i sold my grand cherokee first of this week, and the miata will be going on autotrader next week if all goes as planned - because i'm buying a 2004 infiniti G35 coupe (6mt, aero, premium - diamond graphite/graphite) that's due in on ±4/5/04.
meanwhile, i have two mountain bikes and a road bike that i'm going to have to figure out how to cart around now that i no longer have an SUV. i won't be putting a roof rack on the G35c, partially b/c i don't want to spoil the lines of the car but also because there aren't any roof-rack options out there. there also aren't any "hidden hitch" applications that would allow me to put a hitch receiver rack on there, and i hate trunk racks b/c of the scratches they can cause as well as their relative instability.
so, i'm looking at trying to find a cheap utility vehicle to cart my bikes around and run to home depot in and that sort of thing. if i knew i could get my 62 chevy truck running and roadworthy for under $3k, i'd do that in a heartbeat - but the simple fact of that matter is that $3k may just be a drop in the bucket, so i'm going to hold off on that project.
i would prefer 4wd, just b/c it would be nice to have after having owned a 4wd grand cherokee for a while. i could take it offroad occasionally (and yes, i did wheel my JGC a few times in moderation), and plus it would be nice to have for the once-every-10-years snow "event" that we might get down here in the south.
my budget is "as cheap as possible" to get something fairly reliable and not a piece of crap...but to put a figure on it, probably somewhere in the $2500 range.
any suggestions? my first impulse is an '88-92 jeep cherokee laredo 4x4....they'll last till over 200k if maintained, and the cloth interior in the laredo is very durable and looks good even well into 6-figure mileage. plus, i'm biased toward jeeps anyway. downside: they're getting kinda hard to find in decent shape, especially in my price range, though it's certainly not impossible.
2nd choice would be something like a CJ or old wrangler, just b/c of the topless factor - i'll miss that part of miata ownership. i could get a small hitch on it and a utility trailer for those time i need to make a home depot run. downside: most of 'em are bottoming out price-wise around double my budget.
3rd option might be an older toyota 4x4 pickup, though i don't know much about them....or how much they'd run me.
anything else that i could consider?
