I need advice. Short list of requirements for cut-to-the-chase guys. Bitching and moaning to follow.
-Under $8K. Much closer to $5K would be better.
-Big enough for 2 adults and 2 kids to travel in. Jetta size or larger.
-Bank vault safety
-Very easy to work on (few special tools needed, easy access, good internet forums, etc)
-Reliable
-Preferably available with a manual transmission
Now for my tooth gnashing brain dump: My wife's '99 V6 Passat has ~100K miles on it. This is our only daily driven car, since I walk to work. It's been dead reliable for 4 years and ~35K miles and it's great to drive. I've totally gotten my money back on this one, but it's starting to freak me out. I did the front suspension rebuild (8 control arms, 10 ball joints!) a couple years ago and almost all the parts need to be replaced again. It's leaking from the water pump, replaced 30K miles ago in '07. Three water hoses are starting to leak, too. The oil cooler is leaking both oil and coolant. The struts are nearing the end of their life. The tires need to be replaced in the spring. Lots of odds and ends seem to be cropping up after a busy summer of not paying the car any attention.
I got it in the "service position" yesterday (which is a fitting name in more than one way) and started to get close to the water pump. Then I stripped a bolt on the fan pulley and stopped. It needs the entire front end removed to get that bolt out. It's not undoable, just unpleasant. So, I buttoned it back up, poured a small bucket of beer and started to think.
I could sell it now for a couple thousand bucks. Or I could put $1500-$2000 in parts, plus maybe 20 hours of my time (scarce with a second kid born in July), into a car that'll then be worth $3K due to the rather scruffy nature of the body. At 11 years and 100K miles, it seems like bigger stuff is going to start to break and this $1500 is the tip of an iceberg. It's still on all the original pricey parts and I'm under no illusions about the B5's track record, in spite of how well things have gone so far.
I do my own repairs and the engine compartment on the car is the worst I've experienced. Nothing unbolts and goes back on without first removing a TON of other stuff. I look under the hood of my Miata and my E34 and wish to god the Passat didn't package things so tightly. But those cars are 20 years old and have 20 year old safety/emissions technology. My wife is not particularly skilled in intuiting what other drivers are thinking, so I'd rather she were in something modern with our 2 kids.
We're starting a second one in daycare means this is not the best time to pull much money out of savings, either.
So, what's safe, reliable, near $6K and easy to wrench on? What are the options? A Subaru? An Accord? Mazda 6? Maybe an E46 BMW 323i? Some sort of smaller SUV? Something Korean? Something American (newish Malibu?)? My experiences are so limited to 80's and 90's european stuff that I have no feel for how easy Japanese/American cars are to work on.
Maybe I should just lease a Fiesta or a Fit? Car payments suck, but it's one less thing to worry about... Doesn't seem like the financially wise decision, though.
Long rambling responses read and appreciated. I'm not used to treating cars as basic people movers.