Need some ideas on what to buy...lots of miles

My choices, because I simply like bigger cars:

1) 1979 - 1991 FoMoCo Panther platforms (Colony Park/Country Squire). I've owned two so far and would buy another in a minute. In fact, that Mercury pictured earlier is just a few miles from me! Typical of Ford transmissions, the TV cable needs to be in good adjustment, or the trans goes away in quick order! Other than that, superb cars!

2) 1991 - 1996 GM full-sized (Impala/Roadmaster/Olds) wagons. The Chevys and Buicks have the LT1 Corvette engines from '92-on. Fun cars that get 20 mpg all day long!

3) 1976 - 1980 Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare', 1978 - 1982 Chrysler Town and Country. The F/M Chrysler platforms are very nice-looking and driving cars with dead-simple engines (225 Six, 318, 360). Comfortable with good parts availability. A T&C MUST be found with good simulated ash trim, as those parts are nearly impossible to find either NOS or good used! Only real trouble item is the LeanBurn ignition system/computer, found on SOME of these cars (not all!), depending on year and engine.

4) 1980s Chevy Celebrity/Pontiac 6000 wagons. Comfy mid-sixed cars with the V6. Nice-looking cars, easy to drive, no muss, no fuss! Cheap, too!

5) Subaru Forester. For reasons mentioned before...If I'm gonna buy a foreign-make wagon, this is the car for me! All-wheel-drive, great options, dependable as they get! Win-win here!

6) Dodge Magnum. Such a cool car all around! Why Dodge quit building these is anyone's guess! They didn't promote the car for squat, which was a crime. Plus, if you want to dress it up, you can do like they did the Euro-market cars and put a Chrysler 300 front sheet metal and grill on it! What a stunner that is!

7) 1996 - 1998 VW Passat Diesel w/5-speed trans. Back when VW was making a car that was worth purchasing! The Diesel in that beast gets between 45 - 50 mpg; and with the LARGE fuel tank (24.2 gal US), your range on the highway is phenomenal! I know two of these that have got over a thousand miles on ONE fill-up!

Again, my opinions on the above cars.

 

The Jetta wagons were ALL built in Germany this generation. Build quality is terrific. The sedans were built all over the world though. I see a lot of junk Jetta sedans running around but never a wagon. The wagons hold up very well. I'd love to have one for roadside assistance, it would look like this:



Same goes for E46 BMW's. This is why you still see more E46 (last year 2005) on the road versus E90 (made through 2013), and even F30 (the new ones). They were introduced in the mid to late 90s, they are simple (versus a 5- or 7-Series from the same era), and the parts aren't as expensive as you think. I tow a lot of E90s and F30s. The last three E46's I towed (and I have to go back four months to find them) had 1) 2 flat tires 2) serpentine belt broke and they chose to tow rather than try to drive to dealer 3) battery died and they didn't want a jump start. By comparison, I've towed E90's for massive cooling system failures, no-starts, failed transmissions, and engine knocks, and I've towed F30's for so many different things (usually is electrical or cooling system related, though). I'd also rock an E46 wagon for roadside work...