The best $2500 fuel-efficient cargo hauler with a stick shift (F150, luxury car, vehicle)

[RomaniGypsy]

You have a maximum of $2500 to spend. You're a fairly big dude, so the smallest vehicles out there won't fit you. You have to haul musical equipment on a regular basis, meaning that a "car" won't cut it and likely neither will anything smaller than a midsized wagon. You want it to be as fuel-efficient as possible and it has to have a stick shift.

What would YOU buy, assuming that a good specimen was close enough for it to be accessible to you?

[M3 Mitch]

Assuming you are not in rust country, I'd buy either a VW "Nomad" (2 door) wagon from the 80's, or an older small/midsize Detroit wagon with an inline 6 engine. Valient wagon with slant 6 might be a bit hard to find with a stick, but they are out there if you look.

$2500 would buy a very good specimen of either of these.

Or you could buy the best VW bus you can find for $2500. Lots of room, most are stickshifts, some of the newer ones are fuel injected.

[GTOlover]

A 1987-96 F150 with the 4.9 liter I-6 with the ZF-5 5-speed manual tranny with a Canopy.

[ukrkoz]

28 mpg. Ours was ridiculously reliable. Toss rear seats out (They fold anyway). I could fit 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dirt bikes in.

[GTOlover]

maybe find a 94-99 Subaru Legacy Outback just will be a bit more difficult to find a stick shift and the price will be higher right now in winter so maybe in spring summer would be better to look as people sell them will be willing to negotiate with a little more wiggle room in the $2500-3K Range.

[marlinfshr]

I've always liked the "SUV's" of yesterday, though they don't get the best MPG's. They were nothing more then enclosed pick up trucks. If you have a lot of equipment and/or take more then one passenger a suburban is hard to beat. It's an 8 ft bed pick up with an enclosed cargo area and rear doors that make accessing anything easy. The bronco's, K5 blazers and ramchargers were shortened short bed trucks which there are a fair amount with stick. I know the bronco was offered with a 300 six as well but am not sure of the ramchargers and blazers. There is also the old 4 door grand wagoneers but you would probably have to go back to the 70's full size cherokees to get a stick and they were in both 2 and 4 door. Now if you don't want 4 wheel drive you would be limited to the suburban and ramchargers as they had the 2WD versions offered of which there were plenty. Something tells me the blazer was offered as well in 2WD as well though.

[StealthRabbit]

B4V... Largest cargo capacity Midsized wagon ever offered in USA.

52 mpg and 25 gal tank... = 1250 miles between Chinese / Mexican restaurants (free fuel)

1996 and 1997 Passat TDI Wagon. I have bought (4) and all were less than $2500 (but if the 'Clean Car Company' beats you to the 'deal', they will resell to you for $12,000). You MUST use an rss feed on nationwide Craigslist and GET UP early to beat them to the deals. (they are west coast based).

Otherwise... a minivan... they are VERY cheap to operate, insure, and BUY.

If your musical cargo is heavy (for the next poster who may pack around a few Steinways...) Get a Dodge cummins Diesel truck with a canopy / camper shell (I found 3 under $2500 today). they get ~ 20 mpg and will go 1 million miles hauling SERIOUS cargo (I haul 30,000# with mine).

[miu]

What sort of musical equipment will you be hauling? Are you a musician? Do you have to haul other people's equipment also?

When I was in a rock band, I was fine using a '74 Honda CVCC hatchback to haul my bass guitar setup, and certainly I could do the same in my '94 Honda hatchback. And I once knew a guy who did a band roadtrip in a Renault LeCar.

Anyway, for you I would suggest a Volvo 240 wagon or better yet, a BMW E34 5-series wagon. My 6'5" boyfriend has owned both.

[RomaniGypsy]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Assuming you are not in rust country, I'd buy either a VW "Nomad" (2 door) wagon from the 80's, or an older small/midsize Detroit wagon with an inline 6 engine. Valient wagon with slant 6 might be a bit hard to find with a stick, but they are out there if you look.

$2500 would buy a very good specimen of either of these.

Or you could buy the best VW bus you can find for $2500. Lots of room, most are stickshifts, some of the newer ones are fuel injected.

I am in rust country.

Never heard of the Nomad... I thought that VW's only wagon was called the Squareback.

The Chrysler slant 6 was a bulletproof engine but not only was it terribly underpowered for its size (3.8 litre, 90 hp) but it never did all that well pulling my 1982 Dodge Ram D150. Even empty, with the 4-speed stick, I never did better than 18 mpg. When I say "fuel efficient", I'd really like the rated highway mileage to be 25 or better.

Originally Posted by GTOlover

A 1987-96 F150 with the 4.9 liter I-6 with the ZF-5 5-speed manual tranny with a Canopy.

It'd probably be quite good for a full size truck but 18 mpg highway is too low for my liking.

Originally Posted by marlinfshr

I've always liked the "SUV's" of yesterday, though they don't get the best MPG's. They were nothing more then enclosed pick up trucks. If you have a lot of equipment and/or take more then one passenger a suburban is hard to beat. It's an 8 ft bed pick up with an enclosed cargo area and rear doors that make accessing anything easy. The bronco's, K5 blazers and ramchargers were shortened short bed trucks which there are a fair amount with stick. I know the bronco was offered with a 300 six as well but am not sure of the ramchargers and blazers. There is also the old 4 door grand wagoneers but you would probably have to go back to the 70's full size cherokees to get a stick and they were in both 2 and 4 door. Now if you don't want 4 wheel drive you would be limited to the suburban and ramchargers as they had the 2WD versions offered of which there were plenty. Something tells me the blazer was offered as well in 2WD as well though.

