the chance on, whereas a Tiguan and a GTI are cool, but not exactly V10 TDI cool.
Another vehicle I want but am too scared to buy is an old Land Rover Discovery. I’ve heard enough horror stories from David Tracy and Rob Spiteri that I have yet to buy one. Yet, I’m still allured by a Disco’s off-road capabilities and excellent style.
Alright, so you know my fears and the vehicles that make me toss and turn at night. Seriously, I’ve lost sleep over buying a EuroVan once. Are there any cars that do that for you? What do you want but are too scared to buy?
After briefly driving an RX8, high revs are totally addicting and my memory has been sold.
I’m going to stick with used, out of warranty vehicles that I could possible afford. For me, that’d be the 1990s BMW 8 series.
Because when I’m off from work I’m usually skiing, camping, fishing, and driving down rough to nearly impassible roads, my fleet (three Subarus, one 4Runner, and one Mazda MPV 4WD van thingy) is quite capable. But if it weren’t for fear of breaking something and having to walk out for 30 miles, I think I’d love:
Any Land/Range Rover
Synchro VW Van
First Gen Touareg with the air suspension (and the very rare front locking diff)
Mercedes G-Wagen
This probably wouldn’t break, but would be hell on the highway:
Unimog camper conversion
I’m so bored with my 4Runner, I’m constantly looking for lower cost replacements. I too am tempted by the Rovers, I’d absolutely LOVE a L322 Range Rover, a LR3 or LR4 Landy, or especially a ’04 Disco 2. They all horrify me in terms of reliability. I actually think the LR3 is the safe bet and is relatively solid, but they’re getting pretty old now and have the least power. That Jag 5.0 V8 calls to me, at least till the timing chain goes.
Along the same lines, a first gen Cayenne would be a hoot, at least for a while.
I’m also thinking of WK2 HEMI Grand Cherokees, those only slightly less scare me.
As much as I don’t like Toyota, the damn thing has spoiled me. It’s just underpowered and soulless.
I also want an old squarebody GM, the cheapest way to get into one now is a Burb, but I don’t think I have the time to take care of one. I definitely don’t have the space, as an apartment dweller I don’t even have a driveway.
I also want an 80 series Land Cruiser, but I’m afraid of throwing my life savings on one.
VW Phaeton W12, Touareg V10 TDI, Passat W8, Audi A8 W12, Mercedes-Benz W220 S Class, to a lesser extent 997.1 Carrera S and E39 BMW 530i
Bentley Arnage, Maserati Quattroporte.
Obviously I’m not scared of anything, but there are cars I can’t buy until I have more space (damned interest rates) and more money and time to throw at them…
Eventually tho, the list includes
Phaeton W12 4 seater launch ed
914 for restomod
997.2 GTS or Targa 4S
957 Cayenne Turbo
I think my next daily is gonna be a Bentayga Speed, which I guess would scare most people, but meh. It’s just a fast VW.
I owned a ’99 EuroVan and an ’04 GTI. I was scared to own both of them while I owned them! I love those Mark IV GTIs and the R32 Golf R, but I know misery awaits around every corner.
Alfa-Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. It’s such a pretty car I would hate to have a bad experience with it and end up being miserable.
VW Touareg TDi V-10. I love diesels and I think it’s an amazing vehicle but it’s also amazingly unreliable. 🙁 I also don’t have the finances or mechanical skills to maintain one.
Thus far, I haven’t had major issues with mine. Sure, there are plenty of things that work intermittently or not ever as long as I’ve owned it, but that V10 always clacks to life.
That said, even though I’ve had it for a few years, it makes noises and does things sometimes that cause genuine concern. But always seems to work itself out. And yes, parts are insanely expensive and you best know your way around Piëch VAG products if you’re going to attempt to take care of one. I have ~10k in parts sitting around for various maintenance and repairs I have been slowly doing to it. And I haven’t even bought replacement cams or a DPF/EGR delete yet… boof. Maybe I’m not selling it so well.
But damn is it a cool rig.
Would you say that a myriad of issues is caused by the DPF/EGR systems?
*whispers in EPA* all of them
In all seriousness, it’s a Piëch era VW product, and an extremely ambitious one at that, of course it has issues. The biggest one is obviously the DPFs and EGR. The EGR valves get stuck intermittently, and even when they work… all they do is coat the intake manifold in soot and clog it up. The DPFs are pre DEF, so they are surely pretty clogged, they do a burn (not regen) every few hundred miles. About half of these are successful. The other half “exhaust temp too low, burn unsuccessful” because the temp sensors are insalenely finicky. I’ve replaced all of them and inspected all wiring, but still get intermittent “implausible range” for two of them on the DME every few times I start it. Maybe a ground I haven’t found, maybe I just need to rip it off the car.
