Serious what next question.

Yep

Maybe

Definitely

No prob

No prob

And a built in child seat too

Exactly

Long life belt and no reputation for early failures

Secure boot with low load lip.

The S80 is still available...

Will eat diesel like the celsior eats petrol.

Xantia estate would be my choice. Or 406 if you want something less odd.

Cam belt, but who cares? It's DIYable (ie not a fiat 5 pot :-) )

(In the spirit of things I would suggest a BX, but they're getting a lot harder to find :-( )

cheers, clive

Subaru Legacy Turbo estate.

Fraser

... just make sure that you budget for a slushbox rebuild when (not if) it blows up.

Timo, ex-Legacy TT owner

Don't even think about it, the VM diesel is a lump of s**te, you will be changing head gaskets every other week, a cherokee is one of the few vehicles that has no redeeming features.

If sir is interested I know of a Volvo S80 2.4 Auto, 140k on the clock, Tax and MOT, much cheapness.

I'd suggest a xantia or 406 TD estate - the TD's can take cooking oil mix if you make sure it's got the Bosch fuel pump. The only gotcha is that the automatics have a reputation (deserved? - I have no idea) for being fragile, so you'd probably be looking at going back to a manual.

On the plus side they are cheap to buy and repair, DIY-able, frugal, spacious, comfy, reliable and decent to drive. Ok, not a typical Elder-mobile, perhaps :-P

Just a matter of interest, were all leggy 2.5s turbo or was there a NA version. What are the manual boxes like? When do the auto boxes self destruct? Just looking in the trader website and there are quite a few fairly close for disposable money.

I'm just about to sell one. Not an auto though!

Mike P

There seem to be quite 4.0 petrols Cherokees for sale about a grand that are running on LPG. My mate has one, reckons apart from plastic bits dropping off, it's been totally reliable in 140k miles. He canes it hard too. I have driven it. It's not the most inspiring thing but in traffic it's ok and the auto is smooth enough. The diesel one I drove was s**te though.

Mike P

The auto box is ok if the fluid is changed yearly. If it's not been , they die around 100k...

Mike p

No, a lot of them (all UK ones, for starters) are N/A. The TT (aka Legacy GT or GT-B) is actually the 2l lump (same as the Impreza) but with a sequential twin-turbo system. Very rapid Q-car.

A lot better and durable AFAIK, and on the TT you get an additional

AFAIR they can't really handle the torque of the TT lump - same reason the ones on the SVX eventually pack in. Depending on what the problem is, it's quite noticeable - on mine the centre diff went (which is one of the weak points of the box apparently) and *that* is noticable.

They're not exactly cheap to repair, secondhand boxes are the same kind of gamble as playing Russian roulette with a Mac 10, so you'll be a few grand down after the experience.

If you've got the dosh, get a manual.

They're probably N/As, which are supposedly rather indestructible and rather boring. Never drove one.

I saw an SVX on Thursday. Still look unusual..

I like the looks of them, and I very nearly bought one a few years back. trouble is that the prices are going up and I can't really be bothered to dig that deep into my pocket.

The wife has a 4.0l Cherokee with about 160k on it. The build quality is, err, very 'American' but other than that it's not a bad car. And if looked after, they tend to go on forever. Takes a while to get there though and they only do about ~20mpg but my understanding is that the

Going up!?

Can't say that I'd noticed that - you get some chancers asking well over the odds, but there are also a good few realistically priced cars out there if you're patient.

I've been looking.... if you could get a manual one, I'd have considered chopping the 75 for one as a track car. (Before I'd had it repainted, I would have, anyway)

SVXs? Yep.

I'm not too sure about that - most of the 'realistically priced' cars seem to be utter garbage.

The only manuals you can get are conversions, they only ever came with slushboxes from the factory.

BTW, completely different kettle of fish but do you have any idea how good Alfaholics are, well, as an Alfa specialist? Not for 75s but for older stuff?

They have a very good reputation - I've been to spectate at a couple of their track days and seen some stunning examples of 105 series cars which they either maintain or have restored.

Are they selling something you like the look of, then?

To be honest, for older stuff, I wouldn't use a specialist most of the time - they're very simple and easy to work on for any decent mechanic.