Interesting that you say this - we have a 1996 Tahoe and it does reasonably well. 4WD, 350 V8, 164,000 miles, still gets 18 mpg highway (20 with "real gas"). That's been a good car. However, with as much driving as I anticipate doing, I'd rather have something smaller. In the latter part of the previous decade, I hauled around as much gear as I'd need to haul now, using a 1994 Mercury Sable wagon. 3.8 V6, 28 mpg highway. I know that the 3.0 V6 in the 2000's-model Tauruses and Sables will return 30+ if it's treated nicely. That's tempting, for sure.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

B4V... Largest cargo capacity Midsized wagon ever offered in USA.

What's a B4V?

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

52 mpg and 25 gal tank... = 1250 miles between Chinese / Mexican restaurants (free fuel)

That assumes that my vehicle would be converted to use vegetable oil. That ain't cheap... meaning it takes many thousands of miles to recover your investment. Furthermore, I talked with a guy who runs an old diesel bus which can take regular diesel and vegetable oil. He says that vegetable oil isn't useful until it's warmed up, due to its viscosity. That'd be an issue for sure in my climate.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

1996 and 1997 Passat TDI Wagon.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I have bought (4) and all were less than $2500 (but if the 'Clean Car Company' beats you to the 'deal', they will resell to you for $12,000). You MUST use an rss feed on nationwide Craigslist and GET UP early to beat them to the deals. (they are west coast based).

Now that's a thought. I've always liked those Passat wagons. But what exactly is the "Clean Car Company" and how / why would they purchase Craigslist vehicles all over the country? What kind of moron would pay $12,000 for a car that will sell for $2,500 on Craigslist and probably doesn't Blue Book for much more than that? It'd have to be a cash deal for sure, at the very least... and people with that much cash, who are that stupid, usually buy brand-new luxury cars.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Otherwise... a minivan... they are VERY cheap to operate, insure, and BUY.

The mother of one of my college friends had a 1987 Plymouth Voyager with a stick. That's the only stick shift minivan I've ever seen. I'd love to have one, that's for sure... but they can't be easy to find. (They are probably bulletproof, though. That 2.2L Mitsubishi four-cylinder is a great engine... I've had two of those. That minivan had over 240,000 miles when last I saw it and it was still running well.)

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

If your musical cargo is heavy (for the next poster who may pack around a few Steinways...) Get a Dodge cummins Diesel truck with a canopy / camper shell (I found 3 under $2500 today). they get ~ 20 mpg and will go 1 million miles hauling SERIOUS cargo (I haul 30,000# with mine).

It isn't THAT heavy. Besides, if I have to haul that much gear, we have the Tahoe.

Originally Posted by miu

What sort of musical equipment will you be hauling? Are you a musician? Do you have to haul other people's equipment also?

I'm a musician and I probably won't have to haul other people's gear. My wife and I perform for nursing homes and other elder care facilities, for over 90% of our performances. Two keyboards, guitar, accordion, speaker, bag of wires & miscellaneous small equipment, a few stands for mikes/speaker/guitar, dual X-braced keyboard stand, two 3-ring binders.

Originally Posted by miu

When I was in a rock band, I was fine using a '74 Honda CVCC hatchback to haul my bass guitar setup, and certainly I could do the same in my '94 Honda hatchback. And I once knew a guy who did a band roadtrip in a Renault LeCar.

I could see that. But when you're a keyboard player, things are different. My main unit is a Motif-8, and that thing couldn't even fit across the back seat of my old '72 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. I have no choice but to have at least a mid-sized cargo hauler to take the gear around. Could I drop down to using only 61-key keyboards? Yeah, if they made 'em with weighted hammer-action keys. Since that isn't happening any time soon, I have to stick with the big guy because I'm essentially a snob. I haven't known a good musician who wasn't picky about the sound and feel of his primary instrument.

Originally Posted by miu

Anyway, for you I would suggest a Volvo 240 wagon or better yet, a BMW E34 5-series wagon. My 6'5" boyfriend has owned both.

I've heard that the 240 is a really good car. As for that BMW... I doubt I could find one really cheap unless it had tons of mileage on it. I have to figure on this - I'm 6'2", my wife is 6'3", and my wife is very wide. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE the way she looks... but her unusual shape & size create certain problems that the ordinary car shopper wouldn't have to deal with. For example, my wife's skinny 6'7" brother can fit easily in his Cobalt. My wife - not a chance.

[vmaxnc]

Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy

I'm 6'2", my wife is 6'3", and my wife is very wide. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE the way she looks... but her unusual shape & size create certain problems that the ordinary car shopper wouldn't have to deal with. For example, my wife's skinny 6'7" brother can fit easily in his Cobalt. My wife - not a chance.

Fast forward to 10:23, Definitely not NSFW.
Eddie Murphy's Delirous Part 10 - Uncle Gus and Aunt Bunny - YouTube

Just kidding.