As we careen into retirement and our goal of track tourism via RV, I'm looking for options to consider for a practical car to take with us on our travels. The idea is to pull a (small as possible) stacker trailer behind the RV with our NA Miata race car, and another vehicle as our utility runabout and travel the country to visit as many racetracks as we can.
I'm looking for suggestions for the runabout... needs to be practical, but fun and quirky are good. Something that would be fun to take to a Cars & Coffee, but really doesn't need to be high performance or track worthy. Not really interested in Kei cars.
Basic parameters:
RWD or AWD only
Probably 4 doors - at least needs a real rear seat big enough for two dogs, two humans in a pinch. I like wagons myself, but my wife will take convincing.
Max length 15 ft
Max weight 3400lbs
Max height 6 ft
Budget - not really sure on this, and at this point I'm just gathering data, so let's call it $20k
Right now, my leading candidate is probably an E30 touring. It checks all the boxes, though it's going to be at the top of the budget envelope for a nice one. Some other candidates:
E30 coupe or sedan - not as cool as the touring, but still cool
Early 2000s Subaru Forester - really like the 2005ish XTs, but they have some issues
Late 90's USDM Subaru Impreza
Tracker/Sidekick - great little utes, but prices are high and cool factor is low
TJ Wrangler - meh, just not really that interesting
Late 70s/early 80s Corolla Wagon would be cool, but hard to find and prices are high
I've also considered 90s JDM imports like a WRX, but I'm not really that knowledgeable in the market. This morning, I discovered the Nissan Rasheed, which is a pretty cool little AWD wagon. 'Old enough' Euro imports may be a possibility as well.
So what other interesting, offbeat and cool little runabouts am I missing out there?