Motor Vehicles

[Qyot27]

A thread to discuss cars, motorcycles, really any sort of powered transport.


So if you had to choose, would you go with:
2000 Volvo V70 2.4T (Automatic)
or
2000 Saab 9-5 2.3T Wagon (5-speed Manual)

Both are right around the same price (the Saab's a couple hundred dollars less), the Saab has almost 170k miles, the Volvo nearly 190k. From the pictures they both look well maintained for their age, although I don't automatically trust either that or the ads' descriptions of the condition(s). It seems the Volvo is being sold by a repair shop, the Saab is a private seller. Of course, either one of them could already have been sold and remove the need for wondering, but this is hypothetically in the event that both are still available. I'd have someone that can test ride them come along so I could get their input before making any sort of decision.

I'm looking primarily for a car to use to [finally] learn to drive with, and commute to work (or school, once I get things sorted out enough to get into a degree program). I do have a motorcycle license, because I already had a Learner's permit and since my options for learning to drive years ago were short circuited rather badly, I got tired of waiting around and got my motorcycle endorsement* early this year. I get awesome fuel economy on the 50cc scooter I have, but there are certain types of weather (Florida!) or shifts at work where I'd rather not have to worry about it, and just getting a bigger scooter or motorcycle would only really resolve the issue of not being able to go on the Interstate or major roads.

*Which upgraded me to a Driver License, but with 'Motorcycle Only' rather than 'Motorcycle Also'. The big ???? is whether - because a Learner's was a prerequisite for this - if it still retains the properties of a Learner's when operating a car if there's a fully licensed driver instructing me from the passenger's seat. And whether I can insure a car in that situation. Obviously the end game would be taking the road test and getting a full license (and 'Motorcycle Also', I'm not giving that up), but until then?

[Kionon]

Wagon, manual, must be diesel and brown.

[Scintilla]

I, personally, would not be keen on ever again owning a car as big as the 1998 Volvo V70 I had previously (I might be able to make an exception for the E39 5-Series, because that thing is nearly the handsomest car I have ever seen). It was not much fun to drive, though a turbo engine might have changed that, and it won't do you any favors when parallel parking.

But I can't deny that it was good to my back; I believe Volvo has a long reputation for having the best seats in the industry. The difference in comfort level on long trips has been noticeable. And having such a spacious station wagon was certainly very useful when moving, as I did very shortly after buying the car.

[Qyot27]

Wagon, manual, must be diesel and brown.

We've never had any diesel-powered vehicles. How noticeable is it when actually operating one compared to cars with gasoline engines, or is the difference mostly in the technical aspects which users aren't typically directly aware of?

I, personally, would not be keen on ever again owning a car as big as the 1998 Volvo V70 I had previously (I might be able to make an exception for the E39 5-Series, because that thing is nearly the handsomest car I have ever seen). It was not much fun to drive, though a turbo engine might have changed that, and it won't do you any favors when parallel parking.

But I can't deny that it was good to my back; I believe Volvo has a long reputation for having the best seats in the industry. The difference in comfort level on long trips has been noticeable. And having such a spacious station wagon was certainly very useful when moving, as I did very shortly after buying the car.

The cargo capacity is the pretty much the entire reason I'm looking at wagons - although Volvo wagons are something of an icon (and Saab to an extent, I guess, maybe; I honestly kept forgetting they existed, because they'd all but disappeared around here in the years leading up to their discontinuation in 2014). Is the V70 really that big compared to other wagons, though? Our family had a (I believe it was an '84) Chevy Caprice wagon during the early/mid 90s, but my frame of reference on size is shaky due to time and skewed by the fact that I was still just a kid when they sold it.

Parallel parking might be a concern, but I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the last time I noticed us having to parallel park when we all went somewhere.

[Scintilla]

Is the V70 really that big compared to other wagons, though? Our family had a (I believe it was an '84) Chevy Caprice wagon during the early/mid 90s, but my frame of reference on size is shaky due to time and skewed by the fact that I was still just a kid when they sold it.

Okay, pretty much no wagon is going to be as big as a Caprice/Custom Cruiser/Roadmaster wagon. I mean more in terms of the other wagons that have been available since the late 90s when GM stopped making those. The V70 is still big enough to count as a full-size.

Parallel parking might be a concern, but I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the last time I noticed us having to parallel park when we all went somewhere.

You'll need it for the driver's test at least, unless they don't test that in Florida?

[Qyot27]

Parallel parking might be a concern, but I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the last time I noticed us having to parallel park when we all went somewhere.

You'll need it for the driver's test at least, unless they don't test that in Florida?

Even though it's a year old, apparently Florida hasn't tested on parallel parking in 25 years (at the time the article was written).

[Kionon]

Qyot27, that was a joke for which my publication is famous:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/ ... ion_wagon/

[Qyot27]

At the beginning of January I found a '93 Celica GT that I went with instead. 98k miles, excellent condition aside from a dent on the passenger side front, 5-speed manual, $2500. Someday I'll get a 9-5 wagon, but that'll probably be quite a ways off - and it may end up competing with the Honda NM4 over which one I'd want to expend money on first (even if I could get the 9-5 for a third of the price of a new NM4, but still).