There’s also some spots where the wiring harness sheath has left the chat, so been fixing those spots as I can find and access them. Everything from the inevitable sunroof drain that corrodes a wire that bricks the car to one for a different temp sensor. Just typical VW tings. Other typical VW tings are random electrical gremlins.. parking sensors that live to die, bad kessy sensors on a few doors, and of course, HVAC vent flap motors.. Otherwise, it’s just typical older car stuff.
Oh and I’m sure it has cam wear. It’s a PD VW diesel.
There’s a decent list of stuff that WILL go wrong, a lot of things that CAN go wrong, and other that that, it’s just what particular set of quirks is it going to have that day? It definitely deserves its reputation, but it’s also somewhat overblown, in my experience and what I’ve seen from other owners. Definitely own a VAGCOM cable, though. It causes me lots of stress and headaches, but I think that’s why I love it. If it were a Toyota, it would just work. Where’s the fun in that?
Wow, thanks for the great write up! I admire your dedication to the vehicle. One day I will get one! I just find diesel vehicles that aren’t ginormous pickup trucks alluring. I will say my 05′ E320 CDi has been a tank with over 200k. However, my car came before all the emissions controls, so I lucked out on that. I’m okay with hitting 42 mpg on the highway.
Yeah, some part of my wishes I either found an 04 (no emissions) or an 07 (better electrics, newer tech, but pre facelift), but this one was low mileage and had the factory flares, among other rare/discontinued parts, so I put up with it. Diesel Mercs never die! And I’ll always love the W211.
I’ve never hit half that in any of my cars. mildly jealous lol
Sadly, most of my cars are high in mileage. My 05 Focus ZX-5 has over 200k, the E320CDi over 200K, the Magnum R/T 180K, and the Mustang base 178k. The Focus was the college car, the Magnum was the toy, the E320 was to replace the Focus for daily driver duty but my nephew gave me back the Focus, and the Mustang was my ex’s. My driveway looks like a used car lot to say the least.
Alfa Romeo 4C
1st gen Porsche Cayman
Lotus Elise
1st gen Tesla Roadster
Pull the trigger on the Elise. It’s a joy to have as a second/third car. Life is about trade offs and you might give up seat comfort but you gain the joy of driving something light in a future full of heavyweights.
The basic bits are easy enough to work on and the engine is solid. Your ppi should a check of the valves to verify they are in adjustment as the factory did not manage this well. Mine needed the exhaust valves adjusted but you are already in there and I just had it done.
Be honest with yourself here as you can’t be too big and fit into that car.
Once I have the space to keep one, I will be very tempted to do so…
I’m not a big guy, so interior room isn’t the issue. My worry is body repair if I get into a minor collision.
And it better be easy to work on, because if I buy one, I plan to hoon the shit out of it on a daily basis.
Well fiberglass repair is a thing. There a lot of these out there with a branded title because insurance companies get all twitchy if an accident happens. The car itself is solid but you would be correct that the body is fragile just like any other fiberglass car. Also depending on the year look at swapping out the oil cooler sandwich plate for a mishimoto as they have a proper thermostat and will speed up your warm up times.
As someone who doesn’t/can’t do their own maintenance, basically anything that’s not a cheap, reliable commuter, like my Prius v.
I still look at conversion vans like my old one in spite of knowing how they can and will hurt me…
I also glance at Miatas, but my hesitation there is 1) not knowing how to drive stick yet, 2) how many of them have some modifications and who knows what will or won’t cause problems, and 3) holy shit, why are so many of these used ones convertibles? I want a hard-top! But if buying a hard top is gonna set me back another grand or something…
‘Yet’ is the key phrase. This is a community full of people who can drive stick, are probably nearby, and may be willing to teach you. I’m around Milwaukee, where are you?
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
In actuality, my only real concern related to that is if I can learn how to drive it before I actually buy one and have to drive it away.
Regardless, the cheap ones tend to need significant work or mods undone, and I am in serious disbelief at how few have hard tops.
….in any event, I don’t know how strongly I actually feel about getting one.
Okay, that’s fair. Just saying, you have options.
I am scared of owning BMWs, Porsches, Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Land Rovers, Ferraris, Lambos and other high/higher end European vehicles because of too many reports I’ve seen or heard about frequent and expensive repairs.
Oh, I am ready for this! I am in the search for a second car for my family and all I see are things I really don’t need.
Here’s my situation: $5000 budget. Looking in coastal New England. Have a toddler, need to commute, and also need to haul stuff to take care of a new house. We’ve already got a new Tiguan.
Things I want, but I am weary of:
So yes, there are many things that scratch an itch…but I am terrified. Will I likely buy an old RX350 with solid maintenance records, a Ford Ranger, or some variation on a Camry/Accord/Civic/Corolla? Probably.
“Things I want, but I am weary of:”
Wary is the word you’re actually thinking of…
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wary
True! And if actually owned, you’d grow weary of these very quickly, I imagine.
