Auto Trends

Continuing from our list of the best used cars from 1998 and up, we come to the letters T through V of the manufacturers alphabet:

Toyota 4Runner-

Toyota Avalon-

Toyota Camry (except ‘07 V6)-

Toyota Camry Solara-

Toyota Celica-

Toyota Corolla-

Toyota Echo-

Toyota Highlander-

Toyota Land Cruiser-

Toyota Matrix-

Toyota Prius-

Toyota RAV4-

Toyota Sequoia-

Toyota Sienna-

Toyota Tundra (except ‘07 V8 4WD)-

Here’s a good place to drop in a truck as a highlight. The Toyota Tundra is a refined workhorse from its aggressive design, size, and raw muscle (5.7 liter V-8, 381 horsepower). The Tundra is infamous for being the first import full-size truck to step up to the big three American truck giants (Chevrolet, Ford, and Dodge), as they snickered amongst themselves that it was probably just a Camry hiding in a half-ton’s clothing, and offer itself as an actual work capacity truck.

While it was exactly ushered to the front of the line for real hard core truck users, recreational users soon became enamored by the trucks actually respectable capabilities. So maybe it wasn’t quite up to the par of some real heavy duty bruisers the big three offered… but how many consumers really need all that bulk and mass to tow a small boat to the lake for a weekend.

The Tundra couldn’t have debuted at a better time, right smack during the entrance of the new millennium, which left people open to something new. They weren’t exactly taking all that big of a chance, Toyota practically takes up one quarter of this list, because their cars are so darn well put together. The Tundra was refined, smooth, powerful, reliable, and by all sense of the word, practical.

While in its early 2000 stage, the Tundra’s 3.4 liter V-6 (190 horsepower, 220 lb-ft torque) and 4.7 liter V-8 (245 horsepower, 315 lb-ft torque) were certainly smooth running, they were just not exactly powerful. This is where its common misconception formed that the Tundra is nothing more than a moderate recreational vehicle. That all changed in 2004 with the arrival of the double-cab, and then again in 2005 with the unveiling of their all new and improved powertrains, a 245 horsepower 4.0 liter V-6 and 282 horsepower 4.7 liter V-8.

Since then, the 2007 model has optioned the Tundra with a 5.7 liter V-8, with not only 381 horsepower, but also 401 lb-ft of torque. This has placed the Tundra in line with some of the heavier pulling half-tons in its class and has opened the eyes of some of those hard-core users to take a second look at Toyota.

This is a truck that anyone can afford, starting with a 2000 V-6 at around $4,300, on up to a 2007 5.7 V-8 fully loaded at $40,000.

Volvo S60-

The old Volvo S60 standby has become a great used buy in the price range of $8,000 to $20,000. This is one car that is much more recommended as a used vehicle than a new one, just because it hasn’t been redesigned in so long, you really aren’t getting anything worthy of a new car price. Not when there are so many other highly refined decisions out there to choose from.

In 2001, the S60 replaced the Volvo S70, offering a humble 2.4 liter (168 horsepower), a 2.4 Turbo (197 horsepower), and a 2.3 liter 5-cylinder (a.k.a. the T5) with 247 horsepower. 2002 saw the introduction of all-wheel-drive into the 2.4 T S60 as well as traction control and computerized engine management system.

2003 opened quite an impressive bump in performance with the introduction of the Volvo S60 R (pictured above). It featured a sport-tuned adaptive suspension, performance rated tires, 18 inch alloys, xenon lighting, and about 300 horsepower.

The R has since been discontinued, but it would make quite an interesting find for the sports enthusiast looking for that special something a little bit different than your average run of the mill BMW M3…

No, Volvo’s aren’t always ‘Grams’ and ‘Gramps’ cars.. they just sometimes look that way!

The Consumer Reports National Research Center is quite good at crunching numbers and finding the bet bets for our dollars. A few months back they compiled a list of some of the most reliable used vehicles from the year 1998 on up.

These reports looked at each vehicle for its least amount of reported problems, fuel efficiency, reliability, safety, affordability, and the ability to hold their value. The list picked out several vehicles from each manufacturer that rated highest. We take this report a bit further and and highlight our favorite vehicle from each of the chosen top rated manufacturers.

Acura Integra-

Acura MDX-

Yes, the Acura MDX has rated quite high from most critics, both professional and the soccer kid mom variety. With prices ranging in the low $11,000’s to mid $30,000’s there is an MDX for just about anyones budget and taste.

Being the top echelon of the Honda front, the Acura MDX was actually built to rival the legendary Lexus RX300, which is another great SUV to choose from, although if you’re going used, the MDX is a little better value for your money to be quite honest.

MDX, stands for “Multi Dimensional Luxury” and it follows through with its promise with close to 9 inches more space lengthwise than the RX300, which offers a lot of room for its seven occupants. Mind you, this is the kind of room that involves standard leather heated seats, power sunroof, 17-inch alloys, as well as its souped up Odyssey 3.5 liter V-6, which in MDX format packs the punch of 240 horsepower with its five speed automatic transmission.

