Best cheap station wagon

[mikepn]

Hi All,
I'm sure this post is deadly boring for most of you, but some opinions couldn't hurt. My wife I and currently don't have a car (we're in Germany at the moment, where we currently don't require one - however, if anyone is wondering, yes I did drive on the world famous Autobahn and yes it is so cool!). We will be moving to the US in the fall (I'm a US citizen and have owned a car or two in the US before, so I don't need tips on driving in the US). There we will want/need a car. We decided that it would be wisest to buy a station wagon (because it can transport large amounts of people as well as large amounts of stuff).

So, now the question remains: what should we buy? Our budget is less than $6000 with a goal of around $3000. Since I will be able to repair most problems myself, I want a car that has decent parts availability. However, a reliable car is also called for. The car absolutely does NOT need to be fast or sporty. Also, cheap insurance and good gas milage would be further thoughts. Diesel would be a plus, since I am interested in experimenting with biodiesel. However, that's certainly not critical. Basically, the goal is to pay as little money as possible. So, here are some of my options:

1980-1985 Mercedes 300TD: my family had one and it drove forever without breaking (until it was run without oil - then it broke).

Volvo 850 or Volvo 740 or Volvo 240: Volvos seem to be relatively unbreakable as well.

Subaru Outback or Legacy: I have no experience with Subarus. Are they reliable? Do they fit into a budget decently?

Toyota Camry or Coralla: I assume most of the parts can be taken from a regular Camry (or Coralla) sedan, right?

Honda Accord or Civic: Same comment as with the Camry

BMW 525: I'd probably avoid getting a BMW wagon, just because they seem to be very rare (=not many parts) and I haven't heard many great stories.

VW Passat or Jetta: Any comments? (Here it would be possible to get a diesel, of course, which is a plus)

A "newer" Mercedes such as a 1989 300TE: These probably aren't as good as the old diesels. Any comments?

Another car: please specify.

So, any tips or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-Mike

[CraigFL]

My opinion of the least expensive wagon to buy and repair is the Ford Escort. If you can afford the higer price then a Focus would be a step up. Parts are inepensive, service is easy and they are good reliable cars anyway.

[harrymay]

older mercedes wagons are pretty reliable.

i would stick away from vw's over here they are made mostly in mexico and a full of electrical problems.

ford escorts/focus's arent too bad, they may not be the best looking cars on the road, but they get the job done.

an older camry/accord wagon is a really good bet, but they are pretty hard to find imho.

over here, a old cutlass wagon would be a really cheap reliable car, they use an almost universal engine, so parts can be sourced for very little.

[Hofmeister]

The other posts have stolen my thunder. I'd too recommend the Ford Escort, 1997-1999. I owned a 1997 and put about 40,000 miles on it in my first year of ownership. It was great. About 70% of the components are from the Mazda Protege. They are very well built and extremely reliable. Not too fast but great otherwise.

If you're looking for an older Benz I'd stick with diesel. You'll easily get 300,000 miles on a well maintained MB diesel from the 1980's.

Stay away from the Focus. If you look at Ford quality statistics, you'll see quality peaked in 1997 and then steadily declined and was fairly bad when the Focus was brought to market. I know a few people who own Focuses and they haven't stood the test of time very well at all.

Good Luck.