What car to replace my '87 4kq? (long)

[Andrew Buc]

I've had my 4kq for slightly over 14 years, and my fondness for it is  
undiminished, but owning it is becoming less practical. I'm dividing  
this post into 4 sections: the Reader's Digest version of my sitch,  
the War and Peace version, my criteria for the next car, and my  
thoughts on what the replacement car might be.

READER'S DIGEST VERSION:

In the last couple years, the car has become somewhat less reliable.  
The basic car is pretty sound, but I'm experiencing component  
failures. A car this age with 253K on it is probably entitled to some  
component failures; the question is whether I can live with it. Parts  
are also getting harder to find, and this is really the worst aspect  
of the situation. (My garage reports a similar situation with  
contemporary VWs.) Furthermore, my commute to work really can't be  
done by public transit.

BEGIN WAR AND PEACE VERSION

In the last couple of years, prior to the past 6 weeks, I've  
experienced the following:

(1) Stopped by police last summer, told I had no brake lights and  
couldn't drive the car, effective immediately, until they were fixed.  
Nothing to do but flat-bed the car to my garage.
(2) Gas pedal linkage abruptly came adrift.
(3) About a year ago: CV joint failed.
(4) Radiator sprang a leak 2 years ago.

The leak was tolerable--I topped the cooling system up as required  
until I could get the radiator replaced. But the first 3 items made  
the car mechanically or legally undriveable. I've been lucky in that  
none of them happened at extremely inconvenient times and places. The  
gas pedal linkage let go on the way to work, a mile from home and  
~3/4 mile from my garage, and I was able to limp to the garage on  
idle over back streets. There's no guarantee that I'll always be this  
lucky. When the CV joint failed, I was pulling into the parking lot  
at work. I'd been on the freeway 5 minutes earlier.

Of course, the gas pedal linkage was simple. On the CV-joint failure,  
the garage was able to turn the car around in 24 hours. On the brake  
light switch, it took 12 calendar days, mostly waiting for the (new,  
not wrecking yard) switch to arrive. I was able to get to work by a  
combination of public transit and carpooling with coworkers, but it  
made my total day (out the door in the a.m. to home in the p.m.)  
almost 2.5 hours longer and was generally onerous. Renting a car for  
that long would have been spendy.

The last 6 weeks have been a case of "when it rains, it pours." One  
morning on the way to work, the alternator failed. I got some early  
warning (dim instrument lights, red instead of green voltage LED on  
the console), and I came off the freeway. The car died on surface  
streets in very light traffic, close to home, and I was able to coast  
over to the curb. As luck would have it, the garage was able to  
source an alternator quickly, and I was good to go that afternoon. I  
recently noticed some uneven tire wear and took the car in for  
alignment. The alignment shop said, in effect, "Come back when you've  
replaced the worn suspension bits."

So I took the car in last week for the suspension work, after  
confirming that the garage had rounded up the parts in advance.  
Fortunately, my garage sometimes works on Saturdays and has a loaner  
car available. (Small garage, there's only one loaner.) They found  
that the rear pads and rotors also needed replaced. On the  
suspension, they were able to get new bushings for the front, but for  
the rear, they had to buy entire control arms. I asked the mechanic  
if it would have been possible to get the rear bushings by themselves  
10 years ago, and he said probably.

When I picked up the car the evening of Wednesday 2/19/14, I thought  
the brake pedal was spongy. The mechanic said the brakes should bed  
in in a couple of days. I drove the car to work next day, thought the  
pedal was really spongy, and swung by the garage that afternoon. The  
mechanic looked under the car and spotted a leaking seal on the LR  
caliper. (I didn't really pursue the question of whether it was  
damaged during the previous brake work.) At this point, the loaner  
had been promised to another customer for next day. They ordered a  
new caliper Thursday morning, got it Friday afternoon, and had the  
car ready for me around noon Saturday. So I had to get a rental for 2  
days. Anyway, they didn't charge me labor for the caliper replacement.

3 or 4 weeks ago, both windows on the left side refused to open. The  
LF window started to work again a few days later, but I rolled it up  
and won't risk opening it again for now. My mechanic's  (reasonable)  
guess was it was probably a wiring problem rather than both switches  
going out at once, but when he had it in for the other work, he  
determined that both switches are bad. He's now trying to source  
replacements. I guess I'll find out if they're NLA. Chris Semple is  
great, if it comes to that, but IMO parts like that are best bought  
new. Again, the situation could have been worse. The windows could  
have stuck open rather than closed, and Seattle is famous for rainy  
winters.

I'm starting to wonder when the next shoe will drop. I'm planning a  
weekend trip to Portland, Oregon, 175 miles away, in a couple of  
months, and I plan to rent a car.