Look out west, you should be able to find a GMT800 pretty easily. I’m tempted to go that route with a Z71 Tahoe or Suburban, I really like them. Or I have zero need for it, but I’d love to possess a 2500 8.1L Burb, basically just to say I have a 8.1, haha.
For all that is good and holy, buy the Saab 9-7x. Don’t be scared. Best vehicle I ever owned. Engine leaked a little oil but not even enough to top off between oil changes (Mine had the 5.3, almost wish it had the I6 though). If you don’t get it, let me know where I can find so I can buy it. My brother wrecked mine during snowmaggeddon down here in TX and because the damage was more than a door ding, the insurance company totaled it. If I knew they were going to total it, I would have never reported it and just gotten it fixed. I miss that thing!
Go for the Ranger Danger–most interesting imo of the reasonable suggestions you put out.
I appreciate all the responses (and thank you Manwich for the proofreading). I think I am going to go for something I found yesterday: 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT 4×4 with 135,000 miles. Has receipts of a recently rebuilt transmission amongst other maintenance, small rust spot on the bumper, some scratches. Dark green over tan leather interior, four doors, bed cover, no accidents. Interior is in great shape, has the 5.9 Magnum. It is the solid pickup/kid carrier I really want and for $3800, I feel pretty good about it. Going to head down to take a look tomorrow! Hopefully a test drive and a really thorough inspection shows a good truck.
Anytime I consider a project car. I know it will start with enthusiasm which will rapidly turn aching body parts, recriminations, regrets and ultimately disposal of said project car. Aging sux!
I would love to replace my daily driver 4Runner with an old Range Rover but everything on Range Rovers will cost a fortune to repair. I also really want an R129 SL, would be a great fun car that my girlfriend could also drive.
GET THE SL!
It’s very tempting but I have no room, already own one 30 year old sports car and my girlfriend would prefer a Miata.
The two cars I lust after are the Citröen SM and the Alfa Romeo Montreal. Both beautiful,original, desirable but with massive amounts of potential trouble. Maybe I should just mount one on the wall.
Any single-generation vehicle with an engine that was exclusively tied to that model.
For me it’s a second-gen Toyota Century. While we were buying our “sensible” car I was secretly excited as the purchase would allow me to buy a “not-so-sensible” car to go along with it. Unfortunately the prospect of getting 15-20l/100km from that amazing V12 is just too scary, even for a second car.
At the same time I fear that within a decade all the good ones will be gone. It’s hard being a car enthusiast with a young family…
Most Saabs, though I don’t think I’d be scared of a 900 as a project car that I don’t have to depend on as a daily.
I almost pulled the trigger on a 9-3 Sport Combi with Saab’s novel XWD system a couple of years ago. But I was just too scared of it being impossible to get parts for. Sort of wish I had the balls though.
Scared might be the wrong term. I want a challenge. I want to suffer more. I yearn for Amphicar or Tatra ownership, and feel weirdly drawn to prewars every time I see them. I complain about 411 parts availability! I know this! I need more things to complain about to distract me from the mundane miseries of life!
I’m more averse to annoyance or financial ruin. I will hoon your Subaru. I do not want to keep your Subaru. I’m not particularly keen on running a supercar on a kludged-together budget or falling into the tired “cHeApEsT [car] eVeR!!!” YouTuber trope, either, so please miss me with hooptie McLaren ads. This is not fear, either. Complicated hot messes don’t really scare me. I just know my budget and time levels. This is common sense.
Citroen SM
Subaru Outback
A 911, boxer, or range rover…
Or a 2013 tesla model s
Or any honda or subaru with a timing belt.
A modern alfa or some other old Italian or British exotic
An m3.
I’d love to buy any of those cars… and they can be found plenty cheap
But I got child support to pay so I got to stop making wreckless choices with my life.
Now I’m terrified to buy anything that doesn’t come from the largest car company in the world…. I’m so boring and lame now.
I’m ashamed of myself
A C4 Corvette, the 80s models that had the finicky but awesome digital dash.
I’m not scared to own much of anything… I like to work on cars, I’ve had (both in and out of warranty) a: 5cyl NMS Passat, E92 N54 335i, 944 S2, VR6 Touareg, 987.2 Boxster, WK2 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk, 528i E39 Touring, and a Mk6.5 TDI Golf. I also currently have a Discovery 5, an E46 330cic, an ‘OG’ F87 Performance Edition M2 and my first car – a Jeep XJ.
I own(ed) a few “nightmare” cars according to the internet, and these are what actually scare me, even if I *really* want to own all of them before I die: P38 Range Rover, RR Classic, Disco I or II (especially *drool* a MT D1), any V8 or S85 BMW, a 1st Gen VR6 TT, W8 Passat, V8/10 Touareg, S60R/V70R/850R, 850CSi, anything with a V12 other than the R129, or pretty much anything Italian. Everything else is pretty easy /s.