The MDX has enough torque to tow a 3,500 lb trailer or a 4,500 boat. It also was optioned with a navigation system, which is still a nice feature to find today in a brand new vehicle. All around the MDX offers a great value for the value conscious consumer, new or used.

Acura RL-

Acura RSX-

Acura TL-

Acura TSX-

BMW M3-

BMW didn’t have anything else on the list, but what they lack in quantity they makeup in quality. The M3 has pretty much been the standard benchmark for what a compact sports sedan should be. While the 1998 and up M3’s were not as radical of the first generation from 1988 to 1991, the second and third generation offer more horsepower and options, as well as some pretty great deals in the used market.

The second generation M3 which ranged anywhere from 1995 on up to 1999 had a smooth running 240-hp inline-6, that offered balanced performance for both the everyday user and the occasional sports enthusiast. The 1998 M3 is a great find for the BMW enthusiast on a budget, when you consider that $12,000 on up to $16,000 will earn you the right to be an owner of one of these elite machines.

The third-generation M3, from 2001 on up to 2006 are quite a bit more costly that the 1998, at $22,000 on up to the $40,000’s, but they offer more to go along with the added expense. The 3.2 liter six cylinder for these years punches out 333 horsepower as opposed to the 240, which you can definitely feel in the seat of your pants.

All the third generations have manual style paddle shifters for the formula race enthusiast, but if your really into performance, then the 2005 competition package will be a must with its sport tuned suspension, 19-inch forged wheels, quick steering ratio, upgraded brakes, and a computerized track mode for those weekend racers.

All this, and enough room to fit your standard sized family comfortably across a four state road trip. Not a bad choice for the used compact sports sedan market… even when compared with some of the newer models coming out for 2009.

Buick LaCrosse-

If you are looking to squeeze just about every last ounce of horsepower out of your engine and you are getting down to taking out your passenger seat and stereo just to gain a half horsepower, then perhaps it is time that you seriously look at indexing to add a few newfound ponies.

This is actually one of the oldest tricks in the book, other than the famous pick-up line, “You must be tired… because you’ve been running through my head all night.” But unlike some of those tired old pickup lines, this trick actually works!

We mentioned spark plug indexing in Part 3 of our series, but we didn’t really have enough room to tell you how to do it. We highly recommend the purchase of spark plug washers, which will enable you to index any plug.

If you don’t use washers, you are going to have to buy a stock pile of spark plugs to find the perfect matches for your engine. And it always seems that out of eight plugs, you won’t find more than two or three that will work reasonably.

You can find index washers at just about any performance shop and they should look something like these, featured on the Summit Racing website. There should be three thicknesses that will get you to the angle you need, depending on how far you are off in the first place. Which brings us to the steps of the process.

Step 1:

Take the plug you intend to use for the cylinder and using a magic marker, mark a line down the white portion of the body where the ground electrode attaches to the body of the spark plug.

Never use pencil for the marking as it can cause carbon tracking and thus poor spark plug performance.

Step 2:

Using a diagram of your engine, either found in a mechanics book or on the Internet, find where your cylinder is in reference to where your spark plug is going, and in particular take notice where the exhaust valve is facing.

Indexing works in theory because the open gap of the plug is being place in the direct path of the rushing fuel/air mixture, which gives it a much better chance of igniting the mixture completely, than if the ground electrode is in the way.

The reason you want to angle it towards the exhaust valve in most engines is that the force of the mixture is usually moving towards the exhaust valve inside the cylinder. Of course, every engine is very unique, so you may want to experiment a little to see what exact angle achieves the best results.

Note: The only problem with such experimentation, is that without a professional engine dyno… using the “seat of your pants” dyno you will be hard pressed to feel the difference of a couple horsepower… but you can sure try!

Step 3:

Once you know where you want your gap to be facing, go ahead and twist the plug gently into the cylinder wall until it is snug and see which way your line is facing as compared to where you need it.

Remember that you will need to turn the plug approximately a quarter turn or so to tighten, so keep that in mind during your estimation measurements.

If you are close enough, tighten the plug up and move on to the next one. If not, then look at the distance you need to turn the plug in order to be in the proper location and decide between the three thicknesses of washer which one will work best to get you within range.

Note: Never double up on index washers. You will lose compression in your engine. You should be able to reach any destination you need with one of the washer sizes.

Step 4:

One you are within range of your goal, go ahead and tighten the plug and move on the the next plug.

While this does not always guarantee you results of improved engine horsepower and efficiency, it has been proven time and again to work, so the odds are actually more in your favor than using any of the “trick” spark plug designs.

Yes, sometimes the best tricks are the oldest tricks (and least expensive to boot)!