Concerning my commute, I started a new job 2 months ago. I can't  
assume that carpooling with a coworker in a pinch is even a  
possibility. My starting time is so early that even catching a bus to  
meet my carpool may not be workable.

Anyway, I've recently put ~$1500 into the car, and I'll be looking at  
another $200 for alignment and a rental while the car is being  
aligned. And that's not counting the window switches. I don't think  
in terms of "This repair is $X, and the resale value of the car is  
$Y." I do think in terms of, "If I do this repair, what kind of  
service will the car give me for the foreseeable future?"

END WAR AND PEACE VERSION

So, what would I replace the 4kq with? I know that one car may not  
check all the boxes, but here are the criteria:

AWD: Not as important as you might think. Here in Seattle we get snow  
some years, but not like Minnesota. I've been running Vredestein  
Quatrac 3 winter tires (mountain and snowflake on the sides) year  
round, and would do the same on the next car.

Size: The 4kq is about the right size, but I'm open to going a bit  
bigger or smaller.

Passive safety: Very important. I've never forgotten the time in '72  
when my Saab 96 was t-boned in the passenger compartment by a  
Plymouth Duster and went greasy side up, and my passenger and I  
walked away without a scratch.

Total cost of ownership (parts, gas, service, the whole enchilada)  
should be reasonable. All other factors equal, a car that needs 2  
hours of labor to change the timing belt is better than one that  
needs 4. I'll probably be retiring in the next 5 or 10 years,  
although I don't have a firm date set. Reliability is obviously  
important. Parts also need to be available quickly, not like that  
brake light switch, for some years to come. The car should have sold  
in reasonable numbers in the US so there will be plenty of parts in  
wrecking yards. I learned the latter lesson a few years ago with an  
'84 VW Quantum. (I didn't really want a Cosworth Vega anyway.) Maybe  
I should go for a bread and butter car rather than an upscale car.  
This may not be too bad--I gather bread and butter cars have improved  
greatly in the last 25 years. The 4kq's gas mileage is tolerable, but  
I wouldn't mind doing better with the next car.

Handling: Should be reasonably good. I suspect I have the lightest  
right foot on the list, but I like the 4kq's responsiveness and  
feeling of oneness with the road. At least I'd like a car that isn't  
a yawn, like the rental Corolla I had a while back. I liked my  
Peugeot 504, which was softer than the 4kq, but not in a sloppy land- 
yacht way. Audis have been criticized for their nose-heaviness, but  
given my driving style, that doesn't bother me.

I'm a bit wary of gadgets like satnav, keyless entry, etc.--they  
strike me as more things to go wrong. I'm also a bit wary of  
electronic instrument panels. I'm thinking of a "Car Talk" response a  
while back to someone who had a few-years-old Volvo with a dead  
clock: "You can't just replace the clock. You'd have to replace the  
whole instrument cluster, which is $1000. You're going to get an  
aftermarket digital clock and stick it to the dash." (What happens  
when an essential instrument, like the gas gauge, in an integrated  
cluster fails?) But on a newer car I may have to accept more  
electronics.

Cars I've considered, not necessarily in great detail:

Japanese cars in general: Reliable, but I question their passive  
safety. We had a case a few months ago where a drunk driver hit a  
Mazda Protege head-on at freeway speed, and there was a photo in the  
paper of what was left of the Protege, from the B-pillar to the rear  
bumper. Not pretty. Of course the Protege driver was killed. If any  
Japanese automaker has made strides in passive safety when I wasn't  
watching, I'm all ears.

Saturn SL/SW: The fuel economy, reliability, and passive safety  
appeal. On the down side, most of them are probably getting up in  
miles by now. A friend with an '04 Saturn LW says they've just  
discontinued OEM parts.

Volvo: Famous for passive safety. S40/V40/V50 is about the right  
size. The others are really bigger than I need. An upscale car, so  
I'd be concerned about running costs.

A newer VW Jetta: I'd consider one if the buzz is favorable.

B3/B4 transverse-engine Passat: See Jetta above.

Ford Contour or Focus: See Jetta. These were more or less designed by  
Ford Europe, so I'd be OK with the fact that they're American.

B5 or later Passat/A4: The V6 is more engine than I need, and I've  
heard about the sludge issues with the 1.8T. But no car is perfect,  
and I might consider one of these if it was a good compromise.

Also, I'd like whatever I get to have an autobox.

I'm going to throw out a tentative price point of $3000 to $3500. I'm  
sure I'll find out whether that's realistic! If I do trade the 4kq,  
we've had a good run.

Thanks for your collective wisdom, as always.